This is part three of a series of posts on the Love of God
The third aspect of God’s love is that it cannot be conquered. His love is also a conquering agent. Ephesians 2:4-7 states:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Death was conquered by God’s love and we live now! We were once dead, but now, in Christ, we are alive! The pinnacle scripture that talks about nothing conquering God’s love is Romans 8:35, 37-39:
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 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.
Nothing can beat us. God’s love, God’s grip on us cannot be broken! Not only has God’s love conquered death and cannot be conquered by death, God’s love has made death a slave, made death a precious gift! Paul said so eloquently in Philippians 1:21-23, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.” Do you believe that? Does your life reflect that? Dear friends, if you are a Christian, then death is a gift! Death was once our enemy and thanks be to God for His love which has made our enemy our slave! This is truly a great mystery. Paul says in another letter to the Romans that “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (8:28, emphasis added). All things, includes death. It includes a lot of other things I don’t have space to expound upon (visit here and learn more).
The fourth aspect is that God’s love unifies people. Colossians 2:1-2 states,
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself (my emphasis).
The hearts of the believers were knit together, they were one! The agape of the Father breaks down barriers and brings about unity. Jesus’ prayer in John 17:22-23 paints an even clearer picture. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” Jesus prayed that we, His followers, be one unified organism, just as He and the Father are one. The oneness of God is central to the belief in God. The Jews, some still to this day, recite the Shema . It is a quotation of Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O’ Israel, the LORD is God, the LORD is One!” The Shema is a statement of belief, not a prayer. Another interesting fact about the oneness of God is that it is very possible that the second part of the Shema, “the LORD is One” could be more than just a statement of monotheism or unity. Zechariah 14:9 states “And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.” Cyrus Gordon has stated that God’s name is One. In Hebrew, your name was descriptive of your character. God’s name is One. God is unified, in perfect harmony and His love can do the same thing for us. When we have a proper perspective of His love, we will not allow the petty differences destroy the unity that Christ died to create.
~sdg
The Camel's Hump 