The Mystery of God's Love

The word 'mystery' is mentioned 22 times in the New King James version of the Bible. Here are some of the important ones:


The Kingdom of God is a mystery (Mark 4:44); the Wisdom of God is a mystery (1 Cor. 2:7); the rapture is a mystery (1 Cor. 15:51); God's will is a mystery (Eph. 1:9); the Church is a mystery (Eph. 5:32); the Gospel is a mystery (Eph. 6:19); Christ is a mystery (Col. 4:3); lawlessness is a mystery (2 Thess. 2:7); Godliness is a mystery (1 Tim. 3:16); and the Christian faith is a mystery (1 Tim. 3:9).


Moses said to the children of Israel, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deu. 29:29, NKJV).


Solomon said, "It is glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter" (Prov. 27:2).


The word 'kings' here refers to Christian believers (Rev. 1:6).


Paul said, "Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor. 4:1).


Therefore, in general, God and the things pertaining to God are secrets and mysteries, hidden and waiting to be searched out by His saints - us.


Dr. A. W. Tozer was aware of this and he once prayed:


"O Majesty unspeakable, my soul desires to Thee. I cry to Thee from the dust.


Yet when I inquire after Thy Name it is secret. Thou art hidden in the light which no man can approach unto. What Thou are, cannot be thought or uttered. for Thy Glory is ineffable.


Still, prophet and psalmist, apostle and saint have encouraged me to believe that I may in some measure, know Thee. Therefore, I pray, whatever of Thyself thou has been pleased to disclose, help me to search out as treasure more precious than rubies or the merchandise of fine gold; for with Thee shall I live when the stars of the twilight are no more and the heavens have vanished away and only Thou remainest. Amen."


God's attributes and attitudes


It is true that the Bible does not actually say that God's love is a mystery. Since everyting about God is a mystery, God's love is also a mystery. But it does not mean that we know nothing about God's love. In fact the Bible says a lot of things about God's love.


But we cannot begin to talk about God's love without knowing something about the attributes and attitudes of God. His attributes are: His greatness, His power, His goodness, His creativity, His personality and so on. His attitudes are: His feelings, His likes and dislikes, His motives, His actions and so on.


It is beyond the scope of this message to talk anything abut His attributes in any detail except that God is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (present everything).


God alone is perfect


It is impossibe to talk about the moral attitude of God without facing a great probloem because it it almost impossible for us (being imperfect) to comprehend Him. God is perfect in all His ways, and it is almost impossible for us to realize what that means, as we never encounter perfection in human existence. Our source of revelation is the Scripture.


Here are some examples of the perfection of God: God is absolutely honest - He cannot lie (Heb. 6:18). He is absolutely fair. No one have any grounds for accusing God of injustice (Gen. 18:25; Heb. 12:23). He is sbsolutely pure - no impure thought, intention, word or action ever occurs to Him. He is absolutely loyal - He keeps His promise. He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13).


The most common Biblical statement of God's perfection is 'God is good'. But, unlike Jesus, we do not normally use the word 'good' in this absolute sense.


Jesus said to a certain ruler: "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God" (Luke 18:19, NKJV)


God alone is good or perfect, in this absolute sense.


The expression of God's Love


The Bible calls Christian believers 'saints'. Paul addressed the believers in the Church at Corinth, as 'saints' ((1 Cor. 1:2). God can make a sinner perfect. He can take a sinner and turn him into a saint. He can take a person full of vices and faults, the worst of men, and begin a process of transformation.


God looks at the life of a person and says, "I can see a saint, because I have begun to do something in that life and I'm not going to stop until my glory is in it". God, in other words, is willing and able to make people perfect, and that is the only way for anyone to get to heaven. That is the expression of God's Love!


Someone may ask: "If that is true, why does God not just go ahead and make me good, holy and perfect without delay"? The answer is - you cannot compel a man to be holy. Before a life can be made perfect, God has to wait for one thing - our willingness to be made perfect. This willingness is, in Biblical language, called 'repentance'! When we are willing to repent, God is going to say: "Give me that old life - no matter how bad it has been; how low or corrupt, I will make it perfect and give you eternal life".


That life is not easy or comfortable, because God keeps on stirring it up, uncovering various imperfections, putting His finger on them, and dealing with them in a long process that leads to perfection in Christ.


The nature of God's Love


The Bible says 'God is love'. It does not say, as it well might, that 'God has love' or that 'God is loving', but that God is love.


John said, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).


As far as I know, there is not one religion, whose god can claim that - he is love. Therefore, the followers of all religions do not know genuine love and consequently do not know God.


The nature of God's love is revealed by answering these two questions - Why does God love us? How does God love us?


1. Why does God love us?


At a start, instead of asking "Why does God love me?" first let us ask, "Why did God love and choose Israel? Out of all the world why He chose this one nation of people to reveal His salvation through His Son?


God gave His reason in Deuteronomy 7 - "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your father, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharoah king of Egypt" (Deu. 7:7, 8).


Notice that God loves Israel because He loves Israel and because He is love! His love lies not in them at all, but in Him!


Similarly, we can say God loves me not because I am lovable but becuse He is love. His love is unconditional - called 'agape' in Greek. It is the love that one could have for a person who has nothing within himself to attract that love. It is the love only God can give - a love which begins in the lover and goes on to create in the loved one all the attractive and lovable qualities that were not there to begin with.


Paul said, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:7, NKJV).


Jesus described human love as, "love those who love you" (Matt. 5:46). The best expression of human love is what Jesus said: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" (John 15:13).


2. How does God love us?


The general notion of God's love is that it is a kind of sentimental sympathy for our plight, a love which turns a blind eye to our shortcomings and simply wants us to be happy. If that is true, then this kind of 'love' is totally inconsistent with the perfection and holiness of God.


It is often argued by well-meaning people that a God of love would never exclude anyone from heaven. Surely, they say if you believe in the love of God you cannot also believe in ideas of hell or judgment?


But this is not the 'love of God' we read of in the Bible. If God overlooked my sin He would not be showing real love, but unconcern. Because he loves me, and because His love is pure and holy, He did something far more costly than simply to overlook my sin. He gave His only Son to die for my sin. He paid the price, which makes sin the most expensive commodity in the World! It is expensive for the sinner - it cost him eternal life. It is expensive for God - it cost Him the death on the cross of His son Jesus.


Sin has to be paid for, because this is a moral universe, where God reigns - and He is perfect, holy, just and true. God's holiness demands that all sins must be punished, but God's love provided the Cross of Jesus by which men can have forgivness and cleansing.


There is the divine dilemma. God hated sin but He loved sinners. God wanted to destroy sin, but He wish to save the sinner who committed it. How could He separate the two? Even before the first man committed the first sin, God knew the answer, and He also knew what that answer would cost - the sacrifice of His only Son. That is how He loved us!


Paul said, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ did for us" (Romans 5:8).


There can be no Christianity without a cross. There can be no true reconciliation and no true relationship with God that does not begin beneath the shadow of that Cross. That is the cost of our forgiveness.


Paul said further, "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation" (Romans 5:10, 11).


The measure of God's Love


The cost of our forgiveness has been borne entire by God. Try to appreciate something of the suffering of Jesus. Try to imagine the physical agony of crucifixion under a hot sun; the mental agony of being executed for crimes He did not commit; the spiritual agony of being cut off from His own Father, of going through hell itself. We must also try to appreciate the suffering of the Father. He was not an indifferent spectator of His Son's sufferings for mankind. Far from it, Christ's agony was the agony of the Godhead.


God shared the agony of Calvary. The Father put your sins and my sins on His own Son to save His people. That is the measure of His love.


Indeed, God's love does not finish at the Cross. There the guilt of sin was dealt with, but God goes on pouring His love into our lives to sustain us in the forgiven life. Not only did Jesus take my place in His death, He takes my place in life, too. So Jesus died in my place and lives in my place, and God's love begins to remould me until I am perfect, fit for glory.


The Amazing Grace


God is love and He loves us in our sin, not by letting us off but by providing His Son to die for us. By grace we received God's love - a love that is not deserved and cannot be earned, a love that is simply poured out (Romans 5:5) at the expense of the Giver. Someone defined grace as "God's riches at Christ's expense". There simply is nothing to pay. God has done it all. No wonder it is called 'Amazing Grance'!