“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In this essay I consider that of the Holy Lord’s gospel. I consider of how the world was given the gospel of Jesus Christ by considering of the grace and love of God. Next, I look at who the Gospel was given to; the lost. I then look at some of the cost of the gospel and consider salvation of the believer. I then reconsider the unimaginably great love of God that is truly awesome.
My consideration is that there is no greater love that exists than the Father has for His only begotten Son. Consider again Scripture that teaches that God gave his only begotten Son that the lost could believe upon him and be saved, receiving eternal life. The Bible teaches that God is love. It is by the grace of love who is God that we can hear of the great and glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
That which was lost and is now saved by His grace and love cannot measure either his grace or love. We cannot fully fathom the great love God has loved the world with that the lost can be saved. The Bible teaches that the Lord is mysterious with respect to His creation and that His depths are unsearchable. I take it that the measure of His great love that gave the world His Son’s gospel will be an awe-inspiring mystery for the believer for all times.
Each member of the bride of Christ, including that which had been lost but is now saved by His grace and love, has been given the “first and greatest commandment” to obey and that commandment being that each member of the bride is to love the bridegroom, the Christ, with all it’s heart, mind, soul, and strength. Christ is the bride’s first love and without Him the bride would have no capacity to love at all. The worthy bridegroom is the Creator and has loved the unworthy creation with a love so great that the bride has eternal reasons to love back with passion.
Without belief upon Christ, that of the bride of light was not of the bride at all and was wicked and lost and under the dominion of Satan. The light of Christ had yet to shine into the mind of the lost and the lost was in danger of eternal destruction. The cost of not believing in Jesus Christ is an ultimate cost and the fate the lost who die in their sins go to is too terrible for the mind of man to construct or fully fathom. The sinner without the saviour, who he is in need of, in and of himself is a child of Satan and is worthy of a fate of eternal death which is hell.
There is no good in the lost. The Christ taught that only God is good and that He and the Heavenly Father are one. The lost are after the image of their father, who is the Devil, and who is a liar, murderer, and thief. This is some of what Satan is with respect to His Creator. Whereas Jesus Christ is the truth, there is no truth in the lost or the Devil. Satan is an abomination unto God and how is it that his children are not as well?
By Christ’s grace, love, suffering, and victories: believers that had been of the abominable have been transformed into that of the bride of life. The bride has the God given capacity to love the truth above all. The saints in light have eternal reasons to exist with passion for their Lord and to love Jesus Christ, who is the King of kings, with all of their persons.
The Holy Father’s Son, the Son of man, fulfilled God’s law while living as the lamb without blemish. His life was in accord with His Father’s will and He walked amongst the lost and helped them come to believe upon Him. The Bible teaches that, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Among His works, the Christ himself healed the sick, befriended evil creatures, such as his disciples, and taught truth to the lost. He battled against wickedness and delivered humans from demons.
Considering some of the suffering of the innocent Christ, I consider Him in Gethsemane. The Lord prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” It seems clear to me that Christ did not want to proceed forward with what He was proceeding with but He submitted Himself to His Father’s will. A short while later the Bible tells of the Christ being accused of blasphemy and people, “spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,” and shortly after His disciple Peter denied him three times. The next day the Holy Lord was scourged and mocked at and later crucified. Only God knows the true extent of the suffering Christ did on the cross were He paid for the sins of the world.
Some of my understanding regarding the Lord’s glorious gospel is that to believe upon the blood of the Christ is to believe upon Jesus Christ’s sinless life that He lived and that by His life the sins of His believers can be forgiven. It is to believe upon the Holy Father’s innocent Son that suffered for the guilty sinners that they could be forgiven. Christ is victor over Satan, sin, death, and hell. Consider that, without abiding in Christ, that is to say, without having believed upon Him, one has no forgiveness of their sins and goes to the wrath of God, the second death, and that be eternal damnation. For the sinner, Jesus Christ is all important. Only by Christ can the sinner be forgiven their trespasses against God.
The Word of God teaches that the saint is to work out his salvation with fear and trembling. The cost of his salvation is unfathomably more than the saint can ever fully appreciate. God has done what is truly awesome with His gospel. How is it that the sinner saved by his grace can appreciate enough the cost of the payment of his sins? Upon being saved, is it the eternal debt the saint is in with respect to the Lord begins and would it be that some of that debt is expressed in the form of passionate praise of His majesty and love and worship of His worthy person? Methinks yes.
The Bible teaches now is the day of salvation. The Bible teaches that their were those who were partakers with the Holy Ghost and at a latter point were no longer saved. The Bible teaches that salvation is of the Lord. Only the holy God is worthy. The bridegroom be worthy and the bride be the unworthy and is called to live up to a holy calling. Is this knowledge enough that the fear and trembling that should come along with one’s salvation should come along with it daily? Methinks yes.
Upon reconsidering love, I consider again that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth upon him shall not perish. With love amongst the worthy, the Father and His only begotten Son, being unthinkably great, how great is the love of the gospel for the lost? For the believer, who is saved by Christ, the love of the gospel is unimaginably great as well. I will forever be in debt to Jesus Christ for having believed upon His sinless blood and thus having experienced love of His Glorious Father. The gospel is truly worthy of being believed and kneeling in awe of.
