Understanding John 3:16

It would be generally agreed that this verse John 3:16 that you have just seen and read is the most popular and well-known verse in the Bible. Some will relate this verse to the time when they trusted Christ as Saviour; while the memory of others will drift back to childhood days, when a mother or Sunday School teacher insisted that it be memorized. Perhaps, this Bible verse is new to you, and you're unaware that through the believing of the life-giving message of John 3:16 your sins can be forgiven, and you can be sure of your eternal destiny be Heaven. Read along and discover for yourself exactly what these words from God really means and how they could be the most important words you have ever read.

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. You can place your confidence in the God of the Bible, because He is an ETERNAL GOD. Psalm 90:2 says "...FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING THOU ART GOD." Only a God who is eternal is capable of giving eternal life to another. However, God is HOLY, reminding us that eternal life and an entrance to Heaven can be given to you only after your sins have been forgiven. The Bible says of God, "Thine eyes are too pure to look on evil; Thou canst not tolerate wrong." Since the day sin entered the human race through Adam and Eve, mankind has been separated from God. "But your sins have separated between you and your God" (Isaiah 59:2). "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so, death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). This spiritual and physical death includes not only Adam and Eve, but both the writer and reader of these lines. However, this Eternal and Holy God...

...SO LOVED THE WORLD...

His LOVE equals His holiness. His holiness closed heaven's door to the sinner, but the result of His love opened it again. God loved, and still loves, because it is His nature to love. His love viewed the world in its state of sin, and reached out in a deliberate choice towards the ungodly, the sinners, and His enemies (Romans 5:8-10). Should you fit into any of these categories, then His love has reached out to you too. No individual, whether from a palace or a prison, will be able to accuse God of being unfair. For God so loved the world...

...THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON...

If a friend was condemned to die for a crime, and the governor announced that if anyone was willing to die in the criminal's place the criminal could go free--would you volunteer? Consider what God did about 2000 years ago. "God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Can you picture in your mind the death of God's Son? The sinless Saviour allowed sinful men to nail His hands and feet to a rugged wooden cross.

"Hark, I hear the dull blow of the hammer swung low,

They're nailing my Lord to the tree.

While the cross they upraise, the multitude gaze

At the blest Lamb of dark Calvary.”

Speaking of Christ, 1 Peter 2:24 says, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree..." Writing 700 years before the actual event took place the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53:5 described the death of Christ, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." God will not demand double jeopardy. If you trust and accept that Jesus Christ died in your place to pay the punishment you deserve for your sin, then that is enough and God will not punish you again. You go free! Thankfully, we can read John 3:16 today, knowing that God's holy demand against sin has been satisfied, and with assurance can tell the world...

...THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM...

...should not perish but have everlasting life. Believing is not just an acknowledgment of a historical fact, but rather the believer in the Bible is seen as one who is trusting. What are you trusting in, or depending on, as your way to Heaven? To believe means to trust. Believing takes place at the moment when a person, conscious of their sinful state before God, takes a look at the cross and the suffering Saviour, and then simply trusts the Saviour, believing that when He died for sinners, He died for me! Pause for a moment friend...this could be the crossroads of your life. While still thinking of Christ dying on the cross would you acknowledge that you're the one that has been wrong and turn from sin in repentance? Do it now! If you would, the rest of your days can be lived with a peaceful confidence, knowing that because you have believed, God says you...

...SHOULD NOT PERISH...

"Perish" in the Bible means an eternal separation from God. "Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15). What a contrast! The unbeliever will have eternal judgment and separation from God. But God promises that the believer will be eternally with Him and will never perish...

...BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE!

The one who believes is a Christian! A possessor of the Person who will put meaning in life. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). This new life will never, and can never, be taken away. "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my Father's hand" (John 10:28-29). It is our prayer that you will be blessed with God's free gift and that we will meet you in Heaven.