Love So Amazing

Focus: 1 John 4:9 KJV - 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.

Love is not just an abstract feeling; it requires action. God didn't just tell us He loved us, He manifested His love by taking the ultimate action. The proof of His love is found in the extreme cost of the gift: He sent His only begotten Son into a broken, hostile world. The ultimate purpose of this supreme sacrifice is substitutionary: because we were spiritually dead in our sins, Jesus came so that "we might live through him." He gave up His life so that we could gain abundant life.

God gave Abraham a shocking command to take his only son Isaac, whom he loved and offer him for a burnt offering. Just as Isaac was the unique, beloved son of promise to Abraham, Jesus is the only begotten, deeply loved Son of God. Abraham took Isaac up to Mount Moriah. Isaac carried the very wood for the sacrificial fire on his own back, just as Jesus would later carry His own wooden cross up the hill of Calvary. Isaac willingly submitted to his father, allowing himself to be bound and placed on the altar. Just as Abraham raised the knife, the Angel of the Lord stopped him. God provided a ram caught in a thicket to take Isaac’s place. Isaac was dynamically delivered from death; he walked off that mountain alive because a substitute died in his stead.

The story of Abraham and Isaac was a living prophecy. It showed the world exactly how painful it is for a father to give up his only son. But while God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, God did not stop Himself from sacrificing Jesus. Through Jesus, our ultimate substitute caught in the thicket of our sins, the love of God is fully manifested, and we are allowed to live. How should we repay the one who so loves us and gave up His best for us? Please love God in return with all your heart and obey His commands.

Prayer

Father, I thank you for your love and sacrifice that gives me life. In all I do, let me never repay your kindness with sin and recklessness. Help me to live life and life more abundantly through Christ. Draw me away from the annals of sin and death, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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