“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7.

We turn now from the subject of discerning the spirits to love once again.

Love which was spoken of often by the Lord during the last Passover and so graphically displayed on the cross, which the beloved apostle also witnessed was engrained into John’s soul.

Have you ever contemplated “love is of God”; it comes so easily to all of us, we love our children, spouses, best friends, anyone who loves or cares for us.

This should be no surprise, for man is made in the image of God.

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:26-27.

No matter how sick, sinful, or corrupted man is, he still has, at least, the vestiges of the image of God.

Sadly though, the capacity to love has taken on the capacity to turn to hate in a moment, in an instant, it all crumbles into a pile of rubble, never again to be rebuilt.

It is the sin nature that destroys love between one another and love of man for God. Though God never ceases to love all of mankind sinful as he may be; this is clearly seen at the cross.

There is another love, a new love, so to speak; it is the love of God lived through us, it is in the new creature that we become in Christ.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

“But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” Galatians 6:14-15.

Those in Christ are indeed a new creation but it does not stop there, one must take hold of that fact and live the new life if they wish to grow in Christ.

Like an athlete who has recovered from a debilitating illness; he does not just get well, but goes into training to regain his full potential. Without this, he may be a good athlete, but he will never be competitive unless he strives to excel at what he does best.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4.

“…put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” Colossians 3:10-11.

The love of God is also a manifestation of the Holy Spirit within us.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23.

So love is an outworking of the Holy Spirit, and notice that it is the first characteristic given of the nine.

The only conclusion that can be made here is that this kind of unselfish love can only be from God, and those who exhibit it are born of God and know Him as He really is.

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:8.

The statement, “God is love”, is not some sort of sappy God loves everybody, let’s all get along thing; rather it is the description of God’s predominant characteristic.

Unlike us, God has a personality that is completely in balance, He is love but He is just, He is righteous but He is merciful, He is holy but He is gracious.

We may love and overlook wrongdoing that needs correction, or we may love but do wrong to those we do not like. We may be righteous and judge everyone but ourselves.

In short, we are unbalanced, which is a good reason to let Christ live through us, lest we ourselves incur judgment.

If God is indeed love, why did He create this mess? The answer is this, and the answer which you should always give when asked this question is, God did not create this mess, we made it.

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31.

God Himself pronounced the world, “very good”, so earth was turned over to mankind in good working order. Just as one may rent out their newly redecorated house to someone, and when they vacate months later having completely trashed it; who is to blame?

Man was ejected from the Garden of Eden after listening to the devil’s lie rather than God’s truth, and even with the curses pronounced upon the earth, it was a place of such splendor and beauty that few painters could capture it on canvas, nor perhaps even in their minds.

Men rejected moral decency and chose instead violence, sexual deviance, and every evil thing that entered his mind until civilization spun out of control.

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5.

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” Genesis 6:11-12.

This was all swept away in the flood of Noah wherein only eight souls survived in the ark.

So violent and so catastrophic was this flood that the Matterhorn in the Alps is thought to have been thrust over younger rocks some thirty to sixty miles away.

The Mythen Peak also in the Alps is thought to have originated in Africa and was shoved all the way to Switzerland. See “The Genesis Flood” by Whitcomb and Morris.

Even modern floods have been known to move boulders weighing from 75 to 210 tons up to a thousand feet. The face of the earth was changed to an incredible degree.

However, I would warrant that if we could see what it looked like a few years after the flood we would give anything to live in that world.

Even today it is a beautiful place for the most part, but sin, greed, and warfare are shrinking the green zones and making more and more places nearly uninhabitable.

And it will get worse as mankind rushes to become as evil as those on the pre-flood earth. You can see this can you not? Daily there are murders of the most heinous kind, warfare, rapes, evil of every sort along with nuclear proliferation.

But do not worry about the earth, rather one should worry if they are in Christ or not, because Jesus promises to return and take the Christians out of the world before it is made nearly uninhabitable.

He will then come to earth and remake this world into a beautiful place for those who love Him; more beautiful even than after the flood of Noah’s day.

Is God love? Read on.

“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.” 1 John 4:9.

Knowing what a mess we would make of everything, God had a plan from eternity past to rectify the division between man and God. It is the only plan and the only way anyone will see God as their Father rather than their judge.

One way or another, sin will be paid for. The value of the gift, not necessarily monetary, shows the value the giver places on the recipient.

These so-called regifts where you give someone an unwanted gift or some such trinket may be fun but they are meaningless when it comes to valuing those who receive it.

“…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” 1 Peter 1:18-21.

“…giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:12-14.

I cannot think of any incident where love is shown by doing nothing. Whether it is said, and backed up by actions, shown with flowers, gifts, or some sacrifice, it seems in all cases, love must be manifested (revealed, main plain).

“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.” 1 John 4:9.

This is irrefutable evidence; let us not sin by doubting it.

“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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:10-11.

This passage begins with the fact that God loved us first, not that we loved Him.

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 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 5:6-11.

Christ is next shown to be, “the propitiation for our sins”; the dictionary defines propitiation as the idea of appeasing or conciliation. Christ’s blood then is the means of permanent appeasement for sin.

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26.

Interestingly enough, the Greek word for propitiation here is hilasterion, the same word which is used to describe the mercy seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant in Hebrews 9:5.

“…and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.” Hebrews 9:3-5.

The Ark of the Covenant shown in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, the first Indiana Jones movie is a fairly accurate representation, if you have seen it.

At any rate the mercy seat forms the lid of the Ark and has been called, “the lid of expiation”.

The mercy seat, hilasterion, propitiation, has the root meaning which is that of appeasing and placating an offended God. Again this is the same meaning it has in Romans 3:25 quoted earlier.

The reason this is all related is that the mercy seat is a type of what Christ was to accomplish at the cross. The Ark of the Covenant was located in the tabernacle in what was called the Holiest of Holies, an area set behind a curtain.

The area in front of the curtain had a lampstand and various articles which required daily attention from the priest; however, the high priest only could enter the Holiest of Holies, and then only once a year and that not without blood.

“Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance…” Hebrews 9:6-7.

When the high priest entered the Holiest of All, he took the blood with him and sprinkled it on the hilasterion, the mercy seat. Christ, upon His death performed the same ministry.

“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” Hebrews 9:11-12.

Christ, once for all, made the eternal sacrifice which fulfilled the type pictured in the tabernacle.

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11.

God moved first and gave His Son for us. All we are asked to do is to believe on His Son Jesus Christ as our savior and love one another.

True, love is not an easy thing, especially when someone is not too lovable. Yet God loved us when we were His enemies, and surely not lovable. If for no other reason than we love God in Christ let us allow the Holy Spirit to love those He loves through us.

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32.

God is Love, 1 John 4:7-11 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 1-19-12, updated on 7-7-18.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.