The First Love

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”  John 17:24

This is the very heart of the moving prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ before His arrest and crucifixion. As we hear Him pray, we are translated back in time, before time began, and there we encounter the indescribable love within the counsels of the triune Godhead - Father, and Son, and Spirit - three persons, yet one God.   

Then, after speaking of this love, Jesus prayed - in the final words of His sure-to-be-answered prayer - “that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26).

This love - the love within the Trinity - was the primeval love and, therefore, is the spring from which flows every other form of true love - marital love, mother love, brotherly love, love of country, love of friends, love for the lost, or any other genuine love.

It is appropriate that the first mention of love in the Old Testament refers to the love of a father (Abraham) for his son Isaac (Gen. 22:2), and then, that the first reference to love in the New Testament (Matt. 3:17) speaks of the heavenly love of God the Father for God the Son. The Son is called “beloved,” yet the father and son are prepared to go to the alter of sacrifice, that the will of God might be done, and a way of salvation be provided for lost sinners.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). One day - as He prayed - we shall be with Him, see His glory, and even experience His own eternal love in our hearts.