In Ephesians 2:4-5 he said: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” This love is “great” because it actually leads God to cause us to come alive in faith and trust and joy in Jesus. This love conquers and overcomes spiritual death and gives new and eternal life.

John 3:16 may well be the most famous verse in the entire Bible. Even if it isn’t, its truth warrants continual celebration and gratitude. What I propose to do over the next couple of weeks is to explore this passage by looking at seven inescapable and eternally significant realities that together comprise this justifiably famous text.

The first truth in this text, God’s love, is foundational to everything that follows. But can anything more be said about the love of God that Christians don’t already know? As a matter of fact, yes! Perhaps the first thing I would point out is that God’s love is not uniform or monolithic. That is to say, God loves different people and different things differently. His love is multifaceted and variegated. That may surprise you, but consider this.

The Bible talks often of God’s love for his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Son’s love for the Father. We read in John 3:35: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” In John 14:31, Jesus says, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.” Again, in John 17:26, Jesus says he will make known the name of the Father so “that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.”

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