John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (NIV)
"For God so loved the world"
When we read the beginning of this bible verse we can see the type of God we have. A loving, personal God. A God who created people in His image; we were created to be in fellowship and relation with our creator. We weren't just created to be created. We were created intentionally by God, with meaning and with a purpose.
God knew man was gonna fail; in this case it was Adam and Eve. They chose to be disobedient which led to their separation from God. That's what sin does. It separated humanity from God; the wages of sin is death! There will come a time when God will judge sin and separation, but keep in mind our God is also loving in justice. He corrects all those whom he loves like a father corrects their child (Proverbs 3:12). Therefore, God loved humanity so much, he was willing to sends us a gift which would then cleanse us from all our sins so that once more, we could be unified with God.
"That he gave his one and only Son"
Jesus was a literal gift sent from above; from our loving God. He gave his Son to die on the cross. So what exactly happened on the cross? Jesus' death was a penalty for our sin. This is the reason why forgiveness is now available to us. If Jesus had not died for our sins, we would not have access to heaven. He made way for all of us. On the cross Jesus died for our sins, despite Him never sinning (Isaiah 53:4-6). His beautiful sacrifice.
Romans 5:8, states how God shows His love for us despite us sinning against Him. Jesus' death built a bridge that helps us walk again with God. It is because of God's mercy and grace that we are forgiven. We don't deserve salvation, but God in His goodness, merciful heart, believed Jesus' innocence could pay the penalty for our sins.
Only Jesus could have gone through with this sacrifice because of incarnation. Incarnation meaning, Jesus is 100% God and 100% human. Only God could bear the weight of sin, this is why Jesus is 100% God. No human being could ever bear the weight of all of humanity's sin, only Jesus.
"That whoever believes in him"
Whoever, meaning no one is beyond whom Jesus can save. All of humanity has the opportunity to be saved, but it is our individual choice to accept this gift and follow Him or turn away from His mercy. Once on the cross Jesus spoke the works "It is finished" (John 19:30) meaning he finished and completed his purpose on earth. It is because of this that God can forgive everyone.
Christianity is believing in Him and following Jesus; it's a relationship with Him. Biblical belief means no longer believing in ourselves, no longer trusting ourselves. It means we've made a commitment to trust Jesus, not ourselves. It means we've thrown ourselves into God's merciful arms.
Believing in Jesus is believing who He says He is and believing He will do what He says he'll do. The best way to understand who God is and what christianity is all about is by reading Psalms 23. God is our Shepard. Christianity is accepting there's someone above us and without Him and His grace, we're all lost.
It is by grace that we are saved. God decides to not look at our ugly sin, but rather look at Jesus' perfection through us. It is through Jesus that God decides not to treat how as we deserve, but as how Jesus deserves. It is through Jesus that we've been saved.
"Should not perish but have eternal life"
To perish means to die; it means hell, it means to spend the rest of eternity away from our Creator. We're only aliens on earth, while our citizenship is in Heaven. Once we spend eternal life with God, we'll be the fragrance of life to God. The emptiness of our soul will be filled by our Creator.
We were bought by the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19) therefore we must glorify God with all we do while we're still here on earth (1 Corinthians 6:20) It is through Christ that we've been redeemed. God regenerated us when we accepted Him in our lives. God's will for us is that we change; that we stop looking like we used to and start looking like His son. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. He gives us the desire to change and then the ability to change.
John 3:16 serves as a reminder for humanity that God's love goes above and beyond everything. It is because of His love that we now have the gift of salvation. It is because of Jesus that we've been cleansed from our dirty sins. It is because of them that we now have complete access to spending in eternal life in heaven.
*FUN FACT*
Christians believe in monotheism.
Mono - one, only
Theism - God
"Only One God"
Deuteronomy 6:4
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