As I survey the wondrous cross: Meditating on 1st John Chapter 3:16 & John Chapter 3:16

As I survey the wondrous cross . . .

I meditated on the love and the relationships of God with men, and men towards one another, I realized the reason why there are 6 out of 10-commandments made by God for a horizontal relationship.

The first four are directly concerned with our God relationship. They are vertical in nature. The last six are socially oriented and might be described as horizontal,
though no doubt they also impact our relationship with God.

“. . . When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and
will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your
houses and strike you down" (Exodus 12:21-23).

God obviously did not need to see the blood on the doorposts of Israel to know who was His own and who was not. He knew every human heart in the land of Israel. The purpose of splashing blood on the top and both sides of the doorframe--on the upright posts and horizontal lintel--was to teach an important symbolic lesson to the people of Israel. The
lamb's blood on the doorframe represented the human blood that would one day drench the upright post and horizontal crossbeam of a Roman cross.

Through the imagery of the Passover, God was saying to the entire human race, "If I see the blood of my Son Jesus splashed over the doorway of your life, if you hide behind His rugged and blood-drenched cross, then you will be safe from my wrath. You will be saved from the destruction that will be unleashed against the world in the day of judgment." That is the essence of the Passover and the Christian gospel: We are safe from the wrath of God under the blood of Christ.

I like to call it: THE LOVE OF FELLOWSHIP- The Ties That Bind

There are some remarkable similarities between the most famous verse in the entire bible, John 3:16, and its almost-namesake, 1 John 3:16.

John 3:16 (Christ said:)

"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."

1 John 3:16

"By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

The first similarity is that both verses are talking about the same event: the death of Jesus on the Cross. Second, they both talk about the love necessary to carry out this event. But notice one very important difference between the two:

1. John 3:16 is told from the perspective of the Father.

2. 1 John 3:16 focuses instead of what the Son went through.

I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to allow my son to die a brutal death, even if I were assured beforehand that he would be alive again in just 3 days. Yet John 3:16 tells us that the Father of Jesus was willing to make this sacrifice, and love was His
motivation: "for God so loved the world . . "

At the same time, I cannot imagine what kind of love Jesus must have had to be willing to die for people He didn't even know. Again, this verse tells us He was motivated by love.

We are told to be reminded of the broken body and spilled blood of Jesus when we take Communion, as this is indisputable evidence of His great love for us. It should be also emphasized that the Father had, and still has, great love for you and for me. Think of this when you take that bread and cup.

Again,

John 3:16 (NIV)

“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.

Relationship: Vertical

Lesson: I learnt that because of love, Christ came to connect, to serve and to reconciled men to God

1 John 3:16 (NIV)

This is how we know what love is:

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Relationship: Horizontal

Lesson: I learnt that because of love, we as fellowmen must connect, to serve and be reconciled with one another.