Christ's love for His own

"How wonderful is the love that is manifested in giving Christ to die for us. For this is love to enemies. 'While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.' How wonderful was the love of God the Father, in giving such a gift to those who not only could not be profitable to him, but were his enemies, and to so great a degree! They had great enmity against him; yet so did he love them, that he gave his own Son to lay down his life, in order to save their lives. Though they had enmity that sought to pull God down from his throne; yet he so loved them, that he sent down Christ from heaven, from his throne there, to be in the form of a servant; and instead of a throne of glory, gave him to be nailed to the cross, and to be laid in the grave, that so we might be brought to a throne of glory.

How wonderful was the love of Christ, in thus exercising dying love towards his enemies! He loved those that hated him, with hatred that sought to take away his life, so as voluntarily to lay down his life, that they might have life through him. 'Herein is love; not that we loved him, but that he loved us, and laid down his life for us.'"

From a sermon entitled Men naturally are God's enemies, by Jonathan Edwards.