By DV serving at SBT:NI in North India
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.‘ John 3:16
John 3:16 is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible, and for good reason. It is a powerful declaration of the extent of God’s love for the world. While it is not necessarily the most ‘Christmassy’ verse, I have found the cosmic gospel story it summarises helpful in my evangelistic preaching at Christmas.
In my country of India, most people believe in billions of gods and goddesses, who have different characters, different powers, different tendencies, not a three-in-one unchanging, all-powerful, trustworthy God. People talk only of punishment for sins, not of grace and love. People believe in salvation by good works, but the Bible teaches salvation through faith by grace. And this verse is a wonderful starting place for sharing that message.
Look closer at John 3:16. The verse begins, ‘For God so loved the world’. God’s love for us is not an afterthought. It is not something that he decided to do on a whim. God’s love for us in sending his one and only Son was both immense and intentional.
The word ‘loved’ in this verse is the Greek word agape. Agape is a word that describes a love that is selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional. It is the tender, fierce love that a parent has for a child. It is the love that is willing to do anything for the one it loves.
The next part of the verse says that God ‘gave his one and only Son’. God was willing to give up what – or rather who – he loved most in the world to save us. That is how high the price of our salvation was; that is the price God paid.
The final part of the verse says that ‘whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’. God is not interested in merely knowledge about Jesus or even agreement with his teaching. To believe in is to trust, to accept, to seek, to love, to know personally and relationally, not just intellectually.
If we believe in Jesus Christ, we are not condemned to hell. Instead, we look forward to enjoying the undeserved and unearned gift of eternal life with God in heaven. What a future to lift our eyes to this Christmas!