Going back to the very beginning, in Genesis, is helpful to gain a thorough understanding of why God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth. He came to save us, earth dwellers, and we desperately needed saving. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t do anything haphazardly or arbitrarily. He’s purposeful in all His dealings, and since He has all knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and power, He masterfully creates! He knows the end at the beginning and the beginning at the end. Nothing escapes Him. So, when He created Adam, the first man, and took a rib from Adam’s body and made Eve, God knew that they would one day betray Him. He was well aware of both the rich fulfillment and the temptation that came along with the gift of free-will, yet He gave it anyway.
That’s what real love does. It’s the way real love operates. It does not restrain or imprison. It doesn’t withhold or abandon. Real love is God’s love, and 1Corinthians 13:4-7(NLT) tell us that “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” Love, and the life and light within it, is the reason for everything that God has done in His entire universe, and love is the root and outcome of everything God tells us to do in His Word.
1John 4:8(NLT) tells us, “8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Our Heavenly Father is love, and God’s love will never cease to endure. It will never stop increasing, producing, and triumphing over all that seeks to diminish or deter its power. So,given the nature of God’s unlimited, unconditional, and enduring love, it is logical that He would seek to increase it, and one of the ways He has chosen to do this is through us, His children.
God has given us the gift of free-will, and we can use it any way that we choose. Romans 11:29(NLT) tells us, “For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” Even when we use it to do harm rather than to do good, God will not withdraw or violate the gift of free-will that He’s given us. We witness His dedication to uphold His commitment to our free-will with Adam and Eve, but even further back, we can see it with satan as well. Our Heavenly Father didn’t destroy satan when he attempted to overthrow His Kingdom, nor did He prevent satan from trying to do this. In the same way, God didn’t prevent satan from tempting Eve, and then Adam. He allowed them to sin against Him because they all had free-will, and so do we. Our Heavenly Father didn’t want robots. He wanted a family, and He created us in His image so that we could be children that will choose to love Him, and not be forced to do so.
Biblical history shows us that as God’s created children, we’ve struggled to get on board with His love. We’ve rebelled in every way imaginable and haven’t embraced the humility that love requires. Although most would say the exact opposite, humanity concocted an agenda that has always been at odds with God’s agenda of love and peace. We were at a catastrophic level of hate, violence, and rebellion against God when He sent His Son to the earth.
We have been shockingly ungrateful towards God, and Romans 1:28-32(The Message) spells out the degree to which we have continued to abandon Him and turn our backs on His truth. This passage says, “Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!”
Romans 8:1 tells us that there’s now no condemnation to those that are in Christ. We should be eternally thankful that we can stand before our Heavenly Father with no sense of guilt, sin, or condemnation. Through His infinite mercy and grace, God has made us righteous through Jesus Christ. 2Corinthians 5:21(NLT) declares, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” Our Heavenly Father sent His Son to earth to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He redeemed us and made it possible for us to live abundantly. That’s why he came, and we must be eternally thankful that he did.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
“Why Jesus Came”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.