Love
What is the deepest, greatest, and most fulfilling occurrence that we can have? What is that strong yearning that lies at the very foundation of who we are? That all encompassing and deeply fulfilling thing is a fully intimate and deeply seated love we can have with another being. It must be pure where each place the welfare of the other high above all else. 1 Cor. 13:4-8a gives a description of what love is, it states, “Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth.” Simply put, love is always very patient, is always kind and merciful, never envies, never boasts or brags, is not proud and arrogant, never behaves dishonorably or wickedly, never seeks its own interests, never becomes irritated or provoked, never thinks on evil, does not rejoice in wrongdoing or wickedness, always rejoices in the truth, always bears with all things, always believes, always endures sufferings, and is always there or never perishes. Love is eternal.
Consider the love between God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. From an eternity past their infinite love for each other bathed all space. Then the Father, wishing to impart to His Son the ultimate gift, designed a heaven and an earth, both full of beings that would worship His Son in love and adoration. Both the Father and the Son knew that the only way to accomplish such a feat would mean giving all beings that they create a free will. With a free will some will choose to love and adore their creator and some would choose to rebel and serve self. This would require that those who have chosen the wrong path be provided with a way to be redeemed. Knowing that man would choose the wrong path, the Son would have to take on the form of man and pay their eternal debt to free them. Knowing all that would take place and the extreme price that would have to be paid the decision was made to go forward with creation so that the Father could give His Son the ultimate gift of man made in the full image and likeness of God’s Son. God then allowed man to live through different periods of time that man would realize his helplessness to live a pure and righteous life. The first period was one where man lived by his conscience. The next period God allowed man to set up governments and the law to live by. Then came the current period of grace where man can accept the free gift of His Son to pay for all their sins. Coming later will be the age where God the Son rules and man lives under His loving guardianship. These periods will serve to show man his totally hopeless estate.
On a very special day Jesus took on the form of man and was born to a virgin, God the son, 100% man and 100% God. Luke 1:30-35 reads, “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and t he Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Thus said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Now being both man and God, He lives a sinless life and time comes for Him to pay for the sins of all mankind. The method is death on a cross.
The cross, designed by the Romans, is the most cruel, painful and shameful way o die ever created by man. The victim is first scourged with a cat of nine tails which is a leather whip with nine tendrils attached to its end. Each tendril has a piece of glass, sharp stone, or piece of metal tied into its end. The executioner would throw the whip with great force wrapping the whip’s tendrils around the bare chest of the victim causing the sharp objects to dig deeply into the back of the victim. Then he would forcefully yank the whip back causing the sharp objects to dig deeply across the back of the victim tearing away flesh. Each victim received forty stripes save one or thirty-nine stripes. After the scourging the victim was greatly weakened and would die more quickly on the cross.
After Jesus was scourged the soldiers mocked him. Matt. 27:27-30 tells us, “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto Him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head.” Jesus was thoroughly mocked and shamed.
When they crucified a man, they first would have the convicted individual carry the cross piece up the hill to the place of crucifixion. Then after attaching the cross piece to the upright, they would lay the convicted on the cross with their badly wounded bare back on the rough timber of the cross. Next they would cross his feet one over the other and drive a large nail through the ankles nailing them to the upright. Then they would stretch out each arm of the victim and drive a large nail through their wrist bones. The other arm would then be done likewise stretching it out as far as they could. With their arms stretched out and their ankles nailed together, the victim would have a most difficult time trying to raise themselves up to get a breath of air. The soldiers would then lift the cross high in the air over a hole already dug in the ground and slam the cross down into the hole as hard as they could. This would cause every joint in the victim to separate and be out of joint. Now, in order for the victim to get a breath of air to stay alive, he would have to pull himself up against the excruciating pain of the nails and butchered back being fully disjointed. This was the worst possible torture a victim could go through when sentenced to die.
Jesus, as He hung on the cross, uttered, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Matt. 27:46b. Jesus had taken upon Himself the sins of all mankind. That’s the sin of all that had already died, all that were currently living, and all that would ever live. The weight of guilt of all mankind, past, present, and future, rested upon His shoulders. Jesus loved God the Father with infinite love and had done so for an eternity past. God the Father had loved God the Son with an infinite love for an eternity past. Now the Holy God Almighty could no longer fellowship with God the Son. The sin load Jesus bore for us caused God the Father to turn His back on God the Son, Jesus. Now Jesus suffered the full eternal wrath of God the Father for all mankind. The pain of the wrath of God the Father was massively multiplied by the unbearable loss of the close fellowship Jesus had enjoyed with God the Father for an eternity past.
Finally, when the payment for all mankind’s sins was complete, Jesus said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.” John 19:30b. Jesus then, three days later arose from the grave. After the resurrection Jesus met with His disciples. John 20:21-22 records, “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when He said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Jesus, with His death, burial and resurrection, secured pardon for all our sins if we would but accept Him. But Jesus has done a great deal more than just get us a place in heaven and an escape from everlasting punishment in the lake of fire.
Jesus is providing us with a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Rev. 21:1 tells us, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” The oceans speak of judgment and there will be no more judgment. No more will any sin tempt us away from the great love of God. Jesus also gives us peace. He told His disciples in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Jesus gives us peace with God. When we accept Jesus as our Savior we gain permanent, full peace with God. We also gain the peace of God. Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you.” Yes, the same full peace that Jesus has He has given to each of us that know Him as Savior and Lord. This great peace we will have on the new earth for all eternity. One day I felt very heavy oppression from the enemy (the devil and his army.) I had known that the Word of God says in James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” I turned my heart to God and told Him I was going to use James 4:7 and I yielded myself to God. I then, trusting God to fulfill His Word, turned to the enemy and mentally yelled at him to leave. He left. A massive peace, greater than anything I have ever experienced in my life settled on me. It was absolutely breath taking and wonderful. God does love us and He will fulfill His Word. That’s the type of peace we will enjoy for all eternity.
There are also many incredible gifts that God will shower upon us. God will always meet our every need. We simply need to ask Him at the start of each day to give us what we need for that day and He will. Understand this, God gives us what our true needs are. Sometimes we need to go through a trial so that we can be made to be more like Jesus. The more like Jesus we become the more fruit we will bare for Jesus and the greater will become our rewards in heaven. God wants each of us to be rich for all eternity. Those true riches we must earn and earn them we will if we become like Jesus. So God meets all of our needs. Don’t forget to ask for those needs first thing in the morning.
Another gift that can be ours is faith. In Rom. 10:17 it says, “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” As we read and hear the Word of God we gain more faith. This is a genuine need, and one that God will surely supply if we spend time in His Word and ask for it. Jesus also tells us in John 15:11, “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Jesus also offers us His joy and wishes our joy to be full. All the joy that Jesus has in the presence of God the Father is to be ours. Let’s see, that’s peace, love, faith, and joy that is ours in Jesus Christ. Oh, we also have mercy. Jesus’ payment for our sin gives us mercy.
We also will be one. In John17:11 Jesus prays to God the Father, “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world and I come to Thee, Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one as We are.” We will be one. We will have no arguments, no differences of opinion. We will all be united as one in thought and purpose. This is not the full of it. Consider John 17:21 which says, “That they all may be one; as Thou Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” Just as God the Father and God the Son are one so also we will be. Not only will we be one but we will be one in Jesus. We will have absolute intimacy with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
To help us understand this more fully we read in John 17:23, “I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou has loved Me.” God the Father loves us just the same as he loves God the Son. He loves us with the same infinite love that He has for the Son. Also in John 17:26 at the end of Jesus’ prayer He says, “And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” We will love the Savior with the same love that God the Father has for the Son, a perfect love. Consider when we meet the Savior face to face. We will love Jesus with a pure and perfect love. What will we have to lay at His feet in thanks for all that He has done for us? Yes, we will see Jesus in all His beautiful glory and we will be like Him. We will see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2 tells us, “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.” Now look at Dan. 12:3, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Live for Jesus and bring the Gospel to the lost people of the world and you will shine as bright as a star forever. So many great blessing that will be ours. What will we have to lay at the Savior’s feet?