Beckett explores God's everlasting love for His elect as revealed in Jeremiah 31:3, emphasizing that divine love is eternal, sovereign, and unchangeable—preceding faith rather than resulting from it. Drawing on Romans 9:13, Ephesians 2:4-5, and Romans 8:38-39, the author argues that God's love is rooted in His sovereign choice, manifested supremely through Christ's incarnation and atoning work, and serves as the foundation for believers' union with Christ and their ability to love one another. Though believers cannot fully comprehend this boundless love in their earthly sojourn, faith enables them to begin knowing and experiencing the breadth, length, depth, and height of God's love in Christ Jesus.
What does the Bible say about God's everlasting love?
The Bible reveals that God has loved His elect with an everlasting love, as seen in Jeremiah 31:3.
Moreover, Romans 9:13 illustrates God's sovereignty in His love when it says, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated,' highlighting that God's choice of whom to love is based on His divine prerogative, not human merit. Thus, His love is not initiated by human faith but is the source from which faith and repentance flow. This eternal love guarantees that nothing can separate believers from it, a promise assured in Romans 8:38-39, where it states that neither life nor death can sever the bond of God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jeremiah 31:3, Romans 9:13, Romans 8:38-39
How do we know God's love for the elect is true?
God's love for the elect is demonstrated through Scripture and His unchanging nature.
Additionally, the sovereignty of God guarantees that His love is not arbitrary but intentional and purposeful. The notion that God hates some and loves others, as mentioned in Romans 9:13, underscores the doctrine of election, showing that His love is a deliberate choice rather than a response to human conditions. These biblical truths provide believers with a firm foundation for understanding not just the reality of God's love but its transformative power in their lives.
Ephesians 2:4-5, Romans 9:13
Why is understanding God's love important for Christians?
Understanding God's love is crucial for Christians as it informs their identity and fosters genuine community.
Moreover, understanding God's love profoundly influences how believers interact with one another. Jesus commands His followers to love one another as He has loved them (John 13:34). Comprehending the depth of God's love enables Christians to extend grace, kindness, and compassion towards others, fostering genuine community and reflecting Christ's love in the world. This communal aspect of love becomes a testimony to the reality of God's Kingdom, drawing others to its transformative power.
Jeremiah 31:3, Romans 8:38-39, John 13:34
Jeremiah 31:3 “The LORD hath appeared from afar unto me saying: Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you”.
Everlasting: that is from eternity, always, eternal, lasting, perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world + without end.
A truth, an amazing and comforting truth from the Scripture that God has always loved His elect and He always will. His love is exactly like He is, sovereign and unchangeable. He not only loves us now in the present but it is the same love with which He loved us from all eternity. It is as the song says; ‘Vast, unmeasured, boundless and it changeth never, nevermore’.
We can only grasp and know this love by faith but faith is neither the cause of His love nor the beginning of it. There are those who believe and teach that God hated us and only began to love us in time commencing with faith but the Scripture attests otherwise. God Himself chooses whom He will love as evidenced by Romans 9:13 “As it is written, Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated”.Faith and repentance are an effect and fruit of this very love that is shed abroad in our hearts at conversion and it endures forever. Nothing can or will ever separate us from it. It is the everlasting love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
We were by our very nature like all mankind, born dead in sins and trespasses and deserving of the damning wrath of God. We walked in those sins and trespasses and delighted in them in our unregenerate state according to Ephesians 2. But the Scripture doesn’t end there as it is only showing us that our nature is no different than the sons of disobedience. It is Ephesians 2:4-5 that gives us the full picture and focus of this chapter and it is; “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His GREAT LOVE with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
Now we are alive in Christ so we can begin to comprehend the greatness of our union with Him. Christ is made manifest to us and His great love is revealed to us in His Works. His humble incarnation, His life of perfect obedience to God the Father and especially His going to the bloody cross to atone for our sins; these were works of great love for His people over 2000 years ago. This is the love we are to be rooted and grounded in and by faith we can begin to know the breadth of it, the length, depth and height of it. Ephesians 3:17-19. What a glorious gift, the gift of faith for even though it is not the cause of our union in Him by it we begin our lives of communion with Him.
While we sojourn here we will never fully comprehend His love for His own but the beginning knowledge of it stirs the very depth of our own hearts and minds; there is no greater love. I pray that we each can know this love and that we can begin to love one another as He has loved us. John 13:34.
Grace and Peace!
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