Thinking on John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.”
What an astounding statement! Scripture tells us that the Father is Agape love, which flows without reference to the state of the object. So the Father loves Jesus primarily because the essence of the Father’s nature is to love with an ever-flowing love that is rich, deep, wholehearted, unreserved, powerful, intimate and pure.
In addition, God the Father loves the Son because Jesus is the perfect, obedient, willing One who is beautiful in holiness, lovely in grace, pleasing in perfection and delightful in all He does.
The Father loves the Son eternally, forever and ever, without reservation, without hesitation, with full hope, total trust, complete delight and continual rejoicing. He loves the Son perfectly, pristinely, positively, powerfully and persistently. His love can never be thwarted, lessened, diverted or ended.
And this is the way that Jesus loves us: an amazing, astounding, magnificent, gracious truth. In ourselves we are certainly not like Jesus, giving no substantive reason for Him to love us: naturally we are selfish, sinful, rebellious, and, well, repulsive. This old nature still dwells in us (if you think otherwise, take a look at your attitudes, words and actions over the last day!).
Yet, Jesus loves us as the Father loves Him. This is partly true because it is the nature of Jesus to love unconditionally with Agape love, without reference to our performance or essence. In addition, since we are in Christ, He has imputed to us His righteousness, His beauty, His purity, His obedience as we stand before Him redeemed, forgiven, cleansed, transformed and purified.
This all means that, with His whole being, Jesus loves us with a love that is rich, deep, wholehearted, unreserved, powerful, intimate and pure. In addition, in Him we are beautiful in holiness, lovely in grace, pleasing in perfection and delightful in His sight. He loves us eternally, forever and ever, without reservation, without hesitation, with great hope, total delight and continual rejoicing. He loves us perfectly, pristinely, positively, powerfully and persistently. His love for us can never be thwarted, lessened, diverted or ended.
That is more than we could ever hope for or imagine, yet it is true, a truth we should delight in, bask in, revel in, rejoice in and live in each moment, rejecting what we and the world tell us about ourselves. It is Jesus’ command that we, “… remain in my love.” His love never stops, it is always there, but we can choose to step out of its flow or we can abide in it, “If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love” “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:10,12). Let’s choose to remain!
What a God we have! To Him be glory and honor forever!
