Some musings on love

• The Father loves his Son and so loves the Bride the Son sets his heart on. He loves the church because she joins him in his love of his Son. However, he is also angry when his Son's love is abused by the Bride running after others.
• The Son loves the church so much that he wants to possess her and not share her with another. He will be saddened and mourned if she refuses his advances.
• The Spirit is the love of the Father for the Son, and the love of the Son for his Bride. He is grieved when division between any comes up, and will empower all to destroy those who will try and harm the beloved.

So far the exclusivity of Christ is understandable. So is hell if we reject Christ.

What is not understandable is that:

• Because the Father loves the Son so much, and wants him to have the Bride he desires, he kills his Son on the cross!
• Because the Son loves the Bride so much he will chase after her into the pits of hell, even though in that hell he will not be with her but will be utterly alone and separated from the disciples and Father he loves.

Now its getting bizarre. How can it be loving that the Father abandons the Son he loves, and the Son abandons his church (John 16)?

What makes it more incomprehensible is that the ultimate finality of death and judgement is not the final word, but that "bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave [Love] rose again". And when Love rose again he looked so different that people couldn't recognise him immediately, and he brought with him a new Bride, with a new heart that beats only for him. This new Bride you may also struggle to recognise as the same people as the old Bride. He loved the Bride so much that although he accepted her just as she was, he wasn't content to leave her in that state, but by his love transformed her (see Sebastian Faulks on Mr Darcy and Miss Bennett, and Powlison on why God's love is "better than unconditional")

[Post prompted by the excellent lessons I've been taught by Ray Ortlund's MP3s, Glen Scrivener and Dave Bish's posts, the sad teaching of Rob Bell, and the joyful privilege of being best man at my housemate's wedding this weekend]