John 3:16: The Greatest Message
“For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
Dr. Walter L. Wilson
tells the story of a woman who had attended one of his meetings and waited
after the service for spiritual help.
When he asked her if she could quote any part of the Scripture, she said
that she had once learned John
3:16 in Sunday School. He then asked her to quote it. She recited:
“For God so loved the world that
He gave His only forgotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life.”
Noticing that she had
said “forgotten” for “begotten,” he said.
“Do you know why God forgot His Son?” She said, “No, I don’t.” And Dr. Wilson said: “It was because he wanted to remember
you.” Then Dr. Wilson led her to a
knowledge of Christ as Savior.
There is probably no
verse in the Bible more universally known and revered than the words that Jesus
spoke to “Nick at Night” during their conversation late one evening. It has been dissected, protected, and yes,
even rejected, but hardly can it be ignored.
In John 3,
we read the story of Nicodemus. He
was a religious leader who had grown up all of his life in one particular party
line of religious teaching. He was a
Pharisee, and he got to a point in his life where he felt his spiritual under-standing
needed to expand. He had heard that someone named Jesus was out teaching that
there's a different way of getting to heaven from the way he had learned all
his life.
Finally, one night he stealthily went
through the shadows and he came to Jesus. He referenced that he had been taught since he was a child, the way to
get to heaven is to obey religious laws. Out of it, Jesus shared the need to be
“born again” which was culminated in the words of John 3:16. In essence, Jesus
said to Nicodemus, “You don't get to
heaven by just obeying religious laws. You need to be born again. You need to
have an experience with Christ -- me, God's Son. You need to repent of sin and
receive salvation as a free gift. You need to discover amazing grace.”
Martin Luther called John 3:16
“the heart of the Bible-the Gospel in miniature.” It’s so simple a child can understand it; yet
it condenses the deep and marvelous truths of redemption into a few laconic
words that the greatest theologian can never exhaust it. Consider its greatness from the famed
Reformationist:
“God”……………………………………………………………..The
greatest Lover
“So
loved”………………………………………………………..The greatest degree
“The
world”……………………………………………………….The greatest number
“That He
gave”………………………………………..………...The greatest act
“His only begotten
Son”…………………………………………The greatest Gift
“That
whosoever”…………………………………..………...The greatest invitation
“Believeth”……………………………………….……………...The
greatest simplicity
“In
Him”…………………………………………………………….The greatest Person
“Should not
perish”………………………………………….The greatest deliverance
“But”………………………………………………..…………..The
greatest difference
“Have”……………………………………………………………The
greatest certainty
“Everlasting
Life”……………………………………………..The greatest possession
G. Campbell Morgan
said that “This is a text I never
attempted to preach on though I have gone around it and around it. It is too big. When I read it, there is
nothing else to say. If we only knew how
to read it, so as to produce a sense of it in the ears of people, there would
be nothing to preach about it.”
Remember these words. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The
middle word of the 25 words is “Son”…the Bible’s greatest message all because
of God’s greatest gift. The One who is
begotten and never to be forgotten.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) Which of the “greatest” statements above stands
out to you?
2) Thank God as you read John 3:16
and tell Him how He has changed you.
Consider reading the Word today;
Copyright
2014- Terry Risser
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