GRACE AND LOVE OF GOD

All scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

The Bible reveals that God is full of love. The word of God even says in 1 John 4:8, 

“The one who does not love does not know God, for GOD IS LOVE.” (Emphasis added). 

Since God is love, the love of God is God Himself. And because the very nature of His essence is love, nothing but love can flow out of Him. All His expressions are love. 

The love of God is seen displayed from the beginning of the world till now. Before the first man transgressed in the beginning, God, in His love, commanded him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Although this restriction did not appear to be an expression of love to Adam, it was really the expression of the love of God to him so that he would not die. The devil, however, came in his hatred for man to deceive him so that man could become what he himself had become. Because the devil disobeyed God, iniquity was found in him and consequently, he was cast as profane from the mountain of the Lord. Having seen the result of his disobedience, he also ensured the man disobeyed God so he could be cast out of the presence of God. 

Furthermore, after Adam sinned, came short of the glory of God and became naked, God, Who is love, also expressed Himself by killing an animal for the man’s sake. And the wisdom of God, motivated by His love, was able to use the animal’s blood for a partial atonement for the sin of the man and its skin as a form of glory to cover his nakedness. 

God also expressed His love by sending the man out of the garden. Apparently, this also might not have been an expression of love to Adam, but it was. For the Bible says in Genesis 3:22, 

“Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” 

God had already told Adam that the day he eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die. And He is now seen here preventing the man from the tree of life so he would not eat of it and live forever. Adam, probably, would have thought that God sending him out of the garden was now not an expression of His love because it seemingly looked as if God was keeping the remedy of his fall from him. For logically, if the tree he ate from made him dead, the tree of life should then be the solution that would enliven him. But this was not so. By eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam had received the nature of the devil. If he now ate from the tree of life, he would live forever, not with the nature of God, but with the nature of the devil, completely shutting himself up from redemption. So the omniscient God expressed His love once again and sent him out, lest he eats from the tree of life and live forever in sin and corruption. 

So many times the Lord prevents believers from some certain things after they sin. These believers then think God has totally rejected them, not knowing He is only preserving them from becoming utterly corrupt. What He now prevents from them as a result of their sins will eventually be given to them when He has finally worked out their salvation. Although man currently has no access to the tree of life, the Bible says in Revelation 22:14 that after we have been completely washed, we will again “have the right to the tree of life.” So, even when the Lord chastens a believer for a sin committed, it is still an expression of His love. For Hebrews 12:6 vividly says, 

“For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

So was the love of God expressed to mankind from the beginning till He eventually gave all of Himself by sending His only begotten Son, Who is the express Image of His Person to die for the world for their salvation. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). 

Now, it is one thing to love, and it is another thing to fully express the love. When love is expressed, specifically to the destitute, it becomes grace. Grace is something freely given to the destitute. Man was destitute and needed to be redeemed. Therefore God gave Himself freely as grace to man for his redemption. So when Jesus came, the Bible expressly says in John 1:14,16, 

“And the Word (Who was God, John 1:1) became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

So God became flesh as Jesus Christ and grace, which is the substance of His love, or rather Himself, could now be received by as many that believe in Him. 

It should be known that the grace of God is not meant for those who have enough to solve their problems. The grace of God is only meant for those who are insufficient and powerless to help themselves. So Jesus, who is the love of God expressed as grace for man, told the Pharisees who thought themselves righteous, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32). Are you a sinner? God’s love is for you. You do not need to be righteous to be qualified for His grace, being a sinner qualifies you. And the grace itself will make you righteous when you receive it. It also does not matter how sinful you are, for “wherever sin abounds, this grace does much more abound.” (Romans 5:20).  God has “in deed and truth” expressed His love by sending Jesus, not to some special people, but to you and the whole world.