Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
When the apostle John wrote this, he was excited. And now, almost 2000 years later we can read these words and still feel the excitement that John had. In fact, when we think about what these words mean, we should be very excited ourselves.
John starts out this chapter by saying: “LOOK!” “BEHOLD!” “Check it out!” He doesn’t want anybody to miss this. This is very important and very special. So what is it that is so special?
God’s love!
John is blown away by God’s love. He is almost running out of words to describe whole great and grand and big this love is. He says: “what sort of love is this?” This is like nothing here on earth. He says that this love is poured out on us, lavished on us, given to us in an abundant measure!
So, what makes John so excited about God’s love?
It is because he understands what he was, who God is and where he is now going. That is, he sees the past; he sees the present and he sees the future and he knows that he is not getting what he deserves.
Let me explain.
Just like the Apostle John we should look at our past—at who we are. The Bible says that we are all sinners. “There is none righteous—no, not one. There is no one who understands; no one who seeks God. All have turned away and have together become worthless.” Not a pretty picture! But, wait—it’s worse. The Bibles says that all of our righteousness is like a stinky, filthy rag. God looks at the best that we have and says—Yuck! It is filthy!
And just like John we should also look at who this God is. He is holy! That is, He cannot stand to have sin in His presence. All sin is disobedience and rebellion against Him—He must and will punish it.
Whoa! That sounds like bad news. But John is happy and excited at God’s love. How can a holy God, who hates sin, ever love us who are sinful and wicked?
That’s what is so special about God’s love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God gave Jesus Christ in our place. We deserved the punishment, but Jesus took our punishment. And what do we get in return? His righteousness! Now, with that righteousness, we can come to God and God loves us.
Paul wrote about it in this way: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
You see? We did nothing to deserve this. We weren’t good, righteous, cute or important. We were ungodly—yet Christ came and loved us so much that He took our place.
That’s why John is so excited! He escaped God’s punishment. He passed from death to life. There is no greater love in all the world than this. Jesus Christ laid down His life for His people.
But now, let’s bring this around to us. We see that the Apostle John was excited. But what about you? This can only be true if you are born again. But what does it mean to be born again?
It means trusting in Jesus. It means saying to God—“I am a sinner. Please have mercy and save me.” It means loving God with all your heart, mind soul and strength because of the great love that He has shown you. It means loving what He loves and wanting to do things that please Him.
But if you have not made Jesus your Lord and Savior, then you cannot be excited by God’s great love. All that lies ahead is God’s certain wrath and punishment. But that’s why I implore you to repent and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus. Trust in Him and you will be saved. Believe on Him and you will see and know His great love for you.
And let me just say something more about God’s love. It is not temporary. It lasts! His love is eternal. If He loves you know, then He will love you tomorrow and He will still be loving you throughout all eternity. And His love is strong! It can save the worse sinner—so that means it can save each of us!
And look too. He didn’t just save—No! God brings us into a very close relation. We are made to be His children. Children of the most High God! Wow! What a calling! All of His infinite riches are made available to us. And best of all, we can come into His presence.
He is our Father. He cares for His children—He protects His children—He provides for His children—He guides and teaches and corrects His children.
And He is also our Friend—All because of His great love for us. Oh! How great is the love that the Father has lavished on us!
