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God Is Love

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Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 3, 1878

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 4, No. 1.

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God Is Love.

By J. W.

The unqualified declaration of the beloved disciple is that God is love. The apostle in his epistle dwells much upon the subject of love. He was mild in spirit and kind in nature. He was a special companion of Christ, who was the embodiment of love. He leaned upon the bosom of Christ at the supper table. In his life and ministry he set forth the high and holy principle of love; and it is said of him when too aged to labor in the ministry, that he would be carried to the assemblies of the saints where his voice would be heard uttering those sweet words, "Little children; love one another."
The third chapter of his first epistle opens with these words: "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God!" 1 John 3:1. Here he speaks of the love of his Father in the gift of his Son. In love God gave us existence. Life is a great gift. If it is not why do we cling so tenaciously to it with all its present woes? Ask the most wretched specimen of humanity what he would take for a year of his life, and he would respond, Let me live. Offer him mountains of gold for one year of his miserable life, and from him you would receive the same response, Let me live. Suppose the heavenly bodies all of purest gold, and that they were at your command. Offer all these, and you receive the same reply, Let me live.
The love of the Father is seen in the gift of his Son, that we also may become the sons of God. When all was lost by reason of sin God in love gave his Son to die, the just for the unjust. God in love has given his holy word and his Holy Spirit as a guide from a life of sin to a life of happiness, and heaven as the priceless reward. In these inestimable gifts is seen the great love of God.
But if the sinner will not accept the gift of eternal life, what will our loving God do for them? Will he send them to an old fashioned orthodox hell, to burn in fire whose heat shall be intensified with sulphur to all eternity? No, no, there is no love in this. What then will the God of love do with the sinner? Will he take him up to heaven with all the blackness of sin upon him? This would be the veriest hell for him. God in love will put an end to his miserable existence, and let him be as though he had not been.
The apostle not only speaks of love in a general sense, but of the manner of love that moved the bosom of the loving Father to give his only Son for a race of rebels. The earth knows no such love, only as it is revealed from heaven through the Son. Here is seen the love of the Father and the Son. Here is disinterested benevolence. Not one selfish act marked the mission and ministry of Christ. This matchless manner of love may be illustrated by the case of a Russian nobleman. He with his family were traveling in his carriage drawn by four horses, one cold winter's evening. They were startled on hearing the wolves approaching.
The nobleman buttoned his coat tighter and his timid wife nervously drew her shawl closer. As the wolves came near the carriage the serf inquires, "What shall I do?" "Tear the horse blankets in strips, and make a rope of them to drag behind the carriage to intimidate the cowardly creatures," was the reply. But this held them back but for a moment, when they surrounded the carriage and were ready to spring upon the horses.
The driver seeing that the lives of not only the horses but of the entire party were in great danger, again inquires, "My lord, what shall I do next?" "Cut off one of the horses," was the reply. The traces were soon severed, and the poor creature stumbled into the ditch to be devoured. And as the poor creature was being devoured his groans were heard by the party, and the driver was ordered to make all possible haste to an inn which was at a short distance. But before they reached this place of safety the wolves came upon them again, and the serf inquired, "What shall I do next?" "Cut off the other leader," was the anxious reply. The wolves having gotten a taste of fresh blood were inspired with still greater fury, and again surrounded the carriage. The driver saw that there was but one thing more that could be done, and turning to his master, inquired, "Will you take care of my wife and children?" "Yes," was the nervous reply, and in an instant he flung himself into the jaws of the hungry wolves and was devoured of them. The Russian lord put whip to the remaining horses and reached the place of safety.
What must have been the gratitude of that Russian lord and his family, and their love for the widow and her orphan children language cannot describe. Here was manifested a manner or kind of love seldom witnessed in this world.
Paul, in speaking of the love manifested in the death of Christ has said, "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:7, 8. In the case of sinful men it is the superior giving his priceless life for the worthless sinner. Eternity will be none too long to sing of the matchless depths of the Saviour's love. "Behold, what manner of love," is the language of the apostle. He would call especial attention to this marvelous love. This is the burden of the gospel of Christ, and the work of every minister of Christ. Satan and the world are calling the attention of dying men to other objects. Some men love money. Others love popularity. Men love power. There is a power in money and in fame, and men left to themselves, without the gospel of Christ, will become buried up in their wealth and pride. They become deaf by these things, and need the gospel to call their attention to the wealth of heaven. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world is the key-note of the gospel.
The object to which the attention of sinners is called is worthy of notice. It is no less than to become the sons of God. We do not have to wait for immortality in order to become the adopted sons of God. The adoption as a member of the heavenly family is here. Here we become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Glorious relationship indeed! Here to us is given the Spirit of adoption by which we know that God is our Father, Christ our elder brother, the angels our ministering spirits, and heaven our long and happy home.
The apostle continues, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Verse 2. There is nothing in fallen man or in the earth that shows what will be the state and condition of immortal saints. This however will appear over on the immortal shores. Should Abraham in all his immortal future greatness appear on the earth he would be in the greatest possible contrast with the dying men of to-day. It doth not appear yet what we shall be. This is a matter of faith. But when faith shall be lost in sight, and hope be swallowed up in fruition, then that which is vailed to our senses now will appear in all its glory. When Christ shall appear in glory, those who sleep be raised, and the living righteous be changed, and immortal beings have bodies like Christ's glorious body, then will appear that which now is a matter of faith.
Yes, Christ will appear. He who walked a man among men, was taken up from the midst of the brethren of Olivet, and ascended, a living, tangible Christ to his Father's throne, will appear again on earth, and all his people will be like their adorable Lord. They will see him as he is. What a thought! See the world's Redeemer. Shake hands with him. Receive and return the kiss of love. Walk the gold-paved streets of the city of God, arm in arm with the loving Lamb of God.
But notice here that John speaks of the love of the Father. Some teach that the Father is a being of stern justice, and that love exists with the Son alone. The revivalist Hammond, in a sermon in Oakland, represented the relation of the Father and the Son to the sinner in these words "Mary had a little lamb which she dearly loved. This lamb grew to be a fat sheep desired by the butcher, and Mary's father sold the lamb to him. This grieved Mary, and she appealed to a benevolent neighbor who purchased the lamb and saved it from the knife of the cruel butcher." Mr. Hammond applied the figure as follows: The lamb is the sinner. The cruel butcher is the Father. And the benevolent gentleman who purchased the lamb, is Jesus Christ. As though the Father was trying to slay the sinner, and the Son was giving his life to save the sinner. This is a terrible perversion of the facts in the case. The love of the Father is the great scheme to save sinners. Again we repeat the golden phrase, "God is love." "I and my Father are one," says the Son of God. Behold, dear reader in the plan of salvation, the love of both the Father and the Son.
"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 1 John 3:3. Notice the expression, "this hope in him," and the result that follows. Such an one "purifieth himself, even as he is pure." The blessed hope is set forth by Paul as an incentive to purity. "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:13, 14. Peter speaks also to the point. "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God." 2 Peter 3:11, 12.
A Baptist minister once gravely chided us for dwelling so much on the second advent. "Why don't you preach practical sermons, such as Christ's on the mount. We affirmed that the second advent, set forth in almost every page of the Bible, especially of the New Testament is practical, or at least, is set forth as an incentive to holiness of life.
J. W.