GOD SO LOVED

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE. (John 3:16)

This has always been one of my favorite bible verses. Here, Jesus tells us how much God truly loves us. GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD. When he says “WORLD” here, he’s referring to the people in the world. He loved us SO. This word SO here means so much. He Loved us so much that HE GAVE… HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. He had a plan to save us, so he GAVE his SON to be our substitute, to come to earth, suffer, and die for our sins.

When Adam sinned, by disobeying God, he died spiritually. He passed that spiritually dead condition down to his children, and to all his descendants. Every person who has ever been born on earth is spiritually dead. This is the first death; Spiritual death. (1 Corinthians 15:22, Ephesians 2:5) 

We are all sinners and sinners sin. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is Death. Wages are what we earn. It’s our payment. It’s what we deserve. We deserve to die because we are sinners. Since we’re already spiritually dead when we're born, because of Adams's sin, this death we earn by continually sinning is a literal death. Eternal death. For more information on that, read FIRST AND SECOND DEATH, FIRST AND SECOND RESURRECTION.

God doesn’t want us to die. He doesn’t want to give us what we deserve and destroy us. He loves us, and he wants us to live with him for eternity, so he GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON to take our punishment for us. It should have been us on that cross, but instead, Jesus suffered and died in our place. To claim this substitution, all we have to do is accept it and we won’t have to suffer the second death.

God GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON… The Bible teaches that Jesus is God(John 1:1-3). He has always existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1-2, Genesis 11:4,7). All three of them were there in the beginning, and Jesus is called the Son twice in the old testament (Proverbs 30:4, Psalm 2:12). He was not created, as some believe. He was begotten as a human by God when he was placed in the womb of a virgin named Mary, about two thousand years ago (Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:30-35 — John 1:1-2,14, Hebrews 10:5, Psalm 2:7) For more information on that, read ONE GOD.  

He GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT (So that) WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM… Whoever means anyone. No one is left out. WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM… To believe in Jesus takes action. James, the Lord’s brother, said, the devils also believe, and tremble (James 2:19). Just believing he exists is not enough, though. Jesus says you have to believe IN him or ON him. It’s the same thing. That means to trust him. We must allow him to be the Lord and Master of our lives. If you want a mechanic to work on your car, you have to give him the key. Believing involves trust. It also involves obedience. It requires action. It’s simple really. Rom 10:9 says, “if you will confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.”

WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH… Perish means just that, Perish. To die or be killed. To disappear or be destroyed: to cease to exist. (Webster’s Dictionary)

In the Strong’s Concordance, the definition of the Greek word which was translated into the English word PERISH is “to destroy completely.” That’s what will happen to everyone who refuses to accept the free gift of salvation God offers us. Not because he is evil, or vindictive, but because he must destroy sin. Everyone who chooses to hang on to sin will be destroyed along with it. (*)The wages of sin is death, and he loves us so much that he died in our place. He took our punishment so we wouldn’t have to. There was no other way. He has done all he can. Now it’s up to each individual to accept his substitute or reject it.

BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE. In this verse, Everlasting means just what it sounds like. Everlasting; lasting forever. The same Greek word translated into the English word “Everlasting” in this verse, is the same word translated into the English word “Eternal” in verse 15. This is an example of the dictionary, built into the King James Bible, which I mentioned in the post called UNDERSTANDING BIBLE TRUTH. 

The Father loves us so much that he sent his only Son from heaven, down to this earth to suffer and die in our place so every one of us could have the opportunity to live with him for eternity. Jesus loves us so much that he was willing to do it. That’s love. It’s a love that humans can’t fully grasp, but knowing that he has that kind of love for us should make us love him back. In fact, in 1 John 4:9, John says that is why we love him. “Because he loved us first.”  That’s so amazing and life is so short. We must live one day at a time, but we need to prepare for the future as well. Not just our immediate future, but our eternal future. Our destination is in our hands. No one can choose for anyone else. The choice is ours alone. If you haven’t made it yet, I encourage you to do it today. Don’t put it off. Tomorrow may be too late.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6