Max Lucado - 3:16: The Numbers of Hope

I f youre a churchgoer, youve likely heard it a thousand times. Even if youre not the churchgoing type, youve probably seen it embroidered on a pillow or written in calligraphy on a piece of artwork. The sentence is prolific in our language and culture. But its words are more than a good saying, a favorite memory verse, or a catchy lyric. John 3:16 is the thesis of the New Testament. The climax of a theological moment. It is the Hope Diamond of the Bible.

For God

so loved the world

that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him

shall not perish but have

eternal life.

There it isa twenty-six-word parade of hope, beginning with God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same. Brief enough to write on a napkin or memorize in a moment, yet solid enough to weather two thousand years of storms and questions. If you know nothing of the Bible, start here. If you know everything in the Bible, return here. We all need the reminder. The heart of the human problem is the heart of the human. And Gods treatment is prescribed in John 3:16.

He loves.

He gave.

We believe.

We live.

Each word is a safe-deposit box of jewels. Read it again, slowly and aloud, and note the word that snatches your attention: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world... Yes, this world, filled with its heartbreakers, hope-snatchers, and dream-dousers. Dictators rage. Abusers inflict. Reverends think they deserve the title. But still God loves. In fact, he loves the world so much he gave his:

One and only Son... The mind-bending claim of John 3:16 is that God gave not abstract ideas but a flesh-wrapped divinity. The Bible equates Jesus with God. So God, then, out of his great love for the world gave of himself. Why? So that:

Whoever believes in him shall not perish. Whoever... a universal word. All are invited to receive. And perish... a sobering word. A warning of the consequences for not receiving. Wed like to dilute the term. But not Jesus. He pounds Do Not Enter signs on every square inch of Satans gate and tells those hell-bent on entering to do so over his dead body. Even so, some souls insistand in the end, some perish and some live. What determines the difference? Not works or talents, pedigrees, or possessions. The difference is determined by belief.

Bible translators in the New Hebrides islands once struggled to find an appropriate verb for believe. One translator, John G. Paton, accidentally came upon a solution while hunting with a tribesman. The two men bagged a large deer and carried it on a pole along a steep mountain path to Patons home. When they reached the veranda, the men dropped the load and plopped into the porch chairs. As they did, the native exclaimed in the language of his people, My, it is good to stretch yourself out here and rest.

Paton immediately reached for paper and pencil and recorded the phrase. As a result, his final translation of John 3:16 was worded: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever stretcheth himself out on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

As you go through this study and receive Gods Word for you, may you do just thatstretch out on Christ and rest.