THE WORKINGS OF DIVINE LOVE
Keith D Drever
John 3: 35
Matthew 17: 5
John 17: 22-26
Jude 1: 20, 21
We had hymn 348 on Lord’s day morning. I was impressed that the hymn was sung to the Father Himself.
How good and great, O Father,
Thy wondrous thoughts are shown!
Concealed from wise and prudent,
Revealed to babes alone.
But having understanding,
And Spirit-given joy,
To bless Thee, God our Father,
We heart and voice employ.
Father, Thine own Son praised Thee,
Of heav’n and earth the Lord!
Thy sovereign operations
Great joy to Thee afford:
For all those coming to Him -
The meek and lowly Man -
Are held by Him for ever,
The fruit of Thy great plan.
Each knowing Thee as Father
Revealed so by the Son -
We share His joy before Thee
In all that Thou hast done.
The Son Thou, Father, knowest;
But in that Man so blest,
To whom Thou’st given all things,
Our souls find perfect rest.
The thought came to me as to the workings of divine love. Any understanding of divine love has been made known to us through the Lord Jesus because divine love was set out in Him.
The first scripture we read says, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”. What a One, dear brethren, for the Father to put His complete and full trust in. There is no one like that in this world. We see what is happening around us, all the problems and issues of men; no one that could come even close to this divine standard: “has given all things to be in his hand”. What a standard of love, what a One that can maintain that standard of love, the Lord Jesus Himself, because of who He is, the blessed Son of God. What a One for God to make Himself known through in love. What a way He made it known by His going into death! His pathway here was in total, complete and full devotion to the Father’s will, totally pleasing to Him. He was making known divine love. I trust first of all for myself, dear brethren, that divine love has come into each one of our hearts, and drawn us to the Lord Jesus.
In Matthew 17, the Father makes that love known in such a wonderful way. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight: hear him”. What a One He could take pleasure in! The Spirit descended upon Him in other scriptures, as a dove descending on the Lord Jesus. How fully and completely the Spirit could descend on such a One because He was pleasurable to heaven, in making divine love known. Divine love can come near to each one of us. Divine love can characterise and work within each of our hearts, and each of our spirits, in working out our pathway here. The Lord Jesus was such a One; the Father had complete and full delight in Him. The Lord Jesus would delight to make known that character of love to each one of us.
John 17 is a favourite chapter of mine. We see the Lord Jesus, in chapter 15, 16 and 17, these great chapters where the Lord Jesus is preparing His disciples for His going away. Here He is praying to the Father. He is making the divine plan and divine love known. He says, “the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one”. We have been taught that this refers to the glory of sonship. What an operation of divine love, that we should be brought into the position of sonship. I think we have also been taught that sonship is really the highest relation in which we stand to God, JT vol 67 p592. What an attractive position, dear brethren. It goes on to say, “I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me”. That is the blessing that we receive, dear brethren: “thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me”; what a character of divine love! We can be loved as the Lord Jesus was loved. He has made that known by the way that He has gone.
The Lord Jesus goes on to say, “Father, as to those whom thou hast given me”; what a One in whose hands to be, the hands of the Lord Jesus, to direct and care for us. ”I desire that where I am they also may be with me”, a relation of sonship, “that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me”. The Lord Jesus stands pre-eminent in that place: “that they may behold my glory” - that is the glory that the Lord Jesus has been given as the blessed Son of God - “which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”. What a thought, the love which the Lord Jesus was loved with: there is not much said about it, but it goes back before the foundation of the world. What those relationships were is not revealed, but we know that love was there. The divine character of love goes back before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, - and the world has not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.” We are conscious of knowing that the Lord Jesus has been sent. “I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me”. What a blessed Man to fulfil the Father’s will and to make the Father’s love known: “I have made known to them thy name”. Think of how the Lord Jesus speaks to His own when He was here, expressing the character of His Father: “and will make it known; that the love with which thou has loved me may be in them and I in them”. What a standard, that the love of the Lord Jesus, “the love with which thou hast loved me”, the Father’s love made known to us in the Lord Jesus, may be in each one of us and the Lord Jesus in each one of us. I think it is a wonderful thing to know and experience the love of the Lord Jesus. We have the Spirit. The Spirit was sent once the Lord Jesus had ascended into heaven; the Spirit was given to make these blessed truths known in us and by us.
This scripture in Jude was on the text calendar this morning, and I thought it fitted very well: “But ye, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith”. We have been speaking about faith: “building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit”. What a strength and power we have. I feel tested because I do not use the power of the Holy Spirit enough. I am tested about these things as to how much I display the character of the love of God. It says, “praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God”. What a standard that is: “keep yourselves in the love of God”. That would be how we walk on our day-to-day pathways, how we move about with one another, how we gather when we come together, every character of our life; and I feel tested by that.
I was impressed by these characters of divine workings, this character of divine thoughts, divine love; that all three divine Persons would desire to help us to appreciate and to know and prove the blessedness of these characters of the love of the Father and of the Lord Jesus. May we be encouraged by these simple thoughts, dear brethren, for His Name’s sake.
Word in a meeting for ministry, Calgary
9th February 2022