"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the
same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."--Matt. xii. 50.
The Wondrous Relationship.
As if no solitary earthly type were enough to image forth the love of
Jesus, He assembles into one verse a group of the tenderest earthly
relationships. Human affection has to focus its loveliest hues, but all
is too little to afford an exponent of the depth and intensity of _His_.
"As one whom his _mother_ comforteth;" "my _sister_, my _spouse_." He is
"_Son_," "_Brother_" "_Friend_"--all in one; "cleaving closer than any
brother."
And can we wonder at such language? Is it merely figurative, expressive
of more than the reality?--He gave _Himself_ for us; after that pledge
of His affection we must cease to marvel at any expression of the
interest He feels in us. Anything He can _say_ or _do_ is infinitely
less than what He _has done_.
Believer! art thou solitary and desolate? Has bereavement severed
earthly ties? Has the grave made forced estrangements,--sundered the
closest links of earthly affection? In Jesus thou hast filial and
fraternal love combined; He is the Friend of friends, whose presence and
fellowship compensates for all losses, and supplies all blanks; "He
setteth the solitary in families." If thou art orphaned, friendless,
comfortless here, remember there is in the Elder Brother on the Throne a
love deep as the unfathomed ocean, boundless as Eternity?
And who are those who can claim the blessedness spoken of under this
wondrous imagery? On whom does He lavish this unutterable affection? No
outward profession will purchase it. No church, no priest, no
ordinances, no denominational distinctions. It is on those who are
possessed of _holy characters_. "He that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven!" He who reflects the mind of Jesus; imbibes His
Spirit; takes His Word as the regulator of his daily walk, and makes His
glory the great end of his being; he who lives _to_ God and _with_ God,
and _for_ God; the humble, lowly, Christ-like, Heaven-seeking
Christian;--he it is who can claim as his own this wondrous heritage of
love! If it be a worthy object of ambition to be loved by the good and
the great on earth, what must it be to have an eye of love ever beaming
upon us from the Throne, in comparison of which the attachment here of
brother, sister, kinsman, friend--all combined--pales like the stars
before the rising sun! Though we are often ashamed to call Him
"Brother," "He is not ashamed to call us _brethren_." He looks down on
poor worms, and says, "_The same_ is my mother, and sister, and
brother!" "I will write upon them," He says in another place, "my new
name." Just as we write our name on a book to tell that it belongs to
us; so Jesus would write His own name on _us_, the wondrous volumes of
His grace, that they may be read and pondered by principalities and
powers.
Have we "known and believed this love of God?" Ah, how poor has been the
requital! Who cannot subscribe to the words of one, whose name was in
all the churches,--"Thy love has been as a shower; the return but a
dew-drop, and that dew-drop stained with sin."
"IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP _MY WORDS_; AND MY FATHER WILL LOVE
HIM, AND WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM."