How God Loved the World [Devotion]
John 3:16 is one of the most used and, occasionally, abused passages in the entirety of scripture; and with good reason. There are few, if any, passages that so beautifully sum up the heart of God. Not only that but it is delivered by Jesus Himself in one of the most intimate encounters recorded in the Gospels. That being said, it is highly understandable why this passage would be so frequently quoted and why many might even seek to distort it’s message.
But I’m not writing today to debate the ins and outs of the uses and misuses of this passage, rather I would like to draw your attention to something that recently helped to reawaken an understanding and appreciation for these precious words of God.
Here’s the set up (found in John 3:1-15). Nicodemus, a seemingly high ranking member of the pharisees, comes to speak with Jesus at night. He starts off by admitting that Jesus must be from God since, “…no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him,” (vs 2) to which Jesus replies by saying that, “…unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. (vs 3)” Nicodemus at least seems confused by this and Jesus explains that a spiritual rebirth is required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Nicodemus’ reply, probably rooted in his understanding of the law and human nature (though that is my opinion), is, “How can these things be?” (vs 9). After challenging Nicodemus’ unbelief, Jesus responds by using powerful imagery from the Old Testament. He references an account from Number 21:4-9 by saying, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
And from here Jesus moves right into that most famous of verses, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” What made me take another look at this verse recently was Episode 7 of the new series, “The Chosen,” which depicts this scene between Jesus and Nicodemus. The paraphrase delivered in this scene, “God loves the world in this way,” then later, as I read the passage I saw that the ESV lists another way to translate this opening as, “For this is how God loved the world…” Both of these helped me to hear, “For God so loved the world…” with new ears. They might not seem that different from the traditional (which is good) but just those slight re-wordings allowed me to register the meaning of the verse. Let me illustrate what I mean.
A couple weeks ago Japheth was sick, I was sick, and Tabitha was a week overdue. Tabitha and I had just struggled through the night time routine and gotten the boy in bed. We were sitting on the couch talking feeling a little discouraged and emotionally drained. But as we talked I looked at Tabitha and said, “I know you would never do this but if you let Japheth die for someone how would you feel if they said you didn’t love them?” It was a perspective shift. Neither one of us had said that we felt as though God didn’t love us though I’m sure we can all identify with the feeling. But as we let that sink in, John 3:16 took on a whole new light to me. It was something I’d always intellectually known but that thought combined with the two re-phrasings I mentioned earlier have helped me to really hold on to the fact that God allowed His one and only Son, His precious Lamb, to die for me… how then could I ever say my Heavenly Father has failed to love me?! When all I deserved from Him was the righteous wrath of His justice He instead, out of the love He is, sent His Son to live the life I could never live and die the death I deserved to die.
May this be a deep seated meditation of our hearts in the last few days leading up to the celebration of the first coming of that Heavenly Sacrifice. And remember, “For this is how God loved the world …” this is how God loved you, “…that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”