You may have heard someone say, “I don’t understand why God loves me.” Or you may have had this thought about yourself. How wonderful to understand why God loves men. With such knowledge, you may become a person that God loves in special and intimate ways. There are many reasons revealed in Scripture why God sets His love on men.
God’s Character
The underlying reason for God’s love to men is that His very character is love. God’s sovereign will is that all men should come to know and love Him so that He can express Himself to them in grace and blessing.
However, God hates sin and cannot bless men who cling to their sin and refuse His salvation. Another feature of God’s character is His foreknowledge of the future. God loves men for what He knows He can make of them when they yield to His will.
God Loves Men Because They Are His Creatures
Master craftsmen appreciate their work in a way that no one else can–the sculptor, his marble masterpiece; the painter, his portraits; the author, his books.
God made the heavens and the earth and pronounced them good. He filled land, sea, and air with creatures and called them good. Finally, God made man and gave him dominion over all, pronouncing it all very good. He delights in the work of His hands.
God Loves Men Because They Are His Offspring
Man differs from all other creatures because he is the offspring of God, partaking of His nature. He was made in God’s image and given dominion as God’s representative and governor of the lower creatures. He was made in God’s likeness, as having personality and ability to talk to his Maker, and have fellowship with Him. Man’s spirit is kin to God, who breathed into his nostrils. The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. No wonder God loves men!
Man is the latest of God’s creatures and the masterpiece of them all. No doubt, in making man, God had in mind His only and well-loved Son, who was destined to become a true Man by the Incarnation.
The Problem of Sin
We are assured in Scripture that God foreknew that sin would enter the world and He planned victory over sin and death by redemption. Names of the redeemed were written from the foundation of the world in the book of life (Rev. 13:8).
We are unable to fathom the depths of the wisdom of God’s counsels, but the glory and blessedness of redeemed men and new creations are clearly revealed in God’s Word: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things. To Whom be glory forever” (Rom. 11:33-36).
We do know that sin will be conquered and banished from God’s new creation. We know that in the ages to come God will show to men and angels and heavenly powers the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to us through Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7).
The Results of Salvation
When sin entered the world, the love of God for His sinful creatures was revealed in His provision of salvation, forgiveness and restoration by sacrifice. The grace and love of God was shown in a way that it could not be revealed before. At the same time, God’s holiness was revealed by His judgment of the sinner and the penalty of death.
God’s problem was to separate man whom He loved, from the sin which He hated. This He accomplished by the sacrifice of His only Son, the Man Christ Jesus. This work of the Mediator makes it possible for a sinner to be cleansed from his sin by the death of his Substitute. This forgiveness is received on the principle of faith, simply by accepting God’s salvation.
Regeneration–A New Relationship
But God’s salvation goes further than forgiveness. It involves a new creation, a new relationship to God, receiving His very life and nature, so making a new man who loves God and whom God can love in a new way as His own spiritual child by new birth.
The doctrine of new birth was not revealed in Old Testament times, but the fact of a new life and nature is clearly seen in the Old Testament saints as is so beautifully recorded in Hebrews 11. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and all the others had fellowship with God in a way that Adam in his innocence could not have done.
God’s Love for His Children
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is” (1 John 3:1-2).
This Scripture makes it clear that God loves His spiritual children with parental love, which is different from the love He has to sinners as expressed in John 3:16. God loves men with compassion because they are His creatures and His offspring in danger of perishing because of sin. But He loves His dear children because they are born of His spirit and possess His life and nature and are destined to be like His beloved Son.
God Loves Men Who Love Him
“Jehovah preserveth all them that love Him; but all the wicked will He destroy” (Ps. 145:20).
It may be that God’s principal reason for creating mankind was to provide a vast multitude of persons whom He could love individually and who would intelligently love Him. We remember that God is love, and He has expressed this love in redemption. His Son is the Saviour of the world. We are told that in the ages to come there will be a never-ending display of God’s love to redeemed men. This may be also a continually developing display.
God Loves Each Individual Child
Creation has infinite variety. No two galaxies or stars are just alike. They differ in size, destiny, color, brightness, and history. No two planets are alike. The earth is uniquely fashioned and provisioned for man’s habitation.
So no two human beings are precise duplicates, and no two have the same experiences. God loves us individually, just as we love individuals. Paul said of Christ, “He loved me and gave Himself for me.”
If we try to think of the innumerable multitude of God’s saints of past ages and the fact of their individual relations with God, it is clear that the vastness of the field for the expression of God’s love is comparable to the vastness of His creation in other fields. He calleth all the stars by name, and He calls each of His redeemed by name, too.
God’s Appreciation of Men’s Love
There are many proofs in Scripture of God’s deep appreciation of the love of His saints. Daniel is addressed by the angel as a “man greatly beloved.” No doubt this was because of Daniel’s complete and whole-hearted devotion to God and His people.
Our Lord craved the love and fellowship of His disciples. In Gethsemane, He chided them with the words: “What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?”
Love to God Is Rewarded in Kind
Love to the Lord Jesus is rewarded by the love of both Father and Son, and by special manifestations of the Lord to the soul (Jn. 14:21). Very special love to Jesus is rewarded by both Father and Son making their home in the loving heart (John 14:23).
It should be clear from the foregoing that the enjoyment of God’s love to each of us individually is limited only by our response to Him. We are invited to know the love that passes knowledge. We are instructed to keep ourselves in the sunshine of that love. May it be our ambition to know Him better, to enjoy His love more fully, and to render to Him all the love of which we are capable.