"Herein Is Love, Not That We Loved GOD, But That HE Loved Us."

Oh the immensity of the gift!
(John Eadie, "The Love of GOD--its Objects, Gift, and Design" 1865)
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"For GOD so loved the world, 

that HE gave HIS one and only 

SON.” John 3:16 

"For surely it is not angels 

HE helps" Hebrews 2:16

"GOD did not spare angels when 

they sinned, but sent them to Hell, 

putting them into gloomy dungeons 

to be held for judgment." 2 Peter 2:4 

If GOD loved this world--

this world of fallen men, and not 

the world of fallen angels--

then HIS love must be sovereign 

in its essence. For man was not 

the only sinful being in HIS dominions. 

Beings of higher nature, and having 

their position in Heaven itself, were 

mysteriously involved in the guilt 

and doom of apostasy, and expelled 

from their bright domain. And yet, 

though they dwelt in Heaven, 

they are not summoned back to it.

No pardon is offered to them;
no means of redemption are 

 provided for them;
no mediator has taken on him 

the 'nature of angels,' in order 

 to make atonement for them.

They are left to the endurance 

of eternal death and damnation--

ever sinning, ever suffering; 

while pardon and restoration have 

been proclaimed to the human family--
  our weak and erring race,
  so nearly allied to the ground 

    on which they tread,
  so proud in their debility, and
  so impious in their thraldom.

Would it not have been a more 

reasonable plan, so to speak--

for GOD to have saved these lofty 

angelic exiles, and called them back 

to the Heaven in which they once lived, 

and for which they were created--

than to select this distant and miserable 

world of ours; and, by an abnormal and 

mighty process, to purify and refine 

its wretched and earthy outcasts 

for a realm of existence to which 

they are strangers, and to which they 

would never have been able to penetrate?

The reasons inducing the Infinite Wisdom 

to make this sovereign choice to redeem  

man, and not the fallen angels--

we may neither search nor discover. 

This preference of fallen man to fallen 

angels, as the recipients of divine love--

can only be resolved into a mysterious 

exercise of divine sovereignty.

HE has loved fallen men on earth--

and not fallen angels in Hell.

Both might have been punished 

with eternal penalty, and neither 

the one nor the other could have 

complained of the justice of its doom.

On the other hand, both might have 

been forgiven and redeemed--

and both would have equally felt 

its salvation due to JEHOVAH’S

 tender pity.

Nay, though fallen angels in Hell 

had been redeemed--

and all the fallen men on earth had 

been left in their sin; though only 

the demons, the first transgressors, 

had been saved, and brought again 

to the solemn Presence before which 

they once bowed, the bright myriads 

with which they once mixed, and 

the hallelujahs which they once choired--

while this sinful world of ours was left 

to pine and groan hopeless and helpless--

(one shudders to contemplate 

this dreadful alternative)--

who would have dared to impeach 

the GOD of grace, who has the right 

to give as HE pleases--

where none have any claim on HIS bounty.

But, O let HIS name be extolled--

earth has not been passed over; 

it has been selected in HIS sovereign 

regard. Ay, GOD so loved the WORLD.

But the fervor and mightiness of this 

love arrests our attention: 

"GOD SO loved the world"--

loved it with such ardor and 

indescribable generosity; loved it SO--

that HE gave HIS only-begotten SON. 

Oh the immensity of the gift! 

A divine gift from a divine GIVER. 

The grandeur of HIS love may be seen 

in its results. If you can measure the gift--

you may gauge the depth of the love 

which bestowed it.

Thus have we considered the amazing 

fact, that GOD has loved this guilty, 

rebellious and insignificant world--

and selected it to be the object 

of HIS tender mercy. 

Nay, that HE has SO loved it, as to 

make provision for its deliverance 

in the gift of HIS SON --

that bright and matchless display 

of HIS loving-kindness.

"Herein is love, not that we loved GOD, 

but that HE loved us, and sent HIS SON 

to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." 

1 John 4:10

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Arthur Pink, "The Attributes of God"

Chapter 17. The Love of God to Us