Compelling Love

God created the first man and woman in His own image, reflecting his own being, and breathed into their nostrils the breath of life.

Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)
²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

All things were created through the Word of God, the light of life who came in the flesh as Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, full of grace and truth, manifesting the character of the Father who had sent him.

John 1
¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

⁹ That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

¹⁴ 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.

¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

David looked forward to eternal life and prophesied that the Messiah, “Your Holy One”, would not see corruption – speaking of His resurrection.

Psalm 16
⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
¹⁰ For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
¹¹ You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The Father gave his Son, and Jesus laid down his life, so that all who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life.

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.

He is the good shepherd who gives eternal life to his sheep, those who believe in him and follow him.

John 10
²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and My Father are one.”

Just before raising Lazarus from the dead Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Those who die believing in him will be raised to everlasting life, and believers who are living when he returns will never die.

John 11:25-26
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

Those who believe in Jesus Christ are collectively his Bride. He is preparing an eternal abode for them and will come and receive them to himself.
He is himself the way, the truth and the life.   As Thomas à Kempis declared, “Without the Way, there is no going, without the Truth, there is no knowing, without the Life, there is no living.”

John 14
¹ “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
⁵ Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

To know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is to have eternal life. (John 17:3) Jesus Christ is the Word of life, manifested so that we can have fellowship with the Father and with His Son in His name.

John 20
³⁰ And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

1 John 1
¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— ² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— ³ that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Believers have fellowship with one another by walking in his light, with the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us from all sin.

1 John 1
⁵ This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Love for God is perfected by keeping His word. Jesus Christ is our Advocate with the Father. His atoning sacrifice cleanses us from all sin, and his grace empowers us to walk as he walked.

1 John 2
¹ My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ² And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

³ Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. (1 John 5:4) This especially includes believing in the testimony God has given of His Son, through whom we receive eternal life.

1 John 5
⁹ If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

God sent His Son so that we could know and abide in Him who is true, “in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/, 12/7/2014