| Know The Love of God By Timothy W. Burnett |
| According to God's word, His love casts out fear (1John 4:18). God wants us to experientially know His love (1John 3:16). This can be understood more perfectly by studying God's love toward Jesus Christ. During the time of the Gospels God loved His son, and He was faithful toward His son. God's integrity is directly related to ?His love. In John 3:35 the prophet John declared how the Father loves the son. According to John 8:29 Jesus emphasized that God was with him. He also reiterated that the Father did not leave him alone. There should be no doubt about God's faithfulness and love toward His son Jesus Christ. But then the reader comes to Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. In context Jesus willfully allowed the authorities to persecute, beat, mock, scourge and crucify him. According to the King James Bible, during his last minutes on the cross he said with a loud voice, "Eli Eli Lamana Sabachthani, which is to say, 'My God, my God, why hath thou forsaken me!" God left His beloved son alone. This brings a devastating blow to any sincere student of the Bible who desires to know God's love. This verse by itself directly attacks the love and integrity of God. Why the contradiction? The problem rests in the translation. In Gospel Light, author George Lamsa explained that the translators included the Aramaic words due to uncertainty of meaning. He also revealed the more accurate meaning. The word Eli meant "my God." The word Lamana was pronounced Lmna, and was a declaration of "for this purpose." The root of "sabachthani" was shbk and meant to spare, leave, reserve or keep. Based on this research, Jesus' words are better translated, "My God, my God, for this purpose was I spared!" Jesus Christ knew the purpose of his crucifixion and death. During the most difficult and excruciating time of his life, Jesus Christ sucked in one of his last breaths of air and loudly gave a cry of victory. God did not leave His son alone. Jesus knew this better than anybody else. In John 16:32 Jesus said, "...yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." Just as God never left His first-born son alone, so also will He never leave His beloved children alone. Anybody who gets born-again has the hope of the return of Christ (1Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1Corinthians 15:51-54). They can trust the integrity of God's word throughout their lives. They obtain victory over death through Christ Jesus our Lord. With this in mind, what is there to fear? There is no fear in God's love. But the perfect love of God casts out fear. |