“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.”
John 3:16
Yesterday we saw that John 3:16 is my friend Chuck’s favorite verse from the Bible. It’s a beloved verse for many Christians. Perhaps that’s because this short sentence sums up the gospel so well.
I once heard a speaker give an excellent word-by-word treatise on John 3:16. God (the greatest Giver) so loved (the greatest motive) the world (which has the greatest spiritual poverty) that He gave (the greatest act of all) His only Son (the greatest gift), that whosoever (the all-time greatest invitation) believes in Him (the greatest opportunity) should not perish (the greatest deliverance) but have eternal life (the greatest joy).
In one short verse, we meet the greatest Giver who has the highest motive to meet the most exacting demands of justice by the most powerful act of giving. His is the most breathtaking invitation for the greatest deliverance from the worst of hells to the highest of joys — eternal fellowship with God.
Most striking is how sinful and wicked “whoever” is in this verse! It makes John 3:16 all the more astounding. And so, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Later on, Romans 8:32 expounds on His love, for “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Meditate on the words of this time-honored hymn:
Could we with the ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole tho stretched from sky to sky”*
I humbly bow my knee before You today. What great love You have for sinful man!
