"Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee"(Ps. 73:25).

As we approach this study of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, we come with bowed heads and humbled hearts. We realize our own unworthiness and inability to treat of Him, Who was the Son of God and God, the Son. Nevertheless our hearts are so filled with adoration and praise to Him Who bought us with His own precious blood that we cannot keep silent. We desire to exalt Him and lift Him up, so that all may see the worth and beauty of our matchless Lord. May the Holy Spirit illumine His holy Word and teach us more of Him, Who truly was God manifest in the flesh.

THE LOVE OF CHRIST

"Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly condemned" (Song of Sol. 8:7), "He brought me to the banqueting house and His banner over me was love" (Song of Sol. 2:4). "The Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

After sin had come into man's heart in the form of disobedience and had left its curse upon those who had been created in the image of God, God in love promised to send a Redeemer that the awful curse of sin might be removed. God had His well-beloved Son Who dwelt with Him in light unapproachable (John 17:5). In heaven the seraphim veiled their faces for even they could not gaze upon the holiness and glory of God. (Isa. 6:1-3). The Divine Son of God had worked with the Father in the creation of the world. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all things and by Him all things consist" (Col. 1:16,17). The Son's place had been in the bosom of the Father, the place of tenderest love and affection (John l:18).

God looked down upon fallen man, wrecked by Satan's wiles. God's glory, as well as His love, required that the enemy be overcome. First, a just penalty for his guilt must be paid. But who could pay that penalty? Surely no member of a fallen humanity. They had nothing to offer to atone for their sin. In the presence of God they could only hide themselves. A perfect One must be found, One so faultless and blameless that by dying, the Innocent for the guilty, He might appease God's righteous wrath, atone for the sin of man and open up a way of approach to God. There was only One in the universe Who could make a perfect sacrifice. He was God's only Son. He was the Lamb of God's providing which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He was the One Whom God in His counsels had foreordained to be the Redeemer of a lost and guilty race (Acts 2:23).

The Son was one with the Father in the eternal counsels of grace and glory. He came to accomplish them, as He said, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God" (Heb. 10:7). "Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father ye would love me; for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent me" (John 8:42). O, that was wonderful! God, the Son, was willing to lay aide all His glory and come to a sin-cursed earth for us. Have you ever stopped to consider what it would have meant if He had refused to come? He had power and honor which far transcended any earthly pomp and splendor we have ever seen. Angels adored and worshiped Him. He could speak and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. "When I consider Thy heavens the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" (Psa. 8:3, 4).

How it hushes our hearts and humbles us when we realize how far down Jesus had to stoop to raise us up.

"He held the highest place above,
Adored by all the sons of flame,
Yet such His self-denying love,
He laid aside His crown and came
To seek the lost,
And, at the cost
Of heavenly rank and earthly fame,
He sought me.-Blessed be His Name!"

Are we willing to go to the slums, pick a man out of the gutter and tell him of the wonderful salvation through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, our Lord? Are we willing to minister to those whose lives have become foul by sin in order to lift them up by the power of the gospel? We shudder when we see the effects of sin and often draw our skirts aside and pass by on the other side. Suppose the holy Son of God had done that! Suppose He had looked down upon the world at the time of His incarnation, a world sunk in sin and degradation greater perhaps, than at any other time, and had refused to come. If He had refused, we would have been lost eternally, without God and without hope in the world. But praise His glorious Name, He came-came freely and willingly.

"It was a lonely path He trod,
From every human soul apart,
Known only to Himself and God
Was all the grief that filled His heart;
Yet from the track,
He turned not back,
'Till where I lay in want and shame,
He found me.-Blessed be His Name!"

We ask what prompted Him to come for such a bitter task? What led Him to be willing to be born as a baby with human flesh in order that He might die? As we scan the pages of the Bible for an answer to these questions, we can see one great compelling force behind His sacrifice. It was love. Who can fathom, measure or begin to understand the boundless love of God as it is revealed to us in Jesus Christ, our Lord? It was Jesus' love for the Father which prompted Him to come. He says in John 5:30, "I can of mine own self do nothing; as I hear I judge; and my judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will but the will of the Father which hath sent Me." And in John 14:31, "That the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do." Then, it was His great love for us which led Him to walk this earth in lowly grace and dying, take the guilty sinner's place. "Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down His life for us" (1 John 3:16). "God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).

"Then dawned at last that day of dread
When, desolate, yet undismayed,
With wearied frame and thorn-crowned head,
He, now forsaken and betrayed,
Went up for me,
To Calvary,
And, dying there is grief and shame,
He saved me.-Blessed be His Name!"

O, the love of Jesus Christ, our Lord! All the words in our vocabulary could not adequately define or explain that infinite love. We cannot even fully comprehend it. Our sinful natures tend to lower our concepts, and even our loftiest thoughts cannot rise to the sublime heights that we should like them to attain as we contemplate the love of Christ. When we have laid aside all that is earthly and carnal and are wearing our bodies of glory in heaven, then, I think, we will realize, as we have never been able to before, what Christ's love has accomplished for us. Surely His love passes knowledge.

O, Thou matchless Son of God, Jesus, our ever-blessed Saviour, our hearts are filled with wonder that Thou couldst love us. We know that we are as nothing in comparison to Thee. Thou art love. It is one of Thy wondrous attributes, and because Thou art love Thou canst love us. O, how we prize Thy love! It is more to us than gold, silver and precious stones. Wilt Thou fill our hearts with divine love like Thine, that we may be able to reveal something of Thyself to others? Amen.

THE JOY OF CHRIST

"In Thy presence is fulness of joy. At Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11).

We are so apt to think that our blessed Lord went about, when He was on earth, with saddened face and downcast mien. I think the artists' conceptions of our Lord have given rise to this grave error. Surely a melancholic type of man would not have appealed to hardy fisherman, and little children would not have flocked to one of woeful countenance. We have every reason to believe that our Lord's life was full of joy. Having voluntarily pledged Himself to redeem mankind, He set about His task joyously. His mind dwelt continually upon the joyous fruit of His work. "Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). He could see into the future and knew just what the result would be. He could see a great company of redeemed, cleansed and sanctified by His precious blood. "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy-for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation" (Rev. 5:9). This was the cause of His joy.

We have no record of murmur or complaint from Him, Who had fewer friends, received more slights, and suffered more privations than any man on earth. Joy filled His soul, joy-because He was to accomplish God's purposes for mankind, joy-because He knew He was delighting and pleasing the Father by His perfect submission and obedience. He alone could say, "For I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29). "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:38-40). Is it not wonderful that our Saviour gave His life for us joyfully and willingly, not grudgingly nor of necessity! "For even Christ pleased not Himself, but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on Me" (Rom. 15:3). The Lord Jesus Christ could not have given grudgingly for He was God manifest in the flesh, and our God delights to give.

Joy, such as our Saviour manifested is truly a divine attribute. It is something beyond our ken and we could not understand it, were it not so graciously displayed in the life of our Lord. We who have received Him into our hearts have felt a similar joy. We know, by experiencing the joy of the Lord in our hearts, something of the joy that the Lord Jesus Christ had in His ministry for us. "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11). "For the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh. 8:10).

Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the joy of Christ. We thank Thee that He finished His mission with joy, and has called upon us to exhibit this spirit of joy in our lives. O, may we be faithful forth-tellers and witnesses for our Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sin of the world. We ask it in His precious Name. Amen. E. W. Carlisle

(To be continued, D. V.)