Difference between revisions of "Its Manifestations."

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3. Its Manifestations.

a. In the Gift of His Son for Sinful Man. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him" (I John 4:9). See also John 3:16; Romans 5:6-8. Man cannot look upon Calvary and say, "God doesn't love me." One dear man told of the time when his own son was in the pangs of death. The hardest thing he ever had to do was to say, "Thy will be done. If thou wantest my son, thou canst have him." Oh, to give up an only son! But mankind gives up its sons to God, who takes care of them better than man ever could. But God gave His Only Son to sin — to pay for sin, to pay for the sins of sinners! Yes, we may see our children in the throes of death, but God saw His Son suffer as no man ever did. The dearest child on earth is only a stranger compared with the love of God toward His Son. God points toward Calvary and says, "See my Son! See Him mocked, smitten and bruised?" God saw Him. God saw sinners as they crucified His Son. God could have wiped them off the face of the earth, but He did not. The nails that pierced His Son pierced the heart of the Father. We can never understand it. "For God so loved the world, that He gave..." The Father gave him up to the hands of justice, to pay for our sins.

Many a murderer has had to pay with his life for his crime. Jesus was delivered up to pay for our crimes of sin.

b. In Giving Life and Position In Christ. To believers only is given that sacred position — in Christ; there is where we are — saved, and uncondemned. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet 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" (I John 3:2): "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:5,6).

c. In Granting That We Should Be Called the Children of God. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not" (I John 3:1, R. V.).

d. In Chastening of His Loved Ones. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Heb. 12: 6-11). Remember, the chastening of the Lord is for our benefit — for our profit. We need chastisement; it is a must in the life of the Christian; and we receive it from our Father in Heaven.

e. In Remembering His Children in All Circumstances of Life. The question is asked and answered in the Word concerning the care of parents. Is there a love greater than mother love? Listen to what God says: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?" Is it possible that a mother could ever leave her child? The answer is, "Yea, they may forget." In our own lifetime we have witnessed the desertion of children by their parents. It is a shame that the United States and the separate States have to have laws which compel parents to take care of their children. However, this is the nature of the flesh; this is the Adamic nature, the sinful nature, that parents desert their offspring. You may know someone who has. You, yourself, may have been deserted by some one. But listen to the rest of God's Word: "Yet will I not forget thee" (Is. 49:15). There is One who will never desert His children!

f. In Rejoicing Over the Return of the Prodigal Son. This great story is found in Luke 15:11-24. It is the story of a Son, not a sinner. A sinner is not a son. Only a son is a son, and you cannot un-son a son. A son is born a son forever. But here was a son who sank so low that the testimony he might have had was lost. Remember, he was still a son, and as much so while feeding swine as he was in his Father's house. Relationship was still there, but fellowship was broken. You can lose fellowship, but you cannot lose sonship. He made up his mind what he would say to his father upon his return, but he did not get the chance. He did say, "I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son"; but before he could add, "Make me as one of thy hired servants," the Father, holding his son in his arms, cried to the servants, "Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found" (Luke 15:21-24). Let the prodigal know that if he has been once born from above he is still God's child. Only let him resolve to "arise and go" to his Father. The Father stands with open arms ready to plant His kiss upon the penitent lips of His wayward child. "Arise and go!"

4. The Forms of God's Love.

a. In the Goodness of God.

(1) As Manifested in Creation. "God saw . . . that it was good." This is characteristic of the first chapter of Genesis. God is good, and all things that He creates and makes are for the good of man.

(2) As Manifested In His Care of Brute Creation. "The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing" (Ps. 145:15, 16).

(3) As Manifested In the Variety of Pleasure for His Creatures. Why all the beauty of nature, if not to be enjoyed by the eye of man?

(4) As Manifested in the Gift of His Son. This proves the goodness of God — that God is good.

(5) As Manifested In Allowing Sinners to Repent. "Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" (Rom. 2:4).

b. In the Loving-kindness of God. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32). Since God has given us the Greatest Gift — His Son — we can be assured that we shall be given "the wrappings" with it. The Son is the Gift, and the wrappings are "things" of His supply which make our souls happy.

c. In the Long-suffering of God. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9). "The LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Ex. 34:6). See also Numbers 14:18. How many of us praise the Lord that the Saviour gave us "time" in trusting Him for our salvation? Oh, the long-suffering of God which is manifested toward us, in that we were able to hear the Gospel twice, when there are millions who have never heard it once!

d. In the Patience of God. "Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus" (Rom. 15:5). Here we note that the patience of God is a divine title, for He is the God of patience! This is clearly manifested in:

(1) His Dealings With Sinners: Those Before the Flood. "Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water" (I Peter 3:20). The Lord demonstrated His patience for at least a hundred years. As long as the ark was a preparing, the Gospel was preached — the people warned. His patience was exhausted, finally, and the flood carried the unbelievers away. It will be the same with the coming of the Son of Man at His revelation, at the end of the Tribulation. All those who are found not to be in the Ark, Jesus Christ, shall be destroyed.

(2) His Dealings With Israel. "And yet for all that [Israel's sin], when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD" (Lev. 26:44, 45).

Israel today is Godless, and by this we do not mean that Israel is worse than any other nation, but simply that it is without God. Jehovah has sent prophets unto her, but she has stoned them. He sent even His Son, and Him they crucified. They have been driven unto the uttermost parts of the earth because of it. Yet, for all of this, God has shown His patience, and that patience shall be rewarded, for that nation shall be born anew in a day, and all Israel (those alive at the time of the Revelation of Jesus Christ) shall be saved!

(3) His Dealings With the World Today. Why does not God strike today? Why are men allowed to blaspheme the God of heaven and His Son Jesus Christ? The answer is found in the patience of God.

The Mercy of God

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