There are three words in the Bible that you might read in passing without paying much attention: “God is love.” 1 John 4:8. Or you might have paused there and given it some thought before you moved on with your reading or study. But wait! I’m here to shed some light on the love of God in this post. In fact, the Bible cannot be properly understood without an understanding of God’s love.

For those who are new to Bible notation, “1 John 4:8” is a reference to the Bible, which is a collection of books. In the Bible, each book consists of one or more chapters, and each chapter has numbered sections called verses. The quotation referred to as “1 John 4:8” is taken from the book of 1 John, the 4^th chapter and the 8^th verse.

Our Bible Verse of Focus

To get an understanding of God’s love we will consider the following Bible verse: “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Luke 15:20.

These were the words of Jesus Christ when He spoke a parable which is a short story with a moral lesson.

Christ’s Parable: The Spendthrift (Prodigal) Son

“And he [Jesus Christ] said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided [distributed] unto them his living [livelihood].” Luke 15:11, 12.

“And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted [squandered] his substance [possessions] with riotous [wanton] living.” Luke 15:13.

All Possessions Gone

“And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.” Luke 15:14, 15.

“And he would fain [happily] have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” Luke 15:16, 17.

A New Resolution

“I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.” Luke 15;18, 19.

Together Again

“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Luke 15:20.

“And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” Luke 15:21.

“But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted [fattened] calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” Luke 15:22-24.

As we can see, God’s heart longs for humanity to turn away from their sins, their evil and wrongdoing, and to come to Him. The parable shows that God will receive all such persons with forgiveness, joy and merrymaking. These persons will not be judged as evil by God and so when Christ returns to the earth they will meet Jesus Christ in peace.

Humanity Says We Have No Sin

God says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8. “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him [ God] a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:10.

For God says, “Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?”Job 22:5.

“The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none [among humanity] that doeth good, no, not one.” Psalm 14:2, 3.

Hence, God says, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2) you.

Humanity’s Sins

What then are the sins of humanity? God says, “I have written to…[them in the Bible] the great things of my law [of love], but they were counted as a strange thing.” Hosea 8:12.

“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” Psalm 10:4.

“By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.” Hosea 4:2. “For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces [homes].” Amos 3:10.

These are some of the common sins of humanity.

Consequences of Sin

“For thus saith the LORD [God], Ye have sold yourselves for nought [nothing]” (Isaiah 52:3) to Satan. How have mankind sold themselves? The answer is that they have allowed Satan who is destined for eternal death to cheat them of the eternal life which they can have from God.

Hence, God says, “I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity [sins]; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible [tyrannical].” Isaiah 13:11.

Mercy Mingled With Justice

Now God says to every human being, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3) to me.

“Therefore, behold, I will allure…[charm you]…and speak comfortably [good words] unto…[you].” Hosea 2:14. “For thus saith the LORD [God], Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.” Isaiah 52:3.

So, all mankind can say in truth, “When we were yet without [moral] strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6. This was the outpouring of God’s love in mercy mingled with justice. Justice in that Christ exhausted the penalty of death for sins by His own death whereby He “taste[d] death for every man [person].” Hebrews 2:9. Mercy in that humanity can, therefore, escape eternal death for their sins.

So, in Christ’s sufferings and death, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing [crediting] their trespasses [sins] unto them” 2 Corinthians 5:19.

Blessings From God

Because of Christ’s work for every person, God can bless them with “a new heart…[which] will I give you, and a new spirit [mind] will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26.

“And I will put my [Holy] spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:27.

God’s Requirements

Now “God…hath committed unto us [every human being] the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19) of mankind to God.

Therefore, God says, “Greater love hath no man [or woman] than this, that a man [or woman] lay down his [or her] life for…[their] friends” (John 15:13) who are their fellow human beings.

What does it mean to lay down one’s life? It means that the individual should be able to say in truth, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you [for anybody]” (2 Corinthians 12:15) no matter at what cost to my own life.

However, this love is only possible if the individual has “repentance [sorrow for sin] toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21. For this love, “it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8.

These are God’s requirements for an individual to meet Christ in peace when He returns to the earth.

What Should be Humanity’s Response

In response, every human being because, “God…is rich in mercy, [and] for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins,” (Ephesians 2:4, 5) should be like a man named Esau.

“And Esau ran to meet him [his brother Jacob], and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.” Genesis 33:4. This is how God desires humanity to welcome Christ when He returns—with an embrace.

They should be able to say in truth, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved [Christ] is mine.” Song of Solomon 6:3. “I am my beloved’s, and his [Christ’s] desire is toward me.” Song of Solomon 7:10.

So, God extends His love toward every human being for “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and God longs for each person to love Him in return. God’s love is deep, abundant, and everlasting and He bestows it freely upon all humanity.

Now with this look at God’s love you can better understand the Bible!

Conclusion

We have sought to understand the love of God by considering our Bible verse of focus: “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Luke 15:20.

We saw that God accepts with forgiveness, joy, and merrymaking on God’s part, every person who turns away from their sins and who comes to Him.

But humanity says they have no sin and so God describes their sins for which God will punish the world. Happily, for every person God’s mercy and justice are attributes of God’s love. Therefore, Christ performed a work for every human being so that they can escape eternal death for their sins and God is able to bless to the individual with a new heart and a new mind so that they can walk in God’s ways.

Nevertheless, God has requirements if the individual is to meet Christ in peace when He returns to the earth. They are to work in love to reconcile their fellow human beings to God at whatever cost to themselves—even at the cost of their own lives. But this love for others they cannot have without their repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as God requires.

For all that He has done for humanity, God desires them to return His love in sincerity.

Having taken a careful look at God’s love you are now able to better understand the Bible!

How This Blog Teaches Bible Study

My blog posts take one or more Bible verses and unpack what is often the hidden meaning in them, to help you to gain in your understanding of the Bible, and to receive insights into how to study it. For God says, “Study [the Bible] to shew [show] thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing [interpreting] the word of truth [the Bible].” 2 Timothy 2:15. There are new blog posts every two weeks on a Monday at 12:01 a.m. in timezone UTC-5 (GMT-5).

Further Reading

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