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Meditations On The Word
By E. R. Henderson 1879-1962
Foreword
This booklet contains a dozen articles selected from those published in The Clarion by E. R. Henderson under the heading Meditations on the Word. We hope you will find these messages helpful and that the Lord will use them to bring some one to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal Savior. I. H.
Chapter One
GOD'S LOVE
This is a great subject. It takes the whole Bible to make it known. It takes the gift of God's Only Begotten Son to fully reveal it. God's love is toward man. Nothing is said about God loving angels, fallen angels, the devil, or demons. The Bible is God's revelation of Himself to man, for man and in His relation to man. The Bible is God's love message to man. It is the message of a just and holy God loving unlovable and hell-deserving man unto salvation through the gift of His Only Begotten Son being propitiation for our sins. Surely we are inspired to exclaim with the Psalmist (8:4-5), "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou art him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor." The writer of Hebrews 2:6-9 takes this up and answers the question, solves the problem, reveals the mystery by saying, (verse 9) "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." The Word of God tabernacling in the flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, is the explanation and ground of all the grace and love of God toward man.
God's love toward man is revealed in the Bible in three aspects, three degrees, or three kinds. It is difficult to classify. You will see what I am trying to say when you read the Scriptures, God's love is a matter of revelation. We come to know it, be blessed by it, and rejoice in it by
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Meditations ON THE WORD
believing the revelation. The three aspects, degrees, or kinds of God's love are: first, God's love of pity; second, God's love of complacency; third, God's love of delight.
First, we shall consider God's love of pity. The following Scriptures tell us of God's love of pity; (John 3:16) ''For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (Romans 5:7-8) "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (I John 4:9-10) "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Notice the why, the degree, the purpose of this love of pity. The why of God's love of pity is purely subjective. The answer to why did God love the world? is ''God is love". There was nothing in the world, in us "while we were sinners", "not that we loved God" that provoked God to love us. God in His own glorious infinitude took a purposeful interest in rebellious and hell-deserving man and did something about man's wretched, miserable, guilty condition. This thing He did was His sovereign love of pity. The degree or measure of this love, is "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us''; "Sent His only begotten Son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins", "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son!" These Scriptures give us the measure. Could God do more? God's purpose in loving man with this love of pity was that our sins might be propitiated, that we might live through the risen Christ that the believer should not perish but have everlasting life, that He might have a people to love Him. "We love Him because He first loved us."
Now we shall think upon God's love of complacency. God the Father's love of complacency in its highest degree is toward His only begotten Son. Since Adam fell, there
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GOD'S LOVE
has been nothing human to provoke God to love with complacency but Christ Jesus and those who believe on Him. These are cleansed from the guilt of sin by the death of Christ; they are accepted before God in Christ, they have His Spirit. Christ is in them the hope of glory, So John says, (I John 3:1) "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." There is something lovable in a believer that moves God to love him. This something is not of man's excellence but only that which is of Christ on him and in him. Let me repeat it, there is nothing human pleasing to God but the man Christ Jesus.
There is a third degree, or kind of God's love, the love of delight. Fathers and mothers know this love. They know the difference between the love of complacency and the love of delight. The father loves his son though he is disobedient, he loves him as a son, because he is his son, but he has no delight in him. He cannot love him with a love of delight. So it is with God our Father. (John 14:21-22) "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 15:9-10) "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love." (Jude 21) "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."
God loves with a love of pity the vilest of sinners. He loves His children with a love of complacency however disobedient we may be, but here is a love that the Father has only for those who obey Him. We also have the love of Jesus by obedience. Jesus the Son of God abode in the Father's delight by His obedience (John 15:10) "If ye keep
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MEDITATIONS ON THE WORD
my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love." (John 10:17) "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again." Ponder these scriptures till you through Jude's "Keep yourselves in the love of God" sense the great privilege and joy in it.
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