Divine Standard
289
A Revelation of God’s Love
Christ came to manifest the love of God to the world, to draw the
hearts of all men to Himself. He said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me” (
John 12:32
). The first step toward
salvation is to respond to the drawing of the love of Christ. God sends
message after message to men, entreating them to repentance, that He
may forgive, and write pardon against their names. Shall there be no
repentance? Shall His appeals be unheeded? Shall His overtures of
mercy be ignored, and His love utterly rejected? Oh, then man will cut
himself off from the medium through which he may gain life eternal;
[324]
for God only pardons the penitent! By the manifestation of His love, by
the entreating of His Spirit, He woos men to repentance; for repentance
is the gift of God, and whom He pardons He first makes penitent. The
sweetest joy comes to man through his sincere repentance toward God
for the transgression of His law, and through faith in Christ as the
sinner’s Redeemer and Advocate. It is that men may understand the
joy of forgiveness, the peace of God, that Christ draws them through
the manifestation of His love. If they respond to His drawing, yielding
their hearts to His grace, He will lead them on step by step, to a full
knowledge of Himself, and this is life eternal.
Christ came to reveal to the sinner the justice and love of God, that
He might give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. When the
sinner beholds Jesus lifted up upon the cross, suffering the guilt of
the transgressor, bearing the penalty of sin; when he beholds God’s
abhorrence of evil in the fearful manifestation of the death of the cross,
and His love for fallen man, he is led to repentance toward God because
of his transgression of the law which is holy, and just, and good. He
exercises faith in Christ, because the divine Saviour has become his
substitute, his surety, and advocate, the one in whom his very life is
centered. To the repenting sinner God can show His mercy and truth,
and bestow upon him His forgiveness and love.
But Satan will not permit a soul to escape from the captivity of sin
if by any means he can prevent it. Though all heaven has been poured
out in one rich gift—for when God gave His Son, He gave the choicest
gift of heaven, and the treasures of heaven are at our command—yet
to the repenting soul the enemy will seek to represent God as stern and
inexorable, unwilling to pardon the transgressor. At different times