Sunday, May 5, 2013
God's Love for His People
"Love consists in this: not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins."
1 John 4:10
(More on propitiation later).
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Just as God loved His chosen people of Israel, He also loves His chosen
people from all over the world. He did not love the faithful in Israel because
of their righteousness or their great number (they were few in number),
but because He chose them to be His "treasured possession," and through
them to show His grace and glory to the rest of the world.
God chose to give them a special kind of love -- a saving love, that He does
not give to everyone.
"For you are a people holy to the LORD
your God. The LORD your God has chosen
you to be a people for His treasured pos-
session; out of all the people who are on the
face of the earth.
It was not because you were more in number
than any other people that the LORD set His
love on you and chose you, for you were the
fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD
loves you ...."
Deuteronomy 7:6-8a
God did not choose the Egyptians or Hittites or Amorites or Philistines.
He chose a certain people because of His special love for them, and because
He had a plan to use them for His glory.
When we love it is because God loved us first.
"We love because He first loved us."
1 John 4:19
There are verses that show how much God loves His people, but John 3:16
indicates the WAY He showed His love for them.
"For God loved the world in this way:
He gave His One and Only Son,
so that everyone who believes in Him
will not perish, but have eternal life."
John 3:16 (HCSB)
"The Greek word houtos, commonly translated in John 3:16 as "so" or "so much,"
occurs over 200 times in the New Testament. Almost without exception it is an
adverb of MANNER, NOT DEGREE (for example, see Matthew 1:18).
It only means "so much" when modifying an adjective (see Galatians 3:3;
Revelation 16:18). Manner seems primarily in view in John 3:16, which explains the
HCSB's rendering."
Holman Christian Standard Bible Commentary
************
Other Scripture shows the degree of God's love for His people.
Even though they were alienated from Him, because of their sinfulness, God still
loved them, and provided the only way to salvation - Jesus Christ.
"And you were dead in the trespasses,
and sins in which you once walked ...
carrying out the desires of the body
and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, BECAUSE OF
HIS GREAT LOVE WITH WHICH HE LOVED
US, even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ -- by grace
you have been saved ..."
... remember that you were at that time separated
from Christ ... But now in Christ Jesus you who
once were far off have been brought near by the
blood of Christ."
Ephesians 2:1,3b,4-5,12a,13
God adopts us (believers) as His children because of His great love for us.
"Look at how great a love the Father has
given us that we should be called God's
children. And we are!"
1 John 3:1
"The believer's hope is strengthened by the fact that God's love
initiated his salvation. Christ's return will unite the believer with the
heavenly Father who loves His child with an immeasurable love."
John MacArthur
His love for His people is unimaginable!
"For as high as the heavens are above
the earth, SO GREAT IS HIS LOVE
for those who fear Him."
Psalm 103:11
His faithful love for us endures forever.
"FOR GREAT IS HIS LOVE TOWARD US,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures
forever. Praise the LORD."
Psalm 117:2
**********
God sent His Son, Jesus to be the propitiation for His people.
Propitiation means "appeasement" or "satisfaction." Jesus' death "satisfied"
God's wrath against His people because of their sins. He was their sub-
stitute, taking their place on their cross, paying for their transgressions through
His blood.
"He Himself is the propitiation for our sins,
and not only ours, but also for those of the
whole world."
1 John 2:2
Obviously, this doesn't mean Jesus satisfied God's wrath for every single
person who ever lived or lives today. If God the Father was appeased by
Jesus' sacrifice for everyone then all are saved, and no one will spend eternity
in hell. That is "universalism." This of course, is not biblical, as the Bible teaches
many will be separated from God for eternity.
**********
"The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross satisfied the demands of God's
holiness for the punishment of sin. So Jesus propitiated or satisfied God.
The phrase "for [the sins] of the whole world" is a generic term,
referring not to every single individual, but to mankind in general. Christ
actually paid the penalty only for those who would repent and believe.
A number of Scriptures indicate that Christ died for the world
(John 1:29;3:16;6:51; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 2:9). Most of the world will
be eternally condemned to hell to pay for their own sins, so they could not have
been paid for by Christ.
The passages that speak of Christ's dying for the whole world must
be understood to refer to mankind in general. "World" indicates the sphere, the
beings toward whom God seeks and has provided propitiation.
Christ actually satisfied fully the wrath of God eternally only for
the elect who believe. Christ's death in itself has unlimited and infinite value
because He is holy God. Thus, His sacrifice was sufficient to pay the penalty
for all the sins of all whom God brings to faith, but the actual satisfaction and
atonement was made only for those who believe (John 10:11,15; 17:9,20;
Acts 20:28; Romans 8:32,37; Ephesians 5:25)."
John MacArthur
**********
God's great love for His people was demonstrated by sending His One and Only
Son to die for, redeem, and save them.
Paul wrote the book of Romans to believers in Rome (Romans 1:6-7); thus the
word "us" in Romans 5:8 refers to believers only.
God has a special love for His people.
"...but God shows His love for us
in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8
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