John 3:16

John 3:16 (NKJV)
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.

This Scripture is perhaps the most popular verse in the Bible. When you became a Christian, this is probably the first verse you memorized. You may recite it every few weeks at your local church. You may have grown up in a Christian family where you heard it again and again until it became another one of those spiritual clichés. As a child, you could have rattled it off in fast-forward at your parents’ command.

John 3:16 effectively sums up everything a Christian should believe. The core fundamental truth of the Salvation story lies in this verse.

Let's take a closer look. The verse begins with "For God so loved the world." Let's concentrate on the "God" part for a moment.

Now, who is "God"? God is our Creator, the Supreme Being who rules over everything we know and see today. He is immortal, never had a beginning, never will have an end, all powerful and all knowing. The Bible tells us that He created the Universe in just one day (Gen 1). Ok, we’ll think about this for a while. We all know how big the earth is, right? Ok, pretty big. Now we know how big the Sun is; just big enough to fit a million Earths into it. The Sun is a star, and in the Universe, scientists predict there are about a hundred septillion stars (that’s 1 with 27 zeroes after it). Our galaxy is called the Milky Way, and to get from one end to the other, you’d have to travel at the speed of light for 100,000 years. That’s pretty big. Astronomers haven’t even figured out how many galaxies there are in the Universe, but there are many billions out there, each one with millions of stars and planets in it, and many are much larger than the Milky Way. God created all of this in one day. Genesis 1 also talks of how God created man in His own image to serve Him and have a relationship with Him. But man blew it pretty quickly. Adam disobeyed God and ever since then, the human race has been sinful – doing things God is displeased with. Now, one could only expect such a powerful God to have pretty high expectations for His humans here on Earth, which means we humans fall short of God’s standards by a long shot. We continually sin and do things that displease Him. Anyone who sins is doomed to die and will go to Hell – that is the death sentence God dealt out for us when we chose the pathway to sin – not because He wanted to but because His high standards had to be maintained. We desperately needed a way out – there was no other way for us to once again establish that connection man had with God as God wanted it to be.

Now we know who God is, let’s go to the next part of the verse: “For God so loved the world.” Think about that for a moment. This amazing, almighty God loved the world? Ok, that’s very nice, but why would God love the people in the world? I mean, what have we done for God to make Him love us? In fact, the way we live our lives gives God plenty of reason to hate and despise us. This section of the verse shows us that God really did want to maintain that relationship with man like He had intended it to be from the beginning when He created Adam and Eve. However, we had created a huge debt for ourselves by sinning and displeasing God, making it impossible for Him to come down to our level. A perfect, holy, righteous God cannot have a connection with a sinful, filthy, rebellious race of people. But still God loved us. He was sorry that man had chosen the wrong path and wanted that connection restored. So we needed a substitute, someone who could bridge that gap over the chasm sin had created between God and man. The substitute had to be completely without sin, perfect and displaying all attributes of God Himself. How else could man get back that oneness with God?

Which brings us to the next part of the verse: “…that He gave His only begotten Son.” This is where things get interesting. So we know that God really wanted that relationship with man restored, but to send His only Son to be the substitute? That’s a bit much. I mean, why did God love us that much anyway? We deserve to be sent to Hell for all our sinful actions, so why did God care about us enough to send His Son? This is the most vivid portrayal of the love of God anywhere in the Bible. We may never understand why, and when we come to that point of wonder and amazement at God’s love, we truly stand speechless and awestruck at the measures He took just to save us. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Wow. This was a huge sacrifice on God’s part. It meant letting His precious, only Son to go into the world, live amongst sinful people for 33 years, and then be killed on a Cross to take all our sins and punishment as our substitute. What an incredible sacrifice! The God who created the entire Universe in one day “so loved the world” that He rather had His Son become a substitute for us than allow the human race to perish in Hell. The gap between God and man was finally bridged by the Son of God. His name is Jesus Christ, God Himself who appeared in the flesh to live like us, with us and for us, becoming one of us for our sake and providing access to our loving Creator God once and for all.

The next part of the verse describes the outcomes of what Jesus did for us: “…that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Whoever believes in Him? So there’s still an option. God was not going to force us into a relationship with Him so He left us the choice now that we had access to Him. And the choice? We either believe in the Jesus Christ or we don’t. Quite simple, actually. What happens to those who believe? They “should not perish but have everlasting life.” The inevitable outcome for the entire human race was for us to be doomed to Hell, because we failed to meet God’s standards ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. But now, God offers us “everlasting life” with Him in Heaven! What an incredible thought to think that God Almighty has opened a way to us to live with Him forever! All we have to do is believe in Jesus Christ.

You may be thinking, “Now, I’m supposed to believe in Jesus, but isn’t He dead because He was killed when He was on Earth?” There’s good news for you, Jesus is alive! Jesus was God’s Son, therefore He was God Himself in the flesh, meaning He was completely without sin. If Jesus lived a life completely without sin on this Earth, that would have excluded Him from the death sentence God placed on the human race since the fall because Jesus was the only Person in history who lived a life on Earth that met God’s standards. Therefore, when He was killed, He was buried and on the third day, He rose again because death itself could not hold down the power of complete holiness, purity and righteousness. So Jesus paid our sin debt, bearing our punishment on the Cross, but still without sin. And it is that same resurrection power that is available to all those who place their trust and belief in Jesus.

If you haven’t already invited Jesus Christ into your heart, let me tell you now that God loves you so very, very much and He longs to have a personal relationship with you. He showed His love for you by sending His Son to take your punishment, allowing you to enjoy His presence and guidance here on Earth, and then live with Him forever after this life. Isn’t it an amazing thought to think that the God who created a hundred septillion stars in one day, wants you to accept His gift of Jesus Christ. It cost Him a lot, but He offers it for free. The choice is yours: will you believe in the Son? If you would like to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ, then you are making the best decision of your life. You are allowing the Creator of the Universe to take control of your life. Please pray the following prayer from your heart:

Click here for a prayer you could pray.

If you are still not sure, remember that God’s love is always there for you, no matter how far away from Him you may stray. Life on Earth is short, and our eternal destinies are what are most important. His gift is there waiting for you. Accept it or not.