The Mystery of Love by John Orr

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 5, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 14.

The Mystery of Love

By John Orr

MYSTERY SERIES. No. 5.

The Mystery of Love.

GOD, the life, the genesis of all substance, is love. 1 John 4:16. This attribute of the Eternal is not a foreign element which has been appropriated, but is an organic substance, the very nature of Jehovah. That wondrous name by which He made Himself known to Moses,—Merciful, Gracious, Long-suffering, etc. (Ex. 34:6),—is an index of the various avenues through which that love is being constantly exhibited to His creatures. And as there is with God no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17), it is certain that this love has been from everlasting, and will continue to be throughout eternal ages. It therefore follows that every act of Jehovah, from the remotest past, has sprung from this one eternal motive power.

To many such a possibility seems profoundly mysterious. Few seem to understand why the love of God does not deal with every one exactly alike, without regard to moral condition. Such evidently overlook the fact that love is more than simply sentiment. It is more than a reciprocal force, even. The measure of that which mortals name love is but the faintest shadow of the genuine, which dwells in God. Man loves because he sees something desirable in the object of his love, while God loves the undesirable, even those so degraded that they are abandoned by their own kind.

Genuine love is a principle, the character of which is understood only through its provident measures in behalf of weakness and suffering. It seeks to distribute impartially to each in proportion to his needs. For instance, the mother with a large family, while not able to decide which child she loves most or best, will invariably bestow more time and attention upon one of the number who is a cripple, or is suffering from disease, than upon all the others. And, altho some of the others may feel in a measure neglected, it does not follow that the mother has less love for them. This law of love is also illustrated by the parable of the one lost sheep, in search for which the ninety and nine were left alone in the wilderness. Luke 15:4-6.

God having never been visible to mortals (John 1:18), the only way of knowing His rank, power, and capacity, is through His dealing with those who are inferior to Him. The character of God being love, His love, to reveal His true nature, must constantly seek expression in deeds of goodness. Love is therefore a controlling energy, an active sympathy, a fellow-feeling, a living principle. Were it less than all this, it could not move one to acts of goodness; it could not generate its own likeness in others by appearing to them.

But because love is generative, it is therefore life. Bestowed upon fallen man, it leads him to love God. 1 John 4:19. That yearning desire begotten in the heart of sinful humanity to be like Him who has loved the unlovable, is no less than the divine life of love drawing the mind toward its perfect ideal. Had not that power been first revealed to man in this way, he could not have been aware of its existence, and so must ever have been deprived of its goodly promptings.

Native love being co-ordinate with life, it must of necessity co-extend with life. The life of Jehovah being eternal, His love is everlasting. Jer. 31:3. It can never fail those who receive and treasure it. Prophecies may meet their fulfilment, and fade from mind; the confusing variations of language may be lost in the harmony of a pure and universal tongue; worldly knowledge may give place to heavenly love; hope's fruition may be realized, and faith swallowed up in sight; but love, the greatest and most precious treasure of all, can never cease to operate. 1 Cor. 13:8-13. Its organic principles are such that it must needs continue eternally, as the cementing bond between God and His creatures, that they may do His will as perfectly as it is now done by the angels in heaven. Ps. 103:20; Matt. 6:10.

To understand clearly the will of Him who rules the universe, is the highest knowledge to be obtained, and no more exalted service can be sought or rendered than to perform that will. But this can not be done properly in a perfunctory manner, as a task to be turned off in order to avoid censure. Angels do not wait upon God simply because His commandments require their service. As sons of God (Job 38:4-7), they render service from full hearts of love, which makes their employment a continual joy.

Love being always the same, whether operating in heaven or upon earth, it follows that when men really love God, they must do His will the same as it is done in heaven. A service rendered through fear of being lost is labor performed for self. With no higher motive than this, one goes no further, and does no more, than just that which he persuades himself is actually necessary to prevent him from being lost. Salvation may seem desirable enough to such persons; but if they can convince themselves that certain things are not absolutely necessary to secure it, they utterly refuse to do them.

The one who has true love, however, be he in heaven or upon earth, moves in an altogether different direction: He who loves another will not only do him occasional service as it may seem agreeable, or speak well of him on convenient occasions, but will jealously guard the honor of his name at all times. He will also resolutely oppose everything which tends to degrade the character or impair the rights of the object of his love. The husband's tender regard for a faithful wife will lead him, at any cost, to defend her honor against the tongue of slander; the father's love for a son of tender years will lead him to prosecute, with relentless energy, the insidious foe lurking in the path, and threatening to drag his darling down to ruin. Indeed, the very constitution of love is such that, while bearing the most delicate sentiment toward the object of its attachment, it will unyieldingly antagonize everything that is against that object.

This being the true nature of love, whoever is moved by it to enter God's service will steadily resist evil because it is opposed to the goodness of God. While love ever seeks to elevate, the tendency of evil is persistently downward. Not being of divine origin, it has in itself no power or influence to restore itself, and so by its action only increases its momentum toward final ruin. Like the huge boulder loosened from its setting at the summit of some high hill, the first movement creates an impetus which increases until met by some opposing force. So with moral beings; the exercise of moral faculties increases the inclination of the will in the direction of that exercise, whether toward good or evil. But the longer one continues in evil, the weaker becomes his moral nature, and the less appreciation he has of moral things.

Thus sin begets sin, showing itself to be an active force, ever opposing God's offices of love, and tending to the degeneration and ultimate ruin of every intelligent creature. Rom. 7:17. This being true, God can not, as a benevolent Being, tolerate sin in any degree. As a God of love, as One whose interest in His subjects is to make them like Himself, He could not fail to oppose evil in every form, and in every place, because of its prejudicial influences upon His creatures.