Faithful Love

Last week we spoke about an “Eternal Love” we discussed it through the view of God’s covenant with us. We saw that the covenant God made with us stems from the creation of man as we are made in the image of God. We also noted or learnt that in this covenant God said to Abraham that He will suffer the consequence of us breaking and being unfaithful to the covenant. We also saw that the death of Jesus on the cross was the actual living out of the promise of taking on the consequences of us breaking the covenant. God said to Adam in , So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” In these verses we have the establishment of the covenant with man and the test to for man show obedience to God. Patriarchs and Prophets 48–49 comments on the purpose of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of knowledge, which stood near the tree of life in the midst of the garden, was to be a test of the obedience, faith, and love of our parents. Then in God said 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Acts of the Apostles p222 yes to Adam was given an assurance of the coming of the Redeemer. …was to our first parents a promise of the redemption to be wrought out through Christ. was lived out in the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus, God died for man because man broke the covenant relationship with God. expresses this idea well, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Between you and the woman,

All this can seem a bit theoretical, abstract, hard to understand. In part this is true because we are trying to understand an infinite God with a finite brain. Our scripture reading enables us to unpack the infinite mind of God a bit so that we can better understand His covenantal love towards us. , Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! 2 For His merciful (hesed) kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! What we are going to focus on is this word merciful. In English we might say well that is easy to understand. To tell you the honest truth the Hebrew word used here is hesed which is translated and mercy, but the Hebrew word carries way more meaning than just mercy. Hesed is used 246 times in the Old Testament and the majority make refer to God’s relationship with us. The Hebrew range of meaning for this word include faithfulness, goodness, strength, and salvation. The Greek equivalent is eleos and it range of mean is mercy, righteousness, grace, glory, and hope. In English we translate this single word in a number of different ways such as, kindness, love, steadfast love, loyalty, favour, devotion, and mercy. The complexity of this words enables us to see the greatness of God.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Last week we spoke about an “Eternal Love” we discussed it through the view of God’s covenant with us. We saw that the covenant God made with us stems from the creation of man as we are made in the image of God. We also noted or learnt that in this covenant God said to Abraham that He will suffer the consequence of us breaking and being unfaithful to the covenant. We also saw that the death of Jesus on the cross was the actual living out of the promise of taking on the consequences of us breaking the covenant. God said to Adam in , So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” In these verses we have the establishment of the covenant with man and the test to for man show obedience to God. Patriarchs and Prophets 48–49 comments on the purpose of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of knowledge, which stood near the tree of life in the midst of the garden, was to be a test of the obedience, faith, and love of our parents. Then in God said 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Acts of the Apostles p222 yes to Adam was given an assurance of the coming of the Redeemer. …was to our first parents a promise of the redemption to be wrought out through Christ. was lived out in the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus, God died for man because man broke the covenant relationship with God. expresses this idea well, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), .

And between your seed and her Seed;

Hesed is often seen as a unilateral or one side. Where a superior act towards the weaker. In our case we will see God acting on our behalf but not spontaneously, in other words God does not act out of unmotivated kindness. God acts out of a relationship with His creation. When God acts with hesed His actions are the realization of the promise which is imbedded in His covenant with man. His hesed with us is rooted in His promise found in Blessed be god and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy eleos has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Also, in but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. The realization of hesed is seen in the promise Christ made at the beginning of time where He identifies with sinners, where He takes upon Himself the judgment and punishment and burden of mans sinfulness. The resurrection of Jesus is God’s victory of sin and evil allowing to know that we do not stand alone. Hesed and the covenant means that God has united with sinners. The cross stands for the incredible statement that god chooses to exchange places with sinners. He chooses to endure the consequence of sin tot he last drop. For our sake Christ went to hell.

Angels rejoiced as the words were uttered: “It is finished.” The great plan of redemption, which was dependent on the death of Christ, had been thus far carried out. Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2 (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1855), 211. Christ felt much as sinners will feel when the vials of God’s wrath shall be poured out upon them. Black despair like a pall of death will gather about their guilty souls, and then they will realize to the fullest extent the sinfulness of sin. Ellen Gould White, The Signs of the Times, August 28, 1879. We do not deserve that which Christ has done for us but it is His hesed (faithfulness, goodness, strength, and salvation, mercy, righteousness, grace, glory, and hope) with us and for us motivated Christ to be faithful to the plan of salvation.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2 (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1855), 211.

All this can seem a bit theoretical, abstract, hard to understand. In part this is true because we are trying to understand an infinite God with a finite brain. Our scripture reading enables us to unpack the infinite mind of God a bit so that we can better understand His covenantal love towards us. , Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! 2 For His merciful (hesed) kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! What we are going to focus on is this word merciful. In English we might say well that is easy to understand. To tell you the honest truth the Hebrew word used here is hesed which is translated as mercy, but the Hebrew word carries way more meaning than just mercy. Hesed is used 246 times in the Old Testament and the majority make refer to God’s relationship with us. The Hebrew range of meaning for this word include faithfulness, goodness, strength, and salvation. The Greek equivalent is eleos and it range of mean is mercy, righteousness, grace, glory, and hope. In English we translate this single word in a number of different ways such as, kindness, love, steadfast love, loyalty, favour, devotion, and mercy. The complexity of this words enables us to see the greatness of God.

He shall bruise your head,

The Signs of the Times August 28, 1879: The Sufferings of Christ

Christ felt much as sinners will feel when the vials of God’s wrath shall be poured out upon them. Black despair like a pall of death will gather about their guilty souls, and then they will realize to the fullest extent the sinfulness of sin.

The Signs of the Times August 28, 1879: The Sufferings of Christ

Christ felt much as sinners will feel when the vials of God’s wrath shall be poured out upon them. Black despair like a pall of death will gather about their guilty souls, and then they will realize to the fullest extent the sinfulness of sin.

We have seen in these passages that has freely bound, united Himself with us. This then in turn allows us to depend on His hesed. We can expect His hesed even though we have been unfaithful for God provides for us a pardoning grace which saves us. Despite out unfaithfulness towards God the Psalmist describes God by saying that His merciful kindness is great towards us. We need to know that God’s grace and mercy go beyond our ability to be faithful. This then means that the dominant action is that which belongs to God. As we look at the book of Genesis and then at the rest of scripture, we see that creator of the universe humbles Himself and takes man under His protection. says I will sing of the mercies hesed of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. Hesed here is in the plural which allows us to see God’s faithfulness covering all generations and all situations. drive the point home that God is loyal all the time despite Israel’s defeat God is still faithful to His promise.

All this can seem a bit theoretical, abstract, hard to understand. In part this is true because we are trying to understand an infinite God with a finite brain. Our scripture reading enables us to unpack the infinite mind of God a bit so that we can better understand His covenantal love towards us. , Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! 2 For His merciful (hesed) kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! What we are going to focus on is this word merciful. In English we might say well that is easy to understand. To tell you the honest truth the Hebrew word used here is hesed which is translated and mercy but the Hebrew word carries way more meaning than just mercy. Hesed is used 246 times in the Old Testament and the majority make refer to God’s relationship with us. The Hebrew range of meaning for this word include faithfulness, goodness, strength, and salvation. The Greek equivalent is eleos and it range of mean is mercy, righteousness, grace, glory, and hope. In english we translate this single word in a number of different ways such as, kindness, love, steadfast love, loyalty, favour, devotion, and mercy. The complexity of this words enable us to see the greatness of God.

Christ felt much as sinners will feel when the vials of God’s wrath shall be poured out upon them. Black despair like a pall of death will gather about their guilty souls, and then they will realize to the fullest extent the sinfulness of sin.

And you shall bruise His heel.”

Hesed is often seen as a unilateral or one side. Where a superior act towards the weaker. In our case we will see God acting on our behalf but. God acts out of a relationship with His creation. When God acts with hesed His actions are the realization of the promise which is imbedded in His covenant with man. His hesed with us is rooted in His promise found in Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy eleos has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Also, in but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. The realization of hesed is seen in the promise Christ made at the beginning of time where He identifies with sinners, where He takes upon Himself the judgment and punishment and burden of man’s sinfulness. The resurrection of Jesus is God’s victory over sin and evil allowing us to know that we do not stand alone. Hesed and the covenant means that God has united with sinners. The cross stands for the incredible statement that god chooses to exchange places with sinners. He chooses to endure the consequence of sin to the last drop. For our sake Christ went to hell. Ellen White says Testimonies for the Church, vol.2 page 211Angels rejoiced as the words were uttered: “It is finished.” The great plan of redemption, which was dependent on the death of Christ, had been thus far carried out. Christ felt much as sinners will feel when the vials of God’s wrath shall be poured out upon them. In Signs of the Times August 28,1879 it says, Black despair like a pall of death will gather about their guilty souls, and then they will realize to the fullest extent the sinfulness of sin. We do not deserve that which Christ has done for us, but it is His hesed (faithfulness, goodness, strength, and salvation, mercy, righteousness, grace, glory, and hope) gives us greater understanding why Christ was faithful to the plan of salvation.

Ellen Gould White, The Signs of the Times, n.d., 267.

Hesed is often seen as a unilateral or one side. Where a superior acts towards the weaker. In our case we will see God acting on our behalf but not spontaneously, in other words God does not act out of unmotivated kindness. God acts out of a relationship with His creation. When God acts with hesed His actions are the realization of the promise which is imbedded in His covenant with man. His hesed with us is rooted in His promise found in Blessed be god and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy eleos has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection f Jesus Christ from the dead . Also in but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!

We have seen in these passages that has freely bound, united Himself with us. This then in turn allows us to depend on His hesed. We can expect His hesed even though we have been unfaithful for God provides for us a pardoning grace which saves us. Despite out unfaithfulness towards God the Psalmist describes God by saying that His merciful kindness is great towards us. We need to know that God’s grace and mercy go beyond our ability to be faithful. This then means that the dominant action is that which belongs to God. As we look at the book of Genesis and then at the rest of scripture, we see that creator of the universe humbles Himself and takes man under His protection. says I will sing of the mercies hesed of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. Hesed here is in the plural which allows us to see God’s faithfulness covering all generations and all situations. drive the point home that God is loyal all the time despite Israel’s defeat God is still faithful to His promise.

We have seen in these passages that has freely bound, united Himself with us. This then in turn allows us to depend on His hesed. We can expect His hesed even though we have been unfaithful for God provides for us a pardoning grace which saves us. Despite out unfaithfulness towards God The Psalmist describes God by saying that His merciful kindness is great towards us. We need to know that God’s grace and mercy go beyond our ability to be faithful. This then means that the dominant action is that which belongs to God. As we look at the book of Genesis and then at the rest of scripture we see that creator of the universe humbles Himself and takes man under His protection. says I will sing of the mercies hesed of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. Hesed here is in the plural which allows us to see God’s faithfulness covering all generations and all situations. drive the point home that God is loyal all the time despite Israel’s defeat God is still faithful to His promise.

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;

1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;

With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.

What is the impact of this on us here today? We need to see that imbedded in hesed is God’s personal involvement and commitment to our lives and to the relationship He wants with us. This is the vertical dimension. I see what God has done for me and is doing for me. This then means that as I become a recipient of all that hesed encompasses it should then impact my relationships with those around me. If we accept the hesed from God, it has to affect our earthly relationships. There needs to be a longing for the salvation of me. Ellen White says in Christ Object Lessons page 49 that this is true religion. Christ gave all for us, His sacrifice was so broad and deep that it is immeasurable. If Christ gave everything for us should we not be willing to lay our own desire and ambitions ourselves down as a response of love to a loving God.

Hesed and eleos both look forward end time realization.

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

You might be asking, what am I to do this week? Go into this week knowing that God is with you. Knowing that He is with you in ways that we do not even know and understand because we love and serve an infinite God. As we do this know that even in your difficulties God is still with you, He has and never will forsake you. When we believe and know this, we will become aware of His acting hesed in our lives. I guess to a degree that is the easy part. Because now as we partake of His glorious faithfulness, love, hope, kindness we are to share that with others as we interact with them. May we see the faithfulness, goodness, strength, and salvation, mercy, righteousness, grace, glory, and hope that God gives us without merit allowing us then to live in the light of the Glorious Hope, the Second Coming. May this then result in us sharing all that we have received from God with those who are in need.

Amen

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Hesed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law.

as i receive the hesed from God it should then cause me to share it and give it to others. becasue of what Jesus has done for me my response should be seen as i interact with others.

We have seen in 1 Peter that Christ has freely bound, united Himself with us. This then in turn allows us to depend on His hesed. We can expect His hesed even though we have been unfaithful for God provides for us a pardoning grace which saves us. Despite out unfaithfulness towards God the Psalmist describes God by saying that His merciful kindness is great towards us. We need to know that God’s grace and mercy go beyond our ability to be faithful. This then means that the dominant action is that which belongs to God. As we look at the book of Genesis and then at the rest of scripture, we see that creator of the universe humbles Himself and takes man under His protection. says I will sing of the mercies hesed of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. Hesed here is in the plural which allows us to see God’s faithfulness covering all generations and all situations. drive the point home that God is loyal all the time despite Israel’s defeat God is still faithful to His promise.

What is the impact of this on us here today? We need to see that imbedded in hesed is God’s personal involvement and commitment to our lives and to the relationship He wants with us. This is the vertical dimension. I see what God has done for me and is doing for me. This then means that as I become a recipient of all that hesed encompasses it should then impact my relationships with those around me. If we accept the hesed from God, it has to affect our earthly relationships. There needs to be a longing for the salvation of men. Ellen White says in Christ Object Lessons page 49 that this is true religion. Christ gave all for us, His sacrifice is so broad and deep that it is immeasurable. If Christ gave everything for us. Should we not be willing to lay our own desire and ambitions ourselves down as a response of love to a loving God.

You might be asking, what am I to do this week? Go into this week knowing that God is with you. Knowing that He is with you in ways that we do not even know and understand because we love and serve an infinite God. As we do this know that even in your difficulties God is still with you, He has and never will forsake you. When we believe and know this, we will become aware of His acting hesed in our lives. I guess to a degree that is the easy part. Because now as we partake of His glorious faithfulness, love, hope, kindness we are to share that with others as we interact with them. May we see and live in the faithfulness, goodness, strength, and salvation, mercy, righteousness, grace, glory, and hope that God gives us without merit allowing us then to live in the light of the Glorious Hope, the Second Coming. May this then result in us sharing all that we have received from God with those who are in need.

Amen