“We love him, because he first loved us.”1 John 4:19
I have asked myself this question countless times, why does
God love me? If you have never asked yourself that question, you ought too.
David wrote in Psalms 5:4 - 5 “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in
wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. (5) The foolish shall not stand
in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.” The word “hatest” means
- to hate, personally – people that are sinners. But weren’t we all sinners at
one time? We were all born sinners, we were all born at enmity with God, which
means we hated God. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8) So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:7 – 8. So, why did God love me, that is the question?
The point we must see in 1 John 4:19 is that God loved us first, when did God
love those who are going to be called saints? God loved us before the
foundation of the world before sin was in existence. Paul wrote in Ephesians
1:4 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” Before
God laid the foundation of the world God loved us and chose us in Him, IN LOVE.
God also chose us, before the foundation of the world that we, “should be
holy and without blame before him”. This is what we as Christians must see,
God loved us before the foundation of the world because He chose too. Let’s
look at it this way, before God created one single thing, back in eternity past
when only God existed, before Satan was created and fell, before Adam and Eve
sinned, long before evil and sin came into existence, God loved a remnant of souls.
Also, before that creation God had already made us a Redeemer in His own Son
Jesus Christ, all this was before evil was created and sin existed. Read this, “But
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you, (21) Who by him do believe in God, that raised him
up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”
1 Peter 1:19 Listen to Solomon in Proverbs
8:22 - 23 “The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before
his works of old. (23) I was set up from everlasting, from the
beginning, or ever the earth was.” Why God loved us we cannot answer
that question except, He chose too. We must understand that God is Omniscient,
and God never changes, never ever changes. Therefore, what God was before creation
He is today, what God ordained or decreed before the foundation of the world He
is today. So, we must understand that God never “come to love us” He has
eternally loved us. While we will never understand this, we must accept it
because it is fact. Let’s ask ourselves this question, when did God actually
elect us to be His children? If God never changes, if nothing is added to Him
nor anything taken away from Him, then when exactly where we elected? We who
are the elect of God were never hated by God because before we were born
sinners God loved us. We love God because He loved us in eternity past before
sin. Our love to God was after His love was manifested to us in salvation. 1
John 4:9 “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.”
God sending His Son to redeem us was the manifestation to us of God’s love. We,
the elect of God was given to His Son before the foundation of the world, and
Jesus Christ redeemed us all at the cross. This was all ordained before evil or
sin came into existence. The elect of God was never like the non-elect because
our redemption was assured in Jesus Christ before the world was ever created.
Read this very carefully, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
Romans 5:8 - 11
