joh 03v16 He Gave His Only Begotten Son
"...HE GAVE HIS ONLY
BEGOTTEN SON..." John 3:16
The Lord God gave us his Son. We did not earn him. We
did not even desire him. And when he came we despised him, rejected him, nailed
him up on a piece of wood and mocked him as he died. Yet, for all of this, the
love, mercy, and grace of God was not abated! The
purpose of his love was not thwarted. God's love toward fallen, guilty sinners,
scattered throughout the whole world was so great that "he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."
GOD GAVE HIS SON TO BE OUR SAVIOR IN THE COVENANT OF
GRACE BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN. Before all worlds, in the mind and purpose of
God, he took his own beloved Son, laid him upon the altar of his strict justice
as the Substitute of that vast multitude whom he had determined to save, and
killed him as a sin-atoning, propitiatory Sacrifice. In that sense Jesus Christ
is the Lamb of God "slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev.
13:8).
GOD GAVE HIS SON IN THE INCARNATION. In the
fulness of time the Divine purpose must be fulfilled. God sent forth his Spirit
to prepare a body for his Son in the virgin's womb, and Immanuel came, God in
our nature! "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law" (Gal. 4:4-5).
GOD GAVE HIS SON TO DIE IN THE PLACE OF SINNERS
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