John 3:16 (ESV)
¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Without question this is one of the most famous verses in the world and sets forth the greatest example of love that has ever been seen. The redemption of mankind begins and ends with the love of God. It was His great love that moved and motivated Him to give His only begotten Son. In his first epistle, John said, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

God loved, not because of anything we did, but because of His very nature.   John tells us that God is love.  Love is the essence of God’s being.  So then, God’s giving rose out of that very essence.

It is hard to put into words the degree of love it took for God to give His Son to save such an unlovable world.  Let us not forget that it was for His enemies that God sacrificed His Son.  Paul puts it in perfect perspective for us.

Romans 5:6-10 (ESV)
⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 

God did not give His Son for the good, but for the ungodly.  He gave His Son to save His enemies.  We have never seen anyone do something like that.  God could have just written the world off, and it would have been our fault.  Remember, we are what we are, not because God created us as sinners, but because we chose to disobey God.  But, by the grace of God, He did not write us off.  Instead, He gave His Son for sinners so that we might be saved.

Let us not overlook  that Jesus is not just a Son of God, He is the only begotten Son.  I like the way the NIV puts it.  It says that God gave His one and only Son.  It is one thing to give up something of which you have several.  However, it is something else to give up your one and only of anything.  When what you are giving up is your Son, it demonstrates a giving that cannot be duplicated.  That is what God did for us.  He gave up His one and only Son.

John 3:16 is filled with thoughts that should comfort us and move us to love God in return, for as John said, in yet another place, we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).  However, there is an indirect warning in this verse that we should all take seriously.  To have the eternal life of which the passage speaks, we must continue to have faith in Christ.

Since this faith is contrasted with disobedience in this same chapter (John 3:36), we know that the kind of faith that is under consideration is an obedient faith.  What happens to those without an obedient faith?  The verse says that they will perish.  To perish means to experience the full force of God’s wrath (ver. 36).  That does not mean to cease to exist.  It means to be separated from God and all His goodness forevermore (2 Thessalonians 1:9).  It means to be in torment for all eternity (Matthew 25:41;Revelation 4:10).    The good news is we can easily avoid perishing.  Why? Because God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.