In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him (1 John 4:9).
The Advent season displays the fullness and beauty of God’s love. Charles Wesley’s “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” composed in 1739, appropriately captures the infinite, eternal love that God the Father has for his people through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Christ, by highest heav’n adored;
Christ, the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of the Virgin’s womb:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
It is appropriate during this season to reflect deeply and frequently on the love of God the Father in sending his Son as “incarnate Deity” to ultimately unshackle his people from the captivity of sin so that “we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). O, the deep, profound, incomparable love of God the Father in sending his only Son! John Flavel expresses this compelling love of the Father in sending his Son:
It is a special consideration to enhance the love of God in giving Christ, that in giving him, he gave the richest Jewel in his Cabinet. A mercy of the greatest worth and most inestimable value. Now for God to bestow the mercy of mercys, the most precious thing in heaven or earth, upon poor sinners: and as great, as lovely, as excellent as his Son was, yet not to account him too good to bestow upon us, what manner of love is this![1]
Not only did the Father exhibit such lavish love to us, but Christ initiated and bestowed his love on us. His incarnation was both an act of obedience to his Father and of love for us (John 13:34; 15:12). The third verse of Wesley’s carol articulates Christ’s demonstration of love for his elect through the “light and life” he brings, the spiritual healing he offers, and the eternal life he dispenses through faith in him (John 3:16).
Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”
The exhortation of Thomas Watson to ponder on such amazing love and cultivate holy and happy affections for Christ because of his inexhaustible love resonates even today:
O ye Saints, do but let your Cogitations dwell upon the Love of Christ, who did pass by Angels and think of you; who was wounded, that out of his wounds the Balm of Gilead might come to heal you; who leaped into the Sea of his Fathers wrath, to save you from drowning. Think of this unparallel’d love which sets the Angels a Wondring, and see if it will not affect your Hearts and cause Tears of love to flow forth.[2]
How then should we respond to this overwhelming love of God the Father and Jesus Christ this Advent? We love Christ with all our hearts, souls, and minds (Matt 22:37; 1 John 4:19). We love Christ’s disciples and his church (John 15:12; Heb 6:10; 10:24). We even love our enemies (Matt 5:38–45; Luke 6:35; Prov 25:21–22). We sing of Christ’s love (Col 3:16). We “dwell upon the love of Christ.” We “press after an heavenly life in Evangelical Obedience to all the commands which Christ as Head and King in his Word hath prescribed.”[3] We live each day, not in fear and trepidation, but in the assurance and confidence that God loves us in Christ and that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). And we joyfully proclaim, “Glory to the newborn King!”
Brian Hanson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History and Theology
[1] John Flavel, The fountain of life opened (London, 1673), p. 43.
[2] Thomas Watson, Religion our true interest (London: J. Astwood, 1682), p. 119.
[3] Second London Confession of Faith (London: 1677/1689), Chapter XIII, p. 46.