Cycle of Love

“Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life” (John 10:17).

It gives us true delight and joy to hear the blessed Son of God say, “Therefore doth My Father love Me.” The Son is in the deep consciousness of the love which the Father has for Him, and He gives the reason for it. His going into death was a voluntary act, for He can say, “I have power to lay it down” (John 10:18). None but the blessed Son of God could use these words. But He could also take His life again; for He would manifest Himself in resurrection as the Son of God with power.

Having shown His power and authority over life and death, He can add, “This commandment have I received from My Father.” He always acted in subjection to the will of His Father. He could not, and would not, act independently of the Father, ever delighting in the accomplishing of His will—even if it meant His going into death. Notice how the voluntary surrender of Himself in love to the Father drew out another expression of the Father’s affection towards Him.

Then in John 16:27 the Lord Jesus makes known to His disciples, “The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me.” How precious it is, fellow-believer, to know that there has been placed in our hearts an affection for this blessed One who has come to make the Father known to us. What else could we do but love the Son who shared with us the secrets of the Father’s heart? Now notice how this very response from our poor hearts to our Savior, Jesus Christ, draws out a fresh announcement of affection from the Father for us. What a boundless cycle of love we have been brought into!

—R. Duncanson, adapted.