THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD’S LOVE
"In this
was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.” -- 1 John 4:9-10
The love of God has been, and forever is,
manifested and revealed to sinners in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ as
the sinners’ Substitute. Here are three characteristics of God’s love, which
set it apart from any other thing that is called “love”.
1.
THE LOVE OF GOD IS FREE AND
UNCONDITIONAL.
God’s declaration concerning the manifestation
of his love to his elect is this: -- “I
will love them freely” (Hos. 14:4). That simply means that God’s love
toward us is an unconditional, unqualified, unmerited, and uncaused love. God
does not love his elect because of anything amiable and attractive in us. He
says, “Jacob have I loved and Esau have I
hated,” and that before either had done anything good or bad, “that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth” (Rom. 9:13,
11). Not even the death of Christ caused God to love us. Christ’s death as our
sin-atoning Substitute is the result of God’s love for his people (John 3:16; 1
John 4:10).
2.
THE LOVE OF GOD IS ETERNAL.
He says, “I
have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). Try to get hold of
this. As God the Father loved his Son from eternity, so he loved his elect from
eternity. And as the love of God is in Christ, God’s love for Christ and his
love for us is the same! Only faith can grasp this blessed truth. It is higher
than reason and emotion. God loves his elect in Christ. As he beholds his
people in his dear Son, he loves us as he loves his Son, delights in us as he
delights in his Son, and is pleased with us as he is pleased with his Son. This
is exactly what our Savior declares in his great, high priestly prayer in John
17:23.
3.
AND THE LOVE OF GOD IS IMMUTABLE,
IRREVOCABLE, AND INDESTRUCTIBLE.
God’s love is not like man’s love. God’s love
does not change, ever, under any circumstances or conditions. Having loved us
from eternity, he will never call back his love in time. There is nothing we
can do to destroy, or even lessen, the love of God for us (John 13:1). We did
nothing compel God to love us; and we can do nothing to repel God’s love. The
love of God is not dependent upon, or regulated by our faithfulness to him
(Mal. 3:6).
The freeness, eternality and immutability of
God’s love to us in Christ means that our everlasting salvation is a matter of
absolute certainty. Nothing “shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.”
AMEN.
Grace Baptist Church of Danville - Grace For
Today Radio Message #808
2734 Old Stanford Road -
Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
Donald S.
Fortner, Pastor -Telephone 606-236-8235 - Email grace@mis.net