" In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9, 10.)
In the person of Jesus the Son of God, life has been manifested—" that eternal life which was with the Father, was manifested unto us." (1 John 1:2.) The Son, by whom God made the worlds, has been seen, and heard, and handled, in a scene of death on every hand. Wondrous fact, that the Son of God should be found here in fashion as a man, taking a servant's form, in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin, holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners. Thus God has been revealed, He has come near, and has been made known. " God was manifested in the flesh." God came down to earth in the person of the Son, and, in word and deed, declared the Father. " No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John 1:18.) Thus life has been manifested in the person of Him who could truly say, I am "the life."
But more wonderful still, love has been manifested—love to us, divine love, for " God is love;" but love was manifested in the death of the cross. " In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." What love! Well has it been said -" Love that no tongue can teach, Love that no thought can reach, No love like His."
Love then has been manifested in the death of the Son of God for us upon the cross—infinite, eternal, perfect love. Though the world by wisdom knows not God, yet He has been revealed, and is now known, confided in, and loved. If He had come near in manifesting life in the person of the Son, He came nearer still in manifesting love in His death for our sins. In this way surely He loved us.
No one really knows God by the active reasonings of his own mind. Neither can he know God by what he may see in creation, in the way marked out by those who bid us " look from nature up to nature's God.'' He learns no doubt in this way that there is a God, but he does not know Him, and therefore cannot confide in Him. Nor can he know God by seeking to read His doings in the checkered histories of men's varied circumstances, or by considering His providential dealings. Kind and beneficent as He was in creation, and wondrously kind still in daily benefits to the unthankful and the unholy, yet it is in the sufferings and death of Jesus on the cross that divine love is seen, and God really known.
Two things were absolutely necessary in order that man should be happy in God's presence; he must be cleansed from all sin, and he must have life, eternal life—a nature capable of knowing and enjoying the things of God. These wondrous blessings could only come to us by the cross; and both have been provided for us in Christ, and through His death. God sent His only-begotten Son that we might live through Him, and He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.
It is evident that no one with sin upon him could be in the presence of a holy sin-hating God. Jesus said, If ye " die in your sins, whither I go, ye cannot come." But Jesus was found here in fashion as a man, that He might die for our sins. " He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for every man." Love sent Him, gave Him, and delivered Him up for our offenses. Thus divine love was manifested in all its freeness, suitability, and blessedness; thus God in Christ crucified has met us when in our sins, and thus He perfects the conscience, and fits us in righteousness for His own presence forever. Every question of our sin and guilt have thus been fully met in righteousness—sins judged, God not only satisfied but glorified, and all who believe justified from all things. This is love indeed—love that melts the hardest heart, attracts the sinner to the Savior, draws him away from every unholy influence, justifies the ungodly, and establishes the heart in peace before God. And more, for God is the Justifier, and He declares of such, " Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." All is of God. He is the source of all our blessings. He is indeed the God of all grace, the God of peace. It is grace through righteousness. Love fully brought out, and righteousness fully established. It is His love, not ours—" Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." How the contemplation of it moves our hearts! What joy and peace it imparts! How conscious we are of its separating power, and how it constrains us to love and serve Him, for there seems no limit to the claims of divine love! " Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all."
God, then, who is righteous and holy, has that before Him in the blood of His Son, which enables Him to send out a world-wide message of salvation for sinners: to present in the gospel the finished work of Jesus on the cross, as an available sacrifice for everyone that believeth, to make Himself known in all the perfectness and freeness of divine grace; so that a ground of unhesitating confidence is now laid between God and every one that believeth in Jesus. Thus God has acted in divine love, and done all we needed to make us happy forever in His presence. Peace has been made, redemption accomplished, and a new and living way opened into the holiest of all through the rent veil; and we have remission of sins, are justified from all things, are brought into the new relationship of sons, all known and enjoyed now on the principle of faith; the Holy Ghost too is given to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts, and to make us know the things that are freely given to us of God. We read, therefore, " We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (Ver. 16.)
And life also is given, eternal life, for how could we be suited to eternal glory, or enter into the things of Him who is eternal, without it? As we have seen, this also flows to us from divine love -" God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." It is freely given to us of God. " The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through [or in] Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6:23.) And again, " This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.' This is what men will not believe. They not only refuse the gift, but they will not believe that God is so good as to bestow such a present blessing as eternal life. God says He has given, and is still the Giver of, eternal life. Man does not believe, and therefore makes God a liar. Though he does not say so in words, yet his heart refuses His testimony. We are told, " He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.' (1 John 5:10-12.) Nothing can possibly be more plainly stated, yet men will not believe. Though it is evident that no one could dwell in eternal glory unless he had eternal life; yet when God declares that He is the Giver of eternal life, and that this life is in His Son, men make God a liar, for they will not believe it. How solemn are the words of scripture, " he that believeth not God hath made him a liar." Oh, say some, " I am sure I have not made God a liar, for I believe the whole Bible." But the searching and often silencing question for such is, " Have you then received this gift of God—eternal life?" The answer of many to this question is, " No, nor do I expect to till death, or after death."
Nothing can more conclusively prove that such persons have made God a liar; for God says that He gives eternal life and gives it now, that " He that hath the Son hath life/' hath it now, and yet they say it is not so. Oh, this frightful, yet common sin of making God a liar! Many we fear are going respectably and religiously on the broad road to destruction, professing to serve God, yet thus making Him a liar, because they believe not the record that God gave of His Son. It is considered very bad in all civilized society to make a man of honor, and of good report, a liar; but to make God a liar is bad indeed. And yet, we repeat, nothing can be more clearly proved, because God says He gives eternal life, and that He that hath the Son hath life, and yet, alas! many say it is not true, that no person has eternal life now, and that no one can have it till he comes to die. Such is human reason, such is man's opinion in direct opposition to God's revealed will in His word, so that scripture speaks of such as making God " a liar." Such is the solemn light in which God views the rejection of the present blessings of divine love. They say on inquiring of them, " Of course, we believe the gospel," and yet if asked, "Have you received eternal life, the gift of God?" they at once deny that there is such a present blessing. Nevertheless, the word of the Lord endureth forever.