Ephesians
3:17-19, "That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and ground in
love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what
is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And
to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."
This morning, once again we find our thoughts in the
midst of the love of God, which is such a deep and
vast subject that I fail to see how anyone could think
it has been investigated enough, talked about too
much, or preached to its fullest extent. When people
speak of sermons carrying the same points or the
message having similar concepts, many times it comes
in a negative connotation. While we must seek to
teach all the counsel of God, we must never think that
a particular subject has been exhausted to the fullest
extent of our minds. This subject, above all, is
measureless and without bound. Therefore, let us
examine it again from the perspective that Paul
describes to pull back some aspects of the beauty that
shine forth in the face of our Dear Husband Jesus
Christ.
Paul is finishing this chapter in the form of a
prayer for the church, and the remainder of the book
is full of instruction in righteousness to the church
at Ephesus. So, Paul is doing a great summation in
this prayer of the things that he has been striving to
communicate for these three chapters. The theme of
the book to this point has been the love of God that
began before time, was manifest in both a legal and
vital way through the cross and regeneration.
Finally, it is manifest to the churches today in
outward form in preaching of these things to further
instruct the flock in the things that God has done for
them. This love cries "grace, grace" and "life, life"
throughout each thread and string. Therefore, the
love that we are searching must be done where grace
and life have preceded. To instruct someone about the
concepts of grace and life, they must first be
possessors of that grace and life, or all is in vain.
Paul describes four dimensions in his exhortation to
the church to examine in relation to God's love. We
need to examine its breadth, length, height, and
depth. While we know that our understanding will
never reach the full extent while on this side of
heaven and immortal glory (since Paul describes it as
"which passeth knowledge"), yet our aim should be to
learn and study as much as we can about it. Jeremiah
9 declares that we are blessed to know and understand
God. Therefore, it is not an advanced science thatthe more we learn the more blessed we are. The more
we learn about the goodness, love, and even severity
of God, the better equipped we are to serve Him in
newness of life. So, let us examine the four
dimensions in a brief way to see some of this rich and
unsearchable beauty.
The first two dimensions are the breadth and length.
We know from geometry that length describes how long
something is, while the breadth describes how wide
something is. So, how long and wide is the love of
God? We understand that the Lord told Jeremiah of an
everlasting love, which is (in most cases) synonymous
with eternal. If God's love is eternal in length,
then we are to understand that the length goes on
forever. In geometry, there is a concept called a
"line." A line is without beginning or end, and goes
to infinity in either direction. Such is the love God
in scope. We cannot find the beginning of God's love,
so by qualitative comparison, we cannot find the end
of His love either. That is its length, so how wide
is His love? The width of His love is just as
measureless as the length for man to discover. His
love takes in every object of His love that Scripture
tells us an innumerable host out of every kindred,
tongue, people, and nation. (Revelation 5:9) No man
can number that heavenly host, and it is far greater
than the number that have ever set foot in a true
church's public worship service. His love extends
beyond what man can do. His love extends beyond where
man can go. God's love reaches the unreachable, and
it loves the unlovable.
So, having spoken of the length and width of His
love, what do we make of the other two dimensions?
The other two dimensions declare how the first two
were accomplished. The height of God's love is seen
by the incarnation of Jesus. When He left heaven and
immortal glory, He came down from the very throneroom
of God to walk this low ground of sin and sorrow for
33.5 years. What height is heaven above the earth?
Isaiah 55:10 tells us that the height of heaven above
the earth is the height of God's ways above our ways.
Indeed, this expanse is further than our minds can
understand, but yet Christ willingly came down for the
purpose of not only manifesting the love of God but
sealing the love of God for every one whose names were
encompassed in its breadth. I cannot imagine being in
the presence of all the heavenly host and then coming
to where wretched sinners dwell. Yet, this love for
us showed what true humility is all about. For, when
He came, He did not enslave His people (as He could
have by Divine right), but He rather ministered unto
them and showed pity and compassion to them.
So, now that we have investigated the first three,
what is left? What is the depth (deepness) of God's
love? We find that God is a God of justice. He has
never (nor will ever) overlook one sin that has ever
been committed. So, where does justice get served for
the ransomed heirs of grace that were measured and
written before time began? If heaven to earth is the
height, then earth to hell is the depth. If it was
not humbling enough to suffer leaving to come
to earth, Christ humbled Himself even further to be
made a shame and reproach even to the death of the
cross. This curse (hanging upon a tree) also took in
the most awesome suffering that has ever been known.
Christ bore our justice beloved! What do we deserve?
We deserve hell, eternal punishment, separation from
God. Was it served? Amen, and amen, the depth of
God's love reached all the way to the regions of woe
and misery for our rescue. God brought us up out of
the horrible pit (Psalm 40:2) and set us upon a rock.
To rescue us from that horrible pit, He came down into
the pit to pull us out and bring us up.
So, after bringing us up out of the pit, do we find
ourselves back to where Adam was pre-fall? No, dear
friends, He pulled us not just the depth of His love,
but the height as well. He is seated at the right
hand of the majesty on high, and we are seated there
representatively on His right side, and one day be
seated there manifestly after the resurrection of our
bodies. The souls and spirits of those gone before
are there now, and one sweet day, we will join them in
the most awesome, magnanimous song that has ever been
heralded, and it will be done for the length
(eternity) and breadth (all of His people) of the love
of God. Again, our minds cannot understand these
things fully, but I am thankful that Paul's
exhortation was not a vain one. While our fallen
minds cannot soar to the heights of these concepts, we
have the ability to groan and travail for these
things. The faith and hope that dwells in the new
creature (verse 17 above) yearns for these things, and
through a glass darkly we can feel to know and
understand these things without words to describe
them. Have you ever seen heaven by faith? Sometimes
in worship, can you claim to stand upon the banks of
glory? Your heart (new man) is testifying to the
length, breadth, height, and depth of the love of God.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
In Hope,
Bro Philip
|