This Is Love

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son. (John 3:16)

Jesus’ propitiatory work was initiated by the Father because of His great love for us. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us,” the apostle John wrote, “that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10). Sometimes the work of Christ is erroneously depicted as a kind and gentle Jesus placating the wrath of a vengeful God, as if Jesus needed to persuade the Father not to pour out His wrath on us. Nothing could be further from the truth. God the Father sent His Son on this great errand of mercy and grace. Though Jesus came voluntarily and gladly, He was sent by the Father. Scripture consistently affirms the Father’s love as the compelling cause of Jesus’ great work of atonement. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, niv). Though we all “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind,” God saved us “because of the great love with which he loved us” (Ephesians 2:3–4). Herein lies the glory of the cross. Justice and mercy are reconciled; wrath and love are both given full expression—and all so that we might experience the unsearchable riches of Christ. What great humility and gratitude this should produce in us: humility that we were the cause of our Savior’s unimaginable suffering, and gratitude that He so willingly and lovingly experienced God’s wrath that we might not suffer it ourselves.