Bless the Lord, O my soul,   
And all that is within me,   
bless His holy name.   
Bless the Lord, O my soul,   
And forget none of His benefits.   
- Psalms 103:1-2   
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For God So Loved The World

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in He should not perish, but have everlasting life”.  The Scriptures are filled with passages such as the above, concerning God’s love.

1.     Romans  5:5, “ because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts”

2.     John 15:12 “loved one another as I have loved you”.

3.     John 15:13,14 “ greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s live for his friends, you are my friends if you do whatever I command you”.

4.     John 15:9, “as the Father loved me, I also have loved you”.

5.     Gal. 2:20, latter part, “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”.

6.     Eph. 5:25, “ as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her”.

7.     I John 4:11, “if God so loved us, we aught so to love.

8.     I John 4:8, 9, “God is love; in this the love of God was manifest toward us by sending his Son.

9.     Revelation 1:5, “to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins”.

In the OT Scriptures is filled concerning God’s love.

1.     Duet. 4:37, “ because he loved your fathers, therefore he choose their descendants>

2.     Duet. 7:8, “because the Lord loves you”. ( Israel)

3.     Duet. 23:5, “because the Lord your God loves you”.

4.     The Book of Judges shows how much God loved Israel. When they would turn from him to serve other gods, he would let other nations take them captive. When Israel cried out to him he would send a deliverer to deliver them.

God demands that his people love as he has loved.

1.     Lev. 19:17, 18, “you shall not hate your brother, but you shall love you neighbor as yourself”.

2.     Duet. 6:5, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul”.

3.     Matthew 12:30, 31, “thou shall love the Lord they God with all thy heart and soul, and love thy neighbor as thyself”.

4.     John 18:12, “that you love one another”.

5.     Eph. 4:2, “forbearing one another in love”.

Many more verses could be quoted concerning God’s love for us, and how we are to love. But do we understand what prompted God’s love toward us, in that he demands the same love manifest from us? Yes, “God so loved the world that he gave his Son”, but what prompted him to do so?

Judges 10:16 tells us what prompted God. “And his soul (God) could no longer endure the misery of Israel”. When Israel sin, they would call on Jehovah for deliverance. Judges 10:15 states, “and the children of Israel said to the Lord, we have sinned. Do to us whatever seems best to you; only deliver us this day, we pray”. Vs 16 then states, “his soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel”.

Here God’s compassion is shown in a small scale, that of Israel and their position before him. John 3:16 shows a much larger scale of God compassion, “for God so loved the World”. (All mankind). God grieves for the miseries to which his creatures are reduced to when they sin. He acted toward them as one who felt their sufferings. He had pity on them.

Why did God send his Son? Same reason He acted toward Israel. He saw the condition of mankind and what sin had reduced them to. He acted toward us as one who felt our sufferings. How do we react to sin? How do we feel when we see the misery of others who are in sin? Do we as God, feel their suffering and take pity on them?

- CL Bruner



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