‘For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him.’–John 3:16-17
Take a moment to consider further John 3:16 one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. We see it at ring side in boxing matches, trackside in F1 racing and in the stands at soccer games. v. 17 as well because it supplements the reason why Jesus came to earth.
God loves everyone, as hard as that may be for some of us to comprehend or appropriate for ourselves, God actually loves us.
Martin Luther said: ‘God does not love us because we’re valuable but we are valuable because God loves us.’
Many people have a hard time believing God loves them and that they are precious to Him. They can accept He loves the world but not them as an individual.
It’s for the same reasons people are willing to talk about God or a greater power but not about Jesus. Because when we talk about Jesus, it becomes personal. He commands a personal response. Likewise, when we talk about a God of love it’s personal and some people struggle to believe that the God of all the universe could possibly know, care and love them.
But believe it – God loves us –Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, intercession for us now, awaited return, is demonstrable proof.
Jesus told Zacchaeus in Luke 19:10 that He had come to ‘seek and save the lost’. And John 3:17 reminds us ‘For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
God Has Loved Us From the Beginning It might seem a little strange to go all the way back in Genesis 1, but we need to remember that God’s loving plan for us started with His very first act of creation. Out of nothing, God called forth light. He separated land from the sea, created the sun, moon, stars, and all the creatures of earth but the crowning glory of His creation was humanity. vHe created us in His own image and made us to love and be loved Genesis 1:26-30The first humans however, doubted the truth of God’s love for them and rebelled. But even in humanity’s fall into sin, we find God’s loving mercy.
God did not destroy Eve and Adam and even as they began to experience the serious consequences of their sin, God made His first promise of future redemption: Genesis 3:15 that Eve’s own offspring would one day crush the head of the serpent (the symbol of sin entering the world) once and for all time
God’s loving promise is evidenced as we track the story of God’s people through the O.T. we see God’s loving plan unfold.
He remained faithful to His people even when they doubted Him, questioned Him and turned away from Him. Witnesses of God’s loving faithfulness, like Nehemiah, testified ‘You are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…’ Nehemiah 9:17
Revisiting the big picture of God’s love for His people during Advent, helps us understand the significance of that very first advent, the coming of a Saviour a rescuer.
For this reason, Matthew starts his gospel with Jesus’ genealogy, tracing His lineage back through King David to Abraham. Matthew wants us to understand that this major event is connected to God’s bigger story of love and redemption.
Love, incarnated (shaped) in the form of a tiny baby, came to fulfil a promise God made hundreds of years before.
Paul in Philippians 2:6-7 explains, ‘though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.’
‘For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him.’John 3:16-17
This is Advent love, ‘not that we have loved Godbut that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation/atonement for our sins.’ 1 John 4:10
As we wait upon the second advent of Christ Jesus? We are to do what Jesus did 1 John 4:7-12 (Msg)
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God because God is love—so you can’t know Him if you don’t love. This is how God showed His love for us: God sent His only Son into the world so we might live through Him. This is the kind of love we are talking about not that we once upon a time loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us and His love becomes complete in us, perfect love! (Msg)