The Love of God
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV).
GOD LOVES YOU. Bible is God’s love letter to everyone in the world, including you and me. However, there is a problem. We are all sinners and God can’t have fellowship with us. To solve this problem He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. The holy, sinless Son of God took our sin in His body on the cross. Paul described it, “For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Let’s consider the measure of God’s love found in the Cross.
THE CROSS PROVES GOD’S LOVE. Before the cross, Jesus endured thirty-nine lashes of a Roman whip, a crown of thorns and cruel mocking of being slapped and spat upon. Then the nails in His hands and feet drained the blood from His body until He bled to death on the cross. When Jesus bore our sin in His body on the cross, God had to turn His back. Out of the mid-day darkness Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). Bearing our sin and being separated from His Father brought Jesus indescribable suffering. The death of Jesus was worse than any other death could ever be.
Just before He died, Jesus shouted, “It is finished” (John 19:30).“It” was the full payment for our salvation. Jesus died in our place on that cross, that we might have forgiveness and eternal life through Him. He was buried but on the third day He arose from the dead. He ascended back to Heaven and is now preparing a place for us there. The third verse of the beloved hymn, “The Love of God”, expresses the magnitude of God’s love.
“Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.”1
–Frederick H. Lehman
JESUS LOVES YOU ASKS YOU TO BE PART OF HIS BRIDE! So, there you have it, the greatest love story ever told. Jesus, the ultimate bridegroom, came into the world seeking His bride. The plan of salvation is a proposal of spiritual marriage by Jesus to all people. The engagement is our salvation. God’s Holy Spirit says to you, “Do you take this Man, Jesus Christ, as your spiritual bridegroom forever?” If your answer is, “I do,” then Jesus will write your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life to be His forever! If you have not already done so, answer God’s love letter today with an eternal “Yes!” and live in His love forever. Someday Jesus will come for His bride, the church. All who believe in Him, receiving Him as personal Lord and Savior are part of that bride. Amen.
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1 These words are thought to be adapted from an ancient Jewish poem called “Hadamut,” written in 1096 A.D. by a Rabbi Mayer in Worms, Germany. In 1917 Pastor Frederick M. Lehman heard the words quoted at a Nazarene Camp Meeting and revised them to fit his song, “The Love of God.”