Your God is Love (2)

God's love in Salvation is a Great love
The immensity of God's love is captured in the smallest word in the verse.

"God so loved"

Spurgeon says of this word 'so':

"so" loved it - even the writer of the book of John could not tell us how much; it was so deep, so wide, so strong, that even inspiration could not compute its measure, and therefore the Holy Spirit gave us that great little word SO, and left us to attempt the measurement.

How could we measure the greatness of God's love?

The word 'so' points us forward to the measure of the greatness of the love - not that it was the world in all its badness that he loved - but that he gave that which was most precious to himself: His only Son, his unique Son, His beloved Son.

Oh if we could grasp the depth of the love between the Father and the Son we would be overwhelmed at the vastness of his love. A good father son relationship is wonderful. But there is no love greater in this universe than the love between the members of the trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And yet, mysteriously, and wonderfully it is exactly that love that we are told that God has for each person here who has come to Jesus seeking forgiveness. Listen to Jesus' words in John 17:23

May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

You have loved them inasmuch as you have loved me.
You have loved them to the degree that you have loved me.

God's love for you is the same as His love for His Son. He delights and rejoices in you. You too are His beloved child with whom He is well pleased.

I can't describe it to you - its indescribable. But come and stand on the banks of the Jordan river. A man in his 30's is standing down at the edge. He has just been baptised. There is a noise like thunder, but through it you hear a voice coming from the heavens, "This is my son, whom I love. With him I am well pleased."

Here we get a glimpse of the father's love, his delight and joy in his Son. That's the joy God has over you at this moment. "You are my son, my daughter whom I love."

You are the object of a great love, the greatest love. One writer puts it this way:

"The love of God is like the Amazon River flowing down to water one daisy."

There's great comfort here - it will never run out. You will never exhaust the resources of God's love. When you feel particularly unlovable - God's love is greater. Whne you feel that there is nothing in the world that will comfort you in sorrow or trouble or heartache - come to God, his love is greater than all these.