Orange Moon "Beloved

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

 

"Beloved"

 

"He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."

 (Ephesians 1:6)

 

   On more than one hundred occasions in the Gospel of  John, the Lord Jesus Christ refers to God either as "the Father," or "My Father".

 

   "I and My Father are one"(John 10:30).

   "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand" (John 3:35).

 

    God has always been a Father.  He has always had a Son.  "From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God… I am the Lord, I change not… Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Psalm 90:2; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8).  Along with the Holy Spirit, this relational being and nature of our triune Lord comprises the very heart of reality, namely, the essence of God Himself.  "We are in Him that is true, even His Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God and eternal life" (I John 5:20).

 

    As a father of two daughters and a son, I know at least a hint of what God feels toward the Lord Jesus. I will not attempt the impossibility of expressing the sensibility and emotions with words.  Even "love" does not fully describe the blessedness of heart I know in being a father to Marie, Noah, and Emmie.   Far more, of course, what God the Father feels for God the Son transcends any understanding we will ever fathom.  This glory of an infinite and eternal devotion of parental love can only result in sublime wonder.  

 

    "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (John 1:14).

 

    However, in the prayer of the Lord Jesus recorded in John 17 just before He suffered and died on the cross, the Lord Jesus reveals another wonder that surely amazes us no less:

 

    "And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me. Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me.  And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:22-26).

 

   Again, words fail. "Thou… hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me."  All who trust the Lord Jesus for salvation become recipients not only of pardon and peace, but of progeny.  We become sons and daughters of the Most High and heirs of the same belovedness known by the Lord Jesus.  "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying Abba Father.  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son" (Galatians 4:6-7).  How much does the Father love the Son?  We will never fully know.  However, we will learn more and more by how much He loves us.   Because according to God's grace and mercy beyond all imagining, He loves us as He loves the Lord Jesus.

 

"The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God."

(John 16:27)

"The love of Christ… passeth knowledge."

(Ephesians 3:19)

 

Weekly Memory Verse

    "Thou hast sent Me and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me."

(John 17:23)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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