“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
- John 3:16-17, ESV
Who is this Son whom God gave for the world? His name is JESUS! But who is Jesus?
According to Colossians 1:15-18 Jesus is…
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities: all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.”
So Jesus according to this verse is SUPREME OF ALL BEING, HE IS THE SON OF GOD AND HE IS GOD! He is the picture - the image of the invisible God! He is so special to God the Father, loved and honored that all things were created FOR HIM. He created all things for the glory of His own name, for God made the Son Jesus Christ to do all things that everything may be made for the glory of His one and only Son - Jesus!
WOW! JESUS - WHAT A WONDERFUL NAME, WHAT A WONDERFUL, POWERFUL, AMAZING GOD!
BUT…. Considering the 1st verse we read, there are some things that doesn’t make sense.
1. Jesus being the Son of God, to whom all things belong was sent to die on the cross?
2. To save the world, the world of people who betrayed Him?
3. The world He created and loved and yet turned their backs on Him?
4. If we come to think of all these verses, for a human mind and logic, it doesn’t make sense! If I were God, why would I send my son to save the very people who betrayed me in the first place?
Yet, the answer in John 3:16 is clear and simple - GOD LOVED THE WORLD! God loved and continues to love us. In fact He wants us to spend eternity with Him! The sin that separated us from Him is the very thing His Son Jesus paid for on the cross.
In fact Colossians 1:19 says:
“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.”
The thing is, Jesus Himself, the one who created the earth, who created man himself, made the choice to make man.
For God our Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, they have made their own sovereign choice, to make man. They love man so much in Genesis 1: 26 - God Father talking to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit said:
“...Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Let us see some things that doesn’t make sense…
* God made man, not only in their own image, He made him to rule over the things he created on earth? Why? Didn’t He know man was going to turn his back on Him?
* What doesn’t make sense even more is that Jesus, the master architect, the one who made all things, the one who holds the blueprint of everything, the one who even existed from the beginning and in Revelations says that He is also the End. Jesus who knows all things, knew all things from everything’s beginning and end - still chose to create man, in spite of the fact that He knew man would fall? And man would betray Him over a forbidden fruit? IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!
* In Genesis 3:5 - as the crafty serpent was tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit - she herself said and declared that they were allowed to eat fruits from the TREES of the garden. This means there were a lot more trees in that garden that had fruits that they can eat from. But why desire to eat a fruit which God said not to eat? IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!
* What doesn’t make sense even more is that, God all powerful and all knowing - meaning, one who knew all things and created all things, He placed a tree in the garden with which the fruit is not to be eaten. If God already knew that Adam and Eve were going to eat of it’s fruit and betray Him, WHY ELSE CREATE AND PUT THE FRUIT TREE THERE? IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!
* Even if God made and placed the tree in the garden, couldn’t He have just made Adam and Eve not want to eat the fruit, after all HE IS ALL MIGHTY, POWERFUL AND SOVEREIGN, why give Adam and Eve a CHOICE?
* LASTLY, what really doesn’t make sense is this… before God made man, when God formed the heavens, He also created angels. He knew that 1/3 of the angles would fall and follow Lucifer, and YET HE made them, and GAVE THEM A CHOICE? He made Lucifer who later on was going to corrupt everything He created in the world. Why when He knew all together all things things were going to happen? IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE.
Although the Bible doesn’t give many details regarding the rebellion of Satan and the fallen angels, Ezekiel 28:12-17 discussed that “in pride, Satan (Lucifer) chose to rebel against God in order to become his own god. And Satan didn’t want to worship and obey God; he wanted to be God - Isaiah 14:13
Let’s read the verses:
“...You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created TILL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS WAS FOUND IN YOU. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;so I cast you a profane thing from the mountain of God…. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor…” - Ezekiel 28:12-17, ESV
“You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
* IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO MAKE THIS ANGEL AND YET WOULD REBEL AGAINST GOD!
While God gave both angels and man a choice - to worship, honor and obey Him, it doesn’t make sense to give a both a choice in the 1st place!
While a lot of things may not make sense to us, and while the bible doesn’t give all the answers why God allowed all these things - one thing is clear and is true as Psalm 18:30 says:
“This God - His ways are perfect; the word of the Lord proves true…”
GOD IS PERFECT! He has His own reasons and that we can never question Him, for HE IS GOD and He knows all things!
We may never truly understand everything just as the prophet Isaiah tells us in chapter 55:8-9 said…
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither your ways my ways, declares the Lord; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so ae my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
ONE THINGS IS TO BE SURE OF…. GOD’S LOVE FOR US WILL NEVER END!!! And while it doesn’t make sense, this is what made sense to God…
“...For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will…” - Ephesians 1:-5
We will never understand anything unless we perceive things through the lenses of God’s eye - the EYES OF LOVE! To see what He perceives would be only a work of His Holy Spirit who can open our spiritual eyes so see and understand things. But while we are still trying to do so - still try to understand what we all this, one thing is clear…
HE CHOSE US! HE CHOSE YOU AND ME!
WE WERE GOD’S SOVEREIGN CHOICE!
HIS LOVE FOR US IS PERFECT! HE PROMISED NEVER TO LEAVE US NOR FORSAKE
US. HE PROMISED TO BRING US TO HEAVEN TO ENJOY ETERNITY WITH HIM!
What makes sense to God is that with the CHOICE THAT HE HAS GIVEN MAN, with it, MAN CAN LOVE HIM BY THEIR OWN CHOICE! Man with His free will can make a decision to love Him as He loves us!
And while JESUS HAS PROVEN HIS ULTIMATE DISPLAY OF LOVE ON THE CROSS, even when it doesn’t make sense… one thing is clear in the mind of Jesus then - as He was there on the cross… as HE IS DOING IT TO OBEY GOD THE FATHER…. HE KNEW ONE THING TO BE CLEAR… WE ARE GOING TO BE THE REWARD OF ALL HIS SACRIFICES!!!
JESUS LOVES US SO MUCH, HE WAS WILLING TO GIVE UP EVERYTHING JUST SO WE CAN BE RECONCILED TO GOD!
Jesus who up until this day continues to pursue us and love us. He continues to reach out to us, to tell us to come to Him, because He knows that it is only in Him will we find true joy, peace and love!
He continues to tells us to “ SEEK HIM FIRST, THAT ALL THINGS MAY BE GIVEN TO US.. THAT WITH HIS STRENGTH, WE CAN DO ANYTHING, BUT THAT APART FROM HIM, WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING!” He continues to remind us of this because He know it is us who will benefit as we seek Him.. still it is for us, as much as it is for Him and His glory. And in all these promises and pursuing, one thing is to be true… JESUS LOVES US SO MUCH!
God gave us His Son so that we may able to return back to His loving arms… while this may not make sense… we can be sure of this…
GOD LOVES US AND NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD.
WE WERE HIS SOVEREIGN CHOICE!
THE QUESTION TO BE ANSWERED NOW BY YOU IS…..
IS HE YOUR CHOICE TOO?
IS HE YOUR 1ST CHOICE? WILL YOU CHOOSE LOVE - WILL YOU CHOOSE HIM ABOVE ALL THINGS?
WOULD YOU PROVE TO HIM THAT YOU LOVE HIM TOO - AND THAT ONLY THROUGH OBEDIENCE?
WOULD YOU?
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