12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. 13. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
The hymn “Jesus Loves Me This I Know,” has been on my mind this morning. This made me turn to John 15:12-13 where Jesus tells us to love one another sacrificially. The phrase that really caught my attention was “as I have loved you.” Jesus told us to love as He did, then in verse 13 He described the love that He has for us: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” As I read this the hymn came back to my mind: “Jesus Loves Me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” I have probably written this in another blog, but when this hymn comes to my mind I think about what the neo-orthodox scholar, Karl Barth, said about it. Someone asked him what the greatest theological truth that he knew of. His answer was: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” This man, who had written volumes of theological tomes, looked to the simplicity of the fact that Jesus loves us as the greatest theological truth. How do we know that Jesus loves us? We know that Jesus loves us, as the hymn states, because the Bible tells us so. There is no greater or clearer message in the New Testament than this. Everything that Jesus did while He ministered in the world told us that He loves us. Jesus spent a great deal of His time helping people. He healed people. He drove demons out of people. He raised people from the dead. One incident that really portrays the love that Jesus has for people is recorded in Luke 7:12-15. Jesus was approaching the city of Nain when He saw a funeral procession. The dead man was the only son of a widowed mother. Verse 13 tells us that Jesus looked at her “had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.” This son was the only means of support and help that this widowed mother had. The heart of Jesus went out to her, and he raised her son from the dead. That was a real act of love. The tears of the widow touched the great heart of Jesus. Do you think that He is not aware of our tears – our problems? The Bible gives us more evidence of Jesus’ love, but this should suffice. We know that Jesus loves us because He did what he described as the greatest evidence of love: “that a man lay down his life for his friends.” That is exactly what Jesus did. Look at what Jesus said about this fact in John10:11 and 17-18: “11. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep…. 17. Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” Jesus is telling us in these verses that He voluntarily gave His life for us. Jesus died to save us from sin, and He arose to make it eternally effective. We know that Jesus loves us because of the extent to which He went to save us. Paul described this in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus took the sins of the whole world upon Himself on the cross. This is the “cup” that Jesus asked to pass from Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew that the Father could not look upon sin, and that when He took all of our sins, He would be momentarily separated from his Father. It is amazing that God the Son and God the Father were separated for this period of time to keep sin from condeming us for eternity. And all this to keep sin from condemning us for eternity. This was all done in a love that surpasses any human understanding. There is nothing new here, but it is all-important. Just think of the tragedy if Jesus had not loved us as much as He did. So celebrate that love today and sing: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so….” Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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