It was a bright, sunny July day in Calgary, Alberta. Judy and I joined thousands of others, lining up along the road from the airport to the Palliser Hotel downtown. There she was, as beautiful as always, with a light-colored jacket and a matching hat, waving to all of us from the back seat of her convertible. We got to see, relatively closely, Queen Elizabeth II, as she began a cross-country tour of Canada. Maybe I have some of the details wrong, but I will never forget that sight. However, after she passed by, our lives went right back to exactly what they had been the day before. Seeing the Queen of the British Empire didn’t change the trajectory of my life one iota.
About 3,500 years, it was some what different with Moses. That man of God was in fellowship with Jehovah, the Creator of the universe. The place was Sinai in the Arabian desert. It was the third month after Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. The purpose of the meeting was to give Israel – and to the world – the law of the Lord. “And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain.” Moses made several trips up and down the side of the mountain, preparing Israel for what was coming. Then in Exodus 19:16 we read: “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.” This meeting at the top of the mountain was terrifying to everyone in the vicinity.
It appears that during this meeting, Moses heard the voice of the Lord, but didn’t see any sort of form. He didn’t see Jehovah waving from the back of a limousine. He didn’t see a bright, glistering form sitting on a white throne. Nevertheless, he was given the ten commandments followed by explanations and further details. Over time, designs were given for the building of the tabernacle and all of its furniture. The uniforms of the priests were shared and some of the offerings. And in Exodus 31:18, God “gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” Moses may, or may not have actually seen a finger engraving the law onto those two tablets. But he didn’t see the face of God or some sort of bodily shape.
All of this instruction took time, and while Moses was up on the mount buried in cloud, the people got worried. They talked Aaron into making and emblem of God in the form of a calf made out of gold. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.” “And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf…” As God’s judgment was concluding, Moses was not sure that he could bring those rebellious people into the land God had promised. He needed reassurance that the Lord would go with them on their journey. He said, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” “And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.”
This brings us to my point: Moses then said, “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.” God replied: “I will make my goodness pass before thee.” But “thou cast not see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live.” Then with God’s protection, Moses was permitted to see the tail end of the goodness of the Lord. He didn’t see God in the shape of the Egyptian bull god, Apis, or in the form of a multi-breasted female like Diana. He may not have seen any shape at all. But he did catch a glimpse of the glorious goodness of Jehovah.
I believe there is enough scripture for me to say that no one will ever see the “face” of God the Father. If you know someone who wants to see God, tell him to look toward the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to see the glory of God, His goodness, or His love, look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. In Christ Jesus dwelleth the fulness of the God head bodily (Colossians 2:9). As the Lord Jesus Himself said, “I and the Father are one.” Christ is God with us: “Immanuel.” And with that we come back to today’s scripture in I John 3:16: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.”
Any good theology book will have a few chapters on what are called the Attributes of God. These are the characteristics, or properties, which make Jehovah God. And the best of those theology books will tell you if you want to actually see and understand the great attributes of Jehovah, then look toward the Lord Jesus. Are you so foolish that you want to see the sin-destroying holiness of God? Don’t try to join the angels around God’s throne, shouting “holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts…” Rather, look to Christ Jesus, “Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth.” He is the Lamb of God who is without blemish or spot. I will come back to this word, but II Corinthians 5:21 says that Christ Jesus “knew no sin.” Are you anxious to understand the self-existence of God? Look to Jesus who is “the way, the truth, and the life.” We could run though all of the attributes of Jehovah, repeating essentially the same thing: look at Jesus. Do you want to know more about the love of God? “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.”
Let’s examine this verse under four headings: perception, affection, election and reception.
“Hereby perceive we the love of God.”
According to Noah’ Webster’s, three hundred year old, dictionary, to perceive something is to: “Have knowledge or receive impressions of things through the medium or instrumentality of the senses…” In plain English, to perceive something is to see it. And for the blind person, he might perceive something by running his fingers over it.
While that is true of this old Greek word, the meaning of to perceive is just a bit deeper than mere sight. The word John first used when he wrote this letter is 90% of the time translated “to KNOW” – not “to see.” This basically says, “Hereby know we the love of God.” But even the word “perceive” reminds us that this knowledge is not superficial or casual. This is a complete and thorough understanding; this is intimate knowledge of the most personal kind. The first time this word is used in the Bible, it is found in the 25th verse of the New Testament. In Matthew 1 we are told how God revealed to Joseph that his fiancé was to bring the Messiah into the world. “And (he) KNEW her NOT till she had brought forth her firstborn son; and he called his name Jesus.” To the same depth and degree that Joseph DIDN’T know Mary his wife, we CAN know the love of God. And in the same way that Christ DID NOT know sin, we CAN know the love of God. It is not a mere glance, but an intimate knowledge through investigation.
That brings us to a very special kind of affection. What is it that we have come to know?
“Hereby perceive we the love of God.”
People who don’t know the Bible, often have strange ideas about Biblical subjects. And the love of God is one of those things they get confused. For example, some people think that God’s love is displayed when people become rich and powerful. There are two things to consider in this: First, it is quite obvious that the devil, the god of this world, has the ability to make people rich. So even though someone may think, “God has made me wealthy,” he may be mistaken. And then God may give someone fabulous riches, but they are meant to be trials and sometimes punishments. It is apparent that the Lord made Job enormously wealthy, but then he permitted it to be stripped away. To Job’s credit, the size of his losses, didn’t destroy his faith in God. But that was Satan’s wish and intention when he attacked the man. Was the eventual rebuilding of Job’s finances a result of God’s love? Perhaps it was. Great wealth doesn’t necessarily prove God’s love. We could say that same thing about good health. Some people whom God has clearly loved have been plagued by physical pain and its resulting suffering. Just because a person is healthy and wealthy doesn’t necessarily mean that he is blessed by God.
So how is it that we can perceive the love of God? We may be able to se several things about the Lord by looking around us. For example, we can see His immensity by building bigger and stronger telescopes, pushing our sight farther and farther into the outer reaches of space. Jehovah is just as much God in the farthest edges of the solar system as He is in a humble church building, a baby’s nursery, or an intensive care unit in the hospital. And we see God’s genius when we study the intricacies of the human body. The omnipresence of the Lord is proven when we pray for a loved one or a missionary on the other side of the country or the other side of the world, and the Lord precisely answers our request. We might run through many of the attributes of God and find different ways to perceive them. But perception of the love of God, requires a telescope or microscope of an entirely different kind.
God’s love can only be clearly seen and learned by faith. And particularly, through faith in what the Son of God did on the cross. But can the love of God the FATHER be known from through the death of the SON of God? That is what my Bible says: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.” But look carefully at your King James Bible and notice that the two words “of God” are italicized. Those italics lead some interpreters, and many modern Bible translators, to omit them. To those people the verse says, “Hereby perceive we love “– or – “by this we know the nature of love – because he laid down his life for us.”
Who is it that laid down his life for us? Christ Jesus voluntarily laid down His life when he died on the cross. (I’ll give you some scriptures in a moment.) Does that mean it is incorrect to say that we see God’s love in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross? It is not wrong for several reasons. The first is that the translators of the King James Bible believed that the love was that of God and said so. I always listen to and believe what my Bible tells me.
My second reason for accepting this statement is that this chapter speaks more of God the Father than of God the Son. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God.” “Beloved now are we the sons of God.” “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” “In this the children of God are manifest.” Interspersed with God the Father are references to God the Son. But most often without naming Him. “Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.” “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not,” most likely referring to Christ. And then finally, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifest, that he might destroy the works of the Devil.” What I’m trying to point out is that John goes back and forth between the Father and the Son.
And that is my third reason for sticking with the italicized words “of God.” In the great work of salvation, as in the work of creation and many other things, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well, always work as one. It was not God the Father who died on the cross, but it was God; it was God the Son.
I promised you more scriptures about the sacrifice of Christ, so look across the page to chapter 4 verse 9: “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. Here in is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sin.” How did Christ become the propitiation – the satisfaction – for our sin? Through His sacrificial death. “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world…” “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness… Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”
Would you like to see God’s love, then look toward the Son of God as He sacrifices Himself for sinners like us. But carefully notice two little pronouns in the first half of this verse.
“Hereby perceive WE the love of God, because he laid down his life for US.”
For whom did Jesus lay down His life? It was for us who have been born again into eternal life and who have been adopted into God’s family. From before the foundation of the world God had specific people whom He intended to redeem. And He redeemed them in His death. “He laid down his life specifically for us.”
Now step back for a moment to the perception that we have of God’s love. I said earlier that this isn’t the look of a casual glance. This isn’t an accidental sighting of God’s love. This perception speaks of knowledge gained through personal experience. Not only have our eyes beheld the cross, but our hands have handled the nails and touched the wounds. We have smelled the blood, and we have felt the air grow cold as the darkness sweeps over Calvary. The people described as “we” and “us,” have experienced the love of God in receiving everything that love included, beginning with their spiritual birth.
And this brings me to my final point:
Beyond the perception of the divine affection is the necessity of reception.
The impact and message of this verse will never be understood by anyone who has not been born again. Someone may think they understand God’s love, but until they have experienced it, they can’t know it. They can read about it in theology books and even in the Bible. They can memorize scriptures which speak about Christ’s death on the cross. They can watch passion plays and various Hollywood depictions of Jesus’ crucifixion. But they will never perceive the love of God until they experience it.
And how can a fool like me experience Christ’s death or God’s love? By faith. Famously John 3:16 ties together God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice with the rope of faith. The Lord Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
John was writing to people who could perceive God’s love, because they were children of God by faith in Christ. Would you like to join them? Would you like to know and experience the love of God? Then I ask you; I beg you, to bow at the foot of the cross of Christ. Acknowledge your blindness, your unworthiness, your sinfulness before God. Have a change of heart and mind before the holiness of God, and put your soul at His disposal. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” In the simplest terms, humbly trust Christ as your Lord and Saviour, and then you will come to know the love of Almighty God.