Unconditionally loved by God? Part 2

I know a Christian (who I trust) who had an unusual religious experience many years ago.  In a time of prayer he had a distinct sense of the Lord speaking to him through a song that bounded into his head, the line from the song that he heard was, ‘I just can’t stop loving you.’ (Michael Jackson) It took him by surprise as it was not the way he thought God viewed him.  Like most of us, he was deeply aware of his shortcomings.

I’ve often thought about this experience.  If this was the Lord, He was conveying His utter love for His child, just as a parent might feel and say those words to their child.  Was it because this person was a Christian, one who had however, falteringly, cried out to God for mercy and looked to Jesus for salvation?  Was it that that made Him beloved of God?  Might God sing this song over an atheist, a member of another faith community - or was it because he was part of Christ’s body that this song was sung?

The Christians’ privilege has been to call God, in the words of Jesus, ‘Abba’ (Aramaic for Daddy).  This speaks of an intimate relationship with the Triune God in to which they have been drawn.  It is a fellowship of love - marvellously brought out in Rublev’s icon of the Trinity, where we are invited to sit and join in this communion of love.

                                                             (Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity)

       

God loves His children passionately, His love affair with His people is revealed in provocative ways in the Old Testament (think Hosea being called to marry a prostitute who he is willing to take back despite her unfaithfulness; this being a sign of Yahweh’s love for Israel) - this ardent love for wayward Israel causes Him to ‘rejoice over His people with singing’. (Zephaniah 3:17). A Christian owns those depictions of Israel’s belovedness for themselves - they are now ‘a holy nation’ ‘a people belonging to God’ (1 Peter 2:9).   Every stripe of Christian whether Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant (Calvinist or Arminian) would declare, ‘yes’ the saved member of the Body of Christ is enfolded in the love that God has for His Son.  There is not one thing in all creation that can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus.(Romans 8:38-9)

Yet, what about the outsider?  Is the God denying, blaspheming sinner held in the love of God too? ( I’m being dramatic here for effect!)

Undoubtedly, there is an in/out separation that the New Testament in various places talks about.  A dichotomy.  Some who are perishing, some who are being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18).  Some who are under wrath and others who are not. (John 3:36)  Some who are sheep and some who are goats. (Matthew 25:31-46)  Some who are wise virgins, some who are foolish.(Matthew 25:1-13)  There does appear to be an ‘in’ and an ‘out’.

Christ separating the sheep and goats, Ca. 6th century, mosaic, Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy.

So how does God feel about the one who is ‘out’ - the ‘goat‘, or the ‘object of wrath.’ ( Ephesians 2:3)

Does being under God’s wrath mean that He doesn’t love you?  Does being in the ‘kingdom of darkness’ (Colossians 1:13) mean that you are detested.  Could the Christian tract that declares on its front cover in big letters, ‘God hates you’, be a fairer representation of God’s attitude to you according to Scripture?

‘The answer my friend is blowing in the wind’ 😉 of Scripture. There, in probably the most famous words of the Bible, in John 3:16, the writer states, ‘For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son.’  The object of God’s affection is the ‘world’.  The world is not an exclusive word, it is an inclusive one, it refers to all people. Furthermore, the same verse unveils the extent of His love, in that He willingly gave His Son. 

                                          (For God so loved the world by Jeanette Sthaman)

How much does God love the God denying, rebelling individual? Answer - With a love so immense that it gives its own very life in demonstration of the depth of passion for each and every member of the human race.  ‘This is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and gave His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins‘ ‘and not only ours but the whole world’s.’ (1 John 4:10 coupled with 1 John 2:2)

Therefore, I think it is fair to say that even if you ‘are under wrath’ and are an ‘object of wrath’, that you are loved by the Triune God.  That love is vividly portrayed in the self sacrificial death of Jesus, the only begotten Son.  You may well be in darkness, but you are loved; you may well be a ‘fool’ but you are loved.  You may well be an ‘enemy of God’, but you are loved.  You may be in ‘a far country’, but the Father is looking out for you, yearning in His heart for you to return so that He can fully embrace you and reinstate you. (Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32)

(The Prodigal Son by Charlie Mackesy)

That tract, ‘God hates you’, could not be further from the truth.  God’s word over humanity is a passionate  Word of love that throbs through a life laid down in humiliation (death on a Roman cross was the most humiliating of punishments) and service for the objects of His desire.

Wherever you are on your faith journey, or on your journey of life - you are loved.  Whether you are the worst of sinners or the best of them, God loves you wholeheartedly.

Whenever you visit a church and happen to see the Lord’s supper celebrated and hear the words of Jesus, ‘This is my body broken for you...this is my blood shed for you’, you are hearing God say ‘I love you’.  ‘I laid down my life for you, and still offer it to you.  You are loved’.

The question then becomes what do we do with that?