Exodus 34: 6 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, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
In our day, the word love is used frequently and very often without thought. It is conflated or confused at times with emotions, mood and feelings, in so much that when one says “I love you” folks are not sure anymore what that really means.
Some persons declare that they love ice cream or an item of food. Others declare that they love God, but that too is often a vague assertion, while others like Tina Turna, relegate love to being a second-hand emotion.
The study for this evening will seek to explain in the clearest of terms what a balanced, Scriptural view of God’s love looks like, so that the next time we speak of His love, we will have a better understanding. The following points are important to harboring correct perspectives on God’s love.
[1] God’s love is founded on principle, not emotions that fluctuate from day to day depending on feeling, mood, and circumstances, as is too often the case with us.
Everything God does, is from the basis of love, and if we were to trace what He does and permits, back to their very source, we would discover that love forms the springboard of all of His actions and decisions. It also forms the basis for all of His commandments or instructions to the human family, and it’s the reason why Jesus came to die for us, from His own free will.
It's all about the foundational principle of love being the driving force behind all of God’s actions. When you get a chance, check out the ten commandments which God has given to humanity, and see if any of them were given to make us worse off than we are.
The law which says you shall not bear false witness, if carried out, and obeyed would prevent the many conspiracy theories and lies with which persons are bombarded every day, and it will prevent misleading labels from being placed on products which have to be recalled ever so often.
The law which says honor thy father and thy mother would cause children to respect their parents and it would prevent some 6 year olds from shooting their teachers. It would also move children to take care of their aging parents, when on account of their failing health, they can no longer fend for themselves.
The law which says thou shall not covet, if carried out, would prevent countries from bullying others to take their resources, and it would prevent judges from taking bribes from the rich, and the infamous, to get a favorable outcome.
The law which says you shall not commit adultery, if carried out and obeyed as it should, would prevent some persons from trafficking young underage girls, and thus preclude the need for any hush money to be paid, to keep them quiet.
The law on adultery, if carried out, would also tend to preserve the integrity of the marriage institution, it will keep husbands from cheating on their female wives, and the brother in question will not have to sweat bricks if and when the wife picks up his phone by mistake.
Hence the reason why the Bible says that the law is holy and just and good, because it came from Christ to us as the ultimate document of love, having the good and well-being of every person in mind. It was never given to restrict your liberties, nor to deprive anyone of that which is for your own good. Let’s read:
Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
The same is true as pertains to God’s instructions on diets and foods, for whenever you read in the Bible that The Lord says do not eat such and such, He isn’t saying so to spoil your party, or to prevent you from having that which is good.
The instruction is coming in from the springboard of love, and it was given in uprightness and the best of intentions, and any individual living on planet earth who understands and follows His instructions would find out very quickly, that it was love that drove God to give such instructions.
Take for instance, the law on porky, which instructs us not to eat or touch it. If and when carried out or obeyed will put persons in a much better place as it pertains to your health and well-being. Leprosy in Bible times was often caused by eating porky.
Therefore, when you read in the Scripture that Jesus gives permission to the legion of devils to run a herd of swine over a steep cliff, to drown them in the sea, do not get ticked off at Christ, for it is a good, and loving thing that He is doing and permitting, to save those very people from future diseases.
Whatsoever God does, or permits if it is interpreted through the Prizm of the principle of love, would, in most cases produce a clear correct understanding of what He does or does not do. Let’s read:
Matthew 8: 30 And there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine feeding.
31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.
The same is true for the instruction against eating raw meat, and rare steaks with the blood in it. It will produce adverse side effects in your body, because the prohibition was given for our best good.
And if obeyed will drastically reduce the incidences of many cancers and tumors, which overburden the health care system which is already stretched to the max. Those instructions were given from the spring board of God’s love. Let’s read:
Leviticus 11: 7 And the swine, though he divides the hoof, and be cloven-footed, yet he chews not the cud; he is unclean to you.
8 Of their flesh shall you not eat, and their carcass shall you not touch; they are unclean to you.
Leviticus 3: 17 It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.
Deuteronomy 4: 40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, forever.
When these laws and instructions are obeyed and implemented, they would greatly reduce the need for GLPs, and they could prevent, to a great extent the other afflictions, like clogged arteries and other diseases, which now haunt many individuals to the grave. Let’s read:
[Prophets & Kings pp 59] His love is not uncertain and fluctuating. Ever He watches over His children with a care that is measureless.
It was the principle of love that drove God to give us those laws and instructions and therefore, we must reiterate the first point, which says that everything God does, and every command and instruction that He has given to the human family, has its foundation its roots, and its origin in the principle of love.
[2] God’s love forgives sins, but it does not always remove the natural consequences in this life.
Some persons expect that the literal results of their sin would be removed, when they seek forgiveness from God. While it is true that God deals mercifully with us, it is not always the case that the results of wrongdoing would be removed in this life.
God forgives the repentant person entirely, but the damage that was done in the here and now needs to be addressed. Sometimes, God in His mercy may mitigate the fallout of some adverse consequence at His discretion, but in other instances, persons might have to face the music, even after being completely forgiven by God. Let’s read:
Psalms 103: 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Adam and Eve were entirely forgiven but they had to deal with the fallout of those choices they made. This point is critically important because it will put a check on our expectations and our understanding of God’s love. Being forgiven doesn’t always mean that the natural results of sin in the temporal realm will be removed.
The thief on the cross was fully forgiven, and he will be saved in God’s kingdom no doubt, but the bitcoin he’d stolen, had to be adjudicated in earthly courts of law. God’s forgiveness didn’t overturn his just due on a horizontal level, as it pertains to man to man.
Similarly, after David was forgiven, the Lord declared that He would not intervene to prevent the natural consequences of his actions, because a grave wrong had been committed to his fellowman and therefore the issue must be adjudicated in the here and now.
Was David forgiven? He absolutely was, but damage done had to be addressed, because God’s love and His justice are both integral parts of His character. In fact, His justice also originates from the foundation of love, hence the reason why the laws of sowing and reaping were then allowed to run their natural course.
If Jeffry Epstein was alive today, and he was to truly ask God for forgiveness, God would forgive him no doubt, but he would have to spend the rest of his life behind bars because on a human to human level the sins he committed produced severe, traumatic, and in some cases, lifelong injury to his victims. Let’s read:
2nd Samuel 12: 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
Again, if after spending recklessly for many years on one’s credit cards; and if after purchasing blings and things without thought, the individual is now being haunted by collectors, and that person asks God to forgive, He absolutely will, but the collectors might still show up at your door with a baseball bat.
The Lord may or may not mitigate the situation, but as far as expecting that He must to do so as part and parcel of His forgiveness, is not a correct view of His love. This is what Adam and Eve expected as part of the forgiveness package, that some way, somehow God’s love would remove the natural results of their sin.
God in His mercy, did offer them redemption in the Person of Jesus Christ, but the natural effects of sin would ensue, even as they were totally forgiven. It’s important that persons manage their expectations of God’s love, so as to cultivate balanced, scriptural views. Let’s read:
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 57] Adam reproached his companion for her folly in leaving his side and permitting herself to be deceived by the serpent.
But they both flattered themselves that He who had given them so many evidences of His love, would pardon this one transgression, or that they would not be subjected to so dire a punishment as they had feared. But the great Lawgiver was about to make known to Adam and Eve the consequences of their transgression.
[3] Justice is just as much a part of God’s love and it must never be separated as being an isolated aspect of His character.
Even though the execution of justice is described as being a strange act for God, it’s a strange, but loving act, for everything He does is always in the very best interest of His creatures. Even destruction, when it’s done by God, is always a loving act, in the very best interest of all concerned.
When The Lord destroyed the earth by the flood, it was an act of love, done in the best interest of the human family, for if he had not intervened sin would have multiplied to such an extent that righteousness would have been permanently blotted from the face of the earth. Let’s read:
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 91] Polygamy had been early introduced contrary to the divine arrangement at the beginning. Whoever coveted the wives or the possessions of his neighbor, took them by force, and men exulted in their deeds of violence.
They delighted in destroying the life of animals. The world was in its infancy; yet iniquity had become so deep and widespread that God could no longer bear with it.
That this was indeed the case can clearly be seen by the very few who were saved, out of billions of folks who were alive back then. When God crunched the numbers, He only found eight persons that he could save to repopulate the earth afterwards. Let’s read:
Genesis 6: 5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 7:1 And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
And even as He destroyed the earth, His love drove Him to bury vast amounts of trees, so that America, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Russia could have vast reserves of oil and natural gas to heat homes during in winter, thousands of years later.
So yes, even destruction, when it comes from God is founded upon the same basic principles of love that moved Jesus to die for our sins on Calvary. Both the cross and the flood have their origin in the principle of love, for whatsoever God does, comes from that same springboard of love.
It may not seem so up front, but behind the scenes it is God’s love that’s working things out for the best good of everyone. One day, every person on planet earth together with all the unfallen worlds and even the devil and his angels will confess this singular and sacred truth, that everything God does, or has done, was always done on the basis of love. Let’s read:
[The Spirit of Prophecy Bk 1 pp 82] Before the flood there were immense forests. The trees were many times larger than any trees which we now see. They were of great durability. They would know nothing of decay for hundreds of years.
At the time of the flood, these forests were torn up or broken down and buried in the earth. They have since petrified and become coal, which accounts for the large coal beds which are now found. This coal has produced oil.
This leads us to our fourth and final point pertaining to a balanced view of God’s love:
[4] In cases where persons know better, God’s love
does not accept partial obedience to His revealed will. In other words, if a person knowingly omits any part of God’s revealed will, The Lord cannot and will never accept that kind of obedience. Let’s read:
James 4: 17 Therefore to him that knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin.
When The Lord instructed Cain and Abel to bring a lamb as an offering, Abel obeyed, but Cain showed up with a different kind of offering. Cain partially obeyed, in that he did come with an offering, only it wasn’t what God had required, and therefore God could not accept it, because Cain knew better. Let’s read:
Genesis 4: 3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if you don’t well, sin lieth at the door….
The issue of partial obedience also surfaced in the life of Moses at one time, where he did everything that God told him to do, except one. On account of remonstrances from his wife, he decided against the requirement of circumcision and God couldn’t move forward with him, unless the issue that he knew of was addressed and corrected. Let’s read:
Exodus 4:24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.
25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, surely a bloody husband art thou to me.
26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.
When God stopped Moses in his tracks, it was the love principle at work, preventing him from going to do battle against satanic forces, while violating one express command of God. If The Lord had let things slide, that would have been the end of Moses as he entered satan’s turf.
Again, the issue of partial obedience reared its head when Saul partially fulfilled the mandate given him by God, and just as it was with Cain and Moses, The Lord could not and did not accept it.
The command was as simple and straightforward as it gets, because the Amalekites and everything that pertained to them were to be utterly destroyed with no exceptions.
In that instance, Saul did some of what The Lord had commanded, him, but he used his own discretion as it pertained to other things that he thought needed some adjustment. In other words, Saul modified the will of God to align with what he thought was right.
On this particular point, some persons believe that their own personal opinions, have more weight than God’s revealed will, especially if their preferences may seem to be something productive of good.
God’s love does not ask persons to determine what is good or not, nor does it excuse a disregard of His law on the basis that it seems to be wrong, or out of step with popular opinion. As we read, consider the apparently “good” reasons that Saul gives for doing contrary to what God required. Let’s read:
1st Samuel 15: 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.
In our day the love of God is often misinterpreted to mean that it’s okay to insert personal preferences or opinions into His revealed will, once there is a good reason for doing so. It is called good disobedience.
Take for instance, the issue of worship that revolves around the final conflict between good and evil. The Lord has plainly stated in His word that the 7th day Sabbath is His holy day and that any other day is just a regular working day. Let’s read:
Exodus 20: 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Mark 2: 27 And he said unto them, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Isaiah 56: 2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that lays hold on it; that keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
4 For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant,
6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone that keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar; for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.
But over the centuries, some pretty “good” reasons have been given why changes were needed. One of the most prominent reasons offered up is that Jesus came from the grave on Sunday and because of this, a change in His law on the Sabbath was warranted.
And, even though there is absolutely no Scriptural evidence or backing for it, the change has now been adopted by most Christians, and many are sincere in doing so.
However, sincerity, in and of itself should not move anyone to change or alter the law of God even when there may be the best of intentions, because when a balanced view of God’s love is cherished, it leads us to obey His word, without altering it like Saul and Cain once did.
And even though the vast majority may do so, and even if artificial intelligence may say so, and even if the most prominent religious leaders of our day may clamor for, or try to justify any change, the word of God stands unmoved.
The reason for this is that God’s love does not allow for any manmade change to His revealed will. There is a lot of noise about the advancement Ai brings to the table, but in doing so let the various chatbots be obedient and let them be trained to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Let’s read:
Question: Which day is the Sabbath day, Saturday or Sunday? (We are asking the Google Ai)
AI Overview
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, which is Saturday for Jews and for some Christians, while Sunday is considered the day of rest and worship for most Christians. For many Christians, Sunday is a commemoration of Jesus's resurrection, which occurred on the first day of the week.
In the times of ignorance, where folks may not know better, God winks, meaning that He would not hold it against any person if they do not know. Back in the days when there were no printing presses, when the Bible was chained to monasteries, people were for the most part in darkness, as to God’s revealed will.
But now, we are living in the age of enlightenment, where the information highways of the world could provide individuals with knowledge on almost every subject, from the various renditions of the Bible.
In some cases, care must be exercised when certain versions are read, but generally speaking, you can find God’s will in many of the prominent versions on line.
God is now calling the inhabitants of this world, and especially Christians who already believe in Jesus, to harbor a balanced and scriptural view of His love for our love to God is not measured by thanksgiving, or praise, it is measured by our obedience to His every word.
We therefore end with a passage of Scripture that will encourage one and all to love and obey The God of heaven, because the foundation of His law, His government, and His salvation are all rooted in love. Let’s read:
John 15: 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
God Bless!