Love never fails
Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part (1 Corinthians 13: 8-9).
The love of God never fails. The reality of this is seen in the Lord Jesus. We trace it in the incarnation when God entered His creation. It was displayed in Christ’s words of grace and His power to heal and forgive. And ultimately we see His profound and unfailing love in His death at Calvary. This was the place where Jew and Gentile, energised by Satan, rejected and crucified the Lord of Glory. The time came when man and Satan were put aside. Darkness fell. And God brought His judgement against sin upon the Saviour. God “did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). But nothing which man, Satan or God’s judgement was able to do could ever extinguish the love that “laboured in His breaking heart”. His love did not fail or end:
Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it” (Song of Solomon 8:7).
Christ’s sufferings did not extinguish His love: they manifested its wonder and power. At Calvary we hear those wondrous words, “It is finished” (John 19:30) and we listen to the voice of the Shepherd who had the power to lay down His life for us in love: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46; cf. John 10:18).
We have reminded ourselves over and over again during lockdown of Romans 8:38-39:
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God is love. And because He is eternal, His love cannot fail. This cannot be said of even the greatest of gifts. Prophecies come to an end, having fulfilled their purpose. Tongues will cease; they will not be needed in a coming day. Knowledge will “vanish away”, as the apostle describes in the next few verses. Knowledge and prophesying are never entirely complete. We look forward to the day when we shall come into all the fullness and clarity of the love of God.
We prove in our lives now the love that does not end. We experience within the confines of time and the human condition the wonder of eternal love. Moment by moment that love is active and powerful. God embraces all His people within His love. He is able to hear and respond to all our needs simultaneously. He upholds, in incomprehensible power, not only the observable universe but the unseen spiritual world.
This morning, churches and meeting rooms will re-open across the UK, and the people of God will gather together in them in large and small numbers. They will also meet in their own homes in twos or threes and even in complete isolation. It is His unfailing love that binds us together and makes us one. In that love we will look back to the cross. In faith we will look up to our risen and glorified Saviour and Lord with the hope of His return in our hearts. His love will fill our hearts with worship and the joy of telling the Father of all His glory.
