The Lord greatly values the affections of His people in response to His great love for them, for it is ever true, “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Only One perfectly responded to the love of God, even the Son of His bosom, whose love for the Father was ever the same, and He proved His love by going into death (John 14:31). David was a man after God’s own heart, and although there was one dark blot on his history, he remained faithful to the Lord until the end. Peter too learned through his failure his own weakness, but he had great affection for the Lord, and in spite of his failure he went on stedfastly to the end, laying down his life in love for His Master. It will therefore be seen that there is a great difference between failure, and leaving first love. Leaving first love is departure from the warmth of affection that we had for the Lord, to be marked by decline, a decline that can take us very far from what had previously marked us.
Israel’s Decline
From Jeremiah 2 we learn something of how God valued Israel’s early history, for the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord” (verses 2-3). On the “plate of the holy crown” that was fastened with a lace of blue to the mitre on the head of Aaron, there was inscribed, “Holiness to the Lord” (Ex. 39:30-31), and from Jeremiah 2 we learn that this was how Jehovah viewed His people when He delivered them out of Egypt. When we consider all the murmurings of Israel, and their rebellion time after time against God, we might wonder how God could see anything holy about them, yet He was able to view them in this way as He showed through Baalim (Num. 23:21). God could see what Israel would be for Him under the new covenant, secured through the precious blood of Jesus, when the inscription on the horses will be “Holiness to the Lord” (Zech. 14:20).
In Jeremiah’s day, Israel had “gone far from the Lord,” nor did they enquire after Him (verses 5-6). God had brought Israel through the desert “into a plentiful country,” but they defiled His land, priests, pastors and prophets all being involved in the grave departure from the God who had so richly blessed them (verses 6–8). Israel were worse than the nations, committing two evils, forsaking their God, the only true God, “the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (verses 9–13). Instead of the cleansing and refreshment that the living God gave them, Israel had turned to idolatry that defiled them, and brought them trouble instead of joy.
Israel had been planted in the promised land “a noble vine,” but through their departure from God, and their adopting the idols of the nations, they had become “the degenerate plant of a strange vine” to Jehovah their God. Because of their declension God, in His government, had allowed the Gentiles to make “his land waste,” and his cities to be burned without inhabitant. In spite of God’s discipline, Israel would not be corrected (verse 30), and they were indifferent, forgetting God days without number, and were insensible of their guilt, saying, “I am innocent” (verses 32–35).
It was no wonder that God allowed His backsliding people to go into captivity. He had pleaded with them in long-suffering mercy, but without response. Even before the days of Jeremiah, when the people were led captive, yea, even before the ten tribes were taken away by the king of Assyria, Isaiah wrote, “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity…they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they have gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more” (Isa. 1:1–5). Well did Isaiah add, “Except the Lord of hosts we should have been like to Gomorrah” (verse 9). God had His little remnant, and when the mass had departed from Him, the remnant remained faithful amidst the general decline.
King Solomon
Departure from first love was not only seen in the nation of Israel, but also in its kings, princes, priests, prophets and individuals among the people. King Solomon made an excellent start, speaking of the kindness of God, and confessing himself to be but “a little child,” not knowing what to do, and asking God for wisdom (1 Kings 3:5–9). Having awakened from his sleep in which he had spoken to Jehovah, Solomon “came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants” (verse 15). The Lord had His true place in the heart of the king, and his servants shared in the blessing.
The wisdom that God gave to Solomon “excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt,” and of the renowned men named in 1 Kings 4:31, “and there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom,” among whom was the queen of Sheba. At the dedication of the temple, Solomon’s remarkable prayer not only displayed his wisdom, but also the great place that Jehovah, the God of Israel, had in his affections (chapter 8).
How very, very sad it is to see how king Solomon acted towards the close of his life, but the seeds of his departure from the Lord had been sown earlier. Contrary to the Lord’s commandment, Solomon “loved many strange women,” and they turned his heart after their gods. It was “when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father…and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings 11:1–8).
Was it any wonder that “the Lord was angry with Solomon”? who had “commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods” (verses 9-10). Because of his idolatry, God said to Solomon, “I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant” (verse 11). Solomon in turning from God left his first love, and gave the idols of the nations the place in his heart that belonged to God. There is ever the danger, even in old age, of allowing something to displace from our hearts the affection that is due to God, and because of this it is written, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).
King Asa
God, in His goodness, gave king Asa ten years of quiet at the beginning of his reign, and he did that which was “good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God” (2 Chr. 14:1-2), removing idolatry, and commanding Judah to seek the Lord. During these quiet years the king built fenced cities, and prepared his army, for he was surrounded by enemies. At the end of the ten years a very powerful foe, Zerah the Ethiopian, came against him with an army of a million men, and three hundred chariots, and viewed naturally, the army of Asa was no match for it. Relying on Jehovah, the army of Asa went out to meet the powerful foe, for Asa cried “to the Lord his God, saying, Lord it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee…let not man prevail against Thee” (verses 9–11). Putting God between himself and the foe, it was little wonder that the enemy fled, and that the “host of the Lord” took the spoils.
Going out to meet Asa, Azariah the son of Oded, upon whom the Spirit of God had come, said, “The Lord is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you” (2 Chr. 15:1-2). It was a time of trouble for the nations, God having vexed them with wars, but the prophet added, “Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded” (verse 7); a very salutary word for God’s people at all times. There was an answer from Asa, for he gathered all Israel to Jerusalem and sacrificed to Jehovah. Moreover the king removed his mother from being queen “because she had made an idol in a grove” (verse 16).
For thirty five years Asa had been preserved by Jehovah, but in the thirty-sixth year of his reign the Lord tested him, when He allowed Baasha, king of the ten tribes, to come against him. What an opportunity for Asa to show his reliance on his God, but instead he sought the help of God’s people, instead of relying on God. Truly good king Asa had left his first love, for his attitude on this occasion was so different from what it had been when the powerful forces of Ethiopia had come against him twenty five years earlier.
God could not allow this to pass, so sent His servant Hanani the seer to reach his conscience, his closing words being, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars” (2 Chr. 16:7–9). Had the heart of Asa been tender, he would have confessed his sin, and sought the Lord’s face in repentance, but alas, he had got away from the Lord, had left his first love, and being angry with God’s servant, he put him in prison. He also oppressed some of the Lord’s people at this time. How very sad were his closing years, for “in the thirty and ninth year of his reign” Asa was diseased in his feet, and instead of going to Jehovah about it, he went to his physicians. What a sad end after such a good start, and an excellent reign. All this sorrow was because he had left his first love, and did not repent.
The Church of Ephesus
Paul wrote an epistle to the saints from his prison in Rome, in which he brought before them the purpose of God in Christ, and the rich blessings that God had given to His saints in Christ, according to His eternal purpose. It was an immense privilege to have this epistle with all its great revelations from God, but the saints at Ephesus were evidently in a spiritual condition to receive such wonderful communication. Indeed, Paul having made known some of this great truths, could write, “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers” (Eph. 1:15-16).
When writing his second Epistle to Timothy, Paul said to his dearly beloved son, “This thou knowest, that all they which are is Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). Ephesus, which was in Asia, would therefore be included in the company who turned away from the faithful servant of the Lord in bonds for Christ, and in doing so it would seem that they had lost something of their true zeal for Christ and His testimony. In spite of this, Ephesus was still written on Paul’s heart, for he said to Timothy, “Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus” (2 Tim. 4:12), and this was very soon before Paul sealed his testimony with his blood.
After Paul had gone to heaven, the Lord Jesus, by His servant John, sent a message to “the angel of the church of Ephesus,” saying, “I know thy works, and thy labour…and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my Name’s sake hast laboured…nevertheless I have against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Rev. 2:2–4). There was so much to commend, but what should have given character to all was missing, their first love to Christ. It was the first step of departure, and the end is seen in Laodicea, which shut Christ outside its door (Rev. 3:20).
How very careful we should be in maintaining communion with Christ, so as not to lose our first love for Him.
R. 20.2.70