God's Supreme Love
Our only hope. And the most powerful agent is human society

This article was first presented as a devotional at the General Conference, October 3, 2005.

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” I’d like to focus on this very familiar text, dividing it into five parts.

1 “For God so loved the world…”
The Greatest Lover!
In Romans 5:8 Paul underlines God’s display of His love as follows: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This means that this love has been showered even on the unlovable. Here God is pictured as the greatest lover, lavishing the greatest love on undeserving recipients.

What supreme love!

2 “He gave His only begotten Son…”
The Greatest Gift!
In Romans 8:32 Paul captures the immeasurable greatness of God’s love in the following inquiry: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” God gave “all things” when He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, the greatest gift. In other words, He emptied heaven, as it were, just for us.

What supreme love!

3 “That whoever believes in Him…”
The Greatest Invitation!
This is indeed the greatest invitation! Note what we derive from accepting God’s invitation. John 1:12 says: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” 
It is a thing of joy to know that our spiritual adoption is not just a privilege but a right. Since God is King of kings, we automatically become princes and princesses. What is more? This greatest invitation knows no boundaries. It is extended to everyone, irrespective of age or gender, caste or creed, race or nationality. (See Gal. 3:26-28.)

What supreme love!

4 “Should not perish…”
The Greatest Deliverance!
God’s supreme love guarantees deliverance to all who accept it, no matter how deep in sin they have sunken. We find this guarantee in Hebrews 7:25: “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

The Greek word panteles, translated “uttermost” in the New King James Version, is also translated “completely” in Darby’s translation and “perfectly” in The Amplified Bible. The word suggests that God’s love can fully deliver any sinner who accepts His offer. God’s deliverance reached a self-righteous Pharisee such as Nicodemus of old, brought eternal hope to a moral wretch such as Mary Magdalene, and lavished abundant pardon to Saul of Tarsus, who in modern terms would be rightly branded a terrorist.

What supreme love!

5 “But have everlasting life…”
The Greatest Possession!
No normal person will deny that the greatest possession one can have is one’s life. Thus, it is amusing to read Satan’s reminder in Job 2:4 that “all that a man has he will give for his life.”

Love is to be given away and not hoarded. It’s not genuine love until it has been shared. 

I do not think that God needed that lecture from Satan in that unusual dialogue. Rather, I like the way Jesus put this obvious fact in Matthew 16:26, where He queried: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” If we can go to any length to preserve our temporary life, how much further should we not go to gain eternal life?

The good news, however, is that we do not need to struggle to earn that life. It cannot be bought or sold. God’s love has made eternity and immortality available absolutely free of charge to all who accept it.

What supreme love!

Our Response
The Bible itself suggests to us the best way to respond to God’s supreme love. First John 4:11 says: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Love begets love. Love is to be given away and not hoarded. It’s not genuine love until it has been shared. Anyone who does not heed the biblical advice in verse 11 above will be confronted with the clear indictment in verses 20 and 21, as follows: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

If we really loved others, there’d be no hatred, no wars, no child abuse, no spouse abuse, or any such evils. Then peace, respect, and care would abound among us.

In light of the foregoing, we’d do well to repeat John 3:16 often to ourselves (and in public): “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
What supreme love!

–By Luka T. Daniel
is the president of the West-Central Africa Division of Seventh-day Adventists in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa.