God’s Love and Christ’s Perseverance

June 30, 2024

As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. (2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 NIV)

I readily confess that for the last several months I have been in a time of wrestling with my thoughts, emotions and anxiety about the widespread turmoil, chaos and even war amongst the people of our world. Several scriptures have come to my mind during these months that have been very helpful, but I cannot seem to consistently shake off the troubling thoughts and my heart be at rest.  Listed below are a few of the scriptures that have come to my mind with some of my own thoughts that came from pondering those scriptures.

• “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Jesus spoke these words to His disciples after their shared Passover meal when He began to make it clear that He would be killed in just a few hours.  He tells them that they will encounter trouble, tribulation, persecution and even death….but to “take heart, I have overcome the world”.  As I pondered this, several thoughts came to my mind.
  • What were the “things” that He told them about, so that in Him they might have peace?  The discourse that Jesus had with His disciples, that John writes of, begins in John chapter 13.  In this discourse Jesus says many “things”, including
    • “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God; trust also in me.” (John 14:1)
      • It seems to me that we can only trust what we consistently experience as being true. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) Hebrews 1:3 states, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word….”.  At the very core of His being, God our Father is love (1 John 4:8).  Ultimately, the only thing that is eternally true, and that in which we can entrust the very weight of our being, is that God our Father is love — that He is good, and that His love endures forever (Psalm 100) and that never will He leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
    • “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.” (John 14:18-20)
    • “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:25-27)
  • What or who is Jesus speaking of when He speaks about the world?  The English words, world or worldly, are used many times in the New Testament scriptures.  The Greek word, that is translated as world, is kósmos (Strongs G2889).  It means, something ordered or an ordered system such as the universe, creation (including mankind), or the world we live in.  By implication, it can mean the culture, the mindset, the philosophy or environment of human society that we live in.  The scriptures below and my associated thoughts are helpful to me in my trying to understand what Jesus means when He speaks of the world(kósmos).
    • With respect to the creation, John 1:1-10, speaking about Jesus, the Word of God, who is the only begotten Son of God, says “….Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made…….He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.”
    • For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:16-18     )
      • What does it mean to believe in the name of God’s one and only Son?  The word translated from the Greek as the English word believe, is pisteúō (Strongs G4100).  It is part of a family of words that are all different forms of the Greek word peíthō(Strongs 3982).  This family of words includes the words translated as the English words believe, faith, trust and entrust.  The Greek word peíthō, has the basic meaning of, to be persuaded about something.  It helped me to grasp the meaning of this family of words when I noticed that the Complete Jewish Bible translation consistently uses the word “trust” to translate the whole family of Greek words.  We can only trust that in which we have consistently seen truth revealed over time.  The absolute truth in which we can entrust the weight of our very being is, that God our Father is love, that He is good, that His love endures forever, and that He will never leave us or forsake us. This means that to have faith in God is to trust the source of the love of God that we have encountered. 
      • What does the love that God is, look like? The short answer, it looks exactly like Jesus.  Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Further, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 puts some flesh and bones to what this means.  It states that, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” Faith is not a blind leap based on what someone tells us is true, it comes from an encounter with God who is love Himself.  The encounter with the love that God is that we learn to trust, may come directly by His speaking to our heart, through the words of scripture that the Holy Spirit makes alive in our heart when we read them or hear them, through acts of kindness or words through other people, through nature, art, music or literature or countless other ways He uses to show His love for us. 
      • The name of God’s one and only Son is Jesus, which means, God is Savior.  He has come to seek and save the lost and to bring us home to His Father, who is also our Father.  Something cannot be lost unless it belongs to someone who considers it valuable, and it has a home.  To better see this, please go read the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son that is recorded in Luke 15 and picture yourself and every other person in the world(kósmos) as being that which was lost and belongs to God our Father.  When Jesus told those parables, He said that all the angels in heaven rejoice when the lost item is back in its home which is the very heart of God our Father.
        • The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. (Psalms 24:1-2)
        • “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:4-7)
        • “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10)
        • “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'” (Luke 15:31-32)
    • Whatever, any person may think about the world(kósmos), it has its origin in the heart and mind of God, and it was spoken into existence by Jesus.  God our Father has called it very good (Genesis 1:31), and He loves it regardless of its past, present or future condition!
  • Since I was born many years after the death of Jesus, it would seem to be logical to think that Jesus was speaking about overcoming the world through His imminent crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.  But then I realized that He spoke in the past tense when He said, “I have overcome the world”, not that he will overcome.  How and when did He overcome the world and what was it about the world that He had overcome?  I cannot say that I absolutely know the answer to these questions, but I offer some thoughts that I have for others to ponder. 
    • The Greek word that is translated to the English word “overcome” is “nenikēka” (Strongs G3528),which is a verb in the perfect tense. The perfect tense in Greek is used to describe a completed action which produced results which are still in effect all the way up to the present.  “Nenikēka” means to conquer and overcome an enemy or circumstance, to carry off the victory, to come off victorious by some action in the past, the effect of which continues to the present.   In the case of Jesus, this effect continues into every moment in the future, for he is Lord of heaven and earth.
    • Love, by its very nature is relational.  Love cannot exist if there is only one being, it must be manifested towards another being.  1 John 4:8 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”   Since this is true, then God cannot be love if He is alone.  Therefore, if there was ever a time that God was not love, then it was because He was alone, or He has never been alone and therefore has always been love.
      • Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”   The Hebrew word that is translated as God is “’ĕlōhîm” (Strongs H430).  The Hebrew word is a plural noun which is a starting point for understanding what the early church called the Trinity, in their efforts to explain the nature of God as they had experienced Him— as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Evidence for the Trinity, is further seen in Genesis1:2 which says, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God (‘ĕlōhîm) was hovering over the waters.”  Genesis 1:3 says, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” The means, by which God did this, was through His Only Begotten Son, which is spoken of in John 1:1-3 which says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
      • 1 John 4:12 says, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
    • I want to be careful about making dogmatic statements about the nature of God with respect to His being and nature before the creation of the world(kósmos), but I can draw some very sound conclusions based on what the scriptures tell us about Jesus.  Jesus is God’s Only Begotten Son, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:3), and the image(eikon) of the invisible God (Col 1:15).
      • Many children, who have been taught about God, in their innocence eventually ask the question, “If in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, then who made God?”  I do not think Jesus would have ignored such a question from a child, for Matthew 19:14 quotes Jesus saying, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
      • When teaching those who came to hear him, Jesus often used the phrase, “I am………”.  Examples include, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35), “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), ” I am the gate for the sheep” (John 10:7), “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11 ), “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7)
        • The phrase, I am, in the Greek is ego eimi. This is the same phrase used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, of Exodus 3:13-15 when God answered Moses’ question, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”  God’s answer was, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”
        • The Hebrew phrase translated as I AM WHO I AM, is Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, it means I am/will be what I am/will be (Complete Jewish Study Bible). Jesus used this phrase in a dialog with the Pharisees, which is recorded in John 8:56-58 which says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”  “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”  “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”
      • Multiple times, the scriptures record that Jesus said that He and His Father are one, that He only spoke what He heard from His Father, and only did what He saw His Father doing.  One example is from John 5:19 which states, “Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”  Whatever Jesus meant by His statement, “I have overcome the world(kosmos)”, He did it because He saw His Father doing it and did it by the same means or way that His Father has done it.
      • The scriptures declare with great clarity that God our Father is love.  Based on that immutable truth, I am going to make a statement about God our Father, that I am not positive that I can prove from the scriptures, but I am rather sure it cannot be disproved from the scriptures.  That statement is that God our Father, who calls Himself “THE I AM THAT I AM”, is who He is, by His eternal choice to be love.  When He chose to create the world(kosmos), which includes His choosing to make mankind in His image, He likewise gave us freewill such as He Himself has.  With that freewill, we could either choose to trust Him as a loving Father and have fellowship with Him in all things or we could choose to believe that He does not love us and decide to try to live independent of the only One who is Life.  Choosing not to trust Him, to live as if we are orphans without a Father who loves us, and therefore try to make our own way in life, is the definition of sin.  This is the mindset of the world, the world that God our Father loves so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son, to not condemn that world but to save it.  He made the choice before the creation of the world that He would forever be a loving Father to His children whom He gave freewill knowing that they could reject Him.  He would show His love to them all their days and pursue them into the deepest and darkest sin to call them back to Himself and save them from self-destruction.  The love that He is, suffers long and is kind; does not envy; does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things and never fails! (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV)
      • After all my pondering of these scriptures, what is my conclusion as to my previously stated question, “How and when did He overcome the world and what was it about the world that He had overcome?”
        • How had He overcome?  In the same way God our Father has overcome, that He would forever choose to be Love and would trust His Father no matter what might come, even if mankind, who is made in His image, should become deceived and not trust that God our Father is love.
        • When did He overcome?  Before the creation of the heavens and the earth.
        • What did He overcome?  Our not trusting God our Father and choosing to try to live apart from the only one who is Life.  He entered our world to save it, not to condemn it.  All who trust in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
  • How can we experience and participate in Jesus’ having overcome the world? 1 John 5:1-5 states, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
    • Stated very simply, we can experience and participate in Jesus’ overcoming the world(kósmos) by trusting in the love of God our Father for the whole world(kósmos) and obeying his commands by trusting in His mercy and grace for us that we may also love the world(kósmos). 
      • Jesus said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12) and “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
      • John the Beloved added, “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. (1 John 3:23-24)
  • If you have read this note all the way to this point, then you likely do not remember the scriptures I included in the very first paragraph, because I have not directly mentioned them.  Those scriptures are a prayer by the Apostle Paul for himself, the church in Thessalonica and us as well.  Listen to his prayer, “…..pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”(2 Thessalonians 3:1-5)
    • Can you hear the echo of Jesus words, “in this world you will have trouble but take heart for I have overcome the world”? Paul is praying, that in the midst of our experiencing trouble in this world, that the Lord may direct us into His eternal nature of being Love and into Christ’s absolute perseverance in trusting in the Love of God our Father for the whole world(kósmos), no matter what may come because of mankind’s freewill causing the trouble.  Romans 5:1-5 goes on to say, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us”. (Romans 5:1-5)

I bring my troubling thoughts about the trouble of this world, to this conclusion and invite you to join me with receiving the encouragement for us from the writer of Hebrews:

• “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” (Hebrews 3:12-14)
• Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
• “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:19-25)

Blessings in the Name of The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit—- for He is good and His love endures forever, never will He leave us or forsake us!

Kevin