God Exists - But WHY? Part 3

In our previous Blog [God Exists - But Why? (Part 2)], we demonstrated that the reason for the Eternal’s existence is the essence of His character which consists of PURE LOVE.

We established that the driving motivational force of the Almighty is His incomprehensible love for what He created. We may not have the capacity to understand, appreciate or relate to that characteristic fully. Love needs to be defined, biblically. Understanding the nature of this pure love cannot be presumed based on limited human love which may even be warped by some incomprehensible human emotion. But guided by scripture we may arrive at an infinitesimal grasp of this cosmic force exuding from the very heart of the Creator. “Reducing” the concept of love to its practicalities may debase its supernatural nature. How does one grasp something totally spiritual and seek to convert it into an applicable human element? Language fails as we attempt to do it. But Scripture—the WORD—does provide us with some hints.

1 John 4:8 states succinctly, powerfully and clearly: “God is love.” It requires no theological exposition, Greek hermeneutic elucidation, or Latin semantic elaboration. In short, being LOVE, the Eternal created. He created everything He did because He loves. Love is the leitmotif of His existence; His raison d’etre; the reason for His existence; the essence of His Being.

The Eternal did not create because He was overtaken by a whim during a boring moment in eternity. Since He existed eternally and because love is the central core of being, love existed WITH HIM and WITHIN HIM, eternally. Love “activated” His creative drive from eternity past. Love and creativity are inner qualities indivisibly conjoined in the matrix of His divine Being.

The love of God cannot be separated from the existence of His person. God did not exist as a separate entity without the essence of love. That would mean He would be void of the force that forms His personality and character—that inner essence that makes Him what He is—love! The Eternal did not develop any characteristics or skill-sets as He progressed into eternity. He was perfect and complete from eternity. He eternally was and everlastingly will be what He is—love.

Consider this analogy. When a baby is born it arrives with its full complement of emotions in a particularly unique manner. The emotions are not added later one. It’s latent to the very nature of the being of the baby. Life is born. And simultaneous with it come all the inner personality and emotional forces.

Analogously this illustrates the integrated being and nature of God Himself. He did not “come into existence” in an ev[i]lutionary manner, later to develop certain characteristics, like intelligence, reason, love, hate, anger, etc.

God’s driving inner force—His personhood, what He is, i.e. love—coexisted, lived and operated within His Being from eternity. His love is eternal as He is eternal. And, because of this love, He created the universe and ultimately man within the universe to form the foundation of His divine love-plan to create for Himself an eternal family—be

ings whom He will love and who will love him in return.

Love, as God Himself, existed from eternity. Then, some moment in eternity past He gave expression to His love-plan. And creation began. Firstly, He created SPIRIT BEINGS. Speculatively we may assume that He created this spiritual host—the four living beings, then the 24 elders, then the arch angels then the angelic hosts. There was ORDER IN HIS PLANNING, PURPOSE, and DESIGN AND CREATIVE ACTS. He categorized, arranged and organized these orders. Each order was appointed its proper authoritative position—its responsibility sphere. This initial spiritual creation set a model for the physical creation to follow.

After completing the spiritual host He attended to the creation of physical hosts—fauna and flora—again, all in a particular order. God being a God of order planned, organised, and executed everything in the physical creation in an ORDERED, SYSTEMATIC MANNER. Chaos is not part of Godly character [1 Cor 14]; Satan is the originator and source of chaos, both in heaven and on earth. Creation is an outflow, a manifestation of HIS ORDERLY, SYTEMATIC NATURE. It being akin to everything He does one can deduce that LOVE itself is generative of order. Contrariwise Satan hates. Thus, Satan creates chaos. Wherever we see social chaos, political disorder, financial bedlam, moral anarchy, general unruliness and public pandemonium, be sure, Satan and his minions are active there!

The Eternal instructs His people to operate on the same basis as He does: organized, ordered, systematic, all of which requires planning.

1Cor 14:40 “Let all things be done decently [properly, decorously] and in order [systematically arranged]." God gives this command to His ecclesia precisely because He wants His children to seamlessly fit into His well-ordered kingdom government structure.

Even at the very end of the redemptive plan of God everything will still be done IN ORDER. Resurrections and inheritance are planned and executed orderly; in a specifically arranged sequence. “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming” [1Cor 15:23]. God’s servants, in seeking to be “perfect” like their Father [Mt 5:48], will, even like Abraham, stack wood “in order” [to sacrifice Isaac, (Gen. 22:9)]; the priests were to arrange the wood for the sacrifices, “in order” [Lev. 1:7].

All Yehovah’s creative deeds are love based, love motivated, love initiated. But love is not merely the manifestation of a cosmic creation – it is creation with purpose. That purpose, again, is to serve as a matrix for the creation of the sons of God, the optimization of the “heart and soul” of God’s passion.

This love-driven “soulfulness” of the Father is clearly seen in the following statements by John [1 John 3:1]. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…”

What was the nature of that love? John answers: “Hereby perceive [understand] we the love of God, in that He laid down His life for us…” [1 John 3:16].

This truth is further consolidated when John declares: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” [1 John 4:9-10].

And Christ Himself declared: “Greater love hath no man than this that a man [meaning Christ Himself] lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” [John 15:13-14].

Throughout scripture from Moses to John we have the clear declaration that obedience to the LAW manifests love towards God. [Compare Deut. 11:22 and 1 John 5:3.]

It is noteworthy that though there are groups and religions that claim to “love God” that theirs is a misdefined and mistaken concept of “love”. John plainly states that any person or religion that does not love Christ does not love the Eternal God!

This is harsh but realistic Christianity. There’s no room for compromised dogma, conceded theology, ecumenical buddy-ness, syncretism, or “theological correctness” based upon anti-biblical, misguided and misdefined “love”.

Who defines love? Since God is the essence of love, only HE can correctly define true love. What is HIS definition of love?

1Jn 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments…” Antinominalist’s, the by-grace-and-grace-alone lobby of Churchianity—will stand footshuffelingly ashamed before the Great White Throne Judgment in a post-millennial resurrection. [The Blog, "The Four Resurrections" explains this fully.]

How is it possible to imagine that one can scorn the righteous laws of the Eternal—that is, manifest a disdain if not hatred towards the LAW of God—and then expect to be taken into His Holy Kingdom for eternity? Christ categorically announced in the closing paragraphs of scripture that, “I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs [sexual perverts], and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie” [Rev 22:12-15].

“Therefore, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” [Rev 22:11].

The apostle John reveals much of the love nature of the Father. But this love is not a mere technical working relationship as is held in some religious circles. The most meticulous technical law keepers during the time of Christ were the scribes and Pharisees. Yet Christ said of them: “If God were your Father, ye would love me” [John 8:42]. According to Christ these strict law keepers—keepers of Sabbaths, kosher food, circumcision, beards, long prayers and the dedicated study of Torah—was no proof of their love of God. Despite their dedicated religiosity they were a hate-filled, mean, greedy, murderous gang of abusers of people; and their spiritual offspring is with us to this day!

Christ’s censure of these religious hypocrite’s lays bare a vital element of love. Love is not mere obedience of the letter of the law. Love obeys with emotion. True love has feeling and passion; an inner burning.

Sir Walter Scott touched the soul of love in Lady of the Lake, “… love,” he observed, “is loveliest when embalm’d in tears.” [Canto Fourth, The Prophecy, I]. Love must have passion. Love is obedience wrapped within the force of emotion. Though we are taught that love is the keeping of the commandments, a ceremonial, ritualistic, pharisaic, corporate obedience is hardly love. Obedience for the sake of obedience is but mere self-righteousness and not a righteousness clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Paul melded true righteousness with another deeply emotional dimension, faith, in Philippians 3:9: “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

Fulfilling technical obligations with ritualistic prayers, ceremony, and prescribed recitations are “mere religion” and does not result in salvation.

Corporate love as displayed in the churchian community—"love" regulated by ceremony and manifested by ritual—is no love at all. Neither is the love of God designed to serve one race of people.

The Maker made the universe for mankind to which the Scriptures attest that: “God so loved [agapao] the world [cosmos], that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved [Joh 3:16-17].

I trust that all who read the Word and comprehend the divine calling will respond to the Father and be united with Him through Christ our eternal Saviour who manifested the eternal, creative motivation and the LOVE-nature and essence of the Eternal Father.

For more on God's love and creation, read our other blogs: God Exists - But WHY? Part 1; God Exists - But WHY? Part 2; Creatio Ex Nihilo...Really?; Biogenesis to Technogenesis.