The Gospel of John: John 3.11-21

Read and meditate on John 3.16, 17.
Here in perhaps the best-known and most-beloved passage of all Scripture, Jesus proclaims the core truths of the Good News.

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that from on high
He sent His only-begotten Son, that they
who trust in Him should know eternal day,
and never perish. ¹⁷For God did not send
His Son into this cosmos to condemn
it, but to save it through Him.

- John 3.16, 17

Reflect
1.  Why did God send His Son to earth? What was motivating Him? Do you think lost people today generally think of God as loving them? Do we as believers help or hinder their understanding of this great truth? Explain. Complete this prayer: Lord, show me how I can help others experience Your love, and…

2.  Note the object of God’s love: the cosmos. Not just humans, but the entire, vast universe, and everything in it. What does it mean to say that God loves the cosmos? Why should He? Should we? What would it look like if we loved the cosmos like God does? Lord Jesus, I know that You love the cosmos, because…

3.  Jesus contrasts having everlasting life with perishing. What does it mean for a human being to “perish,”
as Jesus uses this idea? Should the fact that people you know might perish affect you in any way? Did this fact affect God? Explain. I pray for those in my Personal Mission Field who might perish, O Lord. I pray that…

4.  Jesus connects God’s love for the cosmos with His plan to bring eternal life to people. How do people receive eternal life? Should receiving eternal life have any benefits for the cosmos? Meditate on Romans 8.19-22. In what ways should your salvation bring relief to the creation? I want to love the world as You do, Lord, and I want my salvation to relieve creation’s groaning by…

5.  If God did not send His Son to condemn the world, but to save it, why are people still condemned? Who condemns them? Do you think they understand this? Explain. Bring together into one your prayers from questions 1-4.

Summary
“He who is without bounds bound himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priest—yet he was God. He offered up his blood and cleansed the whole world. He was lifted up on the cross, but it was sin that was nailed to it. He became as one among the dead, but he rose from the dead, raising to life also many who had died before him. On the one hand, there was the poverty of his humanity; on the other, the riches of his divinity. Do not let what is human in the Son permit you wrongfully to detract from what is divine. For the sake of the divine, hold in the greatest honor the humanity, which the immortal Son took on himself for love of you.” Gregory of Nazianus (329-389 AD)

Meditate on 2 Corinthians 5.17-21. The salvation Jesus came to bring is cosmic in nature. What does that mean? What does that mean for you as a witness to this salvation?

Closing Prayer
Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
Sing to the LORD with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the LORD, the King.
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together before the LORD,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And the peoples with equity.

Psalm 98.4-9

Psalm 98.4-9 (Duke Street: Come, Let Us Sing unto the Lord)
Raise to the Lord your loudest voice!
Break forth and sing! Rejoice! Rejoice!
Praise, praise to You, our God and King
With all our hearts and strength we bring!

Now let the whole creation ‘round
Burst into song with joyous sound!
Jesus will come to judge the earth;
Let all proclaim His matchless worth!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.