In the passage of Scripture which is engaging our attention, namely, John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16), we have a very remarkable illustration of the character of the entire Gospel of John and especially the opening chapters. It is impossible to meditate upon it without seizing this interesting fact. In it we are introduced to God Himself in that wondrous aspect of His character and nature as loving the world and giving His Son. In it, too, we find, not only the “world” as a whole, but the individual sinner, under that most satisfactory title of “whosoever.” Thus God and the sinner are together — God loving and giving, and the sinner believing and having. It is not God judging and exacting, but God loving and giving. The former was law; the latter, grace; that was Judaism —this, Christianity. In the one we see God demanding obedience in order to life; in the other we see God giving life as the only basis of obedience. In the one we see man struggling for life but never obtaining it; in the other we see man receiving life as a free gift through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the contrast between the two systems — a contrast which cannot be too deeply pondered. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:1717For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)).
But let us mark the way in which this is unfolded in our text. “God so loved the world.” Here we have the wide aspect of the love of God. It is not confined to any particular nation, tribe, caste or family. It embraces the whole world. God is love, and being so, it is not a question of the fitness or worthiness of the object of His love. It is what He is. He is love, and He cannot deny Himself. It is the very energy and activity of His nature. The heart may have many a question and many an exercise as to its state and condition before God, and very right it should have them. The Spirit Himself may produce such exercises and raise such questions, but, after all, the grand truth shines forth in all its luster, “God is love.” Whatever we are and whatever the world is, that is what God is, and we know that the truth as to God forms the deep and rich substratum which underlies the whole system of Christianity. The soul may pass through deep and sore conflict under the sense of its own wretchedness. There may be many doubts and fears, many dark and heavy clouds. Weeks, months or years may be spent under the law, in one’s inward self-consciousness, and that, moreover, long after the mere intellect has yielded its assent to the principles and doctrines of evangelical truth. But, after all, we must be brought into direct, personal contact with God Himself — with what He is — with His nature and character as He has revealed Himself in the gospel. We have to acquaint ourselves with Him, and He is love.
Observe, it does not merely say that God is loving but that He is love. It is not only that love is an attribute of His character, but it is the very activity of His nature. We do not read that God is justice or holiness; He is just and He is holy, but it would not express the full and blessed truth to say that God is loving; He is much more. He is love itself. Hence, when the sinner —“whosoever” he be, it matters not — is brought to see his own total and absolute ruin, his hopeless wretchedness, his guilt and misery, the utter vanity and worthlessness of all within and around him (and there is nothing in the whole world that can satisfy his heart, and nothing in his heart that can satisfy God or satisfy even his own conscience), when these things are opened in any measure to his view, then is he met by this grand, substantial truth that “God is love” and that He so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son.
Here is life and rest for the soul. Here is salvation, full, free and everlasting, for the poor, needy, guilty, lost one — salvation resting not upon anything in man or of man, not upon aught that he is or can be or aught that he has done or can do, but simply upon what God is and has done. God loves and gives, and the sinner believes and has. This is far beyond creation, government or law. In creation, God spoke and it was done. He called worlds into existence by the word of His mouth. But we hear nothing, throughout the entire record of creation, of God loving and giving.
So as to government, we see God ruling in unsearchable wisdom, amid the armies of heaven and among the children of men, but we cannot comprehend Him. We can only say, as to this subject, that
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
Finally, as to the law, it is, from beginning to end, a perfect system of command and prohibition — a system perfect in its action as testing man and making manifest his entire alienation from God. “The law worketh wrath.” And again, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” But what could such a system do in a world of sinners? Could it give life? Impossible. Why? Because man could not fulfill its holy requirements. “If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” But no; the law was a ministration of death and condemnation. (See 2 Corinthians 3.) The only effect of the law, to anyone who is under it, is the pressure of death upon the soul and of guilt and condemnation upon the conscience. It cannot possibly be otherwise with an honest soul under the law.
What then is needed? Simply this: the knowledge of the love of God and of the precious gift which that love has bestowed. This is the eternal groundwork of all — love and the gift of love. Be it observed and ever remembered that God’s love could never have reached us save through the medium of that gift. God is holy, and we are sinful. How could we come near Him? How could we dwell in His holy presence? How could sin and holiness ever abide in company? Impossible. Justice demands the condemnation of sin, and if love will save the sinner, it must do so at no less a cost than the gift of the only-begotten Son. Darius loved Daniel and labored hard to save him from the lions’ den, but his love was powerless because of the unbending law of the Medes and Persians. He spent the night in sorrow and fasting. He could weep at the mouth of the den, but he could not save his friend. His love was not mighty to save. If he had offered himself to the lions instead of his friend, it would have been morally glorious, but he did not. His love told itself forth in unavailing tears and lamentations. The law of the Persian kingdom was more powerful than the love of the Persian king. The law, in its stern majesty, triumphed over an impotent love which had nothing but fruitless tears to bestow upon its object.
But the love of God is not like this — eternal and universal praise to His name! His love is mighty to save. It reigns through righteousness. How is this? Because “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” The law had declared in words of awful solemnity, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Was this law less stern, less majestic or less stringent than the law of the Medes and Persians? Surely not. How then was it to be disposed of? It was to be magnified and made honorable, vindicated and established. Not one jot or tittle of the law could ever be set aside. How then was the difficulty to be solved? Three things had to be done: the law had to be magnified, sin condemned and the sinner saved. How could these grand results be reached? We have the answer in two bold and vivid lines from one of our own poets:
On Jesus’ cross this record’s graved,
Let sin be damned, and sinners saved.
Precious record! May many an anxious sinner read and believe it! Such was the amazing love of God that He spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all. This love cost Him nothing less than the Son of His bosom. When it was a question of creating worlds, it cost Him but the word of His mouth, but when it was a question of loving a world of sinners, it cost His only-begotten Son. The love of God is a holy love, a righteous love, a love acting in harmony with all the attributes of His nature and the claims of His throne. “Grace [reigns] through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” The soul can never be set at liberty till this truth be fully laid hold of. There may be certain vague hopes in the mercy of God and a measure of confidence in the atoning work of Jesus, all true and real so far as it goes, but true liberty of heart cannot possibly be enjoyed until it is seen and understood that God has glorified Himself in the manner of His love toward us. Conscience could never be tranquilized nor Satan silenced if sin had not been perfectly judged and put away. But “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” What depth and power in the little word “so”!