Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
— 1 John 2:23-24
At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
— John 14:20-23
Communion With the Father, by John Owen. The following contains an excerpt from Chapters One through Four of Part One of his work, “Communion with God.”
PART 1. COMMUNION WITH THE FATHER
Chapter 1. The saints have communion with God –
In 1John 1:3, the apostle assures those to whom he wrote that the fellowship of believers “is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” The expression he uses speaks with such force that we have rendered it, “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
The outward appearance and condition of the saints in those days was paltry and contemptible. Their leaders were considered the scum of the earth, the offscouring of all things. Inviting others to fellowship with them, and to participate in the precious things that they enjoyed, evoked a number of awkward encounters and objections: “What benefit is there in communion with them? All it brings is sharing their troubles, reproaches, scorns, and all kinds of evils.” To prevent or remove these and similar objections, the apostle lets the believers know in earnest, that despite all the disadvantages of their fellowship, at least to a carnal view, in truth what they had was very honorable, glorious, and desirable. For “truly,” he says, “our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
This is so earnestly and directly asserted by the apostle, that we may boldly follow him with our affirmation, “That the saints of God have communion with him.” And a holy and spiritual communion it is, as I will demonstrate. Why this reference to the Father and the Son is distinct between them, must be fully examined later.
Since sin entered the world, no man has had communion with God because of his sinful nature. He is light; we are darkness; and what communion has light with darkness? (2Cor.6:14). He is life; we are dead. He is love; we are enmity. What agreement can there be between us? Men in such a condition have neither Christ, nor hope, nor God in the world, Eph. 2:12. “Being alienated from the life of God through their ignorance,” chap. 4:18. Now, two cannot walk together unless they are agreed, Amos 3:3. So, while this distance between God and man exists, they cannot walk together in fellowship or communion. Our first interest in God was so lost by sin, that no recovery remained in ourselves. We deprived ourselves of all power to return to him. And God had not revealed that there was any way to regain access to him. Nor did he reveal that sinners could approach him in peace for any reason. Nothing that God made, and no attribute that he revealed, provided the least hint of such a possibility.
The manifestation of God’s grace and pardoning mercy is the only door we have to such communion. It is committed only to the one who atoned. He is the one in whom it is evidenced. He is the one by whom grace and mercy was purchased. He is the one through whom it is dispensed, and from whom it is revealed from the heart of the Father. Hence, this communion and fellowship with God is not expressly mentioned in the Old Testament. It is found there, but its clear light, and the boldness of faith contained in it, is discovered only in the gospel of the New Testament. There the Spirit administers it. By the Spirit we have this liberty of communion, 2 Cor. 3:17, 18. Abraham was the friend, of God, Isa. 41:8. David was a man after his own heart. Enoch walked with him, Gen. 5:22. All of them enjoyed the substance of this communion and fellowship. But the way into the holiest of holies was not evident while the first tabernacle was still standing, Heb. 9:8. Although they had communion with God, they did not have parresian NT:3954, Eph.3:12, which is a boldness and confidence in that communion. It came only after our High Priest entered into the most holy place, Heb. 4:16, 10:19. And so, the veil remained on those in the Old Testament. They did not have eleuterian NT:1657, or freedom and liberty in their access to God, 2Cor. 3:15, 16, etc.
But in Christ we now have boldness and confident access to God, Eph. 3:12. The saints of old were not familiar with this. This distance from God is removed by Jesus Christ alone. He has consecrated a new and living way for us “through the veil, that is, his flesh,” Heb. 10:20. The old way is sealed. “Through him we have access by one Spirit to the Father,” Eph. 2:18. “You who sometimes were far off, are made close by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace…,” verses 13, 14. More of this foundation of our communion with God will follow afterward. On this new foundation, by this new and living way, sinners are admitted into communion with God. They have fellowship with him. It is a truly astonishing provision for sinners to have fellowship with God, the infinitely holy God.
Communion relates to things and persons. It means jointly participating in something, whether good or evil, duty or enjoyment, nature or actions. Sharing a common nature means all men have fellowship or communion in that nature. It is said of the elect, in Heb. 2:14, “Those children partook of” (shared or had fellowship with) “flesh and blood” (their common nature with mankind); “and, therefore, Christ likewise shared in the same fellowship.”
There is also communion as to our state or condition, whether good or evil, or things internal and spiritual. Such is the communion of saints among themselves, or with regard to their experience of outward things. Christ shared a condition with the two thieves. They were all sentenced to the cross, Luke 23:40. They shared the evil condition they were judged to suffer under. And one of them requested, and obtained, a share in that blessed condition our Savior would enter shortly.
There is also a communion or fellowship in actions, whether those actions are good or evil. Among good actions is the communion and fellowship that the saints enjoy in the gospel, or in performing and celebrating the worship of God that is instituted in the gospel, Phil. 1:5. David rejoices in the same general kind of actions, Ps. 42:4. Among evil actions, there was communion in that cruel act of revenge and murder shared between the brothers Simon and Levi in Gen. 49:5.
Our communion with God is no single one of these; indeed it excludes some of them. It cannot be natural communion. It must be voluntary and by consent. It cannot be communion in a shared state or condition, but in actions. It cannot be communion in shared actions on a third party. It must be shared actions between God and us. The infinite disparity between God and man made the great philosopher conclude that there could be no friendship between them.1 He could allow some undetermined closeness between friends; but in his understanding, there was no place for closeness between God and man. Another says that while there is a certain fellowship between God and man, it is only the general interaction of providence. Some expressed higher regard for this communion, but they understood nothing of which they spoke. This knowledge is hidden in Christ, as will be made apparent later. It is too wonderful for our sinful and corrupted nature to comprehend. Guessing only leads to terror and fear of death if we were to come into the presence of God. But as was said, we have a new foundation, and a new revelation of this privilege.
Communion is the mutual communication of the good things that those who commune delight in, based on the union that exists between them. This is how it was with Jonathan and David. Their souls clung to one another in love (1 Sam. 20:17). There was a union between them based on love. And they mutually communicated all the outpourings of that love. In spiritual things this exchange is more eminent. The outpourings or issues of that union are the most precious and eminent possible.
Our communion with God consists in him communicating himself to us, and us returning to him the things he requires and accepts. These things flow from the union that we have with him in Jesus Christ. This communion is twofold:
1. A perfect and complete communion. This is the full fruition of all his glory and our total surrender to him, resting in him as our ultimate end. We will enjoy this kind of communion when we see him as he is in eternity.
2. An initial and incomplete communion. This consists in the first fruits and the dawning of perfection that we have here and now, in grace. This kind is all that I will handle in this discourse.
I will address the mutual communication that exists between God and the saints while they walk together in a covenant of peace, ratified in the blood of Jesus. By the riches of his grace, the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has restored us from a state of enmity to a condition of communion and fellowship with himself. I pray that anyone who reads these words of his mercy may taste his sweetness and excellence in doing this, so that he will be stirred to a greater longing for the fullness of his salvation, and his eternal fruition in glory.
Chapter 2. The saints have distinct communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit
The saints have communion with God. What this communion consists of in general was declared in the first chapter. How this communion is carried on, and what it consists of specifically, comes next. In respect to the distinct persons of the Godhead with whom the saints have this fellowship, it is either a distinct and unique relationship with each, or it is obtained and exercised jointly and in common. It must be made clear that the saints have distinct and separate communions each with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It must be made clear how distinct communion with the several persons of the godhead is uniquely appropriated for each.
In 1 John 5:7, the apostle tells us, “There are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.” They are in heaven and bear witness to us. What is it that they bear witness to? To the sonship of Christ, and the salvation of believers in his blood. He discusses how that is carried on, both by blood and water, which is our justification and sanctification. And how do they distinctly bear witness to this? When God witnesses concerning our salvation, surely it is incumbent on us to accept his testimony. As he bears witness, so we are to receive it. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each bear witness distinctly, because they are three distinct witnesses. That, then, is how we are to receive their several testimonies: distinctly. In doing so, we have communion with them severally, because this giving and receiving of testimony is no small part of our fellowship with God. What their distinct witnessing consists of will be declared later.
In 1 Cor. 12:4-6, the apostle distinctly ascribes to the several persons of the godhead the distribution of gifts and graces to the saints. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit,” “that one and the self same Spirit;” that is, the Holy Spirit in verse 11. “And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord,” that is, the same Lord Jesus in verse 5. “And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God…,” which is the Father, Eph. 4:6. So graces and gifts are bestowed distinctly, and that is how they are received.
The same distinction applies not only in the emanation of grace from God, and the passing of the Spirit to us, but also in our access to God. “For through Christ we have access by one Spirit to the Father,” Eph. 2:18. Our access to God (in which we have communion with him) is “dia Christou,” “through Christ,” “en Pneumati,” “in the Spirit,” and “pros ton Patera,” “to the Father.” The persons of the godhead are distinctively engaged in accomplishing the will of God as revealed in the gospel.
Sometimes express mention is made only of the Father and the Son, as in John 1:3, “Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” The particle “and” is both distinguishing and uniting. Also in John 14:23, “If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.” It is in this fellowship, or communion, that the Father and Son make their abode with the soul.
Sometimes only the Son is mentioned in this communion. 1 Cor. 1:9, “God is faithful, by whom you were called to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” And in Rev. 3:20, “If any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Sometimes the Spirit alone is mentioned. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all,” 2 Cor. 13:14. This distinct communion, then, of the saints with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, is very plain in the Scripture. Even so, it can be demonstrated further. I must give this caution beforehand: whatever is affirmed in pursuit of this truth, is done in relation to the explanation given in the beginning of the next chapter.
Their spiritual and holy activities are the means by which the saints enjoy communion with God in Christ. It is found in the exercise of those graces that comprise the moral and instituted worship of God. Faith, love, trust, joy, etc., are what comprise the natural or moral worship of God. These are the means by which the saints have communion with him. These either act on God immediately, untied to any outward display, or else they are visibly displayed in solemn prayer and praise, according to what God has appointed. In all of these graces, the Scripture distinctly assigns the saints’ acts to each person respectively: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is true whether the acts are purely moral, or they are part of instituted worship. I will give further light to this assertion using particular examples:
1. For the Father. The saints uniquely and distinctly yield their faith, love, obedience, etc., to the Father. He uniquely manifests himself and responds to the saints through these graces, which should stimulate the saints to practice them more. He bears witness of his Son, 1 John 5:9, “This is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son.” In bearing witness, God becomes the object of our belief. And when he gives such testimony, his testimony is received by faith. This is affirmed in verse 10, “He that believes on the Son of God, has the witness in himself.” To believe on the Son of God in this passage, is to receive the Lord Christ as the Son. He has been given to us for all the purposes of the Father’s love, based on the credibility of the Father’s testimony. Therefore, in doing this, our faith immediately makes the Father the object of our belief. So it follows in the next words, “he that does not believe God” (that is, the Father, who bears witness to the Son) “has made him a liar.” “You believe in God,” says our Savior, John 14:1 – that is, the Father, because he adds, “Believe also in me;” or, “Believe you in God; believe also in me.” God, as the prima Veritas the primary truth, is the primary object of this belief. It is founded on his authority, in which all divine faith is ultimately resolved. Normally, faith is not considered “hupostatikos,” distinctly expressing a specific person in the godhead. Instead, it is “ousiodos,” comprehending the whole Deity undividedly. But in this particular case, it is the testimony and authority of the Father that we speak of, and it is the Father on whom our faith is distinctly fixed. If this were not so, the Son could not add, “Believe also in me.”
The same is also said of love in 1 John 2:15, “If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” This is speaking of the love we give to God, not the love we receive from him. The Father is the object of our love here, in opposition to the world that consumes our affections. The Father denotes the subject and object of our love, not the efficient cause of our love. And this love of him as a Father is what he calls his “honor,” Mal. 1:6.
Furthermore, these graces that are acted out in our prayers and praises, or that are part of our instituted worship, are uniquely directed toward the Father. “You call on the Father,” 1 Pet. 1:17. Eph. 3:14-15, “For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” Bowing the knee is the whole worship of God, whether in the universal moral obedience that he requires, or in other ways that he appoints. Isa. 45:23, “To me,” says the Lord, “every knee will bow, every tongue will swear.” In verses 24 and 25, he declares that this submission consists in acknowledging him as the source of righteousness and strength. In fact, it sometimes seems to include the orderly subjection of the whole creation to his sovereignty. In the Ephesian passage, the apostle has a far more restrained use. It is only a figurative phrase, using the most expressive bodily posture taken during prayer, which is kneeling. He further explains this in Eph. 3:16, 17. There he expands on what his aim was, and what he had in mind in bowing his knees. Thus, the actions of the Spirit in prayer are distinctly directed to the Father as the fountain of the Deity. The Father is the source of all good things that we have in Christ, because he is the “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In another place, the apostle expressly joins, and then distinguishes, the Father and the Son in his supplications. 1Thess. 3:11, “God himself even our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you.” The same precedent is given in regard to thanksgiving. Eph. 1:3, 4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” I will not add all the other places which agree with the particulars of this divine worship, in which the saints hold communion with God, and distinctly direct it to the Father.
2. This is also true in reference to the Son John 14:1, “You believe in God,” says Christ, “believe also in me.” “Believe also,” means letting our divine and supernatural faith act distinctly on the Son. It is that faith whereby you believe in God, that is, in the Father. There is also a believing of Christ. This belief is accepting that he is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Neglecting that belief incurs what our Savior threatened the Pharisees with in John 8:24. “If you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” In this sense, faith is not immediately fixed on the Son. It only accepts Christ as the Son by believing the testimony of the Father concerning him. But there is also a believing on him. This is called “Believing on the name of the Son of God,” 1 John 5:13; also John 9:36. Indeed, distinctly affixing our faith, commitment, and confidence on the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, is frequently pressed. John 3:16, “God” (that is, the Father) “so loved the world, that whoever believes in him” (that is, the Son) “should not perish.” The Son that the Father gives must be believed on. “He that believes on him is not condemned,” verse 18. “ He that believes on the Son has everlasting life,” verse 36. “This is the work of God, that you believe on the one whom he has sent,” John 6:29, 40; 1 John 5:10. The foundation of the whole truth is laid down in John 5:23, “That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who has sent him.” As for the love of the Son, I will only add that solemn apostolic benediction from Eph. 6:24, “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,” that is, with divine love, or the love of religious worship. This is the only proper love of the Lord Jesus.
The solemn doxology given in Rev. 1:5, 6, makes it abundantly clear that faith, hope, and love, acted out in obedience and appointed worship, are specifically due from the saints, and distinctly directed to the Son. “To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” This is stated with even more glory in chap. 5:8, “The four living creatures, and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, every one of them having harps, and golden vials full of fragrant aromas, which are the prayers of saints.” And in verses 13 and 14, “Every creature that is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and those in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying, ‘blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever.’” The Father and the Son (he that sits upon the throne, and the Lamb) are held out jointly, yet distinctly, as the adequate object of all divine worship and honor, forever and ever. Therefore, in his solemn, dying invocation, Stephen fixes his faith and hope distinctly on Jesus, Acts 7:59, 60, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;” and, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” He knew that the son of man had the power to forgive sins. The apostle makes this worship of the Lord Jesus the discriminating character of the saints in 1 Cor. 1:2, “With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours,” that is, with all the saints of God. Invocation generally comprises the whole worship of God. This, then, is what is due Christ as our God and as the Son, though not as Mediator.
3. This is also true in reference to the Holy Spirit of grace. The great sin of unbelief is still described as opposing and resisting the Holy Spirit. You have the love of the Spirit distinctly mentioned in Rom. 15:30. The apostle specifically directs his supplication to him in that solemn benediction found in 2Cor. 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” Such benedictions were originally supplications. The Holy Spirit is also entitled to all instituted worship. This is understood from the administration of baptism in his name, Matt. 28:19. More will be said about this later.
Now, to sum up what has been said: There is no grace by which our souls reach out to God, no act of divine worship that is yielded to him, no duty or obedience that is performed, that is not distinctly directed to the Father, Son, and Spirit. By these graces and similar means, we hold communion with God, and we have that communion distinctly with each person of the godhead, as described.
This may be clearer if we consider how the persons of the Deity act in communicating those good things in which the saints have communion with God. In the same way that all their spiritual ascensions are assigned to the distinct persons of the Deity, all of God’s communications to them are distinct as to their fountain source and dispensations. This is declared in two ways:
(1.) It is declared when the same thing, at the same time, is ascribed jointly, distinctly, and respectively to all the persons in the Deity. Grace and peace are jointly and severally ascribed in Rev. 1:4, 5, “Grace be to you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness…” The seven Spirits before the throne are the Holy Spirit of God. He is considered the perfect fountain of every perfect gift and dispensation. All are joined together here, and yet all are mentioned as distinguished in their communication of grace and peace to the saints. “Grace and peace be to you, from the Father, and from…”
(2.) It is declared when the same thing is attributed severally and singly to each person of the godhead. There is no gracious influence from above, no passing of light, life, love, or grace upon us, that does not proceed in this distinctive dispensation. I will give only one example, which is very comprehensive, and may include all the others. This is teaching. The teaching of God is the real communication of every particular emanation from himself to the saints. The promise that, “They will all be taught of God,” wraps in itself the whole mystery of grace as to its actual dispensation to us, to the extent that we may really possess it. This is assigned, 1. To the Father. The accomplishment of that promise is specifically referred to the Father in John 6:45, “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will be all taught of God.’ Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to me.” This teaching, by which we are translated from death to life, and brought to Christ to participate in life and love in him, is of and from the Father. From him we hear; of him we learn; by him we are brought into union and communion with the Lord Jesus. This is him drawing us, and reproducing us of his own will, by his Spirit. It is what he employs the ministers of the gospel to do, Acts 26:17, 18.
2. To the Son. The Father proclaims from heaven that Christ is the great teacher. This proclamation is in the solemn charge to hear him, which once again came from heaven: “This is my beloved Son; hear him.” The Son’s entire prophetical office, and a substantial part of his kingly office, consist of this teaching. In this he is said to draw men to himself, as the Father is said to do in his teaching, John 12:32. He does this with such efficacy that “the dead hear his voice and live.” The teaching of the Son is a life-giving, spirit- breathing teaching. It is an effectual influence of light by which he shines into darkness. It is a communication of life that quickens the dead. It is an opening of blind eyes, and a changing of hard hearts. It is a pouring out of the Spirit, with all its fruits. Hence, he claims it as his privilege to be the sole master in Matt. 23:10, “One is your Master, even Christ.”
3. To the Spirit – In John 14:26 it says, “The Comforter will teach you all things.” “But the anointing which you have received,” says the apostle, “abides in you, and you do not need any man to teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you will abide in him,” 1 John 2:27. That teaching unction is not only true, but it is truth itself. It can only be the Holy Spirit of God. Being given to us, he teaches us so “that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,” 1 Cor. 2:12.
I have chosen this special example because, as I told you, it is comprehensive, and includes most of the particulars that might be enumerated (such as quickening, preserving, etc.). This further drives home the truth that is being demonstrated. Because there is such a distinct communication of grace from the several persons of the Deity to the saints, the saints must have distinct communion with each of them. All that remains is to intimate the basis of this distinction. It is that the Father communicates all grace by original authority; the Son does it by communicating from a purchased treasury; and the Holy Spirit does it by immediate efficacy.
1st. The Father communicates all grace by original authority: He quickens whom he will, John 5:21. “Of his own will he produced us,” James 1:18. Life-giving power is invested in the Father because of his eminence; it respects his original authority. Therefore, in sending the quickening Spirit, Christ is said to do it from the Father, or else the Father does it himself. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send…” John 14:26. “But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father…” John 15:26. He is also said to send the Spirit himself, in John 16:7.
2dly. The Son communicates by giving from a purchased treasury: “We have all received of his fullness, and grace for grace,” John 1:16. And where does this fullness come from? “It pleased the Father that in him all fullness should dwell,” Col. 1:19. The reason that this fullness has been committed to him is found in Phil. 2:8-11. “When you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he will prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD will prosper in his hand. He will see the travail of his soul, and will be satisfied: by his knowledge will my righteous servant justify many; for he will bear their iniquities,” Isa. 53:10-11. And with this fullness he also has the authority to communicate it, John 5:25-27; Matt. 28:18.
3dly. The Spirit communicates by immediate efficacy Rom. 8:11, “But if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.” Here all three persons are included, with their distinct contribution to our quickening. Here is the Father’s authoritative quickening, “He raised Christ from the dead, and he will quicken you;” and the Son’s mediatory quickening that is done in “the death of Christ;” and we have the Spirit’s immediate efficacy, “He will do it by the Spirit that dwells in you.” If you want this whole matter further explained, you may consult what I have written elsewhere on this subject. Thus we have both proven and demonstrated this distinct communion.
Chapter 3. The distinct communion which the saints have with the Father –
What remains to further clear up this distinctive communion, is to introduce a number of examples showing what the saints specifically hold in this communion. I will premise that with some observations:
1. When I assign anything as unique in which we distinctly hold communion with any individual person of the godhead, I do not exclude the other persons from communion in the very same thing. I am only saying that it is held principally, immediately, and eminently with that one person. It is held with the others secondarily, and as a consequence of that foundation. This is because any one of the persons, as the person, is not the prime object of divine worship, except as identified with the nature or essence of God. The outward works of God (called “ Trinitatis ad extra”), which are usually said to be common and undivided, are either completely works of common providence, or else they are distinguished in respect to their manner of operation. So creation is appropriated to the Father, and redemption to the Son.
2. There is a concurrence in the acts and operations of the whole Deity in the dispensation of the work of our salvation, and in every act of our communion with each singular person. Look at whatever act we hold in communion with any person, and there is an influence from every person in that act. Take the act of faith. The Father bestows it on us. “It is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God,” Eph. 2:8. It is the Father that reveals the gospel, and Christ in it, Matt. 11:25. And it is purchased for us by the Son: “To you it is given on behalf of Christ, to believe on him,” Phil. 1:29. In him we are “blessed with spiritual blessings,” Eph. 1:3. He bestows faith on us, and increases faith in us, Luke 17:5. And the Spirit works it in us. He administers that “exceeding greatness of his power,” which he exercises towards those who believe, “according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,” Eph. 1:19, 20; Rom. 8:11.
3. When I assign any particular thing that we hold in communion with any single person of the godhead, I do not exclude other mediums of communion. I am only urging a special and eminent example to prove and manifest the general assertion. Otherwise there is no grace or duty in which we do not have communion with God in that way. In everything in which we are made partakers of the divine nature, there is a communication and receiving between God and us, because we are so near to him in Christ.
4. By asserting this distinct communion, I do not intend in the least to restrict all communion with God to these precincts, nor to prejudice that holy fellowship we have with the whole Deity.
These few observations being made, I will now declare what it is, specifically and eminently, in which the saints have communion with the Father. It is love: free, undeserved, and eternal love. The Father specifically fixes this love on the saints. They are to see this immediately in him, to receive it from him, and to return it to him in any way that delights him. This is the great discovery of the gospel. The Father, as the fountain of the Deity, is only known as full of wrath, anger, and indignation against sin. Nor can the sons of men have any other thoughts of him (Rom. 1:18; Isa. 33:13-14; Hab. 1:13; Ps. 5:4-6; Eph. 2:3). Yet here in the gospel he is now revealed specifically as love, and as full of love towards us. The manifestation of this truth is the unique work of the gospel, Titus 3:4-7.2
1. In 1 John 4:8 we read, “God is love.” It is evident from verse 9 that the name of God is taken personally here. It refers to the person of the Father, and not just his essence. He is distinguished from his only begotten Son whom he sends into the world. He says, “The Father is love.” That is, he not only has an infinitely gracious, tender, compassionate, and loving nature, as he proclaimed in Exod.
34:6, 7.3 He is also the one who eminently and specifically gives himself to us in free love. The apostle presents this fact in subsequent verses. “This is love,” he says. “This is what I would have you take notice of in him, that he shows you love in ‘sending his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him,’” 1 John 4:9. The same idea is found in 1 John 4:10, “He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The Holy Spirit plainly declares that this love is specifically seen in him. It is displayed prior to sending Christ, and prior to all the mercies and benefits that we receive through him. This love precedes the purchase of Christ, although its entire fruit is revealed in that alone, Eph. 1:4-6.
2. The apostle makes such a distribution of graces in his solemn benediction, 2 Cor. 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” In ascribing a number of things to the distinct persons, it is love that he specifically assigns to the Father. The fellowship of the Spirit is mentioned with the grace of Christ and the love of God, because it is by the Spirit alone that we have fellowship with Christ in grace, and fellowship with the Father in love. We also have also unique fellowship with the Spirit, as will be declared later.
3. In John 16:26, 27, our Savior says, “I do not say to you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loves you.” Why does he say, “I do not say that I will pray the Father for you,” when he said plainly in chap. 14:16, “I will pray the Father for you?” The disciples were fully convinced of Christ’s dear and tender affections towards them, and of his continued care and kindness. With all the gracious words, the comforting and faithful promises of their Master, and the opening of his heart to them, they knew that he would not forget them when he was gone from them bodily. But now all their thoughts concerned the Father. How would they be accepted by him, and what regard did he have towards them? Our Savior says in essence, “Do not worry about that. You do not need to have me procure the Father’s love for you. Instead, know that this is his unique regard for you and what you are in him: ‘He himself loves you.’ It is true, indeed (as I told you), that I will pray that the Father sends you the Spirit, the Comforter, and with him all the gracious fruits of his love. But as to this love itself, his free and eternal love for you, there is no need to intercede for that. For the Father himself eminently loves you. Be resolved in that, so that you may hold communion with him in that love, and not be troubled about it any more. In fact, if you are troubled about the Father’s love, understand that you can no more trouble and burden him than by your unkindness in not believing it.” This must be so when sincere love is questioned.
4. The apostle teaches the same thing in Rom. 5:5. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given to us.” God, whose love this is, is plainly distinguished from the Holy Spirit, who sheds that love abroad. And in verse 8, he is also distinguished from the Son, because it is from his love that the Son is sent. Therefore, it is the Father of whom the apostle speaks. And what is it that he ascribes to him? Love, which he also commends to us in verse 8. To carry this to its climax, not only is there frequent and specific mention of the love of God the Father, but he is also called “The God of love” in 2 Cor. 13:11. And he is said to be “love,” so that whoever wants to know him, 1 John 4:8, or dwell in him by fellowship or communion, 1 John 4:16, must do it because he is love.”
5. There is a twofold divine love. There is beneplaciti, a love of good pleasure and purpose, and amicitiae, a love of friendship and approval. They are both specifically and eminently assigned to the Father:
(1.) John 3:16, “God so loved the world, that he gave…” This is the love of his purpose and good pleasure. It is his determinate will to do good. This is distinctly ascribed to him, and laid down as the cause of sending his Son. See also Rom. 9:11, 12; Eph. 1:4, 5; 2 Thess. 2:13, 14; 1 John 4:8, 9.
(2.) In John 14:23, there is mention of that other kind of love. “If a man loves me,” says Christ, “he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.” The love of friendship and approval is eminently ascribed to him here. Christ says, “We will come,” both Father and Son, “to such a one, and dwell with him” by the Spirit. Yet he has us notice that, as to love, the Father has a unique prerogative: “My Father will love him.”
6. As this love is uniquely seen in the Father, it should be understood as the fountain of all subsequent gracious dispensations. Christians are often very troubled concerning how the Father thinks of them. They are well persuaded of the good will of the Lord Christ. The difficulty lies in how well they are accepted by the Father. What is his heart towards them? “Show us the Father, and that will be enough for us,” John 14:8. Now, his love ought to be looked on as the fountain from which all other sweetness flows. This is how the apostle sets it out in Titus 3:4. “After that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared.” It is the Father of whom he speaks, for in verse 6, he tells us that “he sheds that love upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior.” He makes this love the linchpin on which the great alteration and translation of the saints turns. He says in verse 3, “We too were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.” Where, then, does our recovery come from? It all arises from this love of God, flowing out as described. For when the kindness and love of God appeared, then this alteration ensued. To make us secure in this, there is nothing in the world of a loving and tender nature that God has not compared himself to. If we remove all their weaknesses and imperfections, great impressions of love must remain. He is like a father, a mother, a shepherd, a hen over her chickens, and the like, Ps. 103:13; Isa. 63:16; Matt. 6:6; Isa. 66:13; Ps. 23:1; Isa. 40:11; Matt. 23:37.
I will not need to add any more proofs. I have demonstrated that there is love in the person of the Father, specifically held out to the saints, in which he holds communion with them.
Now, to complete communion with the Father in love, two things are required of believers: (1.) that they receive it from him and (2.) that they suitably return it to him.
(1.) That they receive it Communion consists in giving and receiving. Until the love of the Father is received, we have no communion with him in that love. How, then, is this love of the Father received so as to hold fellowship with him? By faith. We receive it by believing it. God has so fully, and so eminently revealed his love, that it may be received by faith. “You believe in God,” John 14:1, that is, in the Father. And what is it to believe in him? It is to believe in his love, for he is “love,” 1 John 4:8.
It is true that our faith does not act immediately upon the Father, but by the Son. “He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by him,” John 14:6. Christ is the merciful high priest over the house of God. By him we have access to the throne of grace. By him we are introduced to the Father. By him we believe in God, l Pet. 1:21. When we have access to the Father by and through Christ, then we behold the Father’s glory. We see his love that he uniquely bears towards us, and our faith acts on that love. We are to see it, believe it, and receive it, as it exists in him. The issues and fruits of this love are bestowed on us through Christ alone. Though there is no light for us to see except in the beams, yet by its beams we may see the sun, which is its source. Though all of our refreshment actually lies in the streams, yet those streams lead us up to the fountain. Jesus Christ, in respect to the love of the Father, is the beam or the stream in which all of our light and refreshment is actually found. Yet, he leads us to the fountain, the sun of eternal love itself. If believers would exercise themselves in this truth, they would discover a substantial spiritual improvement in their walk with God.
This is what is aimed at. Many dark and disturbing thoughts are apt to arise in this thing. Few believers can carry their hearts and minds to this height by faith, to rest their souls in the love of the Father. They live below this peak, in the troublesome region of hopes and fears, storms and clouds. Everything at the peak is serene and quiet, but they do not know how to reach it. It is the will of God that he may always be seen as benign, kind, tender, loving, and unchangeable in this attribute. Specifically as the Father, he is the great fountain and spring of all gracious communications and fruits of love. This is what Christ came to reveal: God as a Father, John 1:18. This is the name that Christ declares to those who are given to him out of the world, John 17:6. And this love of the Father is what he effectually leads us to by himself, because he is the only way of going to God as a Father, John 14:5, 6. By doing so, he gives us the rest of what he promises; for the love of the Father is the only rest for the soul.
It is true, as was said, that we do not formally understand this in the first instant of believing. We believe in God through Christ, 1 Pet. 1:21. Faith seeks out rest for the soul. This is presented to the soul by Christ, the mediator, as the only procuring cause. The soul does not remain here. By Christ it has access to the Father, Eph. 2:18, and access into his love. It finds out that he is love, and that he has a design, a purpose of love, and a good pleasure towards us from eternity. The soul finds delight, contentment, and good will in Christ, because all cause of anger and aversion has been taken away. The soul reposes and rests itself there. By faith through Christ and by Christ, the soul has been brought into the heart of God, into a comforting persuasion and spiritual perception and sense of his love. This is the first thing that the saints do in their communion with the Father. More will be said of how to properly improve this communion later.
(2.) That the saints suitably return this love to him God loves so that he may be beloved. When he commands the return of his received love to complete communion with him, he says, “My son, give me your heart,” Prov. 23:26, your affections, your love. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind,” Luke 10:27. This is the return that he demands. When the soul sees God in his dispensation of love, and it sees that he is love, infinitely lovely and loving, it rests upon and delights in him as such. Then has it communion with him in love. This is love: that God loves us first, and then we love him again. I will not go into a description of divine love now. Generally, love is an affection of union and nearness, with contentment in it. Whenever the Father is looked upon as acting in any other way than with love upon our soul, it breeds dread and aversion in us. Hence the fleeing and hiding of sinners in the Scriptures. But when the Father is considered as a father, acting in love on the soul, it stimulates the soul to love him again. In faith, this is the foundation of all acceptable obedience, Deut. 5:10; Exod. 20:6; Deut. 10:12, 11:1, 13, 13:3.
This is this whole of what is stated by the apostle in Eph. 1:4, “According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” It begins in God’s love for us, and ends in our love for him. That is what the eternal love of God aims at in us, and works us up to do. It is true that our universal obedience falls within the compass of our communion with God. But that communion is with him as God. He is our blessed, sovereign, lawgiver and rewarder. We have communion with God because he is the Father, our Father in Christ, revealed to us as being love, above and contrary to all the expectations of the natural man. So it is in love that we have this intercourse with him. I am not just referring to that love which is at the heart of all moral obedience, but to a unique delight in the Father, acquiescing in him, which is effectually revealed to the soul as love.
To make this love of God to us and our love to him clearer, I will show two things: 1. In what they agree, and 2. In what they differ. This will further uncover the nature of each.
1. They agree in two things:
1st. They are each a love of rest and contentment.
2nd. The issues and fruits of these loves are communicated only in Christ.
2. There are a number of things in which they differ:
1st. The love of God is a love of bounty; our love to him is a love of duty.
2nd. The love of the Father to us is a prior love; our love to him is a consequential love.
3rd. The love of God is equal, constant, and incapable of augmentation or diminution; our love is unequal, increasing, waning, growing, and declining.
1. Things in which they agree:
1st. They are each a love of rest and contentment.
(1) The love of God is such a love. Zeph. 3:17, “The LORD your God in the midst of you is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over you with joy, he will rest in his love; he will joy over you with singing.” Both these things are assigned here to God in his love.
REST and DELIGHT. The words are, “yacharish be’ahavato” OT:2790,160 “He will be silent because of his love.” To rest with contentment is expressed by being silent. That is, it is done without whining, and without complaint.
God does this because of his own love. It is so full, complete, and absolute, that it will not allow him to complain of anything in those whom he loves. Instead, he is silent because of it. “Rest in his love.” That is, he will not remove his love and he will not seek another object for it. His love will make its abode forever with the one on whom it has become fixed.
CONTENTMENT or DELIGHT: “He rejoices with singing” as one who is fully satisfied in that object he has fixed his love on. Here are two words used to express the delight and joy that God has in his love: yasis and yagil OT:7797, 1523 The first denotes the inward affection of the mind, and the joy of heart. To indicate the intensity of it, it is said that he will do it besimchah OT:8057, in gladness, or with joy. To have joy of heart in gladness, is the highest expression of delight in love. The latter word denotes not the inward affection, but the outward demonstration of it. It is to exult in an outward demonstration of internal delight and joy. It is to leap as if overcome with some joyful surprise. Therefore, God is said to do this berinnah OT:7440, with a joyful sound, or singing. To rejoice with gladness of heart, to exult with singing and praise, argues that this is the greatest delight and contentment possible.
When he expresses the contrary of this love, he says “ouk eudokese” NT:2106, “he was not well pleased,” 1 Cor. 10:5. He did not fix his delight or his rest on them. “If any man draws back, the Lord’s soul has no pleasure in him,” Heb. 10:38; Jer. 22:28; Hos. 8:8; Mal. 1:10. He takes pleasure in those who abide with him. He sings to his church, “A vineyard of red wine: I the LORD keep it,” Isa. 27:2, 3; Ps. 147:11, 149:4. There is rest and contentment in his love. In the Hebrew there is only a transposition of a letter between the word that signifies a love of will and desire (“‘ahav” OT:157 is to love this way), and what denotes a love of rest and acquiescence (which is ‘avah OT:160). Both are applied to God. He wills good to us, so that he may rest in that will. Some say that agapain NT;25, “to love,” is from agan potestai, which is to perfectly acquiesce in the thing loved. And when God calls his Son “agapeton,” “beloved,” Matt. 3:17, he adds, as an exposition of it, “en hoi eudokesa,” “in whom I rest well pleased.”
(2) The return of love that the saints make to God – It is returned to complete their communion with him. It holds some analogy to God’s love in this matter, for it is also a love of rest and delight. “Return to your rest, my soul,” says David, Ps. 116:7. He makes God his rest. That is, his soul rests in God without seeking a more suitable and desirable object. He says, “Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is no one upon earth that I desire besides you,” Ps. 73:25. Thus the soul gathers itself from all its wanderings, from all its other loves, to rest in God alone, to satiate and content itself in him, choosing the Father for its present and eternal rest. And this is also done with delight. “Your loving-kindness,” says the psalmist, “is better than life; therefore I will praise you,” Ps. 63:3. “Than life,” “michayim” OT:2416, literally means “before lives.” What is meant is the whole of life, with all its concerns, which makes it considerable.
Writing on this passage, Austin Augustine reads it “super vitas,” extending it to the several seasons of life that men engage in. It at least means life in its entirety, with all its advantages. Seeing himself in the jaws of death, rolling into the grave through innumerable troubles, David found more sweetness in God than in a long life. He preferred God to a life with all the best and noblest possibilities, including with all the enjoyments that make it pleasant and comfortable. The church returns this same kind of love in both these aspects in Hos. 14:3, “Asshur will not save us; we will not ride upon horses: no longer will we say to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods:’ for in you the fatherless finds mercy.” They reject the best rest and contentment in favor of God. They throw themselves on him as otherwise helpless orphans.
2dly. The love of the Father to us and the love of the saints returned to God are the same in this: the issues and fruits of these loves are communicated only in Christ. The Father communicates no issue of his love to us except through Christ; and we return no love to him but through Christ. He is the treasury in which the Father disposes all the riches of his grace, riches taken from the bottomless mine of his eternal love. Christ is the priest into whose hand we put all the offerings that we return to the Father. Consequently, the Father is said to love the Son first and eminently. He loves him not only as his eternal Son, the delight of his soul before the foundation of the world, Prov. 8:30, but also as our mediator, and as the means of conveying his love to us, Matt. 3:17; John 3:35, 5:20, 10:17, 15:9, 17:24. And we are said to believe in and to have access to God through him.
(1.) The Father loves us, and “chose us before the foundation of the world.” But in the pursuit of that love, he “blesses us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,” Eph. 1:3, 4. From his love, he sheds or pours out the Holy Spirit richly upon us, through Jesus Christ our Savior, Titus 3:6. In the pouring out of his love, not one drop falls apart from the Lord Christ. The holy anointing oil was poured all over the head of Aaron, Ps. 133:2; from there it dripped down to the skirts of his clothing. Love is first poured out on Christ, and from him it drips like the dew of Mt. Herman upon the souls of his saints. The Father wants him to have “pre-eminence in all things,” Col. 1:18; “it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell in the Son,” verse 19; that “we might receive from his fullness, grace for grace,” John 1:16. The love of the Father’s purpose and good pleasure arise from and have their foundation in his mere grace and will. Yet its accomplishment is only in Christ. All its fruits are first given to him, and only in him that they are dispensed to us. Although the saints see an infinite ocean of love in the heart of the Father, they are not to look for one drop from him apart from what comes through Christ. He is the only means of communication. Love in the Father is like honey in the flower. It must be in the comb before we can use it. Christ must extract and prepare this honey for us. He draws this water from the fountain through union, and then he dispenses its fullness. By faith, we draw from the wells of salvation that are in him. This was discussed in part before.
(2.) Our return of love to the Father is completely in Christ and by him. It is good for us that it is. Otherwise, what lame and blind sacrifices we would present to God! Christ bears the iniquity of our offerings, and he adds incense to our prayers. Our love is fixed on the Father, but it is conveyed to him through the Son of his love. He is the only way for our graces, as well as for us, to go to God. Through Christ passes all of our desire, delight, contentment, and obedience. More of this afterward.
2. Things in which these two loves differ
1st. The love of God is a love of bounty; our love to him is a love of duty.
(1.) The love of the Father is a love of bounty, a descending love. His love moves him to do good things to us, and great things for us. His love lies at the bottom of all his dispensations towards us. We hardly find any mention of it, but it is the cause and fountain of the free gifts that flow from it. He loves us, and he sends his Son to die for us. He loves us, and he blesses us with all spiritual blessings. Loving is choosing, Rom. 9:11, 12. He loves us and he chastises us. It is a love like the heavens have for the earth, when, being full of rain, they pour forth showers to make the earth fruitful. It is a love like the sea, which communicates its waters to the rivers out of its own fullness; they return to the sea only what they receive from it. It is the love of a spring or a fountain that always communicates. It is a love from which proceeds everything that is lovely. It infuses into and creates goodness in those who are loved. One who loves will do good to those he loves as he is able. God’s will and his power are commensurate; what he wills, she works.
(2.) Our love to God is a love of duty, the love of a child. His love descends upon us in bounty and fruitfulness; our love ascends to him in duty and thankfulness. He adds to us by his love; we add nothing to him by ours. Our goodness does not extend to him. Though our love is immediately fixed on him, no fruit of our love immediately reaches him. Though he requires our love, it does not benefit him, Job 35:5-8, Rom. 11:35, Job 22:2, 3. Our love includes four things: rest, delight, reverence, and obedience. By these four things we hold communion with the Father in his love. Hence God calls the love that is due to him as a father “honor.” Mal. 1:6, “If I be a father, where is my honor?” It is a deserved act of duty.
2dly. The love of the Father to us is a prior love; our love to him is a consequential love.
(1.) The love of the Father is prior in two respects:
1. It is prior in respect to our love. 1 John 4:10, “This is love, not that we loved God, but that he first loved us.” His love goes before ours. The father loves the child even when the child does not know the father, much less love him. By nature, we are “Teostugeis,” Rom. 1:30, haters of God. In his own nature, God is “philanthropos,” a lover of men. Surely all mutual love between God and us must begin in his hand.
2. It is prior in respect to all other causes of love. It not only precedes our love, but it also precedes anything in us that is lovely. Rom. 5:8, “God commends his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” His love and its eminent fruits are showered on us as sinners. Our sin displays all the unloveliness and undesirability that can exist in a creature. The very mention of that sin removes every cause and motivation for love. Yet the Father’s love is commended to us by this most signal testimony. It is not only when we have done no good, but while we are still in our blood, that he loves us. It is not because we are better than others, but because he is infinitely good in himself. His kindness appears when we are foolish and disobedient.
Hence he is said to “love the world.” That is, he loves those who have only what is in and of the world, whose whole being lies in evil.
(2.) Our love is a consequence of his in both these regards:
1. In respect to the love of God No creature would ever turn his affections toward God if the heart of God were not first set on him.
2. In respect to the sufficient causes of love God must be revealed to us as lovely and desirable, as a suitable object for our soul to rest upon, before we can bear any love to him. In this sense, the saints do not love God for nothing, but for his excellence, loveliness, and desirability. As the psalmist says in Ps. 116:1, “I love the LORD, because!” Or, as David says in another case, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” (1Sam.17:29). If anyone inquires about our love for God, we may likewise ask, “What have we done now? Is there not a cause?”
3dly. They differ in this also: the love of God is like himself. It is equal, constant, and incapable of augmentation or diminution. Our love is like ourselves. It is unequal, increasing, waning, growing, and declining. His love is like the sun. It is always the same in its light, though a cloud may sometimes interpose. Our love is like the moon. It is sometimes enlarged, sometimes reduced.
(1.) The love of the Father is equal. The one he loves, he loves to the end, and always the same. “The Strength of Israel is not a man, that he should repent,” 1 Sam 15:29. His love is immutably fixed on the one he loves; it does not grow or diminish at any time. It is an eternal love that had no beginning or end. It cannot be heightened by any act of ours, nor lessened by anything in us. However, there are two regards in which changes may be seen:
1. In respect to its fruits. As I said, it is a fruitful love, a love of bounty. Those fruits may sometimes be greater, sometimes less; its communication varies. Who among the saints finds this is not so? What life, what light, what strength, we sometimes have! And again, how dead, how dark, how weak we sometimes are! God is pleased to release or restrain the fruits of his love. All the graces of the Spirit in us, all the sanctified pleasures we have, are fruits of his love. Personal experience abundantly testifies how these are variously dispensed, and how differently and seasonally they may be dispensed to the same person.
2. In respect to its manifestations He “sheds abroad his love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” Rom. 5:5. He gives us a sense of his love, manifesting it to us. This varies and changes, sometimes more, sometimes less. Now he shines his face upon us, another time he hides it, as necessary for our profit. Our Father will not always chide us, or we may be cast down. He does not always smile, or we may be full and neglect him. Yet, his love in itself remains the same. Even though he may hide his face for a moment, he gathers us with everlasting kindness.
Objection. You may say, “This comes close to blasphemy. You say that God loves his people in their sinning as well as in their strictest obedience. If so, then who will serve him more, or walk with him to be well-pleasing?”
Answer. There are few truths of Christ that someone has not attacked with this. They do not vary in their content. The love of God in itself is the eternal purpose and act of his will. This is no love less changeable than God’s. Otherwise, no flesh could be saved. But God’s love does not change, and we are not consumed. What then? Does he love his people in their sinning? Yes. He loves his people, but not their sinning. Does he not alter his love towards them? He does not alter the purpose of his will, but he does alter the dispensations of his grace. He rebukes them; he chastens them; he hides his face from them; he strikes them; he fills them with a sense of his indignation. But woe to us if he changes in his love, or removes his kindness from us! Those things that seem to indicate a change in his affections towards us, are as much a demonstration of his love as those kindnesses we prefer. “But will this not encourage people to sin?” No one who ever tasted of the love of God can seriously make this objection. The doctrine of grace may be turned into wantonness, but the principle cannot. I will not wrong the saints by giving a different answer to this objection. Detesting people’s sin may well be separate from God’s accepting them and designating them to eternal life.
And so our love to God ebbs and flows, wanes and waxes. We lose our first love, and we grow again in love, scarcely a day stands still. What poor creatures we are! How unlike the Lord and his love! “Unstable as water, we cannot excel” (Gen.49:4). Now it is, “Though all men forsake you, I will not” (Mk.14:29), but in another place, “I do not know the man” (Mt.26:74). One day we say, “I will never be moved, my hill is so strong” (Ps.30:6-7), and the next, “All men are liars, I will perish” (Ps.116:10-11). Was there ever a time and place that our love was equal towards God?
Thus, these agreements and differences further describe the mutual love of the Father and the saints, in which they hold communion. I will not give other examples of the Father’s love, but I will try to improve on this description in the next chapter.
Chapter 4. Inferences concerning communion with the Father in love.
Having discovered the nature of the distinct communion we have with the Father, what remains is to give some exhortations, directions, and observations:
1. First is a duty seldom exercised by Christians, which is to hold immediate communion with the Father in love. Our problem and our sin is that we are unacquainted with our mercies and privileges. We do not respond to the voice of the Spirit that is given to us, “that we may know the things that are freely bestowed on us of God” (1Cor.2:12). This burdens us when we might have rejoiced, and weakens us when we might have been strong in the Lord. How few of the saints experience this privilege of holding immediate communion with the Father in love! Many look upon him with anxious, doubtful thoughts! They fear and question his good will and kindness! At best, they think he has no sweetness towards us, except what was purchased at the high price of Jesus’ blood. It is true that Christ’s blood alone is the means of communication; but the free fountain and spring of every good thing comes from the heart of the Father. “Eternal life was with the Father, and is manifested to us” (1Jn.1:2).
(1.) Let us see the Father as love. Do look not at him as a father who is always critical, but as one who is most kind and tender. By faith let us look at him as someone who has had thoughts of kindness towards us from everlasting. Only a misapprehension of God would make someone run from the one who knows him in the least. “Those who know you will put their trust in you” (Ps.9:10). Men cannot abide with God in spiritual meditations. They lose his company by lacking this insight into his love. They fix their thoughts only on his terrible majesty, severity, and greatness, and so their spirits are not endeared to him. If they would focus on his everlasting tenderness and compassion, his thoughts of kindness towards them from eternity, and his present gracious acceptance of them, then they could not bear an hour’s absence from him. Now, perhaps, they cannot watch with him for even one hour (Mt.16:40). Let this be the saints’ first notion of the Father. He is one who is full of eternal, free love towards them. Let their hearts and thoughts break through any discouragement that lies in the way of this idea. To raise us to that level, let us consider,
1. Whose love it is. It is the love of God. He is self-sufficient, infinitely satiated with himself and with his own glorious excellence and perfection. He has no need to pursue others with his love, nor to seek an object for his love outside himself. He could rest there with delight and contentment for all eternity. He is sufficient in his own love. He also has his Son, his eternal Wisdom, in whom he can rejoice and delight from all eternity, Prov. 8:30. This might consume and satiate the whole delight of the Father; but he loves his saints also. It is such a love, that he does not seek just his own satisfaction in it, but our good as well. It is the love of a God, and the love of a Father. Its proper effects are kindness and bounty.
2. Let us also consider what kind of love it is –
1. Eternal. It was fixed on us before the foundation of the world. Before we had done the least good, his thoughts were upon us, his delight was in us, and the Son rejoiced in the thoughts of fulfilling his Father’s delight in him, Prov. 8:30. The delight of the Father in the Son is not so much his absolute delight in him as the express image of himself and the brightness of his glory. In the Son he might behold all his own excellence and perfection. But it is with regard to the Son’s love and his delight in the sons of men. So the order of the words requires us to understand it: “I was his delight daily,” and, “My delights were with the sons of men” (Prov.8:30-31). That is, his delight was in thoughts of kindness and redemption for them, and in that he was his Father’s delight. From eternity he laid in his own heart a design for our happiness. The very thought of this is enough to make all that is within us leap for joy, like the babe in the womb of Elizabeth. A sense of it will prostrate our soul in humble, holy reverence, and make us rejoice before him with trembling.
2. Free He loves us because he wants to. It is his will. There was and is nothing in us for which we should be loved. If we did deserve his love, it would lower its valuation. Things of debt are seldom a matter for thankfulness. But what exists eternally, prior to our being, is necessarily free as they relate to our well-being. This gives his love life and being. It is the reason for it, and it sets a price on it, Rom. 9:11; Eph. 1:3, 4; Titus 3:5; James 1:18.
3. Unchangeable Though we change every day, his love does not change. If any kind of provocation could turn it away, it has long since ceased to do so. Its unchangeableness is what prompts the Father to that infinite patience and forbearance without which we would die or perish, 2 Pet. 3:9, and which he exercises towards us.
4. Distinguishing He has not loved the whole world: “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Rom.9:13). Why should he fix his love on us, and pass by millions whose nature is the same as ours? Why should he let us share in that love, and all its fruits, which most of the great and wise men of the world are excluded from?
Let the soul frequently focus on the love of the Father and these considerations. All of them are soul-conquering and endearing.
(2.) Eye his love with the intent to receive it. Unless this is added, everything else will fail to gain us communion with God. We do not hold communion with him in anything, until his love is received by faith. This is what I would provoke the saints of God to. They need to believe this love of God for themselves. They must believe that such is the heart of the Father towards them, and accept his witness to that fact. The sweetness of his love is not ours until we receive it this way. Continually and actively think of God with faith as loving you, as embracing you with the eternal free love described before. When the Lord is presented as such to you by his word, let your mind know it, and assent to it. Let your will embrace it as being true, and let all your emotions be filled with it. Set your whole heart to it. Bind it with the cords of this love. If the King is bound in the galleries with your love, will you not be bound in heaven with his?
(3.) Let the Father’s love have its proper fruit and effect on your heart by returning that love to him. That is how we will walk in the light of God’s countenance, and hold holy communion with him all day long. Let us not deal unkindly with him, and return disrespect for his good will. Let no heart deal so thanklessly with our God.
2. Now, to help us in the daily practice of this duty, I will add one or two considerations that may be of importance.
(1.) It is very acceptable to God our Father to hold communion with him in his love. Through this communion we receive him as one who is full of love, tenderness, and kindness towards us. In our flesh, we are apt to think that he is always angry, even implacable. We may feel that poor creatures like us are not to draw close to him. We may even think that it is more desirable to never come into his presence. “Who among us will dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us will dwell with everlasting burnings?” ask the sinners in Zion (Isa.33:14). “I knew you were a harsh man,” says the evil servant in the gospels (Mt.25:24). There is nothing more grievous to the Lord, nor more helpful to Satan’s design, than thoughts like these. Satan applauds when he is able to fill our soul with such thoughts of God. It satisfies all his desires. This has been his design and his way from the beginning. The first blood that murderer shed was by this means. He led our first parents into these severe thoughts of God: “Has God said so? Has he threatened you with death? He knows well enough it will be better with you;” (Gen.3:1). With this war engine he battered and overthrew all mankind in one step. Remembering his ancient conquest, he readily uses the same weapons today that he so successfully used then.
It grieves the Spirit of God to be slandered this way in the hearts of those whom he dearly loves. How he remonstrates Zion! “What iniquity have you seen in me?” he demands. “Have I been a wilderness to you, or a land of darkness?” “Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman…” The Lord takes nothing worse at the hands of his own people than such hard thoughts of him. He knows full well what it is like to bear the fruit of this bitter root. He knows the alienation of the heart that it produces, the drawing back, and the unbelief and apostasy in our walk with him. A child is so unwilling to come into the presence of an angry father! Consider receiving the Father as he holds out his love, giving him the honor he aims for, which is exceedingly acceptable to him. He often sets out his love in an eminent manner, that it may be received in an eminent way: “He commends his love toward us,” Rom. 5:8. “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us!” 1 John 3:1. Where, then, does this folly of ours come from? Why are men afraid to have good thoughts of God? They think it is audacity to see God as good, gracious, tender, kind, and loving. I am speaking of the saints. For the other side, they too can judge God as hard, austere, severe, almost implacable, and fierce. But these are the very worst emotions of the very worst men, who most hate God, Rom. 1:31; 2 Tim. 3:3. They think they do well. Does this soul-deceit not come from Satan? Was it not his design from the beginning to inject such thoughts of God into men? Assure yourself, then, that there is nothing more acceptable to the Father, than to lift our hearts to him as the eternal fountain of all that rich grace which flows out to sinners in the blood of Jesus.
(2.) This will very effectively endear your soul to God, causing you to delight in him and to make your abode with him. Many saints have no greater burden in their lives than recognizing that their hearts do not constantly delight and rejoice in God. Their spirit is still indisposed to walking closely with him. What is at the bottom of this? Is it not their lack of skill, or neglect of duty, in holding communion with the Father in love? We will delight in him only to the extent that we see God’s love. Without this, every other revelation of God will only make us fly from Him. But once the heart realizes the eminence of the Father’s love, it cannot help being overpowered, conquered, and endeared to him. If nothing else, this will work on us to make our abode with him. If the love of a father will not make a child delight in him, what will? Put this to the test. Ponder the eternal, free, and fruitful love of the Father, and see if your heart isn’t stimulated to delight in him. I dare say believers will find it as thriving a course as they ever pitched on in their lives. Sit down for a little while at the fountain, and you will quickly discover the sweetness of the streams. If you have run from him in the past, you will not be able to keep your distance for a moment.
Objection 1. Some may ask, “How will I hold communion with the Father in love? I do not know whether he loves me or not. Should I risk casting myself upon his love? What if I am not accepted? Would I not perish for my presumption, rather than find sweetness in his heart? I see God only as a consuming fire with everlasting burning. I dread to look up to him.”
Answer 1. I do not know what others understand by “knowing the love of God.” It is exercised by spiritual sense and experience, and received purely by believing. Knowing it means believing it, as it is revealed. “We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love,” 1 John 4:16. This is the assurance you may have of this love at the very start of your walk with God. The one who is truth itself has said it. Ignore what your heart says, or Satan says. Unless you accept this as God’s promise, you are calling God a liar, 1 John 5:10.
Objection 2. “I can believe that God is love to others, because he has said he is love. But I see no reason for him to love me. There is no cause, and no reason in the world, why he should turn one thought of love or kindness towards me. Therefore, I dare not depend on that to hold communion with him in his special love.”
Answer 2. He has spoken of his love as particularly to you as he has to anyone else in the world. As for the cause of his love, he has as much reason to fix it on you as he does on any of the other children of men. I will make speedy work with this objection. No one from the foundation of the world, who believed such love existed in the Father, and returned that love to him, was ever deceived. Nor will anyone be deceived to the world’s end. In this, you are on a most secure foundation. If you believe and receive the Father’s love, he will infallibly love you, though others may fall under his severity.
Objection 3. “I cannot find my heart returning God’s love to him. If I were fixed upon him, then I could believe that he delights in me.”
Answer 3. This is the most preposterous course that your thoughts can take. It is a good way to rob God of his glory. “This is love,” says the Holy Spirit, “not that we loved God, but that he first loved us,” 1 John 4:10, 11. You would invert this order, and say, “This is love, not that God loved me, but that I loved him first.” This takes God’s glory from him. He loves us without a cause in ourselves, and we have all the cause in the world to love him. Yet, you would have the contrary be true. Something needs to be in you for God to love you, even if it is your love for him. You think that you should love God before you know whether he loves you or not. This is the flesh speaking. It will never bring glory to God, or peace to your soul. Lay down your reasoning. Take up the love of the Father as a pure act of believing. That will release your soul to the Lord in the communion of love.
To further reveal this truth, let us discover the eminence and privilege of the saints of God. Whatever low opinion the sons of men may have of them, it appears that the saints have meat to eat that the world does not know of (Jn.4:32). They have close communion and fellowship with the Father, interchanging their love with him. Men are generally respected according to the company they keep. It is an honor to stand in the presence of princes, even as servants. What an honor it is, then, for all the saints to boldly stand in the presence of the Father, and there enjoy his heart’s love! What a blessing the queen of Sheba pronounced on the servants of Solomon who stood before him and heard his wisdom! How much more blessed, then, are those who stand continually before the God of Solomon, hearing his wisdom and enjoying his love! Others have fellowship with Satan and their own lusts, making provision for them and receiving perishing refreshments from them. They are the ones “whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” But the saints have this sweet communion with the Father.
Moreover, what a safe and sweet retreat the saints have from all the scorns, reproaches, scandals, and misrepresentations that they undergo in the world. When strangers abuse a child in the streets, he runs with speed to the heart of his father. There he makes his complaint and is comforted. In all the hardy censures and tongue-persecutions which the saints meet with in the streets of the world, they may run to their Father, and be comforted. “As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you,” says the Lord, Isa. 66:13. The soul may say, “If I have hatred in the world, I will go where I am sure of love. Though all others are harsh to me, my Father is tender and full of compassion. I will go to him and satisfy myself in him. Here in the world I am considered vile, frowned on, and rejected. But I have honor and love with the Father, whose kindness is better than life itself. There with him I have all the things in the fountain that others have only in the drops. In my Father’s love there is everything desirable, the sweetness of all mercies, and I have them fully and durably.”
Evidently, then, the saints are the most misunderstood men in the world. If they say, “Come and have fellowship with us” men are ready to say, “Why? What are you but a sorry company of seditious, factious people. We despise your fellowship. When we leave our fellowship with all honest men, and men of worth, then will we come to you.” But, how mistaken these men are! Truly, the fellowship of the saints is with the Father. Let men think what they please; the saints have close, spiritual, heavenly refreshing in their mutual communication of love with the Father himself. The apostle declares how the saints are generally misperceived “as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things,” 2Cor.6:8-10. The saints are looked on as poor, low, despicable persons, when indeed they are the only great and noble people in the world. Consider the company they keep: it is with the Father; who else is so glorious? The merchandise they trade in is love; what is more precious? Doubtless “they are the excellent on the earth,” Ps. 16:3.
To further illustrate a major difference between the saints and empty professors of the faith, consider this: In performing their duties, and enjoying outward privileges, fruitless professors often walk hand in hand with the saints. But when we look at what they do in private, what a difference there is! The saints hold communion with God, while hypocrites hold communion with the world and their own lusts, conversing and communicating with them. They listen attentively to what they hear and accommodate it. Meanwhile, the saints are sweetly wrapped in the heart of their Father’s love. It is almost impossible for believers, in outward appearance, to go beyond those who have very rotten hearts. But they have this meat that those others do not know of. They have this refreshment in the banquet house that others have no share in. The comfort they receive from God their Father refreshes their souls and fills their minds.
Now, if these things are true, “what manner of men ought we to be, in all manner of holy living?” 2Pet.3:11. Especially when “our God is a consuming fire.” What communion is there between light and darkness? Will sin and lust dwell in those thoughts that receive love from the Father and return it to him? Holiness is forever appropriate in his presence. An unclean spirit cannot draw close to him; an unholy heart cannot make an abode with him. A wicked person will not desire to hold fellowship with a self-controlled man. Will a man with a proud and foolish mind dwell with the most holy God and hold communion with him? Any consideration of this love will be a powerful incentive to holiness; it will lead us there. When he finds salvation in God, Ephraim says, “What have I to do any more with idols?” Communion with the Father is completely inconsistent with an immoral walk. “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not exercise the truth,” 1 John 1:6. “He that says, I know him” (i.e. I have communion with him), “and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him,” chap. 2:4. Pretending to be acquainted with the Father, without holiness and obedience to his commandments, only proves that pretenders are liars. The love of the world, and the love of the Father, do not dwell together.
If this is so, so many who call themselves Christians come short of the truth of it! Most professors of Christ are unacquainted with the mystery of this communion and its fruits! Many obviously hold communion with their lusts and with the world instead of God; and yet they want to be thought of as having a portion and inheritance among those who are sanctified! They have neither a new name nor a white stone (Rev.2:17), and yet they want to be called the people of the Most High. It would more correct to say that God is not in their thoughts at all, than to say that they have communion with him. May the Lord open the eyes of men so they may see that walking with God is a matter of power, not form!
This concludes this part of unique communion with the Father in love. “He is also faithful who has called us to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,” which is the next topic.
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