The word love means different things to different people. Some might use that word to describe their preference for a particular food or some other personal preference. Others might think of the godly affection and commitment between husband and wife or the self-sacrificing love of parents for their children. Yet as noble as the love of parents for their children is, that love is but a poor reflection of God's for sinners.

The Bible tells us, "God is love" (1 John 4:8,16). This passage says more than that God is loving. It tells us that love is an essential quality of God. His very nature is to love. But his love was not static. Instead, it moved him to action. As Jesus tells us, "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son" (John 3:16).

We know that passage so well that we might be tempted to take its message for granted. We dare not.

WE BY NATURE DESERVE DEATH

God loved the world even though the world was not loveable. Our God loved sinners, people who were in open rebellion against him.

God is holy. He is a consuming fire. He must punish sin. He warned Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that if they ate of the forbidden tree, they would die. When they disobeyed, they brought death not only upon themselves but also upon all of their descendents as well. "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12).

All human beings born since the fall into sin have inherited a sinful nature from their parents. Sinful human beings give birth to sinful offspring. "Flesh gives birth to flesh" (John 3:6). Human sin and corruption are so pervasive and so complete that the Bible declares, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one" (Romans 3:10-12). Therefore everyone by nature stands condemned because "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

GOD PUNISHED HIS SON FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD

But God loved this world of sinners so much that he planned its salvation. His holiness demanded punishment for sin. His love caused him to punish his own Son for the sin of the world. Soon after the fall, God promised to send a descendant of the woman to destroy the devil's power (Genesis 3:15). He promised that a Savior would suffer and die, not for his own sin but for ours. Through Isaiah he declared, "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5,6).