“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6
Many have been the believers when they came to death’s door, realized afresh, counted upon, and cherished, the simple, yet profound truth and reality, that God wonderfully loved them, being with them. This truth and reality is expressed in an old hymn, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” But what does this mean, that God loves us? How much can we know of this love, and what is the greatest demonstration of it?
We begin in the consideration of this matter with the Apostle John’s words: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God: for God IS love.” (1 Jn. 4:7,8) John makes it very clear that love is not a thing, philosophy, something of man’s design and creation. Love is a Person, the very person of Christ. John then goes on to declare that man only truly loves in the measure that he receives, knows, and gives forth the love of God. We cannot truly love if we cannot receive of the love of God. If our definition of love is that of this world, it being stained by the sinfulness and limitations of men, then how can we trust God for that which is not of this world, that which is of Christ? However, one wonderful thing about this love of God is that it is a gift freely given to the one who will truly, and humbly receive. It is not a love for the select few, for Scripture declares that “God so loved the world,” however, it IS for the individual who is a seeker of God, who knows he is bankrupt, lost, and helpless with regard to his standing before God, and the domination of sin over him apart from the liberating work of Christ. To the one who recognizes his thirst, and profound need of the Almighty, invisible, God and Savior of men, comes the very simple, yet powerful invitation to “come to the waters,” “come and drink,” or as Christ declared, “Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The beginning of our knowledge of the love of God begins in God, in the revelation of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and what He has done to seek and find the lost soul, “bound in sin and nature’s night.” The application of that knowledge is the response of the heart to such a wondrous invitation of the Son of God, to come to Him, just as we are, to receive from Him cleansing from sin, grace to yield one’s whole heart to Him, and then to know the blessed gift of His presence in the heart and soul by the Spirit. It is then, when by the Spirit, the believer walks by faith, the very faith of the Son of God, that he begins to truly know the love of God, and to give forth that love to a lost and dying world.
What can be said about the measure of the love of God, and its expression? In the fifty-third chapter of his book, Isaiah writes concerning the true, spiritual condition of man: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.” Isaiah addresses the whole of mankind, for all have been born in sin, with the nature of sin and selfishness dominating their hearts. The essence of that sin is that all men have “gone astray,” and “turned every one to his own way.” Independence of God is sin. Its essence is that of going one’s own way, instead of God’s way. God calls this by its worst name, “iniquity.” The entirety of man’s iniquity was LAID on Christ. He tasted death for every man, that His love be personally known.
Dear Father, Fill us with love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.