John
3:16 (NIV)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one
and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life”
John 3:16, according to the website, BibleGateway.com,
is the most popular (most read and most cited) verse in the entire Bible. Indeed, this verse is considered the summary
verse of Christianity. For example, the
letters of the word “GOSPEL” are contained in order in this verse
(God--Only--Son—Perish—Eternal—Life).
John 3:16 is probably the most widely used Scripture used on signs at
sporting events. There are many other
tidbits of trivia about John 3:16 with my favorite being the fact that the
In-N-Out Burger chain prints John 3:16 on the inside of the bottom rim of their
paper cups.
John 3:16 is part
of Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus’ question in v 9 related to being born
again. Being born again relates to
entering the kingdom of God and having eternal life. The key to all this is God’s initiative
toward His creation and such initiative is based on love. There’s no other motivation God had and
has.
This verse is also
the key verse to explain how can sinful man relate and be accepted by a holy
God. The connection is God’s only
begotten (the word means “unique”) Son.
When you think of the chasm that sin established between holy God and
rebellious man, the only way that chasm can be connected is through the cross
of Christ.
This verse also
emphasizes the role of faith. Whoever
“believes in Him” demonstrates faith in the love of God to save sinful man from
being destroyed forever (perish) and instead will enjoy eternal life.
A good exercise to
try in your quiet time is to meditate on the meaning of the key words of this
one verse:
God………loved…….world……gave….one and only…. Son…… believes in
Him……perish…..eternal life. Just
meditating on each of these words will bring you into the presence of God and
give you even deeper appreciation and awesomeness at what He did to save you
from the consequences of your sinful nature.
God so loves you no
matter what you have done. I don’t know
who gets credit for originally writing this wonderful illustration: You can take a $100 bill, crumple it, drop it
to the ground and stomp on it, make it as dirty as possible, yet if you offered
that bill to someone else, that someone would take it. No matter what you did to that bill it is
still worth $100, it never decreases in value.
So it is with your life in the eyes of God. You can be dropped, crumpled, ground into the
dirt, stomped on by decisions you make and circumstances that happen. You can feel worthless and hopeless. Yet no matter what happens, you never lose
your value in God’s eyes.
Steven Curtis Chapman recorded a song entitled
“Speechless”[1]
and also wrote a book with his pastor, Scotty Smith, entitled Speechless:
Living in Awe of God’s Disruptive Grace (Zondervan, 1999). One of the quotes from his book, to me,
describes John 3:16: “In the gospel, we
discover we are far worse off than we thought, and far more loved that we ever
dreamed.”
Do you clearly understand why this verse is the most read
and most cited verse in the 31,000+ verses of the Bible? How does it encourage and strengthen you
right now?
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