God's Love

When people ask me “Why does God allow bad things happening to good people? or “Why God allows children dying of hunger?” I usually reply with another question “Can you describe the God you believe in?” Most of them answer saying, “God is love!” An incomplete answer, but right answer. He is more than that, but if there is a word that deeply describes Him is that one. Today, I will talk about the God’s love.

God’s character is love

Some may call it God’s nature, but that word applies to creatures; to describe characteristics given by nature. God is above nature. It is not nature that gives God his characteristics. But God has a character, a set of characteristics that distinguish Him. One them of them is love:

1 John 4:8 NASB95

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:16 NASB95

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Since God is a Trinity, the three persons of the Trinity are described as loving

The Father is love

1 John 3:1 NASB95

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

2 Thessalonians 2:16 NASB95

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,

1 John 3:1 NASB95

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

The Son is love

Romans 8:35 NASB95

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

“There is no greater love..” and “But God demonstrate His love… Christ died for us”

The Spirit is love

Just as the love of the Father and the Son are mentioned in the Scriptures, also the Spirit’s love:

Romans 15:30 NASB95

Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,

And it is thru Him that God’s love has been pour on us and dwells in us () .

Romans 5:5 NASB95

and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Mark 1:10–11 NASB95

Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

How is God’s love?

It is eternal

Jeremiah 31:3 NASB95

The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

Isaiah described well God’s eternal love for His people:

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Isaiah 49:15–16 NASB95

“Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

Isaiah 54:8 NASB95

“In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the Lord your Redeemer.

Isaiah 54:10 NASB95

“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” Says the Lord who has compassion on you.

Isa 49Did you ever write the name of someone you loved on your hand?

Isaiah 49:15–16 NASB95

“Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

Did you ever write the name of someone you loved on your hand?

It is a sworn love

Deuteronomy 7:9 NASB95

“Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

Like a husband promising everlasting love to the bride, God, who cannot lie, has promised to love us.

1 Kings 8:23 NASB95

He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart,

It is exuberant love

His love is love given “hands-full”. Abundant love in mercy, forgiveness, and patience.

Exodus 34:6–7 NASB95

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

God does not skimp on loving us! He gives it all, for He loves us.

When we forget what the Lord has done for us, we become stubborn and disobedient like the people of Israel

Nehemiah 9:17 NASB95

“They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And You did not forsake them.

“See how great love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God”

It is a holy and just love

Psalm 33:5 NASB95

He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

People may think they can escape God’s punishment because He is love. Those people forget that His love is holy (He does not put up with sin) and just (He will give the unrepentant sinners what they deserve).

Psalm 37:28 NASB95

For the Lord loves justice And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

Isaiah 61:8 NASB95

For I, the Lord, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them.

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God as a husband:

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God’s love is shown in actions

Giving His Son is a unique act of love

1 John 4:9–10 NASB95

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

That is the maximum expression of love: ;

You may give your money, time, and energy, to a loved one, but you would not give your son. God did it! For you and for me.

Loving the undeserving

Israel is a clear example of that. God could have chosen a larger or more powerful nation, or a more obedient people, but He loved Israel.

Deuteronomy 7:7–8 NASB95

“The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Remember who felt loved by Jesus: prostitutes, tax collectors, beggars, lepers, etc.

See also ; ;

Remember who felt loved by Jesus: prostitutes, tax collectors, beggars, lepers, etc.

Who were we to be loved by the Lord? Nobody! But He loved us, even when we were in sin: ;

Protecting and caring for His own.

Romans 8:38–39 NASB95

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He is the all-providing, all-caring, all-protecting Father to us, His children. Even when we do not respond properly to His love.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1941 My Love and Baby’s Love

A gentleman who was a professed Christian was taken seriously ill. He became troubled about the little love he felt in his heart for God, and spoke of his experience to a friend. This is how the friend answered him.

“When I go home from here, I expect to take my baby on my knee, look into her sweet eyes, listen to her charming prattle, and tired as I am, her presence will rest me; for I love that child with unutterable tenderness. But she loves me little. If my heart were breaking it would not disturb her sleep. If my body were racked with pain, it would not interrupt her play. If I were dead, she would forget me in a few days. Besides this, she had never brought me a penny, but was a constant expense to me. I am not rich, but there is not money enough in the world to buy my baby. How is it? Does she love me, or do I love her? Do I withhold my love until I know she loves me? Am I waiting for her to do something worthy of my love before extending it?”

This practical illustration of the love of God for His children caused the tears to roll down the sick man’s face. “Oh, I see,” he exclaimed, “it is not my love to God, but God’s love for me, that I should be thinking of. And I do love Him now as I never loved Him before.”

2 Corinthians 13:14 NASB95

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Israel

Isaiah 43:4 NASB95

“Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.

Revelation 1:5 NASB95

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—

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See also ; ; ; ;

God’s love for individuals

“Jedidiah” means “loved by the Lord”.

See also Benjamin

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Ezra; Solomon

God’s love transforms human love

Human love must respond to God’s love

1 John 4:19 NASB95

We love, because He first loved us.

See also ; ; ;

Human love must be modelled on God’s love

Matthew 5:44–45 NASB95

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.