Salvation

JOHN 3:16

"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."

John 3:16 is probably the most popular verse in the entire Bible, it is a verse that reveals the extent of God’s love for you, His child and His promise of eternal life to those that believe in Him. But rarely do people take the time to explore the entire chapter to grasp the full picture of Jesus’ statement. Consider this: you get hold of a book, open to a chapter in it and memorize a line of the chapter and base the entire narrative of the chapter on the line you memorized. You will run into an error in grasping the entire storyline of the chapter and entire book with such a method. To ultimately understand John 3:16, you have to ask, why did God have to give His Son? What circumstances led to this event? You cannot say you are saved and not be aware of what you are saved from. What events led to God sending Jesus and why do you have to be saved?

To understand John 3:16, I will break the verse into 5 different sections for a deeper understanding of what lies deep inside it:

1. For God so loved the world

2. That He gave His only begotten Son

3. That whoever believers in Him

4. Shall not perish

5. But have eternal life.

1. For God so loved the world – why does God love the world? What is the ‘world’? 

To understand what the world is, you have to consider Genesis 1:1, here it is revealed that the world was created by God… "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". It’s just like saying ‘for God so loved Nigeria’, but in all essence, the country is just a land, it is the people who reside in it that give it a meaning and purpose. 

In this same light, the world has you and me, the people who dwell in it, and we were all given a mandate by God as stated in Genesis 1:26, "Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So, here in Genesis 1 lies who the people of this world are and the mandate given to them. You are the ‘world’ that God loves, it is you that Jesus died for, and He had you in mind when He hung on the cross.

2. That He gave His only begotten Son – who is the Son? 

John 1:14 reveals who the ‘Son’ is, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."  Reading through John 1 gives you a broader perspective of who the Son is, we read that the ‘Word’ became flesh and that flesh is the only Son from the Father, so what is the Word? John 1:1 holds that answer, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  So, the Son is the Word of God, and the Word of God is God… why then is the Son referred to as a Son and not just called God? For Jesus to come into this world legally, He had to be born of a woman, and for a woman to conceive a child, her eggs have to be fertilized by the seed of a man. Now for the Word of the Lord to be conceived as a man, we see in Luke 1:35 that, "And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."

The Holy Spirit went to work in the womb of the woman and Jesus was conceived, that is how the Word of God became flesh. God became flesh, He gave Himself to the world (you and me) in order to take away our sins, He alone could pay the price of our sins because He is spotless, eternal, and in the Only Begotten Son is life…. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. - John 1:4" For you to be part of that eternal life, He has to give it to you, and He already has, He poured it out on the cross, it is at the cross that vou contact life and when vou find yourself at that cross, you are face-to-face with His sacrifice for you.

3. That whoever believers in Him - this statement reveals to us that the promise in this verse is to those who believe in Jesus, not to people who are only aware of who He is. There’s a huge difference between believing in something and just knowing it. For instance, I’m aware of the various religions in the world but I only identify as a Christian and I believe in Jesus. 

It is possible to be a church-going Christian and not be aware of who Jesus is and the sacrifice He made on your behalf. It’s possible to be an avid reader of Scripture but be unaware of the power it holds. John 3 begins with a Pharisee named Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night, acknowledging His authority as a 'Teacher’ from God. Consider Nicodemus’ statement, “you are a Teacher from God”, he was moved by Jesus’ ability to preach the Gospel and perform miracles but was void of the Spirit and Life communicated in His teachings. He knew Jesus as a Teacher but not the Savior of the world, in conclusion, his entire experience with Jesus was surface level. He was not truly saved because he did not believe in Jesus as being the Son of God. 

Nicodemus is a perfect example of how one can be well-educated but not understand the workings of God because the things of God can only be revealed by the Spirit. Jesus in response gave Him a deeper insight into the things of the Spirit. You might ask why Jesus gave Nicodemus this lecture instead of just thanking him and bidding him goodbye, but for the sake of Nicodemus’ faith, Jesus needed to relay to Nicodemus that discerning His works can only be done in the Spirit, not in the flesh.

It was relevant that Jesus revealed to Him that he must recognize Jesus as Lord of all rather than just a Teacher from God. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:10, "these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God", believing in God and understanding His Word is not something that comes to the human mind naturally, it is the Spirit of God that guides you into the truth of His reality. Knowing you are saved but not understanding why or what you are being saved from is an incomplete experience as a believer. It's like having American citizenship and residing in a village in Nigeria, unaware of the opportunities that lie in America, you will remain in oblivion. Unless you stumble on the truth about opportunities America that can add value to you, you may live in a village all your life, and to stumble upon that knowledge, you have to be educated about the differences and opportunities as compared to both countries, and how to make your way out of that village to where'll lead you there. That is what the Bible does for you, it educates you on the matters of God, and the Holy Spirit is the one who leads you into the truth lavished in the Scriptures. He is your ticket to knowing God and believing in His Word.

4. Shall not perish - what does it mean to perish? As stated previously, Jesus came to take away our sins… what is this sin? 

It is that of rebellion, the sin of Adam as seen in Genesis 3. Man was created to live by the Word that proceeds from God. Unfortunately, that order was perverted when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, giving way for the enemy to influence his decisions. 

That same disobedience that Adam demonstrated is found in you and me naturally because we are all descendants of Adam. And a life apart from God, apart from His Kingdom, is a life offered to you by the devil… there is no in-between, you are either with God or not with Him, and both sides have their rewards as seen in 1 John 5:10-12 – "He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." So, choosing to live according to your standards is a life apart from God… you cannot be a part of a system if you do not comply with the laws of the system.

You cannot be in the army if you do not obey the regulations of what it means to be a soldier. Mankind always likes to find an in-between, neutral ground, but it is not so in reality, not complying with God's standards will have you on the side of the devil, being 'good' as you might deem fit does not give you the promised life. The promise is to them that believe, and to them who do not believe is what the devil has prepared, to kill, to steal and to destroy.

5. But have eternal life - remember the example of being a person in the world? 

You are here, but you do not belong to the world, at the end of your life, you return to who you belong to. Now, while in the world, you have to act accordingly by following its rules… but what if you’re required to do something that you know isn’t right, something that your parents or guardians taught you against? Do you compromise yourself in such a temporary situation or do you hold steadfast to your beliefs and upbringing? 

Scriptures reveal to us in John 17:14 that… "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."  When Jesus walked this earth, it had rules, one of them was that the Sabbath day was a day of rest, a day in which no work was to be done… but that did not stop Him from healing a man that had been lame for 38 years. The world at that time did not care about the bondage of lameness the man had been in for 38 years, they were only angry at the fact that Jesus did not live according to their standards. It is the same way we as believers ought to live, as people who have a view of eternity in our hearts. 

As much as human beings hate to think or imagine they will die someday, the truth still remains, you will die one day… and in death, there’s Heaven and hell. John 14:6 reveals that, "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."… The way to eternity is through Jesus, in Him and only Him can life be found, not through your Pastors or Prophets, but through Jesus.

You might ask for proof of this eternal life, and the proof is lavished in the Scriptures, a consistent study of God's Word will open you up to the truth that lies therein. That's all the proof you need as a believer to access the God you believe in, He must not appear to you before you believe, it's having faith in Him that gives you the access to the life He has promised you.

Salvation Prayer: Dear Lord, today, I repent of my previous sinful ways when I was apart from You. Today, I recognize and accept the sacrifice You made for me on the cross. Today, I choose You, above everything else, above my desires, I choose to live in the consciousness of Your everlasting love. Lord, I ask that in Your mercy and kindness, You teach me to live in a way pleasing unto You. Help me to be who You have made me to be, in Jesus Name.

AMEN.