You Are the 'Whosoever' God Loves

It’s easy to think of God as sitting majestically on a heavenly throne, overlooking the earth, far removed and distant.

It is true that God is certainly over us all: “…the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:15-16).

Ever since the rebellion of Adam and Eve against God in the Garden of Eden, at the beginning of human history, sin has separated humans from God. In our sinful nature, we cannot enter God’s holy presence and live. In God is light and life, but in our sin, we are utterly separate from that (see Romans 3:23); that is why the Bible says that sin naturally leads to death (see Romans 6:23).

If God was uncaring, unconcerned, and had pleasure in condemning us, He would be entirely justified, and we would be left without hope.

But all of Scripture tells us something much, much different about the character of God.

“‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live’” (Ezekiel 33:11).

“The Lord is … longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

Do you see the intimate nature of each of these expressions of God’s heart? His desire for men and women to be saved from sin and its punishment is not distant, corporate, or cold in any way. It is personal.

His amazing love is not just for him or her, or them. It’s for YOU.

The personal nature of God’s love was especially made manifest when God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth. Jesus was God in flesh. He was fully God, yet also fully man. He took on human form, so that He could identify with us, take our sin upon Himself, and die in our place. Being sinless and divine, He alone was able to pay the full penalty of sin and then also rise from the grave. He is eternal, and therefore, His payment is eternally effective. He has made it possible for us to be set free and forgiven of sin through His sacrifice on our behalf. For those who put their faith and trust in Him, He exchanges their unrighteousness for His righteousness that is perfect and acceptable to God (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus also makes it possible for us to receive the gift of eternal life through His eternal nature as He intercedes for us before God.

“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…” (1 Timothy 2:5-6).

A ransom is something paid to someone who is holding another in captivity – a price paid for someone’s freedom. In this case, Jesus paid to set you free from sin and death that holds us all hostage. Scripture says, also, that the wages of sin is death – death is what your sin naturally earns. But eternal life through Jesus Christ is God’s gracious gift offered to you (see Romans 6:23).

But this offer, personally extended to you, must also be personally received by you through trusting in Jesus:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).

“…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved…For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:9, 13).

You are the “whoooo-ever” that God loves so much and sent His Son to die for, and to rise again, so you can live forever with Him.