Unquenchable by Horatius Bonar
from the love that surpasses knowledge. Many waters cannot
quench love, neither can rivers drown it. Song of Solomon 8.7
Let us take this verse as descriptive of the love of Christ, the love
that surpasses knowledge. Nothing in heaven or earth or
hell is able to extinguish or cool the love of Christ. The one love whose dimensions
are beyond all measure. It is unquenchable. 1. The waters of shame and suffering
sought to quench and drown the love of Christ. They would have
hindered its outflowing and come, like Peter, between the Savior
and the cross. But this love refused to be arrested
on its way to Calvary. It would not be either quenched
or drowned. Herein was love. It overleaped
all the barriers in its way. Its fire would not be quenched. Its life would not be drowned. 2. The waters of death sought to
quench the love of Christ. Their waves and billows went
over him. The grave sought to cool or quench
it, but it proved stronger than death. Neither death nor the
grave could alter or weaken it. It came out of both as strong
as before. Love defied death and overcame
it. 3. The waters of our unworthiness
could not quench nor drown the love of Christ. In general, we
find love drawing to the lovable, and when anything unfitting occurs,
withdrawing from its object. Not so here. All our unfitness
and unlovable-ness could not quench nor drown his love. It clung to the unlovely and
refused to be torn away. Four, the waters of our long
rejection sought to quench the love of Christ. After the gospel
had showed us that personal unworthiness could not arrest the love of
Christ, we continued to reject him and his love. Yet his love
surmounted this unbelief and survived this rejection. In spite
of all, it remained unquenched. 5. The waters of our daily inconsistency
sought to quench the love of Christ. Even after we have believed,
we are constantly coming short. Ah, what inconsistencies, coldness,
backslidings, lukewarmness, doubtings, worldliness and suchlike are
daily flowing over this love to quench its fire and drown
its life. Yet it survives all. It remains unquenched and unquenchable. All these infinite evils in us
are like waters, many waters, like floods, torrents of sin,
waves and billows of evil, all constantly laboring to quench
and drown the love of Christ. And truly, they would have annihilated
any other love. any love less than divine, but
the love of Christ is unchangeable and everlasting. His love is
invincible and irresistible as death. It is a jealous love,
unyielding, inexorable as the grave. All earth and heaven together
would be ineffectual to cool or quench his mighty love. The love of Christ truly surpasses
knowledge. It is infinite like himself. It emerges out of every storm
or flood. It survives all our unworthiness
and unbelief and rejection. Here, then, is the love of Christ. Its breadth, length, height,
and depth are absolutely immeasurable. May you have the power to understand,
as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and
how deep his love is. May you experience the love of
Christ, even though it is too great to understand fully. Ephesians 3, 18 and 19