This world is full of events and circumstances that we both “get” and “don’t get” at the same time. A good example of this is raising children. Parents have been children, and sometimes we still “remember” how we felt during our growing up years. So, on the one hand, we get what it’s like to be a child, but on the other hand, when posed with our own children’s behavior we don’t get it as the behavior can be mystifying. Many other examples could be given, but consider a mystery that is described in Ephesians 3:18-19. Paul was in the midst of a prayer for the church at Ephesus, and he prayed for their ability to comprehend with all saints the dimensions (height, depth, length, and breadth) of the love of God. He specifically uses words like “may be able to comprehend” coupled with “passeth knowledge.” This language shows that he wanted them to get something they couldn’t fully get.
Height: Considering how high the love of God is, one must start to contemplate two things: place and quantity. How high is God’s love regarding place? It is as high as heaven’s throne where God sits and is the place we will one day richly enjoy and occupy beside Him. That love came from the highest of all places and the highest Being down to miscreants even though that love would have been perfect had it been in heaven and heaven only. The quantity of it is higher than the imagination can conjure. God is love. (I John 4:9) It is not that God possesses love or displays love. He IS love. Whatever we are to make of that concept, it is intwined as part of the essence of who He is. That quantity is eternal, undiminished, and without bound. Therefore, the quantity of love is higher than any amount or measurement that man could possibly fathom.
Depth: Admittedly, some of these dimensions of God’s love hit harder than others (at least to me personally), and this is one of them. How deep did it go? This dimension is understood two ways: how low and to what cost? Simply put, God’s love reached down to the lowest hell to rescue the chiefest of sinners. Without realizing it, some people diminish God’s love by diluting and watering down a subject like depravity by talking about sparks of good, etc. The depth of this love reached all the way down into the hole and pit, and it brought those miscreants that will live in heaven out of the pit never to be back in it. (Romans 11:26) Thinking of the cost drives a stake in the heart to contemplate. It cost the best heaven had to give all there was to accomplish the final end. A verse like II Corinthians 8:9 should be read slowly and thoughtfully. He was rich, but He became poor. Why? So that we would be rich. What was this poverty? It was being what we are (a man) and standing what we should have stood (made to be sin), so that we would be rich (made the righteousness of God in Him). The placement and cost of this depth should stir the child of God’s contemplation every time we consider it.
Breadth: Coupling up to the previous dimension, the breadth of God’s love encapsulates everyone that it seeks and has affection for. To say that God’s depth of love somehow doesn’t align with His breadth (Jesus died for someone who won’t be there) will not stand up to logical scrutiny much less the Scriptural test. The payment of the depth is successful to the fullest degree. Point? Everyone for whom God loves is encased in that love never to be removed from it. (John 6:37-40, II Timothy 2:19, Hebrews 10:14) One of the things about this love is that it not only covers all for whom it is intended (elect family of God), but it does so regardless of any circumstance. God has the same love for His people whether it was in the beginning or the last day. How does He feel about someone as ancient as Job? The same way He feels about the last heir of grace that will ever be conceived and born again on this earth. His methodology of saving and quickening each one is identical regardless of time period, gender, age, culture, language, etc. (John 3:8) His love covers them all. Without exception. Period.
Length: So, love came from heaven, reached down to hell, and grabbed everyone it desired. For how long? Today’s culture doesn’t understand love in many ways, but one of the chiefest is the idea of being “in love” or “out of love.” Couples reference this when starting a relationship and ending it. “We fell in love, but then we didn’t love each other anymore.” God’s love is everlasting, and real love doesn’t have the bounds that feeble man tries to attach to it. (Jeremiah 31:3) We may not like things about one another, and certainly, God doesn’t like the behavior of His children when we wander in paths of disobedience. However, His love 10,000 years into eternity will be just as steadfast and unwavering as it has ever been. An eternal God – who is love itself – couldn’t have a non-eternal love. Non-eternal love to an eternal God would be a violation of His character. If someone is loved of Him, they have always been loved and will always be loved by Him.
Beloved, we are loved from heaven itself to pull us out of hell itself. This love grabbed all of the family without exception and will stand forever. Do you believe that God loves you as one of His elect though you were the vilest of sinners, but will live forever in heaven with Him? I most certainly do, but do you understand what you espouse to believe? Well…I get it in that I comprehend the principles of election, salvation, and eternity. But do I understand those principles? They exceed man’s understanding. However, we don’t have to fully get it to get it. My prayer is Paul’s. I pray for the church’s understanding and comprehension of these things and that we would never forget them or let them slip from us. However, I have no expectation that our knowledge will truly know these things until that moment we stand face-to-face with Him and know as we are known. (I Corinthians 13:12)