The Love of God
A Meditation on Covenant Faithfulness in Christ
God’s love is rooted in His own being and needs no human response. Before creation, before covenant history, and before sin entered the world, God was love because God was God. His love is not a reaction to circumstances, nor is it awakened by something attractive in the creature. It flows from His eternal being, from His holiness, faithfulness, and self-existence. Scripture declares God’s love from His revealed name and character rather than leaving it to be measured by human experience. “Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). His love is as immutable as He is.
Because God is holy, His love is holy. Because He is righteous, His love is righteous. Because He is faithful, His love does not fail. Scripture presents the love of God as covenantal commitment grounded in His faithfulness and purpose. God sets His love upon His people freely, binds Himself by promise, and acts decisively to accomplish their good according to His wisdom. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). This love addresses sin truthfully and works toward cleansing, discipline, and restoration according to God’s purposes.
The love of God is made known and given its true meaning in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Scripture reveals divine love by displaying it. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The incarnation stands as the fulfillment of God’s covenant faithfulness, accomplished in history through the sending of His Son. The obedience of Christ fulfilled God’s saving purpose and accomplished the redemption He had promised. The cross stands as the place where God’s love and righteousness were fully exercised together in faithful justice. “In this 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).
Speaking of the love of God requires speaking of Christ, because His person and work give that love its true form and meaning. Jesus is the living exposition of divine love. In His humility, God’s love takes flesh. In His obedience, God’s love keeps covenant. In His suffering, God’s love bears judgment. In His resurrection, God’s love secures life. Love is defined by the sure purpose it secures for God’s people and the glory toward which it faithfully brings them. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
In Christ, the love of God takes visible shape as covenantal faithfulness expressed in joyful obedience to the Father and sacrificial service toward others. It is lived obedience that fulfills God’s saving purpose and secures redemption.
This truth steadies the believer who walks through hardship, delay, or correction. Scripture presents God’s love as ruling over suffering and directing it according to His wise and faithful purposes. “Those whom Yahweh loves He reproves, even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:12). Discipline functions as a covenant mark of belonging within God’s faithful care. Affliction serves God’s work of refinement, carried forward by His purposeful and patient love that completes what He has begun.
There are seasons when obedience is slow, when the fruit of faithfulness is not immediately visible, when the path God appoints is heavy. Scripture teaches the believer to recognize these moments as the setting in which God’s love is actively at work. “For momentary, light affliction is working out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). God’s love guarantees completion according to His purpose and timing. “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
The love of God humbles the heart because it is undeserved. It strengthens faith because it is sure. It steadies the soul because it does not fluctuate with circumstance. God’s love remains steady through suffering, weakness, and discipline because it rests in the eternal will of God and stands secured by the finished work of Christ. Nothing in heaven or on earth stands outside its reach. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38–39).
The soul finds rest in the steadfast faithfulness of God. Rest is found through trust in God’s covenant promise and displayed in reverent worship. The love of God is eternal, unfailing, and certain to complete His work for the praise of His glorious grace.