What Manner of Love?

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God...Beloved now are we the sons of God..." (John 3:1-2)

The greatest show of love God Almighty could have displayed upon us was to initiate a lineage and offer to add us to it.

Of what need were we to God? None surely. The first to bear the title, "son of God" on earth was Adam (Luke 3:38). From the beginning, God was looking for an heir; and we know from the Old Testament that this could have been a mere servant (Gen.15:2-3). But instead, He chose to allow you and I to experience a father and son relationship with Him, far closer than Creator and creation, or even friend-to-friend. Should this not give us somewhat of a window into the mind of God, and His desire for intimacy with us?

When the first son, Adam, failed by disobeying, and as our federal representative, plunged the rest of us into sin, it was not an angel or a cherubim who was commissioned to redeem the human race, but another Son. One would think God would have despaired of human flesh! But this Son, though He might bear the fleshly image of the first Adam, also retained the everlasting stamp of Deity, therefore becoming the "last Adam" (1Cor.15:45).

But it did not stop there. God was willing to allow this perfect Son—perfect even in human flesh—to be sacrificed, so that this same personal relationship could be bestowed upon you and me. We are not now, nor will we ever be, Deity; but as children of God through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal.3:26); we are related.

Truly, what manner of love is this?

I challenge you today to meditate on this truth. If it does not overwhelm you, you either have not comprehended it, or else you have never experienced it. I know one thing for sure: if it is experienced and comprehended, it will change you. "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he [Christ] is pure" (v.3).

I once heard a mother say to her child who would be gone from home for a while, "Remember who you are." And that is what God says to us: "Remember who you are." After all, those who are the heirs of a King, sons of a Sovereign, walk differently than peasants.

"Beloved, now—[now!]—are we the sons of God."