God’s Love Manifested in Christ
by AJ Pearson
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
We know that God loves us, and we see it most clearly in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The greatest act of love in human history is Christ dying on the cross and bearing our punishment. Jesus Himself tells His disciples this before He is crucified. In John 15:13 He says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Throughout human history there have been stories of people dying for the people they love, and this is a great act of love. However, when Jesus died for the elect, it was even more meaningful. Jesus died for fallen men. We are born as enemies of God, and yet God loved us so much that He put on flesh and bore our punishment, adopting us as sons and daughters. Romans 5:6-8 says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person- though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
What Jesus did on the cross deserves endless praise. Jesus is the only human that ever lived who was sinless. He was perfect in every way. His crucifixion was the greatest act of evil ever committed. The people mocked, beat, whipped, and killed the only truly innocent person. They killed the Son of God. The beatings and whipping were done with a whip containing bones and shards of metal that would have brutalized His body. Crucifixion is one of the most brutal forms of execution in history. It was meant to be a long and painful death. Crucifixion was considered a shameful and cursed way to die (Galatians 3:13).
What Jesus endured that day was far more than the scorn, the beatings and whippings, and death by crucifixion. He felt the wrath of God for all the sins of everyone who would be saved. Jesus cried out to the father “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). And yet this was a part of the plan, because God loves us so dearly. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus lived the life we cannot, He took the punishment we deserve, and He rose from the dead to show we too will live after death. And He did all of this because He loves us.
REFLECTION:
Read 1 John 4:7-21 at least three times. As you read, think about how amazing it is that the God of the universe, who is in control of all things, loves you so perfectly. In between each time you read it, take a moment to think about what Christ did for you, and then pray to God before reading it again.
How can you see the love of God reflected in the life of Jesus?
What is your response to knowing that the God of the universe loves you?
How does God’s love set an example of how we should love others? Can you think of other places in scripture that teach us to love like this?
Find some other passages in Scripture that talk about God’s love. Write them out in your journal or on a sticky note & meditate on them.