When I talk about God, I'm
talking about the God of the Bible -- the Christian Bible.
Most often, I think God's love
is so easily taken lightly or for granted, even for Christians. Why? or How
come? Easy, we have limited minds to comprehend the unlimited, unbounded,
incomprehensible and unequally love of the Almighty All-knowing All-present God
of the Bible.
Nevertheless, let's consider
some of the things revealed to men on the manifestations of God's love (I said
some because I'm sure there may be more and these are just the things that have
captured my thoughts on God's Love).
First, consider this:
God created the heavens and
the earth and it was good. Everything was perfect, except that God created and
prohibited the fruit of just one out of the many tree from being eaten and it
was clearly stated that once they did eat, man shall surely die. Though even
with that one prohibition, would that ruin what God has made to be perfect and
good? No. I don't think so. Sometimes men like to see the negative side more
than the positive side, nevertheless, it's not man's creation. It's God's and
who are we to be the judge? We are nothing but mere creatures of Him who made
all things. And we are part of that ALL things.
Next,
Everything was provided and
was given for free in that garden of Eden (simple but I think should clearly
emphasize how good and loving God is).
But then, man failed and
decided to disobey His Creator, His Provider, His Love, His Everything. And
still, God exercised His love towards men by not automatically erasing man from
existence. Instead, God planned from the very start of man's fall that He will
redeem man once again. The verse below foreshadowed or prophesied how God would
redeem man:
“And I will put enmity (open hostility) between
you and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her [a]Seed; He shall [fatally] bruise your head, and
you shall [only] bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15 Amplified Bible)
At first, it may seem gibberish
or rubbish, but if one understands and looks at the event of Christ Jesus being
crucified, this verse was fulfilled in Mt. Golgotha. "He shall [fatally]
bruise your head" means Christ won the victory, while "you shall
[only] bruise His heel" means Jesus' suffering was just part of God's plan
and literally Jesus' heel was bruised in the cross of Calvary. There are other
Bible verses from the Old Testament books which foreshadowed and prophesied the
cross of Calvary like in the time of Moses when the Hebrews painted their doors
on the sides and on top with blood. But God Himself declaring this from the
very start and fulfilling it after almost 4000 years doesn't mean God was late
or something but proved He was faithful in fulfilling it according to His word
and time.
Now the question remains is
"How would God redeem man through Jesus dying on the cross?" Well,
let's go back to God's decreed law from the very start which is "If you
shall eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall
surely die." (paraphrased from Gen.
2:17). Death is the payment or verdict for the one who would disobey God's
command and it cannot be reversed. Romans 6:23a says "For the wages of sin
is death..." Now understanding this concept or truth, let me ask this
question. "Can a sinner "A" die in behalf of another sinner
"B" so that the sinner "B" will be acquitted or justified
(meaning declared innocent)?" Of course NO! No one can do that or that is
not logical or does not make sense. If the sinner "A" die, it's just
"just" or "worthy" for the sinner "A" to die
because that's the payment of his sin. You may say that what if sinner
"A" never did sin? That would be true or possible but thing is, after
Adam's sin, sin was passed to all men. And a very evidence of that is that all
men or women will die in the appointed time. Romans 5:12 declares this truth.
Furthermore, little or small
sin in our perspective or mind is still sin in God's sight. The best
illustration of this is observing the light and darkness. If darkness is sin,
even in the least of it or if there is such as we call "small darkness"
and God is light: What happens if both comes in contact with each other?
darkness fades away. Therefore, no sin done by a sinner can face the Creator of
heaven and earth. That is why God's Word says all men are sinners and therefore
all men will die. Therefore man is doomed!
Furthermore to clarify, death
in reality and in God's perspective actually means to be separated. And an
initial effect of death to man when Adam sinned was that man no longer can
fellowship with God nor see Him like Adam before sinning. This is what the
Bible calls "spiritual death". And of course, the other death we experience
is what we call the physical death. We are separated from our love ones or from
this reality of life on earth. And the most dreadful and awful death is what
the Bible calls the "second death" in Revelations 20:14 which simply
means everlasting / eternal death or separation from God forever. And it's not
just about separation forever, but everlasting pain and sorrow in the lake of
fire along with the devil and demons. (there may be more discussions about this
but I would not expand on that portion for this time and let us focus more of
the overview of God's love)
What God desires and what it
means for God to redeem man is by making man once more to be sinless (no sin),
white, pure, clean and like the light so that we can be able to see Him as He
is. But again the question to ask is "How?" And that's the reason why
Jesus came.
Another reason why God's love
is sooooo unfathomable and amazing is that "Jesus, Who came, is also God
Himself." Come again? What? Yes, Jesus is God! While some folks wouldn't
believe that and use verses to claim their claim. We, Christians too, have
verses to claim Jesus is God. Just try to google it and it's there. But let me
share my thoughts and not just use a Bible verse (though I have a verse to also
relate this thing to). Thing is, compare the love of God becoming man so that
He would die for our sins in contrast to an angel or man or created being even
if the creature is holy sent by God to die for our sins. Doesn't that distort
our view of how God loves us? John 15:13 says in the amplified version "No
one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life
for his friends." Now if you separate Jesus being God from God. Whose love
is greater then? And who would you choose to love more? Wouldn't you choose to
love the one who gave His life for you? But if "by faith" believing
Christ as 100% Man and 100% God, died for you, then wouldn't that mean a very
amazing love? And that's just a part of how God's love is sooo great!
Another magnifier of God's
love I believe, is that the reality that Jesus was born in a virgin birth. That
truth is very important and a treasure! Why? You see, the virgin birth will
claim that Jesus Christ was born without sin! That's the reason why the Bible
calls Jesus, the Second Adam! Now to understand what virgin birth means I have
to say, "just try to google it". Cause it may take more discussion
over that. But simple, as it was foretold, being the seed of a woman (Gen.
3:15), this is God's way on how to redeem man. Through the virgin birth, a
sinless man is born. Therefore the argument a while ago where the sinner
"A" was not really a sinner is fulfilled. And now, Jesus was not
simply born, He lived for 33 years. He was actually even tempted by Satan as we
all and thing is, HE NEVER SINNED. 1 Peter 2:22 declares this that even with
Jesus' mouth no sin was found. Unlike man who sin as fast as our eyes can see.
Now, the biggest part of God's
amazing love was that He was crushed, bruised, mocked, spit upon, beaten...
every manifestation of condemnation and judgement for a sinner, Jesus received
willingly. He never cursed or even retaliated. Instead, He willingly laid down
His life even in the point of death. Why? So He could take the punishment of
sin that is supposed to be for man. Now that is how God loves us! (John 3:16)
I John 4:19 says "We love
Him because He first loved us." Simply states that man cannot
unconditionally love God, because God already unconditionally loved us.
Now, here's the catch!
Understanding how great God's love for us is not what really matters but how do
we respond to that love. Because God's Word is also clear. God is love but He
is also just or justice. It is not right to say that because Christ died for
man, therefore all man are already clean and righteous and therefore can go to
heaven. I don't think that is right and justice. When a man courts a woman so
that they would be married, the woman has to say "yes" to the man
before they do. If the answer is "no" then there wouldn't be a
marriage. The same with God and His decreed law. Christ died because of man's
sin so that He may make a "way", the only way for man to be brought
back to Himself (John 14:6). How? Faith in Christ! If a person puts his/her
faith, his/her trust in Jesus Christ as God's Word declares (John 3:16, Eph.
2:8&9, Rom. 10:9&10). And when we say "faith" it's
surrendering everything even our life to Jesus Christ (Rom. 12:1&2). In
simple saying, we believe that Jesus is true to what He declares Himself, God,
our Lord, our Master, our Savior, etc. etc.. and of course manifested in our
life. If we truly believe who Jesus is, then all His teachings and principles,
is what we follow and obey. How? When Jesus no longer roams the earth? Read His
Word, the Bible. I can discuss further more about these things, and more. But, may
we focus on How Great God's love is and may we truly realize it and afterwhich,
may we respond positively on God's Love, by believing on Who Jesus is.
"Will you receive His gift of Love?"
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