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For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

I suppose the most relevant word in this verse celebrating God’s committed love for us is, “gave.” When a gift is given, it is committed into the hands of the recipient.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15)

What we do with this gift is, to some degree, up to us.

It is always beneficial to meditate on Calvary. It is where our Father demonstrated His love.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, [the] Messiah died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Because we are sincerely loved, and our Father wants us to be utterly reconciled and restored, God offers us this gift. He has given Him to us. The Son who is the chief object of our Father’s love is has been committed to us.

The least we can do is give thanks. Let’s allow the nature of this great love to saturate our hearts.

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Also, David wrote a book about God’s love for the Jewish People called, For the Sake of the Fathers

And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:5)

Arranged marriages have worked well for millennia. However, what Isaiah prophesied is more than an arranged marriage. This wedding is the result of choices guided by love.

God’s marriage to Israel was never represented as a calculated business decision. It was never described as a political marriage effectuated to ensure an alliance. God’s marriage was after the pattern of Jacob and Rachel’s, or the Shulamite in the Song of Songs with her Beloved.

He says, “She is the one I chose; she is the one for Me! I can’t wait ‘til we’re married! Let’s have a party!”

She says, “I am the one He chose; He is the one for me! I can’t wait ‘til I’m His wife! Let’s celebrate!”

Some may inquire what type of love is this? Is it eros love? Is it storgē love? Is it philos? Most people would not believe that this is “agape love.” Agape is the word used to describe the love we find in the Song of Songs and in Ephesians 5.

In the Song of Solomon the Hebrew word ahavah is translated as agape. Like in this verse:

He has brought me to his banquet hall, and his banner over me is love (agape in the Septuagint). (Song of Solomon 2:4)

The same emotion is revealed in the Messiah’s love for the Church in Ephesians 5.

Husbands, love your wives, just as [the] Messiah also loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25) 

This love, prophesied in Isaiah 65, expresses itself in excitement. The beloved one is so precious to the Lover that the anticipation of being together explodes in joy at their wedding.

God’s love for Israel is real, and it also symbolizes His love for you. God will rejoice over you like a joyful, grateful, excited bridegroom. Each redeemed person sparks this joy in the Creator-Bridegroom. You elicit His anticipation right now. You have an incredible future together with Him.

Purchase God’s True Love

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Also, David wrote a book about God’s love for the Jewish People called, For the Sake of the Fathers

Jesus looked at him and loved him… (Mark 10:21a)

This describes how Jesus felt when He looked at a man who rejected the call to radical
discipleship. The man embodied the values of every age and culture. He is commonly called,
“the rich, young, ruler.”

People want to be wealthy, healthy and powerful. He had every-thing. One thing this man did
not have was a clear conscience. He was insecure. Knowing that his relationship with the
Creator was lacking, he hoped to fill that void without emptying himself. Wanting the ultimate
sense of security, he refused to give up that which gave him security. In short, he was a self-
defeating mess.

It is written that Jesus felt a love for him and offered him the answer to his deepest need. It
takes faith to take Jesus up on the offer he made: eternal life.

When Jesus saw him, He loved him. The Lord loved a man who had not made a commitment to
Him. This man was about to turn away from Jesus.

If the Messiah, seeing this man, was moved to love one who had yet to make a commitment to
follow in the path of life, what do you think He feels towards you? You made your choice. You
were willing to surrender whatever was necessary to gain eternal life. You were willing to
follow Jesus.

You had more than spiritual hunger. You had more than a disciplined life. You had more than
the fear of the Lord. Through faith, you responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and
believed the Gospel.

When Jesus looks at you, He loves what He sees. He loves your trust. He highly values your
heart’s appreciation of His worth. He loves your response to Him.

He sees you. He loves you. Like this man, you attract Jesus’ love. Unlike that man, you get to
receive His love. The One who loves you, loves your treasuring His love.

If you have not dedicated all you are, and all you have, to the Lord, why wait?

Purchase God’s True Love

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Also, David wrote a book about God’s love for the Jewish People called, For the Sake of the Fathers

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness (Jeremiah 31:3b)

Jeremiah’s dread warnings and predictions of the Babylonian captivity had come to pass. Denunciation followed indictment through the heartbroken foretelling of the prophet. Yet, hope was extended to God’s people as they experienced consequences of adulterous rebellion.

This reassurance found in 31:3 was written by Jeremiah to his people who were still under severe chastisement. Judah was in exile. Idolatrous sin was recompensed by a diaspora into the land believed to be the fountainhead of idolatry. They were suffering and humiliated.

More than once, false comfort had been offered to the Jewish people by more than one false prophet. But now, God wanted to reinforce that His people had a future and a hope because He was for them. To drive this home, it took an oracle from the very prophet who described this exile.

He revealed this:

God never stopped loving His people.

Even in exile.

Even when in suffering and humiliation.

He never stopped loving them.

He would fulfill His purposes for them. He would cause them to know the love He had for them.

When we see God’s love for the Jewish people we see a picture of God’s love for each of us. It is not a passing whim. It is a love which origin goes back throughout the ages. Just like God knew Jeremiah before he was created, so can we be certain that His love for us predated our existence.

Let’s expect the preserving hand of the Father who loves us, to draw us.

Purchase God’s True Love

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Also, David wrote a book about God’s love for the Jewish People called, For the Sake of the Fathers

To know the love of the Messiah … so you may be filled up with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19 TLV)

The Son of God is co-eternal with the Father. He was always omniscient. Since this is so it is impossible to try to isolate His temporally first thought, or first awareness. But I think that which was first in priority, the most important thing of which the Son was aware, was His Father’s love.

The Son existed in the awareness of Father’s love.

In the incarnation, the Son abided in Father’s love.

Father’s love was the foundation to both the expression of God’s authority through the Lord (John 3:35) and communication to the His Beloved (John 5:20). We are called to be conformed to the image of the Son (Romans 8:29). That conformity is to be worked in us from the inside out. It begins on the inside.

Just as Jesus’ priority awareness was of His Father’s love, so our first-in-importance awareness is to be Jesus’ love for us. As we cultivate this we begin to resemble (from the inside out) the Lord who abided in the Father’s love and bore fruit. As we abide in Jesus’ love, so shall we also bear fruit.

Is bearing fruit for God’s pleasure and our own fulfillment important to us? If so, we should make it our practice to abide in the love of Jesus.

Let’s do this with others.

Encourage a friend, today.

As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. (1 John 2:27-28)

From the book, God’s True Love, Pg. 62

Purchase God’s True Love

Or on Kindle

Also, David wrote a book about God’s love for the Jewish People called, For the Sake of the Fathers