So, how often do you find yourself thinking about how much God loves you and why? I find myself thinking about this every so often. It usually happens when I am listening to worship music during my drive to work in the mornings. I’ll be singing along and all of sudden I will be overwhelmed with His amazing grace; or I will be listening to a sermon or Sunday school lesson and the Holy Spirit will bring to mind passages of Scripture that I have read at some point. At these times the messages and lessons just come together in such a profound way that my understanding is so clarified on certain aspects of His love and grace.

Well, this past Sunday was just such a time when God’s love was so magnified in my heart that I had an overwhelming feeling of joy and contentment. We are studying the epistle of 1 John.  We happen to be discussing the passage in chapter 2, verses 18 thru 25. John begins this passage by addressing the antichrists which have apparently left the church in Ephesus. The tone is one of encouragement as he explains that the departure of the false teachers was a good thing. You see, the antichrists had done a number to the Ephesian congregation by spreading the false belief that Jesus was not a real person and so the believers could not really have a relationship with Him. This happens to be one of the main reasons John wrote this letter-to combat these false teachers.

So, the discussion took us to passages throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, in order to show that Jesus was, is and always will be, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. So, one of the passages was Psalm 2. This is one of the Messianic Psalms that prophesies of the Messiah. As we read this Psalm and we came to verse 8,

‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

This is God speaking to His Son. God is saying that He will give the nations as an inheritance to His Son if His Son asks.

Well, immediately I thought about the epistle to the Ephesians. In chapter 1 the Apostle Paul tells the Ephesians his prayer for them. In verse 18 he says,

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints ,

The pronoun His in this verse (for emphasis, I put the last phrase in bold) is referring to the Son, Jesus Christ. Notice, the saints are His inheritance! In light of Psalm 2, we can conclude that Jesus asked the Father to give all those who believe in Him to Him. Jesus asked to come to earth and ultimately die on the cross for His inheritance! Praise God!

In chapter two of Ephesians we see the following,

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,… 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Paul is writing to the Ephesian church. It would seem they were having issues with their salvation and understanding exactly what God had done for them. While they were dead to God, He gave Jesus to them so that they could be reconciled to Him! And what God did for the Ephesian Christians, He has also done for us!

In the book of Hebrews we are told in chapter 12 verse 2,

… Jesus , the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross , despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The joy that was set before Jesus was His inheritance in the saints! His joy was that He could provide the only way for His children to be reconciled to The Father! What amazing love!

And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me?

Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!

So, do you know Jesus as Lord and Savior? Do you know about this love that God has for His children? In order for you to be at peace with God, and know His amazing love, the first thing you must understand is that Jesus died for you because you have fallen short of God’s standards. You must understand and accept this. Second, you must believe that Jesus died for you because there was no other way to pay the debt you owe to God for falling short of His standards. And third, come to Jesus in faith, believing that He paid your sin debt when He died on the cross, but when He rose again three days later He made it just as if you had never sinned in the eyes of God and you can have the relationship that He wants to have with all those who have put their faith in the risen Savior! You can experience His Amazing love!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”- John 3:16

All glory and honor and praise to the only blessed God and Savior, Jesus Christ!

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