1. “All things are out from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ...reconciling the world to Himself...We beseech you...Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:18-20).
God’s love not only accomplished our salvation but also gave us a way to obtain salvation. How condescending God’s love is toward us! It accomplished our salvation and devised a way for us to obtain salvation. If God had done less than this, we would not have been saved.
Having accomplished our salvation, God entreated us to be reconciled to Himself. We were far off from God, we had rejected and opposed Him, and we were His enemies. Nevertheless, He entreated us to be reconciled to Him. Many who have heard the preaching of the Word testify that they met many people who beseeched them to believe in Jesus. This demonstrates God’s love. Believers do not entreat people to be reconciled to God out of themselves; rather, they do it because the love of God within them urges them to do so. Many who have not yet believed in the Lord have been entreated by relatives and friends to do so. This entreaty is a proof that God loves the unbelievers and desires that they obtain His salvation through those who believe.
2. “He sent his slaves to call those who had been called to the wedding feast” (Matt. 22:3).
God prepared salvation as a rich feast. After it was prepared, He sent His slaves to call people to attend the feast and enjoy His salvation. The first group of servants God sent were the apostles. Since the time of the apostles, God has never ceased sending His slaves to call people to His feast of salvation. In the past two centuries God sent many servants to uncivilized places in Africa, to various Pacific islands, and to Asian countries to preach the gospel. Despite abundant hardships and dangers, these servants still went to preach the gospel to others. I have read the stories of some of the Western missionaries who came to China. Although they encountered every kind of difficulty in China, they still came because God’s love urged and sent them.
When we draw near to the Lord, a mysterious force pushes us to preach the gospel. God loves the gospel; thus, if we tell the Lord that we are willing to go to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel, we will become extremely happy. God delights in urging people by means of His love to go out to invite others to receive His salvation.
3. “We are witnesses...so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given” (Acts 5:32).
Because of His love, God not only sends His slaves to preach the gospel but also sends the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of men. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, no one would believe, and no one would receive the Lord. The most important points of the gospel that we preach today are very difficult for man to believe in. These points include the Lord Jesus being God and being born of a virgin, crucified for man, resurrected from the dead and ascended to the heavens, seated in the heavenlies and dwelling in the hearts of men, and returning one day. These seven points are the center of the gospel. They are extremely difficult to believe in; in fact, it is impossible for someone with a practical mind who has studied science to believe in these points. However, when we preach, the Holy Spirit works until man believes. The more we declare that the Lord Jesus is God, the more people are delighted. The more we speak of the Lord Jesus dying for man, the more they believe. The more we say regarding the Lord Jesus living in the hearts of men, the more they are released. We obtain these wonderful results because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit follows our speaking, confirming the gospel and touching man’s heart until he is compelled to believe. God gave us His Son for the accomplishment of our salvation, and He also gave us the Spirit, who puts God’s salvation into us; the Spirit causes us to experience God’s salvation. This is the love of God.
4. “Demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4; see also 1 Thes. 1:5).
God sends the Holy Spirit to witness to the gospel; He also uses power to testify to the gospel. Many times when we preach the gospel, God’s power makes the gospel extremely powerful so that people are compelled to believe. Those who have a stubborn heart or who strongly oppose God will never repent and believe in order to receive salvation unless God uses His power to penetrate their hard heart and break their stubborn will. But when God’s power operates, even the hardest and most stubborn person will repent and believe. This also is the love of God.
5. “God bearing witness with them both by signs and wonders and by various works of power and by distributions of the Holy Spirit” (Heb. 2:4).
In addition to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, God also uses signs, wonders, and works of power to confirm the gospel. When His servants preach the gospel, God confirms the gospel through healings and the casting out of demons, thus causing people to believe. This also is the result of His love. Because God loves man, He often works signs and wonders according to man’s need in order to cause the doubting ones to believe in the gospel and to receive salvation.
6. “The sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15).
Without the Bible we would not be clear regarding God’s salvation. The Bible shows God’s salvation clearly so that we may have the wisdom to understand such a salvation. This is another provision of God’s love.
Because God wants us to understand His salvation, He used more than forty people in many different places over a period of approximately sixteen hundred years to write the complete Scriptures. He also preserved the Bible throughout the ages by His mighty hand. In His sovereignty He brought about the translation of the Scriptures into many different languages so that people could read and understand them. What God’s love has prepared for man in order that man may receive His salvation is altogether complete and absolute.