by Rick Combs
God’s intention has always been to live and commune with his creation. This is where His heart is. God in His essence is… love. Everything He does is in regard to His love. The Glory of His Grace is in His love.
Love is the nature of God and encompasses all His other attributes. To say that God is Holy, Righteous, Light, an all-consuming Fire is summed up in this… GOD IS LOVE.
1 John 4:7 and 16 exclaims that GOD IS LOVE.
God’s love is expressed in His declaration of His Person in this; … shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy to whom I will show mercy” Exodus 33:18-19.
God comes to us in the glory of His Goodness – His Graciousness – His Mercy. When you approach God at the foot of the cross and receive the divine work for your salvation, you are encountering the One who is good – gracious – merciful.
God further reveals Himself to Moses on that sacred mount; “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” Exodus 34:6-7.
God expresses His love in these ways; He is to us Merciful and Gracious, Longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Oh, how wonderful is our God!
The reason God sent His Son into the world as our Savior is because He loved the world (John 3:16). He didn’t have to. He wanted to out of His good pleasure.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Just think about that awesome truth. While we were hopelessly lost with no strength to help ourselves God took action. The Lord Jesus Christ died on that old rugged cross for our sins. This is the greatest love!
Ephesians 1:3-6 speaks of our eternal inheritance. Love is the currency of Heaven. It will be the basis of operation for all eternity. It will be the basis of all laws, judgments, precepts, regulations for the creation in heaven and earth. The entire universe will adhere to the will and purpose of God in the realm and principles of love. Learn well the truths of practical love now because you will use them as your reign with Christ in eternity.
GOD’S LOVE FOR US WILL NEVER STOP! It will go on forever…
With all of this in mind, it had to break God’s heart when He had to separate Himself from His creation at the advent of Lucifer’s rebellion. Death spread throughout the heavens. The earth became void and dark, drowned in the waters of judgment. There was only chaos and confusion. The open singular heaven suddenly became the second heaven and the third heaven. The third heaven is the place of God’s Throne. The second heaven is now dark, cold, and ruled by Satan and his principalities, powers, and rulers.
Satan also conquered the recreated earth when the deceiver tricked Adam and Eve into disobeying God that brought death to all his prodigy.
We will look at details of this terrible tragedy in our next post.
Until then may the grace and peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Amen