True Love for the Unseen King, a Gift from Above
Though you have not seen him, you love him.
Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and
rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Though we do not see Him now, the redeemed take hold of Christ with an active, trusting conviction, namely faith, that Christ is Savior and Lord.
Though we do not see Him yet, the redeemed rejoice in our King because of our active, expecting hope of righteousness on Christ’s merit alone, conferred by God’s power alone, in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham according to God’s Word of truth alone.
Though we have not seen Him, the redeemed love their Redeemer, Christ the King, with a true love that comes from Above and not from below.
Yes, the redeemed share an active, abiding faith in, hope upon, and love for, our King, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
From whence does the redeemed’s true love for Christ come? This true love for Christ comes from Above, as a gift from God, as it is written:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Like Christ Himself, true love for Christ is from Above, and not from below, for true love for Christ positively knows Him as:
True love for the Son flows from a true love for the Father, as it is written:
But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me.
If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
And again, it is written:
Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.
It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
But you have not known him. I know him.
If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you,
but I do know him and I keep his word.[”]
True Love (and thus true love for Christ) is the first and chief fruit of the Spirit of God that the redeem bear, as it is written:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
against such things there is no law.
No man can even confess loving fidelity to Christ as LORD, except by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore I make known to you that
no one speaking by the Spirit of God says,
“Jesus is accursed”;
and no one can say,
“Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
Thus, true love for Christ is:
From the Father,
For the Son,
By the Holy Spirit.
A threefold gift from our Triune God!
With a regenerated heart, redeemed man receives from Above, and bears by the Spirit, true love for Christ following his quickened soul’s faithful response to the command of the One named I AM WHO I AM.
And this is the command of God: Kiss the Son and put your trust in Him, lest you perish in His wrath.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
Photo by Kladyk/iStock / Getty Images
And this is the judgment of God for all that do not possess true love for Christ His Son: Anathema!
If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be accursed.
O Lord, come!
And how is one to know whether professed love for Christ is true?
By its fruit, for true love for Christ cannot bear false fruit, nor can false professed love for Christ bear good fruit.
You will recognize them by their fruits.
Are grapes gathered from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles?
So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
True love for Christ abides in His Love and in loving obedience to Him.
One who professes love for Christ but does not abide in Him and does not obey Him has no true love for Christ. Because he is apart from Christ, such a dead and dried branch bears no fruit for Christ. He shall be thrown away from Christ, and shall be cast into the fire by the Father.
I am the vine, you are the branches;
he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit,
for apart from Me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up;
and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
Hearts of men lay bare before Him to Whom all must give account for true love for Christ, or not.
It is written:
And there is no creature hidden from His sight,
but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
So, from whence does false professed love for Christ come?
It comes from below, from Self in strife and war against God.
Professed love for Christ without kissing the Son and trusting in Him is wrought by a lower passion for one that is not Christ at all, but an idol of man’s own choosing, forming, filling, and exploiting.
Professed love for Christ apart from trusting obedience to the living God is self-serving and self-deceiving.
Professed love for Christ without an indwelling of the Spirit of God is fickle, fleeting, and impotent.
Professed love for Christ while at enmity with the living God is imagined, twisted, and moved by carnal passions, earthly ambitions, and spiritual darkness.
Professed love for Christ by one that rejects the Triune God and His enthroned, exalted King of Glory is faithless, hopeless, loveless, and lawless.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Many will say to Me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name,
and in Your name cast out demons,
and in Your name perform many miracles?’
And then I will declare to them,
‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’