The Love of God. How does God love the world?

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever. Because He delights in mercy. He will have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of sea. You give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from days of old -             Micah 7:18-20

In the beginning of this chapter the prophet Micah is bemoaning the nation Israel’s sins (vs 1-7). He also goes on to declare to Israel’s enemies not to rejoice over her demise for she (Israel) will rise again ( vs 8-13). And finally God will forgive Israel for her iniquities because of His compassion and love toward His people, and also He will remember his covenant He made with their forefathers – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (vs 15-20).

The opening three verses describe the loving kindness of our God. This is God’s disposition toward everyone. God’s overarching attitudes are compassion (pity) and mercy (or non-justice, not giving us what we do deserve). My purpose in this article is to counter balance it with the previous article I wrote before it, “Does God hate anyone?”  We are far more comfortable saying God is love than saying God hates anything or anyone. However, man’s definition of the love of God is usually unbiblical. What I will hope to explain in this article is the love of God from a Biblical perspective.

Let me say that God’s love is clearly defined in scripture, however it contains layers or levels if you would. Let’s go over them.

1.       God’s unlimited love is extended to all men – What this means God extends common grace to all indiscriminately. Jesus said, He (the Father) makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and the unjust (Matt 5:45b). This passage is clear. All men enjoy the beauty of the sunshine, and the rain. All men have the right to work, marry, raise and provide for their families, establish a career, vacation and leisure time, etc. This love every person experiences every day of their lives. This is what I would call God’s initial love for the world. Just as Jesus said, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16a).

2.       God’s love is manifested in His warnings to us – The Bible is replete with warnings from the Lord so that we can avoid His judgment. In Ezekiel 18:31-32 says, “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies”, says the Lord. “Therefore turn and live!”  Any good parent will warn their children if they are about to make a bad decision, or engage in bad behavior. Why? Because of your love for your children; it is for the child’s protection and safety.

The wisdom of Solomon says declares this, “Do not withhold correction from a child. For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod and save his soul from hell” (Proverbs 23:13-14). God’s loving discipline initially may hurt us, but ultimately it is for our good and health (Hebrews 12:5-11). This is God’s compassionate love for mankind – He pities His creation so He warns us of impending danger.

3.       God’s love is limited in degree – What this means is God does not love everyone equally. God is sovereign and it is up to Him how He chooses to love each person. The clearest illustration of this love would be described in God’s choosing of Jacob over Esau, His choosing of the nation Israel, and His choosing of the Church. I need to spend significant time in this area.

In Genesis 25 we read that Isaac’s wife Rebekah was pregnant with twins. When Rebekah inquired of the Lord why there was struggling going on in her body, this is what God said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your body; one shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger” (Gen 25:23).

When the Lord says the older shall serve the younger, it is not saying that Esau himself served Jacob, but that the descendants of Esau (the Edomites) would be subservient to the descendants of Jacob or Israel [(the Israelites), (2 Samuel 8:13-14; I Kings 11:15-16)]. Why did God do this, have the Israelites greater than the Edomites? This was the plan of God before either child was born. God made a sovereign choice to love Jacob more than Esau.

In Malachi 1:1-4 we read, “I have loved you”, says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?” Was not Esau your brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated, and have laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.” Even though Edom has said, “We have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places, “ Thus says the Lord of hosts, “They may build, but I will throw down; they shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever”.

Understand the love/hate relationship God is describing here is the two nations, not the two men. God made an everlasting covenant with the nation Israel (Jeremiah 31). He never made a covenant with the Edomites. God also did not covenant with Israel because they were better than Edom. They certainly were not (Read Ezekiel 16 regarding Israel’s birth and unfaithfulness to God, along with God’s everlasting love for His chosen). God sovereignly chose to love them and make them His own.

In Deuteronomy 7:6-8a we read, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but, because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers…

This proves God is not a respecter of persons. He chose Israel as His own because it pleased Him to do so (Psalm 115:3).

In Romans 9:11-13 Paul is quoting Malachi 1:1-4. It reads, “The children not born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Paul in comparing the two nations of Israel and Edom,  provides a perfect illustration of God’s love being limited in degree. God’s love for the nation Israel is unlimited in that they will last for eternity, whereas the Edomites no longer exist. If one follows the Edomites history carefully, you will discover that the Edomites (later called Idumeans) were totally destroyed in the first century A.D.; around the time when Rome sacked Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

As an aside, there are some that believe when Paul is talking about Jacob and Esau (the nations in particular), that Paul has chosen (or elected) Jacob for service only and not Esau. In other words, God is not talking about sovereign election unto salvation. The reason these individuals do not believe Paul is discussing salvation is because they do not like the doctrine of predestination; that is God choosing some for salvation before the foundation of the world while excluding others, reserving them for judgment which God has every right to do.

In the final analysis, God’s love is greater for His own than those who do not belong to Him; that is He loves His own to the max (John 13:1). God’s love for His enemies is quickly running out because of their refusal to repent.

4.       God’s loves the world by sending Jesus to die for mankind’s sins – Once again John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son. That whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not (italics mine) send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through might be saved”.

God sent Jesus to earth on a recovery mission – to gather His lost sheep from Israel and the Gentiles (John10:16). As I mentioned in the prior article, the supreme act of love ever demonstrated was the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for the atonement of mankind’s sins forever (John 15:13). Anyone who believes in this vicarious act; that means trust, rely on, and place their complete trust on what Jesus did, they would be saved from their sins – have them removed and no more counted against them. They would be from that point moving forward declared righteous in the sight of God (2 Cor 5:21).

Understand this love is available to anyone who desires it. Jesus said, “All those the Father has given to Me will come to Me, and those who come to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

Jesus also declared, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28).

This is God’s invitational love is to all of mankind; so that they may hear the gospel, repent and believe and be saved.

In Summary

God’s love is varied and complete. First, God’s love is unlimited in length. It reaches to all people in the form of common grace. Second, His love is manifested to all in the form of warnings throughout scripture. Third, God’s love is limited in degree; He does not love all equally. He has temporary love for His enemies, but an everlasting salvific love for His own.  And fourth, His love is sacrificial in that He sent Jesus who was/is sinless and perfect to die for the sinful and non-perfect. 

What should be our response to God’s love? First, we need to repent and believe the gospel for this is God’s desire (1 Timothy 2:4). Second, Jesus said it perfectly, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love another as I have loved you, that you also love another” (John 13:33).

Third, we must tell others about His love since it has been shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5).

As I mentioned in the previous article, men cannot imprison God’s love to the exclusion of His other attributes. In other words, just because God is love does not mean he will not punish evil doers or chasten His children. These are expressions of God’s love as well but another dimension of it. We must not think of God’s love as just warm and fuzzy with harps playing in our ears; a love that overlooks sin.  God’s love forgives sins and at the same time punishes every sin. This puts God’s love on display and causes it to shine brighter when His love conquers evil.