The Bible: The Ultimate Handbook And
Guide To God’s Love
Dear Students in Christ,
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not
love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge,
and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not
love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be
burned,
but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind;
love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never ends.." 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8
In this particular module we will be addressing how our Lord and
Master demonstrates His undying love to all and sundry: friends,
family, enemies and the like. Thus ensuring that the student in
Christ gains a clear definitive and holistic picture of our one
true God. Jehovah our mentor, parent, friend, teacher, God, lover
and guide has shown us through the Bible how He, the Almighty,
loves us. In short there is no escape in life or death for the
believer or the person who rejects our Lord’s love. For it goes
beyond the boundaries of a "death till you part" love scenario.
Divorce just doesn’t stand a chance in this instance unless of
course you blaspheme the Holy Spirit. But that will be addressed
later in The Bible: The Ultimate Guide And Handbook To Divorce
Bible Study (B.S) Worksheet.
So how does God demonstrate His undying love for us?
What's Love Got To Do, Got To Do, Got
to Do With It?
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning…
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God..
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the
most High." Isaiah 14:12-14
Firstly, we need to go back to where it all began.
It would be true to say that God was bored and surprisingly lonely
in Heaven and needed new friends and family - in essence a
glorified new fan club. Hence Adam, Lilith and Eve. Apparently, our
Lord’s effeminate angelic harem no longer did it for Him. This was
due to the six hundred and sixty sixth final break up between God
and His life consort Lucifer. Hence Lucifer being labelled the
beast and like Lilith before him, who coincidentally was also an ex
consort of God’s, became the scourge of the universe. Which goes to
show that even divine relationships are not immune from ending up
in tears, life long distrust, regret and bitterness.
Even to this day Lucifer is feared, hated and reviled by true
Christians for anything and everything. All because of the edicts
of The Bible: God’s subliminal messenger and also out of pious
sympathy for Him. But it is mainly out of the need for both deity
and humans to have a scapegoat in general. After all how can we
forget Lucifer’s famous missive: "For I will ascend into heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God.." Isaiah 14:13 this in
itself was enough to turn Jehovah’s adopted family against Lucifer
and as stated earlier relationships are fraught with nuances such
as distrust, regret and bitterness and when one breaks up in a
relationship inevitably there has to be a bad guy and everyone
takes sides.
So it’s from here that we can gauge the reasons why our Lord is a
God of love, jealousy and anger etc because of past relationships.
This of course doesn’t mean to say that He doesn’t work at a
relationship, in fact our Lord has set the standard for dogged
persistence. Consider: Terminator 1 and 2 as prime examples of this
(but without the love aspect).
So it is due to His persistence that our Lord crowned the tribe of
Israel with the original sobriquet: His Chosen Ones. But I wonder
if God knew that His relationship and love for His new family would
be stressful and did it occur to Him that His ‘evil’ side would
come out so often? And is that the reason that God directed Paul to
write these poignant words that contradict so vehemently our Lord’s
countenance?: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.." Galations 5:22
…For You To Justify My Love
"And I will set my jealousy against thee,
and they shall deal furiously with thee:
they shall take away thy nose and thine ears;
and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons
and thy daughters;
and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire." Ezekiel 23:2
There are many ways that Yahweh has demonstrated His
love for us and it is within the concisely documented accounts
within the Bible that we clearly see how God’s frustrations are
expressed through jealousy, anger, impetuous acts of violence and
other fits of pique. All expressed out of "love" and need for us.
But whether or not He actually acts upon His words, it still
remains clear who wears the trousers in the relationship.
1- A clear demonstration of our Lord’s "bad boy" side is when He
feels that enough is enough and shows the world and His wife how
annoyed He is with us. Instead of using expletives He elegantly
recites to us His "don’t get mad, get even" routine. "Therefore
will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I
have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet
will I not hear them." Ezekiel 8:18
2- Yahweh’s at times over the top rages and lovers tiffs tend to
get more extreme and unusual as He inexorably realises that love in
a relationship can be unrequited. But what better way is there to
cause an unexpected scene than in public: a bar, a street, or a
restaurant... "And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere
it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the
people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague."
Num.11: 33.
3- Love means compromising at times but sometimes our Lord likes to
put His divine foot down especially when His lover/wife is being
assertive and like most men, He feels that His manhood and
authority are being questioned or worse usurped. "And when the
people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it;
and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among
them, and consumed them." Num.11:1 1
4- Sometimes jealousy can be quite embarrassing if it is made known
especially if there is nothing untoward at play. One of the ways
our Loving Father has been known to fits of unwarranted pique in
front of His loved ones is by intimidation and literally acting out
His fantasies. "And the LORD discomfited them before Israel, and
slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along
the way." Joshua 10:10
Love Is The Law
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the
first commandment." Mar 12:30
As we know there is nothing worse than someone sulking because she
or he cannot have their own way. Our Lord never sulks; He’s just
divinely moody at times. However these mood swings can be
attributed at least in part to His long awaited desire to
consummate the marriage that He has promised us will happen. So
it’s quite understandable that pre sexual tension (PST) should make
our beloved husband to be slightly cranky and perhaps over
reactive. "The LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them
... and they died. "Joshua 10:11. "And the LORD said unto Moses,
Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD
against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned
away from Israel." Num.25: 4
But moving on from our Lord’s fits of pique we shouldn’t forget
that God loves us to the point of extremism. For instance how many
fathers let alone mothers would offer their child to be a world
sacrifice for the sake of a relationship? Even if that child was
born illegitimate. "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. Once again we
clearly see another side of our Divine Lover’s nature. He isn’t
merely content to do things by halves He is the type of God to go
all the way and give unconditionally to a relationship. Which is
more than can be said about some of us.
Another side of God, which we need to remember, is that He is
always looking out for us and wants us to be happy no matter what
the cost to His heavenly coffers. He instinctively knows how to
save a failing marriage. Instead of insisting that we have a love
child by Him our Lord insists on giving us things to sweeten us up.
"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2.
But no matter how good-natured our Lord is there is always a bottom
line. God our father, lover, friend, guide, and husband knows
eventually when to quit.
If You Love Somebody Set Them
Free
"He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor
your sins." Joshua 24:19
Throughout the Bible the relationship that God has with His lover
Israel reflects disastrous one sidedness and the times when Israel
comes back to God is very short lived thus ensuring a power
struggle for autonomy which cannot break God’s insecurity cycle. In
effect it accomplishes nothing. The feeling of entrapment that
Israel so obviously felt within the relationship is conveniently
ignored. Jehovah is determined no matter what to keep her (Israel)
at all costs. He also constantly reminds us that no matter what we
do (to Him or each other), His long memory won’t forget and in
actuality it is He who has the last laugh. "Whosoever was not found
written in the [matrimonial] book of life was cast into the lake of
fire." Revelation 20:15
Summary
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:
because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in
love. 1John 4:8
It may occur to you on reflection that our Lord’s love for us is
quite frankly a jealous, obsessive, possessive, and abusive love.
Make no mistake - it is. It’s quite reminiscent of domestic
violence situations where the husband (God) has all the attributes;
qualities and aspects previously ascribed to an abusive husband.
Where emotional black mail is rife and due to brainwashing, the
victim accepts these forms of mental tyranny: emotional, physical
and sexual abuse. Until she/he either moves on or stays with the
relationship the victim and the perpetrator knows that nothing will
change for the better.
"He that
loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." 1John
4:18
God’s love like an abusive husband’s love knows no compromise, it
is "my way or the highway." The rule: Unequivocal and unconditional
acquiescence to tyranny and abuse.
Where’s the romance?
Biblical accounting portrays Israel as a woman, bearing this in
mind Israel is the first "woman" in history who has never wanted to
change her boyfriend. However she isn’t the first or the last woman
to extricate herself from an unhealthy love relationship
either.
"And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the
first commandment." Mark 12:30
And what do we get I wonder in
return?