joh 11v36 Behold How He Love Him

"Behold how He loved him"

John 11:36

When the Jews saw our Lord weeping at Lazarus' tomb, they were astonished. To them, his tears were an evidence of special love. But to us, the great token of our Lord's special love is his shed blood. It might well be said of each blood-bought believer, "Behold how He loved him!"

Child of God, Jesus Christ loves you ETERNALLY. There never was a time when he did not love you. His love for his own is without beginning and without end. It is eternal.

The Son of God loves his own PECULIARLY. I know that God is good and kind to all men. His benevolence reaches to all his creatures. But there is a special, particular, family love which God has for his own elect. He loved Jacob, but not Esau.

The Lord loves his people PERSEVERINGLY. Though we sinned in Adam, were born in sin, and lived in sin by deliberate choice, his love for us was never broken. Though we sin still, after experiencing his grace, his love does not cease or grow cold. His love is patient, longsuffering, lasting, and enduring. God will never cease to love those whom he has always loved. His love is immutable.

Our Savior loves us SACRIFICIALLY. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us." He so loved us that he voluntarily laid down his life in our place: So mighty is his love that, when he knew the price of our souls was his own precious blood, he willingly poured out his life's blood to redeem us!

The Lord Jesus Christ loves all of his people SAVINGLY. The love of Christ for us is much more than a wishful emotion. He so loves his own that he desires their salvation. And what he desires he has the power and wisdom to accomplish. His love is not helpless, but powerful. He will not stand idly by and allow one soul whom he loves to perish, when he has the power to save that soul! Such love as that might suit a cruel monster; but it is not the love of our God.

And the Lord Jesus Christ loves his people SATISFYINGLY. His love will be satisfied. He will never lose the object of his love. Hosea's love did at last conquer Gomer's heart. And the love of Christ will in the end conquer the hearts of all his elect. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power." This special, free, and sovereign love of Christ's will satisfy all his people. He will give us all that we can need or desire for all of eternity. He will withhold no good thing from his own. In that great day which is yet to come, God's creation will stand back in awe and wonder and say, concerning his redeemed people - "BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED THEM:"