"Is the glass half empty or half full?" and other similar expressions, such as the adjectives glass-half-full and glass-half-empty are idioms that contrast an optimistic and pessimistic outlook on a specific situation or on the world at large.
"Half full" of course means optimistic and "half empty" means pessimistic. Consider other perspectives on this:
Some say the glass is half empty and some say the glass is half full.
The engineer says, "The glass is twice the size it needs to be." The journalist says, "You won't believe what's in this glass." The janitor questions why the glass is there and why there is water all over the floor. And the realist says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow.
I do not know quite how to attach each of those to a perspective, but they certainly are different.
This illustrates how different people relate to various circumstances and how other people see the same situation in different ways.
Scripturally, the positive use of "fullness" represents a supreme form of abundance. It is the most satisfying feeling imaginable. In this context, fullness represents an ideal or a goal that the mind aims for and longs for. It suggests lacking nothing and no standard being unattainable.
John 16:24 "Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full."
If good things can be full, so can evil and judgment. Negative qualities can be full, turning the ideal into a terrifying nightmare of God's judgment.
Please turn with me to Matthew 24, verse 21. Now the Bible reveals an ever-widening picture of how dreadful evil becomes when it reaches its fullness. It describes this fullness in many forms: shame, misery, deceit, bribes, boasting, evil, guilt, vengeance, hypocrisy, darkness, bloody hands, poisonous heart, our tongues, and adulterous eyes.
Likewise, entire communities are portrayed as full, cities overflowing with idols and lands steeped in adultery, bloodshed, violence, and injustice.
Notice the significant event preceding Jesus Christ's return according to His own words.
Matthew 24:21-22 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. [so the world will be full of terror] And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved [I add 'alive' there for clarity]; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened."
It is a time of unparalleled horror because evil will be in its fullness. There will be destruction and war the likes of which humanity has never experienced. And this event is a direct precursor to Christ's second coming.
He lovingly returns in power and glory to save mankind from its own destruction. Christ continues this frightening scenario with the Day of the Lord in verse 29 about the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken."
Notice, four times the word "will" is there. This is a guarantee; this is an absolute promise. This will happen. What we have here is a series of incredible events that occur in the heavens, and this is explained in detail in Revelation 16:12-17.
These extraordinary events will terrify people in its fullness. Now these are not mere meteors, comets, solar flares, and eclipses. They are cosmic disturbances that have never been experienced in human history.
Only then does the sign of the Son of Man, of Christ's return, reappear. You remember that the disciples had asked for a sign of Christ's coming or appearance, and now the answer finally comes.
Matthew 24:30-31 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
His arrival will bring significant events in the sky and the appearance of Christ in glory as He returns.
Christ's second coming is commemorated on the Feast of Trumpets. It depicts Christ's intervention in world affairs to establish God's Kingdom on earth. It is both a solemn day and a time of rejoicing, and in both cases, the love of Christ is the underlying foundation of glory and excellence on this day.
On the one hand, it pictures terrifying world events culminating in warfare that will threaten the extinction of all life on this planet. Still, the loving Christ will intervene to prevent the annihilation and ongoing suffering of human beings because of Satan's influence and people's sins.
But on the other hand, it portrays a day of great rejoicing for those faithful firstfruits who have answered God's calling and voluntarily submitted themselves to the government of God.
Please turn to Joel 2, verse 1. Now the loving Christ will begin to set up and reward the firstfruits as kings and priests of the Kingdom of God. And since we are in training to be a kingdom of priests, this is a warning to us. God prophesied through Joel 2, verse 1 concerning the Day of the Lord.
Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound the alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand.
Thus the Day of the Lord, as described, is a process that takes time, culminating in the return of Christ. Notice the broad meaning that the term "day of the Lord" sometimes has.
Now the prophets sometimes use it to refer to any specific period of time in which the God of Israel intervenes in human affairs to save and to judge. In many cases, the day was named after the group of people that were the target of God's intervention.
We find references, for example, about the "day of Midian" and the "day of Egypt." Often the day is named for what God was to do or what was to happen:
"Day of trouble," "day of rebuke," "day of punishment," "day of vengeance," "day of doom," "day of darkness," "day of the Lord's anger." Often, when a prophet has already begun to describe a specific series of God's acts, he will continue his description with a reference to that day.
So in some prophetic text, the Day of the Lord refers to an event so cataclysmic that it designates the end of the present world, as here in Joel 2. And this usage passed over into the New Testament where the Day of the Lord refers to God's judging action when Christ returns at the end of the age.
Now back to Joel 2. Let us continue in verse 2, and we will read down through verse 14.
Joel 2:2-14 A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people [that is, the firstfruits of God's kingdom] come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots over mountain tops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. Before them the people [that is, of the world] writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. They [that is, the saints] run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks.
They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. The earth shakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it? [Here is a call to repentance.] "Now, therefore," says the Lord, "turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him—a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
In verse 13, the word "gracious" expresses God's free love, whereby He shows Himself good to us. And "merciful" there expresses the tender longing of His love over our miseries.
First, Joel says that God is slow to anger and longsuffering, and for a long time He endures the wickedness and rebellion of men and waits patiently for the conversion and repentance of sinners. And then he adds that God has great (abundant) kindness, having many resources and advantages of His tender love whereby He can call them to repentance. Last, Joel tells us that God may revoke His sentence of punishment when His conditions are met in verse 14. Up to Jesus Christ's return, God the Father and His Son are still lovingly offering forgiveness to the war-ravaged people alive on earth who may be willing to repent.
Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 24:12-13 that love will wax cold, "but he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved." Therefore, for the wicked world, love will be destroyed by hardened hearts, but for the faithful, obedient believers, the love of Christ will dwell in our hearts and its glory will be known beyond human comprehension.
On the Feast of Trumpets, we think of the return of Christ with His army of saints as a magnificent conquering event. And that is an accurate assessment of the more visible aspect of the day. However, we must not neglect to realize the spiritual glory of our Lord and Savior. Christ's love is a far more glorious and impressive attitude than anything visible.
Our individual goal must be to be spiritually full and complete in Christ's love, to have been given fullness in Christ, and this requires that we are filled with all the fullness of God.
Colossians 2:9-10 (ESV) For in him [that is, Christ] the whole fullness of deity [the divine nature that is] dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
So Paul emphasizes God's glory filling the earth. He especially finds joy in residing in Zion, describing Christ as the place where God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell and where the complete fullness of divine nature exists in Christ. Furthermore, Christ arrived when the appointed time was fully come to fulfill.
Now God offers His people the most excellent fullness of grace and love and peace and righteousness in Christ, a fullness that satisfies the soul and fills the emptiness left by sin. Fullness as a spiritual quality defines God's actions and character. God's glory and love fill the earth. He is full of compassion and mercy.
James 5:11 Indeed we count them [that is, the prophets] blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
So the spiritual qualities of fullness are often linked with Jesus, with the idea of fulfillment frequently emphasized. Christ came from the Father, full of grace and truth, and through Jesus, the Father revealed to Him in humanity the full extent of His love. Jesus came so that people might have life to the fullest.
Please turn with me to Ephesians 3, verse 14. The apostle Paul's description of the love of Christ magnifies and manifests itself as similar to the width, the length, the depth, and the height of a great temple or building.
The caption in my Bible calls this section "Appreciation of the mystery."
Ephesians 3:14-21 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
So according to the apostle Paul, now that the Ephesian Christians have been "rooted and grounded in love," they "may be fully able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge."
Here in this section of his epistle, Paul is not dealing with our love for God, Christ, and one another, but with His love for us. But before we examine the nature and character of that knowledge, we must consider the knowledge itself and find out what can be known about the love of God.
Here (in Ephesians 3), Paul sets this before us in an extraordinary manner. The terminology used by Paul in and of itself suggests vastness. And there is no doubt that he chose to describe it in this four-dimensional manner to give that very impression. It is interesting to speculate why he decided to do this.
He probably still had in mind what he had been saying at the end of the second chapter of Ephesians before he began on the digression in the 13 verses of this chapter. There, he had been describing the church as a holy temple in the Lord, as a great building that God uses as His dwelling place, and it is probably still in his mind at this time. And as he thought about the vastness of the church as an enormous temple, he saw it as a good way of describing the love of Christ to the brethren. It is similar to the width, the length, the depth, and the height of such a great building.
So Paul was certainly concerned about highlighting the vastness of Christ's love. In doing so, he almost contradicts himself by using a figure of speech known as an oxymoron.
He prays that we may know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. How can you know something that cannot be known? How can you define something so vast that it cannot be measured? What is the point of discussing measurements if it is immeasurable and eternal?
But of course, there is no contradiction here.
What Paul is saying is that, although this this love of Christ is beyond all calculation and comprehension and can never be fully measured, it is still our duty to learn as much as we can and to receive as much of it as we can hold.
Therefore, it is fitting and essential for us to examine this description of Christ's love that Paul provides, and we are about to explore something so glorious and infinite that it will be the focus of all the saints' contemplation, not only in this world but also in the world to come. We will spend eternity in all of it. Yet it is our duty to begin trying to understand it here and now, in this life.
Paul said, "That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge."
The word "comprehend" here is significant when compared with the English word "apprehend." Both comprehend and apprehend stem from the Latin word prehendere, which means "to grasp." We say that a monkey has a prehensile tail and that is its tail can grasp a tree limb and hold on.
Our word comprehend carries the idea of mentally grasping something, while apprehend suggests laying hold of it for yourself. In other words, it is possible to understand something but not really make it your own.
And Paul's concern is that we lay hold of the vast expanses of the love of God. He wants us to think and live in four dimensions.
When God gave the land to Abraham in Genesis 13:17, He told him to walk through the land in the length of it and the breadth of it. Abraham had to step out by faith and claim his inheritance. But we today have an inheritance in four dimensions, width, length, depth, and height, and these four dimensions together make up God's attribute of love, at least in the way that Paul describes it here.
But there is a paradox here. Paul wants us to know the love of Christ personally, which passes knowledge. There are dimensions, but they cannot be measured. "The love of Christ which passes knowledge" parallels "the unsearchable riches of Christ," mentioned in Ephesians 3:8. We are so rich in Christ that our spiritual riches cannot be calculated even with the most sophisticated computer.
No Christian ever has to worry about having inadequate spiritual resources to meet the demands of life. If we pray for spiritual strength and spiritual depth, we will be able to apprehend, that is, get our hands on all the resources of God's love and grace.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
And what is the result of all of this? It is said that nature abhors a vacuum. This explains why air or water will automatically flow into an empty place. The divine nature abhors a vacuum. God wants us to experience His fullness. Remember, Ephesians 3:19 says that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. This is made possible by means of the Holy Spirit, and the measure of our fullness is God Himself.
Let us go ahead one chapter to chapter 4, and we will read verses 11 to 16.
Ephesians 4:11-16 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
It is tragic when Christians use the wrong measurements in examining their own spiritual lives. We like to measure ourselves by the weakest Christians we know and then brag, "Well, I'm better than they are." Paul tells us that the measure is Christ and that we cannot brag about anything—nor should we.
Now our primary defect as Christians is that we fail to realize Christ's love for us, the true depth of it and height and width and so on. We spend time thinking about our activities and our problems, but the most important necessity in our lives is to know Christ's love for us and to meditate on it.
This has always been the spring and the source of the greatest activity that has ever been manifested in the long history of the Christian church. So let us try to look at it in terms of the dimensions that Paul uses.
Paul's description of the love of Christ by using the terms width, length, depth, and height seems to come from the heart. He is impressed with the greatness of Christ's love, and the four words are used to point out the dimensions of that love and are similar to what would be meant if he said that you may know the largeness or how great is that love.
So Paul seems to want to express the strongest sense of the greatness of the love of Christ and to emphatically show how much he desires for us to fully understand it, at least in human terms.
The four dimensions that Paul presents as knowledge and insight into the vastness of Christ's love are not necessarily equated with it. Paul is telling us that the love of Christ exemplified in His fairness to the Gentiles is too large to be confined to any geometrical measurements.
Have you ever considered the width of His love? Or the breadth, as the King James Version translates it? It is wide enough to reach the whole world and beyond. The width of Christ's love seems to suggest His reaching out with divine mercy to sinners who are far from God.
Isaiah records what God said about people who do not seek Him and walk according to their own human reasoning.
Isaiah 65:1-2 "I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am,' to a nation that was not called by My name. [That is, the Gentile nations.] I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way that is not good, according to their own thoughts."
Isaiah 45:22 "Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other."
So God's love is wide enough to reach the whole world, and God invites people whom He calls from all nations to renounce their idols and worship Him alone.
There are several other places in Scripture where this particular dimension is strikingly put before us. Revelation 5, verse 9, if you will turn with me there. In the book of Revelation, for instance, are the words describing the whole world.
Revelation 5:9-10 And they sang a new song, saying: "You [that is, Christ] are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth."
The book of Revelation seems to be particularly interested in the width of Christ's love, because it gives us the picture of the glorified saints and of the Son of God with His redeemed.
Now turn over two chapters to Revelation 7, verse 9 where it says,
Revelation 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
So as Christians, we are just a small fraction of the people in the world today, only a tiny percentage. That thought sometimes makes us feel discouraged and down.
The solution is to consider the width of Christ's love. The main reason the Jews during the apostle's time failed was that they never understood this particular aspect. They believed salvation was only for the Jews. However, those among them whose eyes were opened by the Spirit, including Paul, once shared this exclusive Jewish perspective.
But the apostles realized that the narrow, naturalistic view it was completely wrong and that in Christ there is no division of race or ethnicity. Colossians 3:11 tells us that there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised.
Nothing is more encouraging and invigorating than knowing that even in these days of apostasy there are people around the world, despite differences in color and culture and background and almost everything else, who gather regularly to worship God and thank Him for His loving Son and great salvation—right now around the world. In glory, we will all be amazed at this, and we realize what the love of God and Christ has accomplished despite sin, human nature, and Satan.
We find it difficult to thoroughly understand the greatness of His plan of salvation and scope. In Luke's gospel, we are told that certain people came to Christ one day and asked the question found in Luke 13:23, "Then one said to Him, 'Lord, are there few who are saved?'"
We do not know exactly the answer to that question today. But we do know that Scripture teaches we will be amazed when we see all the redeemed gathered in the fullness of the Gentiles and of the fullness of the Israelites. And the saved standing in the presence of the Redeemer.
It is no surprise that the apostle Paul prayed so earnestly for the Ephesian Christians to understand. Because this changes our entire perspective when we feel discouraged, tempted to doubt if there is any future for the church, considering we are only a small group, although worldwide, but a very small group. The answer is to look at the width of Christ's love, to look ahead, to look into the glory, and see the final result of His finished work.
Once we begin to realize the width of His love, our whole attitude must become positive and uplifted again. We recognize that we have the precious privilege of being just one humble member of a mighty army who will spend eternity in the presence of the Lamb of God and enjoy the width, the fullness of His love forever.
Now let us consider the length of His love. It is long enough to stretch from eternity to eternity.
It seems that Paul specified these particular measurements to encourage the Ephesians, and us through them, to work this out in our minds.
To meditate upon the love of God in an abstract manner is not very beneficial. We need to work through the details as it has been revealed. The length reflects the infinite nature of God's love.
Please turn with me to I John 4. According to the Scriptures, Christ has feelings and affection, and we must understand our view of Christ's love as it is revealed in God the Father's love from the special revelation He has given of Himself, which declares His love as strongly as His existence.
Here in I John 4 we are going to read verses 7 through 10.
I John 4:7-10 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
God is love, and the Scriptures contain no equivalent statements with respect to other qualities of the divine nature. Love is the highest characteristic of God and the one attribute in which all others harmoniously blend.
The love of God and Christ is greater than mere kindness or benevolence. The love of Christ underpins everything He has done and is doing, even though many facts exist that we cannot fully understand due to our limited knowledge.
Turn over to Jeremiah 31, verse 3, please.
The greatest revelation and ultimate proof of divine love is in redemption. God the Father's love and His Son's love is everlasting. Have you ever considered the eternity of Christ's love toward us? The length of His love reaches from eternity to eternity.
What does that mean? Our minds cannot grasp it.
Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you."
So it is hard to take comfort from former blessings when you are under present curses, but God assures us of the consistency of His love. God has loved us not only with an ancient love for our ancestors but with an everlasting love, a love that will never fail. However, the comforts of it may be suspended for a while, or at least seem to.
It is an everlasting love; therefore, He has shown lovingkindness to us as well as our ancestors, as I said, so it is continuous. Nothing can separate us from that love. God's love is continual loving kindness to us.
Now the dimension of length reminds us that this love exists in eternity. It is always there and always will be.
Being practical is very important in life, but we must think things through first. A person who rushes into action without knowing anything about what they are about to do is considered foolish.
Please turn to Ephesians 1, verse 3. Before time, before the creation of the world and mankind, an agreement was made between God the Father and His Son, and it concerned the salvation of those who would be saved through Christ. Man's sin was foreseen, and everything was known. The Son, as the representative of this new humanity, entered into a covenant with His Father to save and redeem us. The Father covenanted with the Son to grant certain privileges and blessings to the people who were now given to His Son.
It is important to meditate on these things. When we do, we realize that the love of Christ for His own people began before time, long before the world was created. Christ's love for us did not suddenly come into existence, it was there before the beginning of time. Therefore, we read that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
This is truly astonishing that we were known by Christ before time began, and every one of us who belongs to Him was known to Him. What a dignity it adds to human life and to our existence in this world to know that He has set His heart on us, that His affections rested on us even in eternity!
Now that is the beginning, if such a term as possible, of the length of His love for us before time. But let us consider the dimension of length as it works out in life in this world.
The love of Christ for His own is eternal. It began in eternity, and it continues in time. So we can always be sure that it will never change, never vary, and always stays the same. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, and His love is always the same.
There are no interruptions in it. This length is an unbroken line. Whatever may happen, it continues. It is not a variable, it is a constant, and it does not suddenly cease. It is a love that never gives up on us or lets us go. It is a love that never despairs of us.
One of the clearest examples of this element of dimension is found in Christ's own Parable of the Prodigal Son. And even though the younger son was foolish and went to a distant land, rejecting the love he had received at home and wasting his money in reckless and shameful pleasures of that faraway country, his father still loved him. So his father was waiting for his return, and when he did, he showered blessings on him.
This is a shadowy picture of Christ's love and His own patient, long suffering, bearing with us, and never giving up on us. It is a love that follows us wherever we go, and He will not abandon us. God says, "I will never, never, never leave you nor forsake you."
Please turn to Romans 8, verse 38.
Of course, we must think on and meditate on this love and reflect on it. It is because we fail to do so that we sometimes tend to think He has forgotten us or that He has left us. And when troubles and problems and trials come and we face difficulties and disappointments, we tend to ask, where is His love?
The answer is that it is there, always there, and the fault is in us that we cannot see it and have not meditated on it—that we have not realized its eternal character and have not grasped its dimensions of length.
The apostle Paul expresses this truth in these words in,
Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing can ever cause the love of God to change or to fail. If He has set His heart and His affection on us, nothing will ever be able to pluck us out of His hand. Nothing will ever rob us of that love—nothing!
Please turn to Hebrews 7, verse 25. This will continue even into eternity. It has started in eternity, and it manifests itself in time, and it goes on again into eternity. And this line is unbroken. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews, which we believe is Paul, states that Christ has an eternal priesthood.
Hebrews 7:25-26 Therefore He [that is, Christ] is also able to save to the uttermost [or to the fullness] those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens.
He will save us to the uttermost. Nothing will be left undone, and whatever may happen, His love for His own will continue.
Jesus Christ keeps making intercession for us. He is not like the earthly priests of the Old Testament who entered and exited the holiest of all. They lived, performed, and died, and others had to take their place. But Christ is always there and always will be. That gives us some idea of the length of His love.
Now let us examine the depth of His love.
It is deep enough to rescue people from sin's degradation and even from the grip of Satan himself. As we look at each dimension, we are tempted to say that the depth is the most wonderful of all, but the truth is that each one is wonderful, of course.
Please turn to Philippians 2, verse 5. As we reflect on the depth, it is wise to consider that the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, where he shows the depth of Christ's love, can be seen in two main ways: what He did and what He suffered.
First, in what He did! The depth of His love is shown in rescuing sinners from condemnation.
This is about the humbled and exalted Christ.
Philippians 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on the earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Throughout eternity, Christ is in the form of God. He was God the Son in the bosom of the Father from all eternity. But Paul tells us that He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. This means that He recognized that He had given up something very important to Him—His equality with God.
But He willingly humbled Himself, He divested Himself of those signs of His eternal glory, and He entered this world of sin and shame in the likeness of man, in the form of a man. This is entirely beyond fully understanding; as Paul says, it is the love of Christ which passes knowledge. He deliberately chose not to cling to what He had the right to keep, but instead humbled Himself, took on human nature, and lived as a man in this world.
We will next consider what He endured at the hands of men: misunderstanding, hatred, malice, and spite, jeering at Him, spitting in His most holy face. Imagine cruel men condemning Him to death and scourging Him. He was nailed to the tree and endured thirst and pain.
What a terrible moment He had when all our sins were laid on Him! He even lost sight of the face of His Father for the one and only time and died and was buried and laid in a grave. He, the One who spoke creation into existence, lay dead in a grave.
Why did He do all of this? Because of His love for us, as you well know. And that is when we start to see the depth of His love. His love is proven to be greater, deeper, and more profound when we remember that there was nothing in us to call forth such love. All we like sheep have gone astray. We all come short of the glory of God.
Please turn to Romans 3:10. To gain a true understanding of our previous state and condition, as well as the depth of His love, let us consider what Paul tells us about the state of humanity before God's grace in Christ took hold of us.
Romans 3:10-12 As it is written, "There is none righteous, no not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one."
It was for such people that Christ came, endured the cross, and despised the shame. He did this all for sinners, for His enemies, for those who were full of sin, and who had nothing to commend them—and that is the measure of the depth of His love.
Thankfully we have moved on from that, we are trying to overcome those things and not be that way.
Now turn please to Ephesians 2, verse 4. That brings us in turn to the height of His love. By this dimension, Paul expresses God's ultimate and final purpose for us. Or we could say that this is how He describes the height to which God intends to lift us. It is high enough to elevate both Israelite and Gentile to sit together in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Flip over to II Timothy 4, verse 7. The height of His love consists in redeeming us, making us heirs of God, and ultimately bringing us to glory. And there is even a sense of greatness in the crown we receive which will elevate our stature.
II Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Now flip over to another passage, Romans 5, verse 8. Many people in cultural Christianity tend to see salvation solely as forgiveness, as if Christ's love merely grants them forgiveness for their sins, and those who stop there failed to realize the greatness of Christ's love.
Romans 5:8-11 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
So something of this magnitude is evident in the fact that He died not only so that we might be forgiven but also so that we might be justified. He died not only to have our sins blotted out but also that we might be reconciled. He died not merely to save us from punishment, but to give us eternal life.
But also He died so that we might become children of God and sons of God. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. This is His purpose for us, and everything He did was with that goal in mind. Furthermore, the height of His love causes the same Holy Spirit that is in Him to dwell in us.
Please turn over to Philippians 3, verse 20. Christ's love for us is so unlimited that He has actually joined us to Himself. We are united with Christ. He has made us part of Himself, of His own body.
Philippians 3, we will read verses 20 and 21. These are all very familiar scriptures to you. Put together, they are very encouraging, to say the least.
Philippians 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to even subdue all things to Himself.
That is why we were made alive with Him, raised with Him, and are seated in the heavenly places with Him. He intends to redeem us completely, fully. Christ's love for us knows no bounds. His desire is for us to be with Him and to see that glory which He shares with the Father for all eternity.
Please turn over to I John 3. He is not satisfied with merely forgiving us and delivering us from sin, Satan, and the world. Christ wants us to be with Him in glory and to spend eternity there. The apostle John, in his first epistle, describes this height.
I John 3:1-2 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
In a physical sense, a lover always wishes that the object of their love might share all their privileges, and it is the same with Jesus Christ with His bride, all the privileges and blessings and enjoyments. And so Christ desires that we may share in some of His eternal glory. So when is He satisfied?
Ephesians 5:27 That He might present to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
That is where He will bring us to.
Please turn over to Ephesians 3, verse 17. This is His purpose for the church and for everyone He loves. We will be glorified in Him. There will be no fault, no blemish, and no wrinkle. Our hearts and minds are learning "to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge; that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God." We will be perfect, complete, filled with all the fullness of God.
Many have made a weak effort to truly see the love of Christ. Christ has perfect love for God's church as a flawless united body and for its faithful members individually.
So once again we will read Ephesians 3, verses 17 through 19.
Ephesians 3:17-19 That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Paul recognizes, of course, that he is trying to measure the unmeasurable and therefore paradoxically prays that the Ephesian Christians may come to know the love that is ultimately unknowable. It surpasses knowledge. It exceeds understanding. It is incomprehensible to the human mind.
For a final scripture, please turn to I John 4, verse 18. It originates and flows from an entirely different realm where normal rational fears cannot function.
I John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.
The absence of fear in love does not exclude the presence and positive influence of the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of knowledge. Here, John refers to fear of death and final judgment. However, he notes in the previous verse that love gives us boldness on the day of judgment.
I John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
So God's perfect love for His people drives out the fear of wrath and final judgment. Love that is complete, or love that is allowed to exert its proper influence on the heart and mind delivers the mind from anxiety and with love. When love exists in an absolute perfect state, it is entirely free from all dread, everything dreadful.
Christ's love exceeds human understanding. If Christ dwells in us, we can recognize it because the Holy Spirit empowers us. As both the result and fulfillment of Christ's love, our desires to be filled to the measure of the divine fullness. The apostle Paul prayed without ceasing that the Ephesian Christians might "with all saints comprehend what is the width and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge."
Now the Feast of Trumpets, on one hand, pictures terrifying world events culminating in warfare that will threaten the extinction of all life on this planet, but the loving Christ intervenes to prevent the annihilation and ongoing suffering of humanity because of Satan's influence and people's sins.
On the other hand, it depicts a day of great joy for the faithful firstfruits who have answered God's call and willingly submitted themselves to the authority and majesty of the great God. The loving Christ will begin to establish God's government on earth and reward the firstfruit saints as kings and priests of God's Kingdom. God's Feast of Trumpets is both a solemn day and a time of rejoicing.
In either case, the love of Christ remains central to our glory and excellence for now and the future. So may God grant us rejoicing in knowing the fullness of the love of Christ.
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