The followers of Christ should here learn to reflect in some degree that mysterious love preparatory to joining all the redeemed in ascribing “blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, ... unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”....

Who can measure the love Christ felt for a lost world as He hung upon the cross, suffering for the sins of the guilty? This love was immeasurable, infinite.

Christ has shown that His love was stronger than death. He was accomplishing humanity’s salvation; and although He had the most fearful conflict with the powers of darkness, yet, amid it all, His love grew stronger and stronger.... The price was paid to purchase the redemption of men and women, when, in the last soul struggle, the blessed words were uttered which seemed to resound through creation: “It is finished.” ...

The length, the breadth, the height, the depth, of such amazing love we cannot fathom. The contemplation of the matchless depths of a Savior’s love should fill the mind, touch and melt the soul, refine and elevate the affections, and completely transform the whole character....

Some have limited views of the atonement. They think that Christ suffered only a small portion of the penalty of the law of God; they suppose that, while the wrath of God was felt by His dear Son, He had, through all His painful sufferings, the evidence of His Father’s love and acceptance; that the portals of the tomb before Him were illuminated with bright hope, and that He had the abiding evidence of His future glory. Here is a great mistake. Christ’s keenest anguish was a sense of His Father’s displeasure. His mental agony because of this was of such intensity that many can have but faint conception of it....

Here is love that no language can express. It passes knowledge. Great is the mystery of godliness. Our souls should be enlivened, elevated, and enraptured with the theme of the love of the Father and the Son to humanity. The followers of Christ should here learn to reflect in some degree that mysterious love preparatory to joining all the redeemed in ascribing “blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, ... unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”—Testimonies for the Church 2:212-215. BLJ 19


Near Bethsaida, at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, was a lonely region, beautiful with the fresh green of spring, that offered a welcome retreat to Jesus and His disciples. For this place they set out, going in their boat across the lake. Here they could rest, apart from the confusion of the multitude. Here the disciples could listen to the words of Christ, undisturbed by the retorts and accusations of the Pharisees. Here they hoped to enjoy a short season of fellowship in the society of their Lord. MH 56



He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32 (New King James Version)