This is post 2 of a series where we are looking John 3:16. If you haven't read the first post go and check that one out. Please read John 3:16 again and we will be looking at the underlined text.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16 NIV
He GAVE - The Greatest Act [1]
Have you ever been given something really awesome and you didn't know what to say? Maybe it's a toy that you received for Christmas when you were a child. Maybe it was a needed amount of money so you could pay a bill. Maybe it was a car that a friend let you have after you were in a car accident. Maybe the person in front of you at McDonalds paid for your food. Maybe someone gave you another chance after you messed up. We have all been given something in life. Something that we didn't really deserve. Something that we didn't have to pay back. But it changed our life.
God did the same thing when He gave us the greatest gift we could have ever received. We didn't deserve it. We didn't ask for it. We didn't do anything for it. God just gave it to us. God looked down on the mess that earth had become and knew that something had to happen if we were going to be saved. So God gave the greatest gift.
His only Son - The Greatest Sacrifice [1]
I have a son and I could not imagine giving him up for anything. But here, we see God looking down on the mess the world had become and realizing that the only way to give hope to the world was to send Jesus to be that hope. We couldn't do it on our own. We needed help. We needed someone to trade lives with us and that is what Jesus did for us when He became the greatest sacrifice.
So Jesus came from Heaven and lived the life that we could never live. Jesus lived a perfect life, and He did that so He could become that sacrifice that the world needed. In the book of Matthew, we see a conversation between a scared Joseph and an angel. The angel tells Joseph these words:
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save the people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21, NIV
Jesus’ mission on earth was to save us from our sins. That is the only reason why He came to earth - to be that sacrifice we desperately needed.
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. - Proverbs 3:27, NIV
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Edited by Kay Beam
[1]The underlined outline headings were taken from Harvest Bible Chapel in Granger, In. All other content in this post are my original words.
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