And the Pleading of Love.
ONE night we were suddenly awakened by the cry of “Fire!” When we reached the place a woman was standing with a blanket thrown around her―all she could grasp in leaving the burning building. As soon as she saw us she exclaimed, “Oh, sirs, the house is on fire, and my husband is in the flames!” She had just been saved from the fire, and her chief concern was about her husband; but he perished in the fire.
She was in earnest when she saw what she was delivered from. Jesus said to the man out of whom He had cast the devils, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee” (Mark 5:9-209And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. 10And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. 11Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. 14And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 15And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 16And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. 17And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 18And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. 19Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. 20And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel. (Mark 5:9‑20)).
“I told you,” said one, “that I was a great Christian, a leader in all the religious meetings, yet all the time as far from God and heaven as any poor sinner on the face of the earth. Oh, the riches of God’s grace in giving His Son. Jesus to die for me, a poor hell-deserving sinner! Jesus, ere He went to the cross, was spat upon, buffeted, slandered, despised, and rejected by sinful, man; yet out of love to my soul He permitted Himself to be nailed to the cross, and as He hung there He cried, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’ (Luke 23:3434Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34)). ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all’” (Isa. 53:5:6).
No love can be compared to the love of God. See how, at the cross in the gift of His Son, His heart of love overflowed to sinful man. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
A mother stood at the gate of a large railway station, pleading with the gatekeeper to let her in to see her boy. Her heart was full as she said, “Do let me in; I want to see him.” Still he would not be persuaded to let her in. Then she cried, as only a fond mother can, “I must see my son.” The gateman said, “Your boy will come to you.” “No, no,” she exclaimed, “my boy won’t come to me; his coffin is coming on the train!” He wiped the tears from his eyes and let her in. A mother’s love for her son is great, but the love of Christ is greater.
Dear reader, take out your Bible and read these words: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:1313Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)). Christ died for His enemies.
Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:6-86For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6‑8)). You cannot work yourself into the love of God, nor pray yourself into it. All you need is to see that you are lost, and then trust Jesus, and you will be saved from wrath to come (Matt. 3:77But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matthew 3:7)).
J. G.