What kind of love the Lord our God has for you and me that it pleased Him to bruise His only Beloved and Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that we may be bought back to once again be His own, that we may have the confidence to draw near to Him by the power of the Blood of the Lamb of God that made a way for us to personally know Him?

“For this is how much God loved the world—He gave His one and only, unique Son as a gift.  So now EVERYONE who believes in Him will never perish but experience everlasting life.”  (John 3:16 TPT)

God’s love is incomparable that He gave the BEST that heaven has, Jesus Christ, without even considering if we were ready or not to receive the Savior of the world.  He knew that many would reject Whom He sent, yet He sent Him anyway.

“Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented Himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put His love on the line for us by offering His Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to Him.”  (Romans 5:8 MSG)

His love withheld nothing from us, not even His own Son.  The Son of God became the Son of Man, so that the sons of men can become sons of God.  He took all that is ours, that we can have all that He has and all that He is.  Jesus as the Light did not call out from a distant place, but He drew near to us by coming into the world.

Our Heavenly Father knew that left on our own, it is impossible for us to restore ourselves back into being His sons and daughters by our own mere works.  Hence, He gave us Jesus as ransom-payment for everyone.  Every brushstroke of Jesus’ blood was more than enough to meet His children’s need, in spirit, soul and body.  “IN LOVE He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:5)

“He entered our world, a world He made; yet the world did not recognize Him. Even though He came to His own people, they refused to listen and receive Him. But for all who did receive and trust in Him, He gave them the right to be reborn as children of God;  He bestowed this birthright not by human power or initiative but by God’s will.”  (John 1:10-13 The Voice)

The power of God’s love made a way for forgiveness of sin even that of utmost resistance. In an instant forgiveness is released the very moment one recognizes and acknowledges Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords.

“One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, TODAY you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43)

Such amazing love that God sent His Word, Jesus made flesh, and healed us and delivered us from all the destruction (Psalm 107:20).  Every time Jesus demonstrates Himself as the Healer, it is an expression of God’s love for His people.  His willingness denotes God’s eagerness to be known as a GOOD GOD, rich in mercy and abounding in love, that by-passed every requirement of the the Old Testament Law where a leper was considered uncleaned, prohibited to walk in places where people were, let alone in the presence of King Jesus, thus, positioned and deprived to be healed.  Yet, Jesus REACHED OUT and TOUCHED the leper.  The restoration went beyond his physical healing, from being distanced and rejected into being touched and accepted in the Beloved.

“One day, while Jesus was ministering in a certain city, he came upon a man covered with leprous sores. When the man recognized Jesus, he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and begged to be healed, saying, “If you are only willing, you could completely heal me.”

Jesus reached out and touched him and said, “Of course I am willing to heal you, and NOW you will be healed.” INSTANTLY the leprous sores were healed and his skin became smooth.”  (Luke 5:12-14 TPT)

God’s irresistible love washes away guilt, shame and condemnation.  When the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and put her in the middle of the crowd, they expected Jesus to judge the woman to be stoned to death, just as the law of Moses stated.  But they failed.  Jesus’ thoughts and ways were higher.  He operated from the avenue of God’s love.  He saw the woman with the prepaid benefit of what He was about to go through at the cross.  His Blood to be shed was more than enough to make her a new creation in Him.

“They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger. They kept demanding an answer, so He stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”  “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”  (John 8:4-11NLT)

In Romans 8:1 TPT, it says, “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.”  Indeed, who can condemn a person who has been forgiven and judged righteous in Christ?

Jesus came to reveal to us Who God our Father is.  He said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

God is Love, therefore, our Father is full of love.  Everything that Jesus did was an array of display of God’s great love for His people.  Nothing that He did was without love.

Until now, I still get so deeply touched when I think of Jesus when He was crucified.  He was suffering, yet was reaching out to us.  Once He decided to do the will of the Father, His focus was no longer on what He was going to go through.  Instead, His thoughts were filled with you, filled with me, filled with everything that was for the benefit of men.    For the joy that was set before Him, thinking that we will once again be intimately walking and talking with God in the cool of the day, constantly wrapped in His presence, He endured the cross.  His love remained steadfast in spite of Him hanging at the cross, pierced, mocked and ridiculed by those around Him. So great is His love that He still uttered, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34).  

His relentless love is beyond description and comprehension, but He allows us to practically, through experience, know what it means to be loved by Him in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit Who pours out His love in our hearts.

This is Paul’s prayer … “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  (Ephesians 3:17-19)

The demonstration of God’s love is not limited to what we see as spectacular such as how Jesus fed the multitude because He saw them with compassion, how He raised Lazarus from the dead, how He healed the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years, how He freed the demon-possessed man in the Gadarenes, how He opened the blind eyes of Bartimaeus, how He healed the paralyzed man that was lowered through the roof and countless more.

Look into your own life and see that every detail of who He created you to be is born out of His love for you. It may not seem spectacular in your own eyes but definitely supernatural.  Know how wonderfully and fearfully He created you.  Every gift that is needed for you to fulfill your purpose and destiny has been deposited in you and provided for you.  Never undermine yourself.  Our God is a perfect God, perfect Creator and perfect Father.  What you need to do is call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus.  Ask Him to sit in the throne of your heart and give Him the position to be your Lord and Savior.  Then, it is He Who will open your eyes to see the reality of who you are in His eyes as His beloved.  The Holy Spirit will slowly unveil your eyes to see the significance of the finished work of Jesus Christ and as you believe and receive Him wholeheartedly, you will effortlessly walk in the love of God accordingly.

The “agape” love of God refers to a pure, willful, sacrificial love that intentionally desires another’s highest good.   What love is this that He gave His life for you and me?  He was bruised and broken beyond recognition for you and I to be healed and whole.  He was made poor so that you and I may become rich.  He Who knew no sin became sin so that you and I may become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  He redeemed us from the curse of the law so that the blessing of Abraham may come to us that we may receive the promise of the Holy Spirit by faith.  What great divine exchange!

When Jesus became sin Who knew no sin at the cross, He was separated from the Father. He never had such an experience of separation from the Father that at that very moment He called Him, “God” and not “Father”, when He cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).

I believe the reason why Jesus prayed at the Mount of Olives saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) was because He knew He would be separated from the Father for you and I’s sake the very second He became sin at the cross.  It was not about the suffering, crucifixion and death as the cup that He asked to be taken away from Him. It was more than that.  It was the disruption of His intimate oneness with the Father.  Yet Jesus did it with JOY knowing that His finished work will make us new creations in Him, born of God as His sons and daughters calling Him, “Abba, Father”, positioned to have an intimate relationship and fellowship with Him.  This is why Jesus came and said,  “I am the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the FATHER except through Me.” (John 14:6)

Yes, sin separates us from our Father.  If it did to Jesus, it does so to us.  But at the cross, Jesus finished it!  He dealt with sin once and for all that the wrath of God was fully exhausted upon Him and as His precious Blood flowed, it washed away all our sins, past, present and future.  The Blood of the Lamb of God is so powerful because it is God’s own Blood and it’s effect does have an expiration date for He is eternal.  This is why NO THING and NO ONE can separate us from the love of God any longer. This is why in Christ, we have eternal life, together forever in and with Him.

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”  (John 17:3)

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for Your agape love that You withheld nothing from me, not even Your Son Jesus.  You freely gave Him to set me free from sin, guilt and condemnation, and made me the righteousness of God in Christ.  What love is this indeed that it pleased You to bruise Your only beloved Son that I can become Your very own?  Such love is beyond the limits of my comprehension.  Thank You, Jesus, that You made the Way for me to call God, “Abba, Father.”  Your suffering, death, resurrection and ascension sealed me to be Yours forever.  Thank You, Holy Spirit, that everyday of my life You allow me to recognize God’s love language that causes my heart to worship day and night and give all the glory to Whom glory is due.  Amen!

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”               (1 John 4:9-10)