CHAPTER IV.—Inferences on the former doctrine concerning communion with the Father in love.
moved; my hill is so strong." The next, we lament, "All men are liars; I shall perish." Has there ever been a time, a place, where our love for God remained constant for even a single day?
Thus, these agreements and discrepancies further illustrate the mutual love between the Father and the saints, in which they find communion. I will refrain from providing additional instances concerning the person of the Father and instead seek to draw some conclusions from this in the next chapter.
CHAPTER IV
Inferences on the former doctrine concerning communion with the Father in love Having explored the nature of the distinct communion that we have with the Father, it is now necessary to provide some exhortations to this communion, offer directions for it, and draw some observations from it.
1. First and foremost, it is evident that Christians are rarely engaged in the duty of immediate communion with the Father in love. Our lack of familiarity with our blessings and privileges is both a sin and a source of distress. We fail to listen to the voice of the Spirit given to us "so that we may know the things freely bestowed on us by God." This results in a heavy heart when we could rejoice and in weakness when we could be strong in the Lord. Very few saints have experiential knowledge of the
privilege of holding immediate communion with the Father in love. They regard Him with anxious and doubtful thoughts and question His goodwill and kindness. At best, many believe that there is no sweetness in Him towards us apart from what is obtained through the high price of Jesus' blood. It is true that Jesus is the only means of communication, but the free fountain and source of it all lies in the bosom of the Father. Eternal life was with the Father and is revealed to us. Therefore, let us:
(1.) Regard the Father as love. Do not perceive Him solely as an always stern Father, but as one who is exceedingly kind and tender.
Look at Him by faith as someone who has had thoughts of kindness towards us from eternity. Misunderstanding God causes many to turn away from Him, even though they have the slightest inclination towards Him. "Those who know You will trust in You." Men cannot abide with God in spiritual meditations; they lack insight into His love. They only fix their thoughts on His terrible majesty, severity, and greatness, thereby failing to be drawn near to Him. If a soul continually beheld His everlasting tenderness and compassion, His eternal thoughts of kindness, and His present gracious acceptance, that soul would not bear a moment's absence from Him. However, currently, such a soul might not even watch with Him for one hour.
Therefore, the saints' initial perception of the Father should be as one full of eternal and free love towards them. Let their hearts and thoughts break through any discouragements they may encounter.
To encourage them in this, they should consider:
[1.] Whose love it is. It is the love of the One who is completely selfsufficient, infinitely satisfied with Himself and His own glorious excellencies and perfections. He has no need to extend His love to others or seek an object of love outside of Himself. He could delight and find satisfaction within Himself for all eternity. He has His Son,
His eternal Wisdom, in whom He rejoices and finds delight from all eternity. This could fully satisfy the Father's delight, yet He chooses to love His saints as well. Moreover, His love not only seeks His own satisfaction but also our good. It is the love of a God, the love of a Father, whose natural expression is kindness and generosity.
[2.] What kind of love it is. And it is:
Firstly, eternal. It was fixed upon us before the foundation of the world. Even before we existed or had done any good, His thoughts were upon us, and He took delight in us. The Son rejoiced in the thought of fulfilling His Father's delight in Him. The delight of the Father in the Son mentioned in Proverbs 8:30 refers not only to His absolute delight in Him but also to the Son as the express image of His person and the brightness of His glory, through whom He could behold all His own excellencies and perfections, particularly in relation to His love and delight in the sons of men. Thus, the order of the words requires us to understand it as follows: "I was daily His delight," and "My delights were with the sons of men"—that is, in the thoughts of kindness and redemption for them. In this respect, the Son was also the Father's delight. The Father had laid in His own bosom a plan for our happiness from eternity. The mere thought of this is enough to cause every fiber of our being to leap for joy. The awareness of it cannot help but humble our souls to the lowest depths of humble and holy reverence and make us rejoice before Him with trembling.
Secondly, it is free. He loves us because He wills it; there is nothing in us that merits His love. If we were deserving of His love, its value would be diminished. Things that are owed to us rarely evoke gratitude, but that which predates our existence must be absolutely
free in its regard for our well-being. This is what gives His love its life, purpose, and value.
Thirdly, it is unchangeable. Though we change every day, His love does not. If any provocation could turn it away, it would have ceased long ago. Its unchangeableness is what leads the Father to exercise infinite patience and forbearance towards us, without which we would die and perish (2 Peter 3:9). Furthermore, His love is:
Fourthly, distinguishing. He has not loved all the world in this way.
"Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." Why He chose to set His love upon us and pass by millions who are not fundamentally different from us by nature, so that we become partakers of that love and all its fruits, is a question that exceeds our understanding. I have merely touched upon the main points, but let those whose hearts have been touched by these truths explore further.
Therefore, I say, let the soul frequently contemplate the Father's love, considering all these aspects that are both captivating and endearing.
(2.) Contemplate it in order to receive it. Without this, all is in vain regarding communion with God. We do not have communion with Him until His love is received by faith. This is what I urge the saints of God to do—to believe in this love of God for themselves, to believe that such is the Father's heart towards them, and to accept His testimony concerning it. His love is not ours in its sweetness until it is received in this manner. Therefore, continually place your thoughts of faith in God as one who loves you, embracing you with the eternal free love described above. When the Lord, through His
Word, presents Himself as such to you, let your mind recognize it and affirm that it is true. Let your will embrace it as a reality, and let all your affections be filled with it. Give your whole heart to it, let it
bind you with the cords of this love. If the King is bound in the galleries with your love, should you not be bound in heaven with His?
(3.) Let it produce its proper fruit and have its effect on your heart in return of love to Him. In doing so, we will walk in the light of God's countenance and hold holy communion with our Father throughout the day. Let us not treat Him unkindly or respond to His goodwill with indifference. May we never have such a heart as to deal ungratefully with our God.
2. Now, to assist us in this duty and its daily practice, I will present a couple of considerations that may be helpful. Firstly, it is extremely pleasing to God, our Father, that we should hold communion with Him in His love, receiving Him into our souls as One full of love, tenderness, and kindness towards us. Flesh and blood often entertain harsh thoughts of Him, believing that He is perpetually angry and even unforgiving. They think it inappropriate for poor creatures to draw near to Him and consider nothing more desirable than to avoid His presence, as if wherever He is involved, it becomes troublesome. "Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?" say the sinners in Zion. And the wicked servant in the Gospel says, "I knew you to be a harsh man." These thoughts are highly displeasing to the Lord and serve the enemy's purpose of slandering Him in the soul. Satan rejoices when he can fill the mind with such thoughts of God; it satisfies his desires. This has been his strategy from the beginning. The first murder he committed was accomplished through this means. He led our first parents to develop harsh thoughts about God, questioning whether God had truly spoken and threatening them with death. He knew well that by using
this tactic, he could overthrow all of humanity at once.
Remembering his early victory, he continues to employ the same weapons successfully. It deeply grieves the Spirit of God to be slandered in the hearts of those whom He loves dearly. He challenges Zion, saying, "What wrong have you found in me?
Have I been a barren wilderness to you, a land of darkness?"
Zion responds, "The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me." The Lord detests nothing more than these harsh thoughts, fully aware of the bitter fruit they will bear—alienation of heart, retreating, unbelief, and wavering in our walk with Him. Just as a child is reluctant to come into the presence of an angry father, consider this: by receiving the Father as One who extends love to the soul, you give Him the honor He desires, and this is exceedingly pleasing to Him. He often emphasizes this so that it may be received in this way. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us" (1 John 3:1). So, why do people shy away from having positive thoughts about God? They believe it to be audacious to regard God as good, gracious, tender, kind, and loving. I am speaking about believers, but on the other hand, they can easily consider Him as harsh, severe, almost unforgiving, and fierce—the worst affections of the worst individuals, abhorred by God (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:3)— and they think they are doing right. Is this not a deceitful notion implanted by Satan? Was it not his intention from the beginning to inject such thoughts about God? Be assured, therefore, that there is nothing more pleasing to the Father than for us to continually direct our hearts towards Him as the eternal source of all the rich grace that flows out to sinners through the blood of Jesus. And secondly, this practice will greatly endear your soul to God, causing you to take delight in Him and make your
abode with Him. Many saints struggle with the burden that their hearts do not consistently and fully delight and rejoice in God— that there is an inclination of the spirit that hinders them from walking closely with Him. What lies at the root of this ailment?
Is it not their lack of skill or neglect of this duty of communing with the Father in love? The more we perceive God's love, the more we will delight in Him and no more. Any other revelation of God without this aspect will only drive the soul away from Him. However, if the heart becomes captivated by the preeminence of the Father's love, it will be overwhelmed, conquered, and endeared to Him. If anything can encourage us to make our abode with Him, it is this. If a father's love cannot make a child take delight in him, what will? So, I urge you to give it a try. Direct your thoughts towards the eternal, free, and abundant love of the Father and see if your heart is not stirred to delight in Him. I boldly declare that believers will find this to be the most fruitful pursuit they have ever undertaken in their lives. Take a moment to sit by the fountain, and you will soon discover the sweetness of its streams. Those of you who have been running away from God will find yourselves unable to stay away for even a moment.
Objection 1: But some may say, "Alas! How can I commune with the Father in love? I do not know if He loves me at all. Should I dare to cast myself upon it? What if I am not accepted? Should I not perish due to my presumption rather than find sweetness in His embrace?
To me, God seems only as a consuming fire and eternal burnings.
Therefore, I dread to look up to Him."
Answer: I do not fully comprehend what is meant by knowing the love of God. Although it is based on spiritual sense and experience, it is received solely through faith. Our knowledge of it is our belief in it
as revealed. "We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love" (1 John 4:16). This is the assurance that you can have at the very beginning of your walk with God regarding His love. He who is truth has spoken it, and regardless of what your heart or Satan may say, unless you accept it on this basis, you are attempting to make God a liar (1 John 5:10).
Objection 2: "I can believe that God is love to others, for He has said so, but I see no reason to be convinced that He will be loving towards me. There is no cause or reason in the world for Him to turn His thoughts of love and kindness towards me. Therefore, I dare not engage in communion with Him in His special love."
Answer: He has spoken this love as specifically to you as to anyone else in the world. And He has just as much reason to fix His love upon you as He does upon any of His children, which is none at all apart from Himself. So, I can swiftly address this objection.
Throughout the history of the world, anyone who believed in such love from the Father and responded with love towards Him was never deceived. Nor will anyone, until the end of the world, be deceived by doing so. Therefore, in this regard, you are on the most secure foundation. If you believe and receive the Father as love, He will unquestionably be so to you, even if others may experience His severity. But...
Objection 3: "I cannot find my heart responding with love to God. If I could sense my soul being devoted to Him, then I could believe that His soul delights in me."
Answer: This is the most backward thinking your mind can conceive, a sure way to rob God of His glory. "In this is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us first" (1 John 4:10, 11). Yet you would
reverse this order and say, "In this is love, not that God loved me, but that I love Him first." This is to deprive God of His glory. While He loves us without any reason within ourselves, and we have every reason in the world to love Him, you suggest the opposite—that there should be something within you for God to love you, namely, your love for Him. You propose that you should love God before knowing anything lovely about Him, such as whether He loves you or not. This is a course devised by the flesh and will never bring glory to God or peace to your own soul. Therefore, set aside your reasoning, embrace the love of the Father through pure faith, and your soul will be opened to pour out love to the Lord in communion.
To further explore and emphasize this truth that has been presented and encouraged, it reveals the eminence and privilege of the saints of God. Despite any low opinions that people may hold of them, it will become evident that they have access to a spiritual nourishment that the world is unaware of. They enjoy close communion and fellowship with the Father. Individuals are generally esteemed based on the company they keep. It is an honor to stand in the presence of princes, even as servants. So, consider the great honor bestowed upon all the saints, to stand confidently in the presence of the Father and experience His bosom love. The queen of Sheba pronounced a blessing upon the servants of Solomon who stood before him and heard his wisdom. How much more blessed, then, are those who continually stand before the God of Solomon, hearing His wisdom and enjoying His love! While others fellowship with Satan and indulge their own desires, seeking fleeting pleasures from them
(whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and who glory in their shame, focusing on earthly things), the saints have this sweet communion with the Father.
Furthermore, it serves as a safe and delightful refuge for the saints amidst the scorn, reproach, scandals, and misrepresentations they endure in the world. When a child is mistreated by strangers outside, they swiftly run to the comforting bosom of their father, where they voice their complaints and find solace. In the same way, when the saints face harsh judgments and verbal persecution in the world, they can run with their sorrows to their Father and find comfort. The Lord says, "As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you"
(Isaiah 66:13). Therefore, the soul can say, "If I am hated in the world, I will go where I am certain of love. Even though others may treat me harshly, my Father is tender and full of compassion. I will go to Him and find satisfaction in Him. Here, I may be despised, frowned upon, and rejected, but I have honor and love from Him whose kindness surpasses life itself. There, in my Father's love, I will find everything desirable. In Him is the sweetness of all blessings in their purest and most enduring form."
Clearly, the saints are the most misunderstood people in the world.
When they say, "Come and fellowship with us," others are quick to respond, "Who are you? A sorry company of rebellious and contentious individuals. Know that we despise your fellowship. We will come to you only when we abandon fellowship with all honorable and worthy men." But alas, how mistaken they are! Truly, the saints' fellowship is with the Father. Regardless of what others may think, they experience close, spiritual, and heavenly refreshment through the mutual exchange of love with the Father
Himself. The apostle Paul eloquently expresses how they are generally misconceived in 2 Corinthians 6:8-10: "As deceivers, yet true; as unknown, yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything." This applies to them in general, but particularly in this matter, they are considered poor,
lowly, and despised individuals, when in reality, they are the truly great and noble ones in the world. Consider the company they keep— it is with the Father. Who could be more glorious? The commodity they trade in is love. What could be more precious? Undoubtedly, they are the distinguished ones on the earth (Psalm 16:3).
Furthermore, this reveals a significant difference between the saints and empty professors. When it comes to performing outward duties and enjoying external privileges, fruitless professors often appear to walk hand in hand with the saints. But when you look at their secret retreats, what a difference there is! The saints have communion with God, while hypocrites, for the most part, engage with the world and their own lusts. They converse and communicate with them, listen to what they have to say, and make provisions for them, while the saints are enveloped in the sweet embrace of their Father's love. Outwardly, believers may not always surpass those who have corrupt hearts, but they possess this spiritual sustenance that others are unaware of.
They find refreshment in the banqueting house, a joy that others do not share. In the multitude of their thoughts, the comforts of their
Father, God, revive their souls.
Therefore, if these things are true, "what kind of people should we be in all aspects of holy conduct?" After all, "our God is a consuming fire." What communion is there between light and darkness? Can sin and lust dwell in the same thoughts that receive and express love from and to the Father? Holiness is fitting in His presence forever.
An unclean spirit cannot approach Him, and an unholy heart cannot abide with Him. A licentious person will not desire to have fellowship with a sober individual. So, will someone with vain and foolish imaginations have communion and dwell with the most holy God?
Every consideration of this love serves as a powerful motive for holiness and leads to it. Ephraim exclaimed, "What more have I to do
with idols?" when he found salvation in God. Communion with the Father is completely incompatible with a loose lifestyle. "If we claim to have fellowship with Him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth" (1 John 1:6). "Whoever says, 'I know Him' (I have communion with Him), but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person" (1 John 2:4). Any impressive and glorious pretense of familiarity with the Father, without holiness and obedience to His commandments, only serves to prove the pretenders to be liars. The love of the world and the love of the Father cannot coexist.
And if this is the case, then many who bear the name of Christians fall short of its reality. How unfamiliar are the majority of professors with the mystery of this communion and its fruits! Isn't it evident that many clearly engage in communion with their own lusts and with the world, yet they desire to be considered as having a portion and inheritance among those who are sanctified? They lack both a new name and a white stone, yet they want to be called the people of the Most High. Can it not be said of many of them that God is not in all their thoughts rather than that they have communion with Him?
May the Lord open the eyes of people so that they may see and understand that walking with God is not a matter of mere form but of true power! This concludes our discussion on the particular communion with the Father, focusing on the instance of love that we have emphasized. "He who called us is faithful; He will surely do it"
(1 Thessalonians 5:24)—this pertains to the fellowship we have with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which we will address next.