His love endures forever Psalm 136:1-9 1 John 4:7-19
Looking back with thanksgiving
Psalm 136 "The Great Hallel" or "The Great Praise." Hallel (Hebrew) = praise Halle-lu-YAH = Praise the LORD At the Passover meal it was recited after the "Lesser Hallel" (Psalm 113-118) at the end of sacrificial meal.
Psalm 136 1 Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. 4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. 5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever.
Psalm 136 6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. 7 who made the great lights His love endures forever. 8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. 9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.
ח ס ד Hesed Love = Hesed (Heb) Hesed (242 times in OT): loving-kindness; faithful, steadfast love and loyal commitment. Hesed expresses God's faithfulness to His covenant and the blessings and mercy He shows His obedient covenant people.
ח ס ד Hesed Ex 34:6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Hosea 2:19 I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
ח ס ד Hesed Yahweh's hesed covenant love is conditional on the same kind of commitment from the Israelites who are in covenant with Him. In the New testament, there is no more reference to hesed. Instead, agape is used for God s love.
Agape ἀγάπη Different words in Greek in the NT for love: eros, phileo n agape Agape: love that God has for humankind in general For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son (John 3:16) differs from hesed: does not refer to a love already promised to a specific group of people, ie the Israelites
Agape ἀγάπη refers instead to the unconditional, self-sacrificial love of God. It is not a love of the worthy, nor a love that desires to possess. Rather it is a love given irrespective of merit, and it is a love that seeks to give.
Agape ἀγάπη God is good, all the time, All the time, God is good, To me. But why? Because He was bad to Jesus 2000 years ago on the cross.
1 John 4:7-19 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ἀγάπη Agape 9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ἀγάπη Agape
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because He first loved us. ἀγάπη Agape
Agape: Demonstration 1 Jn 4:9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins ( to be the propitiation for our sins NKJ). Jesus: how God demonstrates His love to us Love is getting life through a person, Jesus He loved us, not that we loved Him
Agape: Demonstration ἱλασμός (hilasmos) Propitiation: to provide for the satisfaction of God Every religion grapples with this issue of appeasing God over man s sins to receive His blessings. Good News: God looked at the finished work of His Son and says, I am totally satisfied. Agape brings complete satisfaction.
Agape: Demonstration Heb 8:6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. Heb 8:12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Heb 10:15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. 17 Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."
Agape: God s Nature 1 John 4:7,8 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in Him. The very essence of God s nature is Agape
Agape: God s Nature Love -> born of God and knows God Does not love -> Does not know God Lives in love -> lives in God & God in Him The primary measure of being born of God is not how much you know about God or the Bible. The primary measure is your love for fellow brothers.
Agape: To be shared 1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Note the divine order: God loved, we love So (houtos Grk), refer not to the magnitude of God's love but the manner of God's love. Since God loved us in this manner (the cross), in this manner we should love one another. Not just receivers but transmitters of love too.
Agape: Sharing 1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known. We know God's love through His Son and what He did on the cross. See God in one another a community of love. If we love others in that manner, then God's love for us has fulfilled its objective in our lives.
Agape: His Spirit given 1 John 4:13 We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of his Spirit. Love is a Person given, forever. With His Spirit, we can cry out: Abba, Father! Without the Spirit one cannot be child of God.
Agape = What He has done The love of God is found in the facts of what He has done for me, not in my feelings or circumstances He has given us: His Son, Jesus, to die for us His Spirit, to live in us Through Jesus death, propitiated God -> complete forgiveness of our sins: New life in Him, born of God, knows God God lives in us, capable of loving one another, His love made complete in us, Sonship.
Agape: Jesus the way into 1 John 4:14-16 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. Acknowledge Jesus Christ the Son: God lives in us and we in Him
Agape Completed 1 John 1:17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. Perfected love = Confidence on the day of judgment Fear : because of punishment Jesus Christ is the satisfying sacrifice
Agape because of Agape 1 John 1:19 We love because he first loved us. We can love We want to love We are compelled to love We can t help but love Because He first loved us!
The year ahead: Full of Agape Isaiah 54:1-2 1 Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, says the LORD. 2 "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
The bigger and better place the Lord has prepared for us
Praise the Name of JESUS! His love endures forever!