John 3:16
‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16
At international football matches, you will sometimes see a supporter in the crowd who raises a placard simply reading ‘John 3:16’. It refers to a famous statement in the Bible where Jesus said:
‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’
Look at those words carefully and you will see that Jesus answered in that one sentence four of life’s biggest questions:
1. Does God really love the world? We read, ‘For God so loved the world’ yet there is so much suffering and sadness. God made the world perfect, but we humans have rebelled against Him and ruined it. So the world today is not as God created it. We are bound up in the bundle of life and as a result find that life can be very tough.
But God loves the world, even though we have broken His commandments and deliberately sinned against Him. Not only does God speak of His love, but demonstrated it by sending His Son Jesus into the world to suffer and die on a cross, paying for the sin which we have committed.
2. Is Jesus God’s ‘only Son’? Some people want to call Him a prophet, a great example, or a martyr. He claimed to be God, using God’s holy name of Himself. Further, having died for us, three days later He rose again, which none of us could do. Jesus is called Immanuel meaning ‘God with us’. He is the Saviour of the world, and able to bring us to know God in a personal way.
3. The Bible verse says, ‘that whoever believes on Him …’, but is belief what is needed to bring us to God? Don’t we have to work at being good to get us to heaven? The Bible teaches that heaven is not a reward, but a gift. Because Jesus has died for us, we can be forgiven, and belong to God. forever. We are saved, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but through God’s love and mercy. Heaven is full of sinners … who are forgiven.
4. We read ‘that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ But is there life after death? Is there a heaven and a hell? Will God really judge everybody? God, in the Bible, makes it very clear that it everyone will die once, and after death there is judgement. Our eternity will be decided on whether we have been forgiven and have been made right with God through Jesus. Those who have received Jesus in this life, will be with Him in eternity. Those who have rejected Him, will be rejected by Him throughout eternity.
Looking again at John 3:16, we see that
when God loves, He loves the world;
when God gives, He gives His Son,
and when God saves, He saves forever.
Will you ask Jesus to become your Lord and Saviour? Will you ask Him to forgive and save you? Will you pray a prayer to God to put your trust in Him, and start to follow Him?
Dear God, thank you that you know all about me. I am sorry for all my wrong. Please forgive me. Thank you that Jesus died for me, and then rose from the dead. Please become my Lord and Saviour, and help me from today to follow you. Amen
