by Rev. Jonathan Rankin Anderson
(Continued from page 288)
How great is the love of Christ, in making known to His people all which He has heard of the Father! To admit them to such friendly intercourse as is implied in this, evinces on His part, the deepest condescension and the richest grace. For what a disparity there is between them! It is usual among men, to enter into friendly communication only with those who are equal in rank, and talent, and character. But here the Lord of glory and the fountain of wisdom receives into His confidence those who by nature are the children of wrath, the enemies of God, and the workers of iniquity. It had been an unspeakable privilege if Christ had taken them into the rank of servants; and had never appeared to them except to issue His commands, and to require their obedience. And this in the time of lively conviction they are made to feel. And therefore they say with the prodigal, “I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants”. But little do they know of the nature and extent of that love wherewith Christ loves them: for as by His death He laid a foundation for His uniting them unto Himself, in a manner most honourable unto divine justice; and as by the application of that death to them through faith, He takes them into this close relation, so in His love He proceeds to open to them His mind, and to declare to them things which are kept hidden from the wise of the world. “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”
The love of Christ shines conspicuously in the extent of the communications which He makes to His disciples; He makes known to them all things which He has heard of the Father. To open one’s mind at all to another on subjects that are most sacred and valuable is a solid proof of
friendship, but the proof gathers strength in proportion to the extent to which its communication is made. The Lord Christ tells His disciples all His mind. He keeps back nothing which He is commissioned to declare. And as in His word, He hath outwardly revealed all which is needful, so by His Spirit doth He gradually convey it into their understanding and hearts as He enables them to bear it. “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me: and they have kept thy word.”
Verse 16. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain.”
We have here another proof of the love of Christ to His disciples; and that too which forms the spring of all the rest. It is put last, because it is through the others, and them alone, that believers can come to a knowledge of it, and to taste its sweetness. The enemy, indeed, instigates men to reverse the order, and puts them upon enquiring first into the election of Christ, before they believe on Him, and seek communion with Him. But the stream of divine truth runs in another direction, and conducts us by faith in the death of Christ, as a priest, and fellowship with Him as a prophet, up to the fountain of His love in choosing them as a king. The Saviour reminds the disciples of a fact which they must have been quite ready to admit and which every true believer in every age has admitted. “Ye have not chosen me” that is primarily, and as the foundation of my choosing you: for we are sure every disciple does choose Christ: “Thou art my portion, O Lord; I have said that I would keep thy words”. “To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life”. “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head”. But this is the fruit of Christ’s choice, not the source and cause of it. A different doctrine is taught by many, and it is but too readily received by the carnal hearts of men, that men must choose Christ, before He chooses them. But how, I ask should sinners choose Christ? Is it from a perception of His beauty? They see Him only as a root out of a dry ground, having neither form nor comeliness”. Is it from admiration of the great work which by His death He accomplished? The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Is it from a sense of their need of Him, and the salvation wrought out by Him? They are whole, “and they that be whole need not a physician”. Is it from a disposition to yield to His call, and thereby to submit to His authority? Their language is, “we will not have this man to rule over us”. Is it because they are ready to receive His grace and rejoice in His Salvation? “Ye will not
come unto me that ye may have life”. We defy any man to point out any one reason why natural men, I do not say should, for that is easy to do, but why they will choose Christ before He chooses them.
But, if we turn to true disciples, will they not at once and most fully admit, that they did not choose Christ? It may be that for years they never put themselves in the way of hearing His Word, or if they did, it was rather in obedience to early habits, and to general custom, than from any desire to find Christ. And then, when they did hear of His name, how often did they hear as if they heard not, neither understanding or laying to heart the solemn sound! And when their minds were somewhat impressed with divine things, and their consciences alarmed about their state of guilt, instead of choosing Christ, did they not choose self-righteous courses, hoping that by duties and sacrifices, they would be able to procure salvation; or it may be they ran away from the word altogether, and said of the preacher, “I hate the man; for he always prophesies evil of me”. May they not, therefore, say that had it been left to them, they would forever have continued strangers to Christ and in opposition to His grace, and have utterly perished in their gainsaying.
But Christ chose them in His eternal love in which He is one with the Father. He chose them, too, by His effectual grace in conformity with the eternal purpose of the Father, and His own engagements in covenant.
“He ordained them.” By His grace, He not only selected them from among the rest of mankind but He got them apart and appointed them to the work which He prescribed. He ordained the twelve to the holy ministry, but it is not of that He here speaks but of the ordination which is common to them with all believers. He ordained them authoritatively, graciously, efficiently. And to what did He thus ordain them? It was that they should go and bring forth fruit: that is that they should in spirit and in counsels and in conduct, forsake the world, and yield the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God. We have a sublime description of this solemn act, and of Christ’s qualifications to perform it in the prophecy of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek, He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn: to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness: that
they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified”.
Nor was it for a day or for a short season that their fruitfulness should continue, but that it should remain; and that to the accomplishment of a most important end, even that whatever they should ask in My name, the Father should give to them.
Now, look at the election of true disciples by the Lord Jesus in its origin, not in any act on their part, but in His own spontaneous love, and in its consequences, ordination or solemn appointment to a proper qualification for the most noble work, and in order to the most valuable end: and do we not see another striking proof of the greatness of His love to His people? With what power, therefore, does the repetition of the command occur in verse 17, “These things I command you, that ye love one another”. If a reason is asked for this command, it is to be found in the love which we have attempted to unfold. If proper nourishment is required for this love it is to be gathered from the same source. If a pattern for exercising brotherly love is needed, it is proposed in the love of Christ; for if He lay down His life for sinners, ought not His people to lay down their lives for saints? If He treated them not as servants but as friends, does it not become His followers to treat one another in the same way. And if He chose them to this very end that they should bring forth fruit, and amongst other things the fruit of brotherly love, ought they not to fall in with and seek to accomplish this great design, more especially since His choice of them originated in His sovereign love, not in any goodness of theirs.
Application
- We learn how it is that believers are to grow in brotherly love; by being much occupied with the love of Christ.
- We see how it is they ought to manifest brotherly love: — in a way similar to that in which the love of Christ manifested itself to them.
- We see the root of all fruitfulness — the election of Christ, and the close connection between duty and privilege.
“According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love”.