Unquenchable!

By Horatius Bonar, "The Love That Surpasses Knowledge"

(You will find it helpful to Listen to the Audio, as you read the text below.)

"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 itself 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 loveable; and when anything unfitting occurs, withdrawing from its object. Not so here. All our unfitness and unloveableness could not quench nor drown His love. It clung to the unlovely, and refused to be torn away!

4. 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 such like—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 and 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 3:18-19