Morning, March 28, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“The love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.” — Ephesians 3:19

The love of Christ in its loveliness, its fulness, its greatness, its faithfulness, passes all human comprehension. Where shall language be found which shall describe his matchless and unparalleled love towards the children of men? It is so vast and boundless that, just as the swallow just skims the water, and does not dive into its depths, so all descriptive words only touch the surface, while immeasurable depths lie beneath. Might well the poet say,

“O love, thou fathomless abyss!”;

for this love of Christ is indeed measureless and fathomless; none can attain it. Before we can have any correct idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand his previous glory in its height of majesty, and his incarnation upon the earth in all its depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ? When he was enthroned in the highest heavens he was in every respect God —“very God of very God,” as the Nicene Creed says— and by him were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof. His own almighty arm upheld the stars and planets; the praises of cherubim and seraphim perpetually surrounded him; the full chorus of the hallelujahs of the universe flowed unceasingly to the foot of his throne: he reigned supreme above all his creatures, God over all, blessed forever. Who can tell his height of glory then? And who, on the other hand, can tell how low he descended? To be a man was one thing, to be a man of sorrows was far more; to bleed, and die, and suffer, these were much for him who was the Son of God; but to suffer such unparalleled agony—to endure a death of shame and desertion by his Father, this is a depth of humbling love which the most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom. Herein is love, and truly it is love that “passes knowledge!” O let this love fill our hearts with adoring gratitude and lead us to practical expressions of its power.