, if I may so say, the
divine purpose, and determined the mysterious act, was a pure desire
for our blessing. No definition is given as to the manner in which
that surrender wrought for our good. The Apostle does not need to
dwell upon that. His purpose is to emphasise the entire
unselfishness, the utter simplicity of the motive which moved the
divine will. One great throb of love to the whole of humanity led to
that transcendent surrender, before which we can only bow and say,
'Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.'

And now, notice how this mysterious act is grasped by the Apostle
here as what I may call the illuminating fact as to the whole divine
nature. From it, and from it alone, there falls a blaze of light on
the deepest things in God. We are accustomed to speak of Christ's
perfect life of unselfishness, and His death of pure beneficence, as
being the great manifestation to us all that in His heart there is an
infinite fountain of love to us. We are, further, accustomed to speak
of Christ's mission and death as being the revelation to us of the
love of God as well as of the Man Christ Jesus, because we believe
that 'God was in Christ reconciling the world,' and that He has so
manifested and revealed the very nature of divinity to us, in His
life and in His person, that, as He Himself says, 'He that hath seen
Me hath seen the Father.' And every conclusion that we draw as to the
love of Christ is, _ipso facto_, a conclusion as to the love of God.
But my text looks at the matter from rather a different point of view,
and bids us see, in Christ's mission and sacrifice, the great
demonstration of the love of God, not only because 'God was in
Christ,' but because the Father's will, conceived of as distinct
from, and yet harmonious with, the will of the Son, gives Him up for
us. And we have to say, not only that we see the love of God in the
love of Christ, but 'God so loved the world that He sent His only
begotten Son' that we might have life through Him.

These various phases of the love of Christ as manifesting the divine
love, may not be capable of perfect harmonising in our thoughts, but
they do blend into one, and by reason of them all, 'God commendeth
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.' We have to think not only of Abraham who gave up, but of the
unresisting, innocent Isaac, bearing on his shoulders the wood for
the burnt offering, as the Christ bore the Cross on H