Part I: Christ’s Heart Revealed
Having presented our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in all his great and solemn acts, his obedience to death, his resurrection, his ascension into heaven, his sitting at God’s right hand, and his intercession for us, which I have discussed more fully than the others, I will now add the following discourse as the next subject in order and of the same kind. It lays open the heart of Christ as he is now in heaven, sitting at God’s right hand and interceding for us. It shows how graciously his heart is disposed toward sinners on earth who come to him, how willing he is to receive them, how ready he is to welcome them, and how tenderly he has compassion on them in all their weaknesses, both their sins and their miseries.
The purpose and application of this discourse will be to give believers courage to come more boldly to the throne of grace, to such a Savior and High Priest. When they know how sweetly and tenderly his heart is inclined toward them, even now in his glory, it will remove a great stumbling stone that lies unseen in people’s thoughts along the way to faith. Because Christ is now absent and has been exalted to such a high and immeasurable distance of glory, to “sit at God’s right hand,” etc., they do not know how to approach him about their salvation as freely, or with as much hope of obtaining it, as the poor sinners who were with him here on earth.
“If only it had been our lot,” they think, “to live with him in the days of his flesh, as Mary, Peter, and his other disciples did here below, we would have expected to speak boldly with him and receive anything from his hands.” They saw before them a man like themselves, full of meekness and gentleness. He had then been made sin and knew by experience every kind of misery. But now he has gone into a far country and put on glory and immortality, and we do not know how this may have changed his heart.
The aim of this discourse, therefore, is to assure poor souls that his heart remains the same in pity and compassion as it was on earth. He intercedes there with the same heart he had here below. He is just as meek, gentle, approachable, and tenderly compassionate, so that they may deal as openly with him about the great matter of their salvation, with as much hope of obtaining it and on equally easy terms, as they could if he were still with them on earth. Nothing could bring greater comfort and encouragement to those who have given up every other way of life except the life of faith, and whose souls pursue strong and complete communion with their Savior, Christ.
I will arrange the demonstrations that may help our faith in this under two main heads. The first are more external and outward; the second are more internal and inward. The one shows the ὅτι, that it is so; the other shows the διότι, the reasons and grounds why it must be so.
First, the external demonstrations, as I call them, are taken from various passages and actions of Christ in each of his conditions: at his last farewell before his death, at his resurrection and ascension, and as he sits at God’s right hand. I will lead you through the same stages I covered in the former treatise, though now for another purpose. From his speeches and conduct in every state he passed through, I will draw observations that directly persuade our hearts of the point before us: now that he is in heaven, his heart remains as graciously inclined as ever toward sinners who come to him. As the basis and introduction for this first kind of demonstration, I will take the following Scripture. For the other kind, I will take another Scripture equally suited to that part of the discourse.
“When Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own, he loved them to the end,” or forever (John 13:1).
His Last Farewell
It was a long time before Christ disclosed to his disciples that he must leave them and go away to heaven. He says that he had refrained “to tell it them from the beginning” (John 16:4). But once he began to tell them, he poured out an abundance of his heart to them. He revealed not only how his heart stood toward them then, but also what it would be when he entered his glory.
For this purpose, let us briefly consider his conduct at the last supper and the sermon he gave there, deliberately recorded by the evangelist John. We will find that this is the aim of Christ’s long discourses from John 13 to John 18. I will not comment on everything in them, but will briefly gather the observations that most clearly display the point before us.
First, the words I have placed at the beginning as our text are the preface to the whole discourse that follows, including Christ’s washing of his disciples’ feet and the sermon that follows it. Accordingly, they reveal the subject and substance of it all. The preface says, “Before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” “And supper being ended,” “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God,” washed his disciples’ feet (John 13:1, 3-5).
The evangelist placed this preface here intentionally, to open a window into Christ’s heart and show what it was at his departure. It also casts light on everything that follows and gives us the proper interpretation of it. The purpose of the whole passage is to show what Christ’s affections toward them would be in heaven. John tells us what Christ was thinking then and where his heart was amid those thoughts, and both gave rise to all that followed.
(1) John first sets out what occupied Christ’s thoughts and meditation. Christ began to consider deeply that he was about to depart from this world: “Jesus knew,” the text says, meaning that he was then thinking about it, “that he should depart unto the Father” (John 13:1). He also considered that he would soon be installed in the glory due to him. Verse 3 therefore says, “Jesus knowing,” meaning that he was then actively taking it into his mind, “that the Father had given all things into his hands.” That is, all power in heaven and on earth would be his as soon as he set foot in heaven. In the midst of these thoughts, after first considering where he was going and what he would be there, he went and washed his disciples’ feet.
(2) Second, what most occupied Christ’s heart amid all these exalted meditations? It was not so much his own glory. We are told that he considered his glory only so that his love toward us might stand out more clearly. Instead, his heart flowed out in love toward “his own” and fixed itself on them: “having loved his own,” says the first verse. The Greek is τοὺς ἰδίους, his own people, a form that denotes the greatest nearness, dearness, and intimacy founded on ownership. The elect are Christ’s own, a part of himself. They are not merely τὰ ἴδια, his own goods, as in John 1:11: “he came unto his own, and his own received him not.” There, τὰ ἴδια shows that he regards what was his own as possessions rather than persons. Here he calls them τοὺς ἰδίους, his own by a nearer kind of ownership: his own children, his own members, his own wife, his own flesh.
Christ also considered that although he was about to leave the world, they were to remain in it. The phrase “which were in the world” was added for this very reason: they would remain in this world. He had others who were his own in the world to which he was going, “the spirits of just men made perfect,” whom he had not yet seen (Heb 12:23). One might think that as he meditated on leaving this world, his whole heart would be on Abraham, his Isaacs, and his Jacobs, whom he was going to meet. But no. He showed greater care for his own who would remain here, in a world where there is much evil, as he himself says in John 17:15, both the evil of sin and of misery, by which they could not help being defiled and troubled while they remained in it. This drew out his inward compassion toward them at the very time his mind was full of his own glory: “having loved his own, he loved them unto the end.”
This phrase shows the constancy of his love and what it would be when he entered his glory. “To the end” means to its perfection, εἰς τελείωσιν, as Chrysostom explains it. Having begun to love them, he will perfect and complete his love toward them. “To the end” also means forever. The Greek phrase εἰς τέλος is sometimes used in this sense, and the evangelist uses it here in keeping with the language of Scripture. Psalm 103:9 says, “He will not always chide, nor reserve anger for ever.” In the original, the last words are, “He reserves not anger unto the end” (Ps 103:9). Thus, the purpose of the phrase is to show how Christ’s heart and love would remain toward them forever after he went to his Father, just as it had been toward them here on earth. Because they are his own, and because he has loved them, he does not alter or change. He will therefore love them forever.
(3) Third, the evangelist shows how Christ gave a real testimony of what his love toward them would be in heaven. In the midst of all his great thoughts about his approaching glory and the sovereign condition he was about to enter, he took water and a towel and washed his disciples’ feet. That this was his purpose becomes clear from the connection in the passage. We are told that “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands,” then “he riseth from supper, and lays aside his garments, and took a towel and girded himself.” After that, “he poured water into a bason, and began to wash his disciples’ feet” (John 13:3-5).
The evangelist’s purpose is plainly to show us that when Christ’s mind was full of his glory, and when he considered that glory to its fullest extent, then, on that very occasion and in the midst of those thoughts, he washed his disciples’ feet. What did Christ mean by this? When he was in heaven, he would no longer be able to give such outward, visible demonstrations of his heart by performing such lowly services for them. By doing this while thinking of his glory, he showed what, as it were, he would be willing to do for them when he possessed that glory in full. So great is his love toward them.
Another saying of Christ confirms that this was his meaning and that this is truly his heart in heaven. In Luke 12:36-37 he compares himself to a bridegroom who goes to heaven to a wedding feast, while his servants remain here below, as if outside, waiting for him. Because they must wait so long, they may resent it. Christ therefore adds, “Verily I say unto you, that when the bridegroom returns,” refreshed with wine and gladness, “he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them” (Luke 12:36-37).
This does not mean that Christ literally serves at the last day, or now in heaven, those who sit down there. It is an abundant expression in words, just as the washing of the disciples’ feet is a real-life demonstration. It displays the overflowing love in his heart and the surpassing happiness we will then enjoy, beyond everything we could expect. He expresses himself through an unheard-of reversal: the Lord serves his servants and waits on those who waited for him. He says it to show them his heart and what he would be willing to do for them. You have therefore seen what his heart was before he went to heaven, even amid thoughts of all his glory. You have also seen what it remains after he has entered heaven and been magnified with all that glory: he is even willing to wash poor sinners’ feet and to serve those who come to him and wait for him.
(4) Fourth, what was the mystery signified by his washing their feet? Besides giving them an example of mutual love and humility, it signified his washing away their sins. Christ himself interprets it this way in verses 8 and 10. It is true that now, in heaven, he cannot come and wash their physical feet. But by this act he signified that when sinners come to him in his glory, he will wash away all their sins: “He loved his church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle,” etc. (Eph 5:25-27).
Second, we have seen this sample and declaration of Christ’s mind in his conduct at his last farewell. Let us next survey the aim of the long sermon he gave on that occasion. We will find that its main purpose was to assure his disciples still further of what his heart would be toward them. This forms a second demonstration.
It would take too long to examine every detail. But certainly no loving husband ever worked harder to satisfy his wife’s heart during his absence than Christ worked to satisfy the hearts of his disciples, and in them the hearts of all believers. Keep this in mind once for all: what Christ said to them, he also says to us. His words in John 17 imply this: “I pray not for them only, but for those also that shall believe through their word” (John 17:20). Just as what he prayed for them extended to all believers, so did what he then said to them.
(1) First, he showed them what his heart would be toward them and how mindful he would remain of them in heaven by telling them the business he was going there to perform for them. Notice first how lovingly he told them beforehand what that business was. This displayed the care and tenderness of a husband toward his wife. Notice also how candidly and openly he spoke, as one who would hide nothing from them. “I tell you the truth of it,” he said. “It is expedient, and expedient for you, that I go away” (John 16:7).
Second, he told them that his departure was entirely for them and their happiness. While they remained in this world, “I go to send you a Comforter” (John 16:7); and for the time when they would leave this world, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). “There are many mansions in my Father’s house,” and I am going to secure them for you and keep your places until you come (John 14:2). Once again, how openly and candidly he spoke to them: “If it had been otherwise, I would have told you” (John 14:2). You may believe me. I would not deceive you for all the glory in the place to which I am going. Who would not be persuaded by such openness and such a fully uncovered heart?
Third, how much more does the business itself argue for his love, since it is so completely directed toward us and our happiness? Christ himself drew from this an argument for the continuance of his love toward them. “If I go to prepare a place for you,” he says in verse 3, “if that is my errand, then do not doubt my love when I am there. All the glory of the place will never make me forget my business” (John 14:3).
When he was on earth, he forgot none of the business for which he came into the world. “Shall I not do my Father’s business?” he said as a child, and he carried it through to the utmost by fulfilling all righteousness. Surely, then, he will forget none of the business he must do in heaven, since it is far more pleasant work. As I showed from Hebrews 6:20 in the former discourse, “He is entered as a forerunner,” one who goes ahead to secure places for us (Heb 6:20). And even if he could forget us, our names are written all around him in heaven and remain continually before his eyes. They are written there first by God’s election: “Ye are come to mount Zion, and to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to Jesus, and to the blood of sprinkling,” etc. (Heb 12:23). Christ himself also writes them there anew in his blood, over every dwelling he secures for anyone.
Indeed, he carries their names written on his heart, just as the high priest carried the names of the twelve tribes on his breast when he entered the Holy of Holies. Christ sits in heaven to ensure that no one else takes their rooms away from them, as we commonly say. Therefore salvation is said to be “reserved in heaven for them,” meaning that Jesus Christ keeps it there expressly for them (1 Pet 1:4). The evil angels once had places there, but those places were assigned to others over their heads, just as the land of Canaan was taken from the Canaanites. The reason is that they did not have a Christ there to intercede for them, as we do.
(2) Second, to display his mindfulness of them and of every other believer when he entered his glory, Christ told them that after he completed this business for them and made heaven ready for them and all the elect who were still to come, he intended to return to them. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again” (John 14:3). This is a pure expression of love. If he had wished, he could have arranged to send for them. Instead, he intends to come for them himself. He will do this while he is warm, as we say, in the height and midst of his glory in heaven. Yet he will leave it for a time to return to his bride.
Why does he return? First, to see her: “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.” Second, to fetch her: “I will come again, and receive you unto myself” (John 14:3). He condescends to the very customs of bridegrooms. Despite all his greatness, no lover will surpass him in any expression of true love. When bridegrooms have made everything ready in their father’s house, it is customary for them to come themselves to fetch their brides rather than send others, because it is a time of love. Love descends more readily than it ascends, and so does the love of Christ, who is love itself. He therefore comes down to us himself. “I will come again, and receive you unto myself,” Christ says, “that so where I am, you may be also” (John 14:3).
The last part of his saying gives the reason and reveals the fullness of his affection. It is as if he had said, “The truth is, I cannot live without you. I will never be at rest until I have you where I am, so that we may never part again. That is why I will come. Heaven itself and my Father’s company cannot keep me there if I do not also have you with me, because my heart is so fixed on you. If I have any glory, you will share in it.”
Verse 19 says, “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19). It is a reason, and it is half an oath besides. As I live is God’s oath; Christ says, “Because I live.” He pledges his life upon it and desires to live on no other terms: “He shall live to see his seed,” etc. (Isa 53).
To express still further the movements and longings of his heart after them throughout this interval, he tells them that it will not be long before he returns. “Again, a little while, and ye shall see me; a little while, and ye shall not see me,” he says (John 16:16). Their not seeing him does not refer to the short absence while he was dead and in the grave. It refers to the time after his final ascent, forty days after his resurrection, when he would go away and no longer be seen on earth until the day of judgment. Yet even from that ascension it would be only “a little while,” he says, “and you shall see me again,” namely, at the day of judgment.
Scripture says, “Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb 10:37). The Greek words are ἔτι γὰρ μικρὸν ὅσον ὅσον, ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἥξει: “As little a while as may be.” Though the time is long in itself, it is as short as it can be in relation to his desire, without the least delay in coming. He will not remain one moment longer than it takes to complete all our business there for us.
The doubled Greek phrase ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἥξει, “coming he will come,” implies an intense desire to come. His mind is always fixed upon it; he is continually coming and can hardly be kept away. The corresponding Hebrew phrase also signifies urgency, vehemence, and intensity in an act, as in “expecting I have expected” and “desiring I have desired.” So “coming he will come.” As though these expressions of desire were not enough, he adds, “and will not tarry.” All this signifies the infinite ardor of his heart toward his elect below and his desire to have all his elect around him in heaven. He will not remain a minute longer than necessary. He waits only until, through all the ages, he has prepared by his intercession every room for every saint, so that he may welcome them all together at once and have them all around him.
(3) Third, Christ expressed what his heart would be toward them during his absence by the careful provision and arrangements he made for their comfort. “I will not leave you as orphans,” he said, for that is the sense of the word. “I will not leave you like fatherless and friendless children, scattered and in confusion” (John 14:18). My Father and I have one friend who lies in the heart of us both and proceeds from us both, the Holy Spirit. In the meantime I will send him to you. In this Christ acts as a loving husband does in his absence, committing his wife to the dearest friend he has. “I will pray the Father,” Christ says, “and he shall give you another Comforter” (John 14:16). And in John 16:7 he says, “I will send him to you.”
First, the Spirit will be a better Comforter for you than I can be under the form of ministry to which my life on earth confines me. Christ indicates this in John 16:7: “It is expedient that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come.” Because of the office given to him, the Spirit will comfort you better than I could by my bodily presence. As the apostle calls this Spirit the “earnest of heaven,” so he is the greatest token and pledge of Christ’s love ever given, one that “the world cannot receive” (John 14:17).
Second, every comfort he speaks to you during that time will express my heart toward you. He does not come on his own; I must send him (John 16:7). Likewise, “he will speak nothing of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak” (John 16:13). Christ also says, “He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).
I will therefore send him expressly to take my place and carry out my role toward you, my bride and spouse. If you will listen to him and not grieve him, he will tell you nothing but accounts of my love. The passage says, “He shall glorify me,” namely, to you, since I am already glorified in myself in heaven (John 16:14). All his speech in your hearts will exalt me and magnify my worth and love toward you, and he will delight to do so. He can come from heaven in an instant whenever he wishes and bring you fresh news of my mind. He can tell you the latest thoughts I have had of you, even what those thoughts are at the very moment he tells you.
For this reason, in 1 Corinthians 2, by “having the Spirit” in verse 12, we are said to “have the mind of Christ” in verse 16 (1 Cor 2:12, 16). The Spirit dwells in Christ’s heart and also in ours, and carries from one to the other Christ’s thoughts toward us and our prayers and faith toward Christ. Thus you will have my heart as surely and as quickly as if I were with you. He will continually break your hearts either with my love toward you, with your love toward me, or with both. Whichever it is, you may be sure of my love by it.
Christ further says that while you have the Spirit in your hearts now, and “he now dwells in you,” after my ascension “he shall be” in a fuller measure “in you” (John 14:17). “At that day,” he says, “you shall know,” by the Spirit’s declaration, “that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20). When I am in heaven, he will tell you that the union between me and you is as real, and my affection toward you as dear, as the union between my Father and me. It is as impossible to break this bond and turn my heart away from you as it is to turn my Father’s heart from me, or mine from my Father.
Third, you may be certain that what the Spirit says about my love toward you is true, for “he is the Spirit of truth” (John 16:13; John 14:16-17). Just as you believe me when I tell you about my Father because I come from him, you may believe the Spirit in everything he says about me and my love toward you, because he comes from me.
“But,” they might ask, “will he not also leave us for a time, as you are doing?” “No,” Christ answers. “The Father shall give you another Comforter, and he shall abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). Christ says this in contrast with himself. He had been a comforter to them, but he was now about to be absent. The Spirit would not be absent: “he shall be with you for ever.” As he is now “with you,” so he “shall be in you” (John 14:16-17).
(4) Fourth, if this is still not enough to assure them how his heart would be inclined toward them, Christ promises to give them daily experience of it. “Only put me to the test when I am gone,” he says. “On every occasion, send me word of what you want me to do for you. I have left my Spirit to be your secretary and to compose all your petitions. Hitherto you have asked nothing,” that is, little, “in my name.” He reproves them for not asking him to do more for them. “But now ask, and you shall receive” (John 16:24).
If you will not believe otherwise, then believe your own eyes. Ask, and you will see yourselves answered at once. Believe, and so believe me, he says, “for the works’ sake” (John 14:11). He is speaking about the works he would do for them in answer to their prayers after he had gone away. Each answer would be like a letter from his heart sent back in reply to theirs. The next verse says, “He that believeth on me shall do greater works than I, because I go to my Father” (John 14:12). It is therefore clear that he means works done after his ascension.
How were they to obtain these works? By prayer. The passage continues, “And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do” (John 14:13). He is speaking about the time when he has gone. Again he says, “If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14). Only let me hear from you, whether every week, every day, or every hour, and you may be sure of an answer. “Open your mouths wide, and I will fill them.” Your prayers will be continual tokens of your hearts toward me, and my answers will be corresponding tokens of my heart toward you.
Christ tells them to address their prayers to the Father and send them in his name (John 16:23). They might therefore fail to perceive clearly that Christ’s own heart was in the answers and see only his Father’s hand. For this reason, he adds twice in John 14, “I will do it. I will do it” (John 14:13-14). He speaks as one who is as ready to act for them as his Father is or would be, and as eager for them to know and recognize his hand in it. It is as if he said, “Though you ask the Father in my name, everything comes through my hands, and I will do it. My hand must sign the warrant for everything that is done, and my heart will never be lacking.”
(5) Fifth, as still further evidence of his love, Christ not only tells them to pray to him and in his name on every occasion, but assures them that he himself will pray for them. Observe how he tells them this. He uses the most intimate and persuasive expression people employ when they want to convey their deepest care and settled purpose to do something. “At that day,” namely, after his ascension, “ye shall ask,” etc., and “I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you” (John 16:26). No, certainly not.
I mentioned this before, but will add an illustration. This is the kind of expression people use when they want to give someone the strongest possible reason to rest confidently assured of their love: “I do not love you at all, certainly not I.” It expresses something by saying its contrary, which makes the meaning especially emphatic. We might say to a man who has received the greatest possible kindness, “You have been terribly injured.” Paul uses such an expression to the Corinthians: I converted your souls when you were not thinking of it; “I caught you with guile; forgive me this wrong.”
So Christ says here, “I say not that I will pray for you,” when in truth this is the chief work he does in heaven. “He lives ever to intercede.” As he lives forever, so he intercedes forever, and never keeps silent until sinners are saved. But Christ’s work in heaven is a subject that deserves, and will require, a separate and extensive discourse. I will therefore say no more about it now, nor mention any more details from this sermon.
Read those three chapters, John 14, 15, and 16. In them you have the longest recorded sermon of Christ. He spent more time on this theme than on any other because his heart was more deeply engaged in it than in any other point on which he ever preached.
Someone may object that he said all this to quiet and calm his disciples. Perhaps he spoke more because of their distress than he otherwise would have done.
(6) Sixth, read the next chapter, John 17. You will see that Christ immediately withdrew alone to his Father and repeated to him everything he had told them. He said as much about them behind their backs as he had said to their faces. Read the chapter, and you will find that he was the same when absent from them as when present with them. He was therefore not merely sincere in what he had said; his heart was full of it.
That chapter, as you know, contains a prayer offered immediately before his suffering. In it Christ makes his will and his final request, for it runs in this style: “Father, I will” (John 17:24). He has gone to heaven to see this will carried out. Arminius was right when he said that Christ left this prayer to us as a summary of his intercession for us in heaven. Christ spoke according to what he intended to do in heaven, and as one who had completed his work and had now come to demand his wages. “I have finished thy work,” etc., he says (John 17:4).
Although he speaks a word or two for himself in the first five verses, he says five times as much for them. All the rest of the chapter is a prayer for them. He uses every kind of argument to move his Father on behalf of his children. “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do,” he says. Saving them is your work, which remains for you to do for me. “They are thine, and thou gavest them me,” and I commend to you only those who are your own. “All mine are thine, and thine are mine” (John 17:4, 6, 10).
He makes it clear that he has not added even one person on his own authority, but uses all his influence only for those whom the Father has given him. What a powerful motive this is. He declares that he will not open his mouth for one person more: “I pray not for the world” (John 17:9). I will not open my lips for any one son of perdition. I employ all my blood, my prayers, and my whole interest with you only for those whom you yourself have given me.
Though you have given me the personal glory I possessed before the world existed, he continues, there is another glory I value almost as much: their salvation. “I am glorified in them,” he says in verse 10, and “they are my joy,” in verse 13. Therefore I must have them “with me wherever I am,” in verse 24 (John 17:10, 13, 24). You have set my heart upon them and have yourself loved them as you have loved me. You have ordained them to be one in us, just as we are one. Therefore I cannot remain apart from them for long. I have your company, but I must have theirs also. “I will that they be where I am” (John 17:24). If I have any glory, they must share in it. The same verse continues, “That they may behold the glory which thou hast given me.”
Christ says all this as if he were already in heaven and in possession of all that glory. Therefore, here you have an expression of his heart in heaven, and you have very good grounds on which to build.
After His Resurrection
2. The preceding demonstrations have come from Christ’s conduct and teaching before his death, beginning when he first disclosed to his disciples that he would depart from them. Let us now look at our Savior’s conduct after his resurrection. From it we may gain further evidence of how his heart would stand toward sinners once he was in heaven, and we may see his love demonstrated.
His resurrection was the first step into his glory, and indeed the entrance into it. When he laid down his body, he laid down all earthly weakness and the passions of flesh and blood. Like ours, “it was sown in weakness,” but when he raised it again, he took on the qualities of an immortal and glorious body: “it was raised in power.” At his resurrection, “the days of his flesh,” meaning his frail condition, as the author of Hebrews distinguishes it, were past. The garment of his body had been newly dyed and endowed with new qualities. It was thereby made of material fit to bear and sustain the glory of heaven. Therefore, the heart he showed toward us when he first rose is a certain demonstration of the heart he would continue to have in heaven.
To see this more clearly, consider that if Christ’s love toward sinners was ever put to the test, it was at his resurrection. During the intervening time, all his disciples, and Peter especially, had behaved toward him in the most unworthy way possible. They did so while he was performing the greatest act of love ever shown toward them, namely, dying for them. God often orders events in this way: while he is carrying out his greatest mercies for us and bringing about our greatest good, we are sinning most against him. He does this so that his love may be magnified all the more.
You know how they all forsook him. In the midst of his agony in the garden, when he wanted their company simply to relieve his sorrowful spirit, they slept and lay there like blocks, utterly insensitive to his sufferings. If they had felt any friendly sympathy with him, they could never have done so. He asked, “Could you not watch with me one hour?” You also know how shamefully Peter denied him with oaths and curses. After Christ was laid in the grave, they were giving up all their faith in him. Two of them said, “We trusted it should have been he that should have redeemed Israel” (Luke 24:21). They questioned whether he was the Messiah at all.
Now when Christ first came back from the other world, from among the dead, clothed with the heart and body he was to wear in heaven, what was the first message he sent them? We might all suppose that, since they would not own him in his sufferings, he would now be distant from them in his glory. At the very least, we might expect his first words to rebuke them for their faithlessness and disloyalty. But there is nothing of the kind. His first word concerning them is, “Go tell my brethren,” etc. (John 20:17).
Elsewhere you read that it is counted a great act of love and condescension for Christ to give them this name: “He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb 2:11). Surely his brothers had been ashamed of him. For him to call them brothers when he was first entering his glory therefore shows even more love toward them. He behaved as Joseph did at the height of his advancement, when Joseph first revealed himself to his brothers: “I am Joseph your brother” (Gen 45:4). In the same way, Christ says in effect, “Tell them you have seen Jesus their brother. I still own them as my brothers.” This was the first name he gave them.
