" ... for God is love ... God is love ..." ~ 1 John 4:8b, 16b"John, the disciple whom Jesus loved ..."
"Now, there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved."
"John, the beloved ... lying on Jesus' breast ..."
John, filled with the Spirit of this Jesus Christ, began to experience in his last days the very essence of the Gospel. John, who had heard the human heart of Jesus beat with love, finally realized that he had also heard God's heart beat, not only with love, but because of it. And when he saw this, as an old man, dear John wrote, not once, but twice --- "God is love ... God is love." God doesn't merely have a heart of love, He is love.
We do not fear His wrath if we know about His love, because knowing His love, we understand at last that His wrath is not against sinners, but against the sin that has crippled their lives. Hannah Whitall Smith wrote in her last years, as the realizations of God's love broke on her in an intensity almost too great to bear: "When His enemies are scattered, ours are also!" God is not weak, He is tender. He is not angry, He is kind even in His justice. Especially in His justice.
Actually, my [Eugenia Price, the author's] heart sings that the justice of God is beyond our understanding. Where would any of us be if God were just God, as we understand and mete out justice? If I depended on His justice, as I know justice, I'd be cast into outer darkness forever. But, as John's old love-filled heart poured forth, not once but twice ... I can depend upon God's love because...
" ... for God is love ... God is love ..." ~ 1 John 4:8b, 16b
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