According to the Bible, 1 John 4:8, God is love. This statement is not just a description of God’s actions, but rather a declaration of His very nature. Love is an attribute of God. Love is a core aspect of God's character, His Person. God's love is in no sense in conflict with His holiness, righteousness, justice, or even His wrath. All of God's attributes are in perfect harmony. Everything God does is loving, just as everything He does is just and right. God is the perfect example of true love. It was out of love that God created mankind in His image. He made man and woman in His image to be objects of His love and reflections of His love—for fellowship and relationship. God’s essence consists of Father, Son and Spirit—threefold. Likewise, mankind consists of three parts—body, soul (mind, will and emotion) and spirit. God created mankind with freewill just as He had in the angels. We know that Lucifer and some of the angels rejected God’s love and were separated from Him. Likewise, Adam and Eve also rejected God’s love and consequently God’s Spirit of love no longer filled the spirit part of mankind. Therefore, everyone is born into the world with a body—the flesh and a mind, will and emotions that long for love in the spirit of man. Consequently, Satan seeks to fill that void with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life—what we know as sin. I am reminded of the song “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.” The Bible is God’s love story to redeem mankind and restore that love connection that would require Him to send His Son to come into the world that whoever would believe and trust in Him would be restored to fellowship and relationship with the Father. His Spirit then fills the void in man’s spirit and we have peace and relationship with the Father. Christian love comes from God, and it is a gift to His people through regeneration by the Holy Spirit like God originally planned!
In creation, God laid the foundation for love as He daily communed with Adam and Eve in the Garden in the cool of the day. What a privilege it was for mankind to have daily fellowship with and instruction from the Creator. In love, God does not force Himself on anyone. Those who come to Him do so in response to His love. God gives freewill so that we have a choice to receive His love or reject it as Adam and Eve did. God is not one part sovereign, one part just, one part immutable, one part omniscient, one part eternal, and one part loving. Rather, He is all of His attributes at all times. To understand any single attribute, we must understand it in relation to all His other attributes. The love of God is eternal and sovereign. The love of God is unchanging and holy. We treat all of His other attributes in the same way. God’s justice is loving and eternal. His holiness is loving and omniscient. Our concept of the love of God will stay on track only as we understand His love in relationship to His other attributes. God’s love is holy. His love is therefore characterized by the qualities that define holiness—transcendence and purity. First, God’s love is transcendent. It is set apart and different from everything we experience in creation. Second, God’s love is pure. His love is absolutely flawless, having no selfishness, wickedness, or sin mixed in with it. God’s love is not ordinary or profane. It is a majestic, sacred love that goes far beyond anything creatures can manifest. No shadow of evil covers the brightness of the pure glory of the love of God.
Let's look at how the Bible describes love, and then we will see the unfolding of God’s love pattern. God laid the groundwork for marriage between man and woman when God told Adam that it was not good for him to be along, so God made a well-matched helper for him. There are lessons here as well as God took one of Adam’s ribs and built the woman. It was not from the head that the bone was taken that man would be superior to the woman, nor from the foot that he would rule over her but from the rib where she is nurtured, protected and works alongside the man. Let’s go to the Song of Solomon for lessons in love in a marriage relationship. The love of the divine Bridegroom is symbolized by Solomon’s love of the Shulamite maiden and is an analogy of the marriage relationship. 1. The Book is the expression of pure marital love as ordained by God in creation. 2. It is a figurative revelation of God’s love for His covenant people Israel, the wife of the Lord. Isaiah 54: 5 says, “For the Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.” 3. It is an allegory of Christ’s love for His heavenly Bride, the Church. Paul relates the marriage relationship to Christ and the Church in Ephesians 5: 30, 33 “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones…This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” God is preparing the Church His Son’s Bride in order to present it to Him according to Ephesians 5: 26-27 “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Indeed, it is a love relationship between the Bridegroom and the Bride and God is getting the body of Christ ready for Jesus’ return in the Rapture.
To further understand what God thinks about love (or more importantly, how He loves us) we need to examine these two words: agape (agapao) and philos (phileo). Agape is God-Love and philos is brotherly love. Agape love of God is released through man by the indwelling Holy Spirit – “rivers of living water will flow from within you” refers to the Holy Spirit flowing out of those who are true believers. That Spirit is God Himself, manifesting Himself into the world through us as agape love – we are releasing the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world when we agape the world. The world will know Jesus by our agape. Agape love never fails – it never runs out, it never dries up, it never turns on the other. The object of our love has nothing to say about this love. We can reject it, but we are not the cause of it, we cannot earn it, and we cannot turn it off. Isn’t this good news? In fact, this is the heart of The Good News. God is agape love and He has chosen/decided or willed His love for us.
God’s love is the foundation of our capacity to love others. Without the transformation of our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we are incapable of this kind of love. It is a divine attribute that originates from Himself, is perfected in us through our relationship with Him, and is demonstrated through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The greatest expression of God's love is communicated to us in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Romans 5:8 proclaims the same message: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We can see from these verses that it is God's greatest desire that we join Him in His eternal home, heaven. He has made the way possible by paying the price for our sins. He loves us because He chose to as an act of His will. Love forgives. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
Amazingly, God has given those who receive His Son Jesus as their personal Savior the ability to love as He does, through the power of the Holy Spirit (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1-3). In love, God shows kindness to all. In love, Jesus went about doing good to everyone without partiality. In love, Jesus did not covet what others had, living a humble life without complaining. In love, Jesus did not brag about who He was in the flesh, although He could have overpowered anyone or anything. In love, Jesus willingly obeyed His Father in heaven. “The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me” (John 14:31). In love, Jesus was/is always looking out for the interests of others. Paul gives us insight into God-Love: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). This is God's description of love, and because God is love (1 John 4:8), this is what He is like.
If we choose to receive God’s agape love then we can enter His rest. But this choice involves work — we must repent and believe, we must be born again. We do not do this alone — repentance is His gift to us, but we must participate. Our repentance cannot earn His love, but it opens the door for His love to fill our hearts. Read Psalm 139 as it provides us with marvelous insight into the Father’s perfect knowledge of us and His abundant love for us, just the way we are. Jesus has chosen to put His unmatched presence into these scarred, earthen vessels. He is at home in these tattered earthly vessels. He wants us to rest in Him and His fellowship, knowing that He died for us while we were hopeless sinners. (Rom. 5: 6-8) He has permanently accepted us into His family, with all our undesirable baggage. May we listen for Him and embrace all the wonderful things He wants to share!
Let’s look at philos or brotherly love. 2 John 5 commands us to love God and to love others as we love ourselves which is the core commandments of heaven and has remained the same from Old Testament times (Lev. 19:18, Deut. 6: 5, 10-12) to the days of the New Testament (Mt. 22: 36-40, Jn. 13: 14-15,34-35; 15: 9-17) and on to today. Jesus taught that the greatest form of love is to lay down one’s life for one’s friends: “Greater love has no one than this, that to lay down one’s life. (Jn 15:13) That was exactly what He did on the cross. (1 Jn. 3: 16-18) This command is part of Jesus’ discourse on love, emphasizing the importance of loving one another as He has loved us. (15: 12) In this context, laying down one’s life means more than just physical sacrifice, it encompasses selfless devotion, obedience, and willingness to put others’ needs before one’s own. It means showing compassion and empathy towards friends in need. It means being willing to forgive and reconcile with friends and demonstrating unconditional love and acceptance.
Love is the greatest gift God offers us. And yet, it is the one we have the most difficulty receiving. First, sometimes we do not think we deserve His love—which is true. Second, we often do not understand God’s unconditional love, because its quality differs so much from our own. We somehow believe that He loves us the way we love others. Such a viewpoint, however, leaves us doubtful that He will always love us as the Bible promises He will. (Jer. 31:1) Love is a sacrificial commitment to the peace, security, joy, and development of another person. (I Cor. 13: 4-5) The Father’s love is not based on emotion but flows out of His changeless character. Since it is impossible for Him to do anything contrary to His nature, His love will forever be certain and dependable. He gives us His love as a gift. James 1:17 teaches “Every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” Because God does not change, His love for us exists independently from our actions. We cannot earn it or give anything in return for it—the Lord offers His love to us freely, as a gift.
Jesus is God’s love gift to the world. The choice is ours whether we receive it or not. Jesus came not to save some but all of humanity! Jesus loved us in his birth! Jesus loved us in His life! Jesus loved us in His death! Jesus loves us now! As His children we’re to be conveyors of His love to the world! I have it heard repeated multiple times by preachers, teachers, evangelists and those in the prophetic—God’s goal is to reach one billion people with the message of God’s love! Jesus’ ministry was largely confined to the small boundaries of Israel, but He operated with the entire world in mind. In Matthew 28: 16-20 He gave the call to spread the Gospel to all nations, making disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Great Commission is a mandate for all believers, not just apostles or missionaries to share the love of God with others through personal evangelism with friends, family and acquaintances; pray for and financially support missionaries and evangelists; invest in the spiritual growth of others, teaching them to obey Jesus’ commands; and advocate for the spread of the Gospel and the advancement of the Kingdom in your community and beyond! Let’s give the gift of Jesus’ love this Christmas and in 2025! A billion soul harvest!