"As God Loves"

The Bible refers to the Father as God, the Son as God, and the Holy Spirit as God.

"Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God the Father" (II John 1:3)

"Unto the Son, He saith, Thy throne, o God, is forever and ever" (Hebrews 1:8).

"The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life" (Job 33:4).

Scripture also reveals the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as distinct personages and personalities, who nevertheless dwell in the perfect oneness of the Godhead. God the Father and the Lord Jesus related to each other in such terms during the latter's earthly life, and even before, our Savior spoke of His Father having loved Him "before the world was" (John 17:5). The Lord Jesus also said that He would send the Holy Spirit to believers from the Father, clearly revealing all three persons of the Godhead as distinct personal entities (John 15:26).

This is vital Biblical truth to know, although it is impossible to fully understand. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not merely three expressions of one person, as some espouse, but three literal persons who exist as one. Thus, there is real relationship between "Them" (such grammatical plurality is Biblical - "God said, Let us make man in our own image" - Genesis 1:26). And thus, there is love.

God is as He has always been, and as He will always be. He is love, has always been love, and will always be love (I John 4:8). By Biblical definition, therefore, there must always have been benefactor and beneficiary in God because love "seeketh not her own" (I Corinthians 13:5). Before anything was created, before angel, universe, and humanity, God dwelled in His perfect triunity of love, and was perfectly fulfilled in the Divine nature and disposition of selfless altruism. Words and concepts fail at this point of truth. We have no frame of reference for this infinity and perfection of relationship. We can only know that it is true, and fall to our faces in breathless awe and adoration.

Born again believers are given glimpses of the glory, and firstfruits of that day when the love of God will be known in far greater measure than we can presently comprehend. The Lord Jesus prayed for such grace, and then sent the Holy Spirit to ensure the answer.

"I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:26).

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).

"We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2). The day approaches for God's sons and daughters in Christ when the character and disposition of the triune God will be perfectly formed in us. The day is presently at hand when such love indwells our innermost being, and moves within us to enable consistent devotion to God and man. We can love as God loves. Take a moment and ponder this completely profound and breathtaking thought. Indeed, to be loved by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is a gift that even forever will not allow us to fully fathom and appreciate. However, more wondrous is the truth that the eternally ancient glory of God's perfect selflessness comprises the eternally perpetual glory that will empower us to love Him as He loves us, and to perfectly and sublimely love each other. The glory has begun for the trusting and consecrated believer, and in this day we shall know who our Lord has always been as we see His love "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit."

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor."

(Ephesians 5:1-2)