I have been addressing the preeminent and great commandment given to us by the eternal, holy, just and good God who created all things, particularly man, for His glory. It is the commandment that a person must obey if they are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, namely, the commandment to love God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength, and those created in the image and likeness of God, our neighbor, as ourselves. Like all commandments, we cannot obey them as God requires apart from the grace of God that is found only in our spiritual union with God the Son, Jesus Christ (Matthew 22:34-39) (Luke 10:25-28) (John 15:4-5).
Thomas Vincent, in His book, The True Christians Love to the Unseen Christ notes, If you would attain true love unto Christ, you must get an interest in Christ. You must lay hold on Christ by faith that you may be united to Him and related to Him…..To them that believe, Christ is precious…Without union to Christ, you will have no affection to Christ…..If, then, you would embrace Christ in the arms of your love, you must first lay hold on Christ and receive Him, (and all that He has done for you) by the hand of faith.
The Bible makes it clear that our faith in and love for God does not originate in our enslaved human will or corrupted human heart, but originates or proceeds from His love for us, most clearly expressed in the life, death and resurrection of Christ (Jeremiah 17:9) (2 Timothy 2:24-26) (1 John 4:9-10) (1 John 4:19).
The Bible reveals that all of mankind is spiritually dead, cut off, alienated from the life of God for which man was created to enjoy in Him. We are so as a result of the sin of Adam, and our continuing sin – our rejection of God’s purpose for and rule over our lives (Romans 5:12) (Romans 3:23) (Ephesians 2:1-3) (Ephesians 4:18).
We are enslaved to our sin, having debased, sin-corrupted minds that are naturally hostile toward God, blinded to the severity of our sin and to the beauty, the excellency, the loveliness of the infinitely glorious God who created us to know, love and be loved by Him (John 8:34) (Romans 1:28) (Romans 8:7) (Proverbs 21:2) (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
We are instead lovers of the muted pleasures offered by this world rather than lovers of the infinitely glorious God and the joys and pleasures found in relationship with Him (1 John 2:15-16) (2 Timothy 3:4) (Psalm 16:11).
Our wills have been given over to do the will of God’s greatest enemy, the devil. As such, we are enemies of God, having neither a fear of nor love for God as our soul’s only good. Thus, in this rebellious condition we have made ourselves the objects of God’s judgement and wrath that will have its ultimate and eternal expression in Hell (John 8:44-45) (James 4:3-6) (Romans 3:18) (Romans 1:18) (Psalm 9:16-17).
This is not a condition that man, in himself, by His own will or efforts can overcome, or even ultimately wants to (Jeremiah 13:23) (Psalm 14:2-3).
In Psalm 3:8 and Jonah 2:9, we are told, Salvation is of the Lord; pointing to the reality that for a man or woman to be saved from the righteous judgement of God for our sin and reconciled and restored to the glorious life with God for which man was created, it must come by way of a sovereign, supernatural work of God alone.
We are told in John 3:16 that God so loved this world of fallen, condemned mankind, that He sent His eternally begotten, eternally beloved Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, so that whosoever would believe in Him, trusting in Him as the ultimate expression of God’s love for them, submitting to Him as Lord, and coming to love Him above all in His creation, would not perish in Hell, but receive as a gift, eternal life, the glorious life with God for which man was created (Romans 10:9-10) (Romans 6:23).
Jesus, in the ultimate expression of God’s love for fallen mankind, leaves the glories of Heaven, where He is supremely loved and delighted in by all there, humbling Himself beyond our finite mind’s comprehension, to join His divine nature to a human nature. He does so that as a man He can, on behalf of all He will save, live the perfectly holy and righteous life that God requires of man to live in His gracious presence. He would love God with all of His heart and all of His soul and all of His strength, and His neighbor as Himself, while suffering all the misfortunes and sinful temptations common to man, yet never yielding to any of them (Philippians 2:5-9) (John 6:38) (Psalm 24:3-6) (Hebrews 4:15).
His life in this world ends on a Roman cross, where He pays the wages, the infinite and agonizing penalty required for sin in His body and soul, taking upon Himself the wrath of God toward man for sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) (2 Peter 2:24) (Isaiah 53:4-7) (Hebrews 2:17).
He did so that all who entrust their lives to Him as Savior and Lord will have their sins fully forgiven, past, present and future, being justified as a gift of His grace, no longer under condemnation for their sin, and so that in the ages to come they can be with Him in Heaven where He will demonstrate to them the exceeding riches of His infinite kindness and grace (Romans 3:24) (Romans 8:1) (Romans 10:9-11) (Ephesians 2:6-7).
Jesus is raised from the dead, the first born of a new creation, a new humanity, who will be restored to the glorious image and likeness of God that had been marred and corrupted by our sin. Restoration is partial while in this world and fully when we see Him at His second coming (2 Corinthians 5:17-19) (1 John 3:1-3). Jesus then ascends to His throne in Heaven where He exercises His sovereign authority over all of His creation (Mark 16:19).
From there Jesus sends God the Holy Spirit into the hearts of all that He has chosen from the foundation of the world, granting them spiritual life, what the Bible refers to as being born again, so that they can see by faith that there is a Kingdom of God; a realm, a reality that is far superior to that of this sin-cursed world, while awakening in them an awareness of the severity of their sin, and granting them a heart of repentance and faith necessary to enter that Kingdom as the beloved children of God. (Acts 2:32-33) (Ephesians 1:3-12) (John 3:3-8) (John 16:7-8) (Ezekiel 36:24-27) (Mark 1:14-15) (Galatians 3:26).
Most importantly, the Holy Spirit opens their spiritual eyes to see by faith, the glory – the excellence, the majesty, the loveliness of the King of that Kingdom, Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory; creating in their heart new affections, new desires and longings such that knowing, loving and being loved by God in Christ, submitting to His will, and doing the things that are pleasing in His sight become the all-consuming passion of their life in this world and the world to come (2 Corinthians 4:5-6) (Philippians 3:7-11) (Psalm 24:7-10) (Psalm 27:4).
St. Augustine, arguably the greatest theologian ever, was as a young man admittedly enslaved to the pleasures of this world, involved in the most shameful of sins. He wrote much in opposition to the belief that man’s will could free him from sin and produce any good thing in him apart from the mercy and grace of God displayed in regeneration, the new creation (Titus 3:3-7). In his autobiography, Confessions, Augustine prays the following in love and gratitude to his gracious and merciful God:
During all the years of my rebellion, where was my free will? What was the hidden secret place from which it (love for Christ) was summoned in a moment so that I might bend my neck to your easy yoke? How sweet all at once for me it was to be rid of those fruitless joys which I once feared to lose…You drove them from me, you who are the true and sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all earthly pleasure (though not to flesh and blood), You Who outshine all light, yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honor, (all that is precious) though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves…O’ Lord my God, you are my light, my wealth, my salvation.
May our deepest desire and all-consuming passion be to know intimately, love supremely and enjoy eternally the infinite love of Him who sits on the throne, and the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world for our sin, Amen.
Grace and Peace x