We desire to call attention to the place this wondrous revelation of God has. It has been thought by some that God once so loved the world, but that when the Lord Jesus had been rejected, this ceased to be the case. Now, if we remember that the Gospel by John was the last written, long after the Jews had rejected both the Lord Jesus and also the testimony of the Holy Ghost, we shall then see that this wondrous statement of the love of God to the world was not only recorded after He had been rejected, but, consequent on that rejection, this fuller revelation of God was made. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
His own nation rejected Him as Messiah, but as many as received Him were introduced into a far higher place of blessing than the Jew ever had as a servant, even into all the privileges of sonship. And this sonship not of man, either by natural descent, or by any action of man—a new birth, entirely of God. This truth is more fully unfolded by the Lord to Nicodemus. Only we must remember the Lord did not speak to him about the heavenly church, but of the kingdom of God, and this is yet to be set up in power on this earth, according as God had spoken, and promised by all the prophets. No one could see or enter into the kingdom, except he were born again, or wholly anew, as had been fully shown in Eze. 36. They must, and will, have a new heart given to them, and be sprinkled with water that is cleansed from all pollution, as is there explained.
It is a dreadful falsehood to pervert this scripture, as though it meant christian baptism, and that a priest could regenerate a child or a man with water. All who rest on such a new birth are not born of God at all, but simply deceived. But then the question is this: if, through the rejection of the Messiah, the earthly kingdom of God has been so long postponed—for God will yet fulfill every promise—what as to this present time, this long interval? It is just here the character and love of God shine out in all their fullness.
The first thing, then, announced as meeting man’s condition is this: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.’’ The serpent was placed on the pole, that every bitten Israelite who looked at it might live. But the thought God had in giving His Son to be nailed to the cross, the sacrifice for sins, went far beyond the type. It was not for that nation only, but, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
What an object set before a guilty world!—before every serpent-bitten sinner on the face of the earth. None can say, My case is too bad, I am too vile. “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Does not this mean the writer and the readers of these lines? Who is the source of this wondrous grace? God! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Well did He know the nation of Israel would, and did, reject Christ, but this did not hinder His love flowing out to the whole world.
Let us, then, dwell on this wondrous fact, the infinite love of God, revealed by the cross, toward the whole world. What a contrast this is to the law! It demanded most justly the love of man to God, but He had come, and only found hatred, a cross, and a grave. Man so hated God, God so loved. Man’s utmost hatred brought out God’s utmost love. The law said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God;” Jesus says, “God so loved the world.” All this is entirely new, and entirely of God. It is the revelation of God to men. We may also say, not only was this in direct contrast to the law, but it is in direct contrast to every human thought.
The human mind is ever occupied with its love to God, or, at the most, What shall we do that God may love us? But “God so loved” is the exact opposite of all this. The gift of His Son to redeem us by His death, lifted up on the cross, was the gift of pure, unmerited love. “ God so loved.” God is that fountain of love from which the Son came. The guilt of the world, the loathsomeness of sin, the gift of the Sacrifice to put it away—all this reveals the love of God so as it could not otherwise have been known.
To a careless, deceived soul these words may have little meaning, nay, be utterly disregarded; but to an awakened conscience, oppressed with the shame and guilt of sin, after long struggles on the borders of dark, endless despair, what a burst of light, what a revelation of God! Jesus speaks: let us hear. He says, “For;” yes, well did He know that nothing short of His death on the cross could meet, bear, and put away our sins. He must be lifted up, “For God so loved.” “God.” Yes, the source of our salvation is in God, not in ourselves, or our love to God. “So loved.” It is astonishing how few believe what Jesus says. Let us give an illustration. A fallen and rebellious child has sinned against his parents, and wandered far from home—say from London to New York—and, further still, is sunk in great misery in California. Now many might believe that that parent had so loved the lost child as to send one for him to California, with money to pay his fare back to New York; but he must cross the Atlantic as best he can. But they would utterly deny that the father sent money to pay the through fare, not only co New York, to Liverpool, but even unto home. Yes, many would say, God so loved the world, that He gave His Son, that the sinner might get present deliverance from the wretchedness of sin; but they have no idea that God so loved, that the gift of His beloved Son was that He might pay the through fare from forgiveness of sins to glory. There is forgiveness surely, but, alas! final salvation is made out to be—the believer doing the best he can.
But let us hear His own gracious words. How far do they reach? “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Yes, God so loved the world. And for this He gave His Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life. To deny this, is to deny the true character and extent of the love of God, and also the eternal efficacy of the work of Christ. How many think it most dangerous to believe the full extent of the love of God! Do we receive this revelation of God? Do we believe He has purposed and given His beloved Son, and that He has thus accomplished the eternal salvation of all believers? Is this your happy position? Do you believe in Him, and thus know that you can never perish, that you have eternal life? This must be so if you believe the words of Jesus. Let us neither limit the circumference nor the diameter of this love to the world. It is the love of God—its circumference is as boundless as the world, its duration and effect to whosoever believeth, unlimited; it is eternal life; love that knows neither end nor change—all of God; old things passed away, all become new—a new creation. God hath sent His Son as the revelation of His love. It was not then to judge the world, “but that the world through him might be saved.” You cannot be outside the reach of this love, except by rejecting it in unbelief. “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” “He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
Thus, not only is man utterly guilty as a sinner, but he spurns the love of God, and refuses the gift of eternal life. On God’s part there is infinite love proved in the gift of His Son. On man’s part, Jesus says, “And ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” Yet He also says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out.” “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Well did He know the long-continued rejection of the human heart, yet He could say, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall and pluck them out of my hand.”
Thus, whilst the love of God is fully revealed to the world, it is equally clear that the final result of the death of the Lord Jesus was not left to man’s acceptance or rejection—to the will of man; or, as all have rejected Him, evidently none would have been saved. Precious words of Jesus, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”
Man, through the perversity of unbelief, and the darkness of his natural mind, sees nothing but confusion, where all is perfect harmony. One great cause of that confusion and doubt, is, constantly thinking of our love to God, instead of seeing how “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” a Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Thus, to make our love the motive for God to love us, is to deny the grace of God.
Now, as to believers, they can say, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.” His love is perfect, and thus all fear is gone. Yes, His love has been shown to the utmost, in sending His beloved Son to bear the judgment due to our sins. This alone can give holy boldness in the day of judgment. The Judge has borne our judgment! Oh, wondrous, infinite love! Beloved reader, do you believe this love? Can you look forward to that day without fear? In this matter, it is not that we loved God, but that He loved us. But then you say, Our dreadful sins! But we never could have known the depth of His love but for them. He sent His Son to be the propitiation for those very sins. Jesus endured in love the full wrath of God against your sins, and all this because God so loved you. Will God change, and hate and judge you after this? Oh, begone, dark unbelief! God is love.
If you really know and believe the love of God, there is one thing you can then say, and say it truly: “We love him, because he first loved us.” This is the very nature of love. A little child knows, sees, and sweetly confides in the love of a mother. Did that child first love that mother? Did it ever try to do so? No; it loved the mother, because the mother first loved it. It constantly sees the manner of its mother’s love. Then let us “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” Not only are we brought into this present relationship, but the future is surely as bright and certain as the present. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” And mark, it is this very certainty that gives power for a holy walk. “And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” How much, then, is there in those blessed words of Jesus: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal life.” “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
“God is love.” C. S.