We ought not to pass over this expression, though the word itself is so generally understood. There is somewhat in it so truly blessed, when we consider it in relation to Christ, as the Christ of God; and also, in relation to the church, considered from her union with Christ, and interest in Christ, that the word beloved, when spoken of either, comes home to the affection peculiarly sweet and endeared. To refer to all the passages of Scripture, in which Christ is declared beloved, would be very many indeed. It will be fully sufficient to all the present purposes intended, to remark, that in all the parts of the divine word, at every place, and upon every occasion, when God the Father is represented as speaking of his dear Son, or to him, he expresseth himself with the greatest rapture and delight. He calls him his elect, his chosen, his only beloved, his dear Son; as if he would have every individual member of his church, (and which is indeed the case) to fall in love with him. And what I would beg the reader particularly to remark with me on this occasion is, that this love of the Father to the Son is specially spoken of in Scripture, not with reference to his divine nature, but in his mediatorial character. It would have been of no profit to us, (for the subject is above our faculties of apprehension) to have been told of the love of the Father to the Son, in the nature and essence of the GODHEAD. How the divine persons love each other in the infinity and eternity of their nature, none but themselves in their eternal nature can have any conceptions concerning. But the love of God, yea, all the persons of the GODHEAD to the person of Christ, as God-man Mediator; this is a subject concerning which we find somewhat for the mind to lean upon; and, under divine teaching, can make discovery sufficient to create a joy from it, "unspeakable and full of glory." What a rapturous thought to the soul is it, that our Jesus is beloved of JEHOVAH, because he undertook our cause, became our Surety, lived for us as such, and died for us as such, and is now carrying on the one glorious design for which he became incarnate, in bringing "many sons unto glory." The Lord Jesus speaks of his Father's love to him on this very account. "Therefore, (saith Jesus) doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." (John 10:17-18. See also Isaiah 42:21)
And as Christ is thus beloved on the account of his gracious office and undertaking as Mediator, so is the church on his account, and for his sake beloved also. He it is, indeed, that gives this loveliness to his church, for there is nothing in the church, or in the acts of the church, which can be lovely, but on the Lord's account, and as beheld and accepted in him. But as considered as one with Christ, and made comely, from the comeliness which Jesus hath imparted to her, and put upon her, she is lovely in God the Father's view, and beloved by JEHOVAH for ever. Yea, the Lord Jesus not only calls her his beloved, and tells her that she is all fair, and that there is no spot in her, but he saith, in that sweet prayer he put up to the Father, in the night before his sufferings and death, that "the Father loveth the church as the Father loved him." (See John 17:23)