GOD'S LOVE IN CHRIST

"As I live' says the Lord God,'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?"

A loving God calling out to rebellious ancient Israel. From this verse we can gain so much insight into the Heart of Almighty God. Truely God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He hates sin and its consequences upon the human race. His desire is that lost men and women would look unto Him and be saved. He is the One Who said:" There is no other God besides Me , A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me". He pleads with the lost to "Turn,turn from your evil way!" You can sense the love and compassion of His Heart in the question, " For why should you die, O house of Israel?". Indeed, God IS love. He is not willing that any should perish,but that all would come to repentance.

But,God's love cost Him dearly.

" For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...". Yes, He gave that One with Whom He shared His glory before the world was. He sent that One Whom He loved before the foundation of the world. No human can fathom the width and length and depth and height of the Father's love for His Son. The Father sent that One Who was the very center and focus of His infinite love. He sent that One Who alone is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person. He sent that One Who alone loved Him enough to be able to say,"I have come to do thy will, O God".

Yes, God's love cost Him dearly.

Yes, What happened to the Son was pre-determined in eternity past.

Still, the Son must endure and the Father must watch. The Son has taken upon Himself the sins of a lost world. He is beaten with a whip, ripping flesh from His bones. He is punched in the face, so much so that He is no longer recognizable. They mock Him, spit at Him and pound a crown of thorns onto His head.(He is the One Through Whom the world was created). But, the truth be known, all of this, and the cross that lay ahead was the Father's doing. He was carrying out His plan of having His Son pay the price for the sins of mankind. His plan was carried out by the hands of wicked men. God,you see, was in complete control.

There, on the ground lay the assembled cross. One can imagine the Son, out of love for His Father, out of love for mankind, walking over to the cross unforced. That love motivates Him to lie down on that cross unassisted. No one need hold Him down as the nails are driven in. Then that cross, bearing the sinless, sin-bearing Son of God, is picked up and thrown into an awaiting post-hole. His body bounces back and forth while suspended from those nails.

There He hung, bearing our sins and the Father's wrath upon those sins. At one point the Son cries out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me".  The Father, you see, had turned His head from the Son. Our sins are THAT ugly in His sight. Then, some time later, out of the Son's mouth come some wonderful words," It is finished". Yes, man's sins were now paid for. And now, with His sin-bearing mission complete, Jesus yields up His spirit. THE way to approach God was now open. He would then go on to spend three days and nights in the grave. Yes, Sunday was coming...

"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"...John 3:16.

IMMANUEL

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.'' Isaiah 7:14

It is just over seven-hundred years before God was manifested in the flesh; Seven centuries before that babe was born in Bethlehem. Such a long time before that glorious moment when the angels would praise God and say, ''Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men!''

Isaiah is sent to king Ahaz to comfert him and to encourage him concerning the two armies from the north that were coming to conquer Jerusalem. God Himself was going to defend His holy city. God was willing to have Ahaz seek a sign to see if it was so- that God would indeed protect and defend Jerusalem. Ahaz refused to seek a sign from God concerning this matter. So God himself stepped forward and offered a sign anyway. It came in the form of a prophecy that would be fulfilled many years after the time of Ahaz.

A ''virgin shall conceive and bear a Son''.

Nothing is impossible for God. He calls light to shine out of darkness. Yes, The Almighty, in his infinite wisdom, can devise a plan of salvation so awesome, that even the angels desire to look into it. A thrice Holy God providing salvation for a sinfull and rebellious human race that would rather stick its collective fist in His face, rather than submit in obedience to Him.

What kind of a sacrifice would it take to satisfy the righteous demands of a Holy God Who would say, ''It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul'' or ''Without shedding of blood there is no remission''.

Animal sacrifices could not do it, for it is written, ''It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.''

But, God is just. Sin MUST be dealt with. There is no sin too small. All have sinned. The whole world is guilty before God.

Ah, but the God Who once told ancient Israel ''Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though They are red like crimson, They shall be as wool''; He would have the answer...

''They shall call His name Immanuel'' which is translated, ''God with us''.

Our Savior Immanuel is God, God the Son. ''For in Him, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily'' And ''In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.''

Who could comprehend the depth and the width of the Wisdom of God in sending His Son to die for the sins of man. What other way could there have been? No other sacrifice would do. No other sacrifice COULD do.

Behold the love of God!

There He is, in His virgin mother's arms. God has partaken of flesh and blood... ''For the suffering of death... That He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.'' Hebrews 2:9

''...The church of God which He purchased with His own blood.'' Acts 20:28

There He is, the Perfect and sinless Son of God... Immanuel, God with us.

God Himself would pay the penalty for the sins of a lost and helpless human race. What a Glorious and Wise God. God is LOVE!

Dear reader, do you know the love of God that can only be found in His Son Jesus Christ?

SHILOH part 2

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, " Peace to you!" John 20:26

What a glorious and loving greeting! This wonderful and gracious extension of peace comes from the very lips of the One Who only a short time earlier uttered the words ''It is finished!'' He is the One Who was ''wounded for our transgressions, ..Bruised for our iniquities''. He is the One that lovingly took the wrath of God the Father upon Himself in order that we could have peace with God- peace not wrath. He willingly offered Himself as a substitute, experiencing God's full fury upon our sins, while hanging on that cross. The Father expended His great anger upon His own Son so that THE way to approach Him would be opened. The way of peace with God was procured by a loving Savior. The proof that the Father had accepted His subtitutionary sacrifice was that He rose Jesus from the dead three days later.

There He stood, The risen Savior, Victorious over sin and death, The Prince of Peace... Shiloh.

There He stood, the very expression of The Father's heart for all of mankind to see.

Through Him the Father is saying to the world, ''Look to my Son, take refuge in Him. I do not take pleasure in the death of the wicked! Why die while at war with me? Through My Son, you can have peace with Me''.

''... We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God''. Romans 5:1-2

God's wrath is coming to this earth. He will judge this world for having not lived in obedience to His word- especially His word as it has come from the very lips of Jesus Himself. God has spoken to the world in these last days through His Son. To reject what Jesus has taught is to plug your ears to the Only One through Whom the Father speaks to the world. The Son is the Father's mouth-piece. For those who would not listen to Jesus- Wrath.

It is man's nature to disobey God. Man is hostile to God. Man is at war with God.

And yet...

''But God demonstrats His own love towards us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'' Romans 5:8

For those of you who would look to Jesus to save you from your sins and the coming wrath I have good news...

As you look to Him, you will find Him looking right back at you, right in your very eyes, and saying ''I died for you... Peace be to you!''