If god is love—why? - Chambers, Oswald

December 14, 1916, Alexandria, Egypt. also given at Zeitoun .

It is easy to say god is love when there is no war and when everything is going well; but it is not so easy to say when everything that happens actually gives the lie to it. For instance, when a man realises he has an incurable disease, or a severe handicap in life, or when all that is dear has been taken from a man, for that man to say, as he faces these things, god is love, means he has got hold of something the average man has missed. Love is difficult to define, but the working definition i would like to give is that love is the sovereign preference of my person for another person, embracing everyone and everything in that preference. Run your idea for all it is worth. When we are young we think things are simpler than they are; we have an idea for every domain. A man says he is a materialist, or an agnostic, or a christian, meaning he has only one main idea, but very few will run that idea for all it is worth, yet this is the only way to dis- cover whether it will work, and the same thing is true in the idea of the christian religion that god is love.

1. Nature of gods love

But god commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, christ died for us. (romans 5:8 rv) the love of god is different from the love of every- one else. God commendeth his own love toward us (rv ); it is not the love of a father or mother, or a wife or lover, it is of such a peculiar stamp that it has to be recommended to us, we do not believe gods love.

(a) the foundation of gods love

The foundation of gods love, i. E. , holiness without which no man shall see the lord. Gods love then must be the justification of his holiness. Remember our definition love is the sovereign preference of my person for another person, embracing everyone and everything in that preference. If gods nature is holy, his love must be holy love, seeking to embrace every- one and everything until we all become holy.

(b) the features of gods love

The features of gods love, i. E. , the way his love as revealed in the bible manifests itself in common life, are unfamiliar to us; the average common-sense man is completely puzzled by such a verse as john 3:16. The revelation of Christianity has to do with the foundation of things, not primarily with actual life, and when the gospel is proclaimed it is proclaimed as the foundation. The features of gods love are that if we will commit ourselves to him, he will impart to us the very nature of his son. The gift of god is eternal life.

(c) the fact of gods love (2 corinthians 5:1821)

God was in christ, reconciling the world unto himself (2 corinthians 5:19). These are subjects that have no weight with us in our ordinary way of looking at things, they do not live in the same street, because they are not in the street, but in the foundation of things. When war or some other thing hits us hard and knocks us out of the commonplace, we are prepared to listen to what the bible has to say, and we discover the bible deals with the foundation of things that lie behind our commonsense life. The bible does not deal with the domain of commonsense facts, we get at those by our senses; the bible deals with the world of revelation facts which we only get at by faith in god.

2. Nature and gods love

For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of god. (romans 8:19 rv ) does nature exhibit the creator as a god of love? If so, then why is nature a scene of rapine and murder? Has the bible anything to say about it, any revelation that explains it? Try and weave a conception of god out of jesus christs presentation of him and then look at life as it is, and you will find that god, as he is revealed in jesus christ, is flatly contradicted in the natural world. God is the only being who can afford to be misunderstood; he deliberately stands aside and lets himself be slandered and misrepresented; he never vindicates himself. When we touch the cosmic force apart from the blinkers of intellect, there is a wild problem in it. Nature is wild not tame. Modern science would have us believe it is tame, that we can harness the sea and the air. Quite true, if we only read scientific manuals, and deal with successful experiments; but after a while we discover that there are elements which knock mens calculations on the head and prove that the universe is wild and unmanageable and yet god in the beginning created man to have dominion over it! The reason he cannot is because he has twisted the order and become master of himself, instead of recognising gods dominion over him. Jesus christ belonged to the order of things god origi- nally intended for mankind; he was easily master of the life of the sea and air and earth. If we want to know what the human race will be like on the basis of redemption, we shall find it mirrored in jesus christ, a perfect oneness between god and man. In the meantime there is a gap, and the universe is wild. Paul says that creation is out of gear and twisted, that it is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of god. The new testament view of nature is that it is subject to bondage, that it is in a disorganised condition, out of gear with gods purpose; it is twisted and will only be right when god and man are again one. God is responsible for the established order of nature, so if god created nature and we have not the spirit of god, we shall never interpret the order of nature as god does.

(a) the indifference of nature

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground . . . (genesis 3:1819). This needs an explanation no man can reach by common sense. The bible says the reason nature is indifferent is because it became disorganised through the disobedience of the federal head of the human race. The indifference of nature hits us sorely when our hearts are stirred by bereavement the inscrutable sadness of nature on the human spirit. The early mornings, the late at nights, sea scenes and mountain scenes, awaken in the sensitive human spirit not in touch with god, an ineffable sadness, ages weary, ages sad, ages worn out, pointing to this very fact that god is amazingly remote from man because man has externalised himself.

(b) the iniquity of nature

And i saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea (revelation 21:1). There is nothing more cruel than the sun, or more blasting than the desert. There is an element of twisted spite in the sea, in certain aspects of human life; a sailors wife, for instance, has reason to have a deep fear and hatred of the sea. In the jungles of vast continents the most cruel and unspeakable horrors take place. These are some things that make it the height of impertinence to say glibly, god is love.

(c) the infidelity of nature

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, . . . They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the l ord , as the waters cover the sea (isaiah 11:6, 9). Isaiah is speaking of a time when all the indifference and iniquity and infidelity of nature will be gone, when the wolf shall dwell with the lamba relationship will exist which

Now is inconceivable; at present the lamb lies down inside the wolf ! Earth is mans domain, but the bible talks about a hereafter without the sin and iniquity, a new heaven and a new earth. We are going to be here, marvellously redeemed, in this wonderful place which god made very beautiful, and which has been played havoc with by sin.

3. Nations and gods love

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our lord, and of his christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (revelation 11:15)

We talk about a christian nation there never has been such a thing. There are Christians in the nations, but not christian nations. The constitution of nations is the same as that of a human being. There is a difference between individuality and personality: individuality is all elbows and must stand alone; personality is something that can be merged and blended. Individuality is the husk of the personal life; when personal life is emancipated, individuality goes. So with nations. The kingdoms of this world have become intensely individualistic, with no love for god, or care for one another. The insistence of nations is that they must keep the national peacein the way they have been doing it! In the whirlwind of nations, such as is on just now many men have lost not their faith in god (i never met a man who lost his faith in god), but their belief in their beliefs, and for a while they think they have lost their faith in god. They have lost the conception which has been presented to them as god, and are coming to god on a new line.

(a) the origin of nations (genesis 11:19)

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. . . . Therefore is the name of it called babel; because the lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth (genesis 11:1, 9). According to the bible, nations as we know them are the outcome of what ought never to have been. Civilisation was founded on murder, and the basis of our civilised life is competition. There are grand ingredients in civilisation, it is full of shelter and protection, but its basis is not good. We each belong to a nation, and each nation imagines that god is an almighty representative of that nation. If nations are right, which is the right one?

(b) the object of nations

From whence come wars and fightings among you? . . . Ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not ( james 4:12). The question is on the lips of people to-day, is war of the devil or of god? It is of nei- ther, it is of men, though both god and the devil are behind it. War is a conflict of wills, either in individ- uals or in nations. As sure as there is will versus will, there must be punch versus punch. This is the object of nations. They will assert their rule and independence and refuse to be downtrodden. If we cannot by diplomacy make our wills bear on other people, then the last resort is war, and always will be until jesus christ brings in his kingdom. There is one thing worse than war and that is sin, the thing that startles us is not the thing that startles god. We are scared and terrorised when our social order is broken, when thousands of men are killed, and well we may be, but how many of us in times of peace and civilisation bother one iota about the state of mens hearts towards god? Yet that is the thing that produces pain in the heart of god, not the wars and devastations that so upset us.

(c) the obliteration of nations

And there followed great voices in heaven, and they said [rv], the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our lord, and of his christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever (revelation 11:15). In these last days there is an idea that we are going to dominate everything by a perfect brotherhood. Any mind that expresses its view of the future says we are heading up into a federation of religions and nations when distinctions will be obliterated and there will be a great and universal brotherhood. The quarrels of nations make men look forward to the time when nations will be federated out of independent existence. That is a revolt which is a mental safety valve only. Peter says god is longsuffering to us-ward. At present he is giving men opportunity to try every line they like in individual life as well as in the life of the nations at large. Some things have not been tried yet, and if god were to cut us off short we would say, if you had left us a bit longer we could have realised our ideal of society and national life. God is allowing us to prove to the hilt that it cannot be done in any other way than jesus christ said, viz. , by a personal relationship to god through jesus christ who is god and manone. When sooner or later we come to the end of our tether, we hear jesus christ say: blessed are the poor in spirit if you ask god, he will give you the holy spirit, i. E. , an unsullied heredity through jesus christ.

That is how the love of god comes in, and why it has to be such a long way round is because he is bringing many sons unto glory, not mechanisms, but men, fullorbed and sensible all through. Jesus christ never used a revivalistic meeting to take a man off his guard and then say, believe in me. He always puts the case to a man in cold blood, he even seemed to spurn men when they wanted to follow him (see luke 9:5762). Another convert to my cause. Not a bit. Take time and consider what you are doing, are you ready to hear what i have to say?

The love of god is going to embrace everyone and everything in the sovereign preference of his person, which is for his son. God purposes that everyone of us shall partake of the very essential nature of jesus christ and stand in complete union with himself, even as jesus did. Faith in god is a terrific venture in the dark, we have to believe that god is love in spite of all that contradicts it. Every soul represents some kind of battlefield. The great point for the christian is to remain perfectly confi- dent in god. Paul says that when the sons of god are manifested, and everything is in a right relationship with god and expressed in devotion to jesus christ, all the wildness and contradiction in nature and in nations will cease, and the love of god will be the great reality.