1 John 4:9-11: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us … [NIV]
What a wonderful little word we find in this verse. It contains two small letters that signify grand truth. God “so” loved. God “so” loved that he sent His Son.
John reminds us of what Jesus said in John 3:16 when He was talking to Nicodemus one of the Jewish ruling class. In this verse, however, John adds something that perhaps Nicodemus did not fully understand at the time he first approached Jesus. John adds things that were only hinted at when Jesus spoke.
God’s Son, our Savior and Lord Christ Jesus, did not come as an earthly conqueror or king. He did not come to remove the Roman occupiers and restore the kingdom of David to Israel. He came as an “atoning sacrifice for our sins [a propitiation]”.
To do that He came not as a king, but as a lamb. He came as God’s Perfect and Ultimate Lamb, the Lamb that would “take away the sins of the world.” John 1:29.
Mark Woodley wrote, “Christianity is the only view of life that presents a vulnerable God – a God who, in love and for love, subjected Himself to be mauled by His own creation.”
Maul Him we did. Our sins drove the nails. Our guilt pierced His side. Our punishment brought His separation from the Father. We don’t dwell on that but instead live in the life He provided in His death. But we can never forget, never move away from that cross that bore His sacrifice. In that we see just a glimpse of the love God has for us.
