The Affections of God Revealed in Christ

One of the most important truths that should be soldered to our temperament is the act of remembrance (Psalm 20:7, 42:1–4, 63:6, 78:7, 119:16; Isaiah 43:26, 44:21, 46:8–11; Luke 22:19; Ephesians 2:11). It is through this practice that we start to draw the truths of who God is closer to the threshold of faith where intellectual ideas move into a place of belief and credence. It fuels the heart’s desire to pursue, and it foreruns the needed precedence of fasting and prayer in one’s life. Recollection of what the Triune God has prescribed for our lives as believers bolsters our confidence in the place of intercession and ignites poise before the finite ways of man. Furthermore, looking at what has been documented in the Word of God is in essence studying that which we have been called to remember (Psalm 119:15–16). We are gaining memories of Him and establishing a history in God by doing this. The affections of God towards humanity are fortified throughout the pages of the holiest of books, and it is our job to feast on those documented events, remembering how the Lord has shared the intimate affections of His heart with us—the fullness of which is found in the Man Jesus Christ. To this end, and for the purpose of this article, what we find specifically in the Gospels is a selective history that chronicles the ultimate affections of God, radiating from Jesus. To study the life and Person of this Man is to view the climax of God’s eternal pursuit of the human race (Hebrews 1:1–3).

 

In the Gospel narratives, the affections of God are set before us in a manner of such extremity that it can easily become a scandalous breach to all that we believe is right within human intellect. God the Son, choosing to enter the world as a human being, delves into a mystery deeper than even the greatest of human imaginations can journey. To think of the infinite and unending rationale behind the actions of this one event is to submerse oneself in a meditation which stretches as far as the boundless Spirit will take you. We see the pre–existent Christ coming in the lowly form of a babe in order to redeem the very thing He had become. It was at the moment of Jesus’ conception within Mary that God became something that He once was not. Now, confined to a seed within a woman, Baby Jesus would grow through the normal stages of birth, not knowing that, in His underdeveloped frame, there was confined the mystery of God’s will to have heaven and earth synthesize and fuse, taking residence within one another (Ephesians 1:9–10). Sparse as the record may be, Luke then documents God as a child growing, learning (Luke 2:40,52) and fulfilling His role as the second Adam to redeem both Israel and the nations of the earth. 

 

Nothing is then mentioned of Him during an eighteen–year silence. Putting His humility and meekness to forefront, He walked among the people of Israel unknown to all of His true identity. However, when the fullness of His time had come, He stepped out of the shadows of obscurity and began to call a nation back to the truth of their identity (Galatians 4:4–5). The kingdom of heaven was at hand, and His affections drove Him to vehemently run after a people who had all but removed the intimate meaning behind their true identity as sons and daughters of Abraham. In the lowly form of the created, the Creator looked into the eyes and lives of real people. He had unhindered, unfallen, untainted emotions for each individual. For the first time since the Fall, the purest and most holy form of love imaginable was manifested in the natural through a human. God in the flesh cried out to them as a bridegroom would summon for his bride. Longing to soothe the raging torrents of His heart, He made an extreme appeal unto them, aching for a response of renewed devotion and love from the ones to whom He had betrothed Himself (Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:19). The definitive statement of God’s intentions towards humanity is found in this Man.

 

We must see that our identity comes from God, and that we cannot understand ourselves as a cherished bride until we know what our Husband is like. The importance of studying Gods affections for us is that it will shatter the lies of the enemy concerning what He is truly like. Though many of us may never say it, we believe that He is a disappointed taskmaster who is wondering when we are going to stop sinning and get it all together. We must see that He is not like this, but rather our merciful Father who has and continues to pursue us to the deepest of depths. It is time to for us to remember God as one who has saved us from death (Isaiah 25:8; Romans 6:4–10), given us eternal life (Ephensians 2:5; 1 John 1:2), sealed us with His Spirit (Ephesians 1:13–14), and now calls us His offspring in the same way God the Son is. And if we are sons, what does that mean but that we also heirs (Romans 8:14–17). Thus, in conclusion, we as heirs can see the greatness of our Father’s affections for us as One who is in pursuit and seeking to extravagantly lavish His love on the ones with whom He is so inexplicably in love.