What Is God's Love And Why Traditional Christianity Lacks It
By: Rick Gedeon
"No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another God dwells in us and his love is perfected in us (John 4:12)."
We know that Jesus Christ was and is the ultimate example of the manifestation of God the Father’s love. He obeyed His Father, walked in all His commandments, and demonstrated God’s love for us by laying His life down to the point of death, so that all of humankind would have the opportunity to eventually be saved. If we could break God’s love down point by point, what would it look like? If we could see an outline of His love, what would the components of it be? Certainly the love chapter of 1Cor. chapter 13 gives us a great description of it, but if you wanted it in outline form you need to go to the Old Testament and there in Exodus chapter 34 you will see it point by point. Remember, the Old Covenant and Law contains the shadow or outline of the future manifestation of it's reality, Jesus Christ; what He came and fulfilled in the New Testament, and what events He will yet fulfill in the future at and after His second coming (Heb 10:1 and Col. 2:16-17). The Old Testament law and covenant is like the frame of a building in which Jesus fills in with all the finer and beautiful details. This description in Ex. chapter 34 is the outline of the great components of God’s love, which again was later demonstrated through Christ. In identifying the love of God point by point, there is one glaring aspect of it that is missing in traditional Christianity and such groups as the Mormon church and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and to have the Holy Spirit in you, you must have all five of these components of God and Christ’s love. This one aspect of God’s love is revealed by God’s Spirit alone; therefore, the love they think they are manifesting is their own human love heightened by the knowledge of what they do see and understand in the bible about God’s love. People do have the ability to love and that love can be greatly heightened by inspiration, motivation, and knowledge. Truly with knowledge there is power! People can and have literally laid down their lives for others without the Holy Spirit. Soldiers in combat have given up their lives by throwing themselves on grenades to save their fellow soldiers and friends. On 9/11/2001 many police men and firefighters gave up their lives to try to save their fellow citizens trapped in the World Trade Center. Mainstream Christian leaders and theologians will point to groups such as the Mormon Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or churches such as the Seventh Day Adventists and brand them as heretics, but these groups demonstrate the same kind of love and service to one another, and to those outside their faith as does mainstream Christianity, therefore there is no real distinction in the love they demonstrate that Jesus said would identify them as His true disciples. Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus have the ability to love one another and serve one another. Atheists have the ability to love unselfishly. Jesus Himself said in John 13:34-35.“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another; and in John 15:13 Jesus also told His disciples: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” All these religious groups mentioned above have the ability to love, serve and lay down their lives for one another. The ability to love obviously was one of the emotions put in man at his creation (Gen. 1:26). There is again one huge component of God’s love through the Holy Spirit that is missing, that Satan has deceived and blinded them from understanding and not without the allowance by God for Satan to do this. In all these groups there is evidence that they do not have the Holy Spirit, and therefore have entered the broad gait (Math. 7:13). Now do not get the wrong impression, the love of God is higher, deeper, and broader than anyone can imagine as stated in Eph. 3:17-19:
"...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and depth and length and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge: that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (with the fullness of God’s love through Christ)."
We can hardly begin to understand the imesurable holy and loving nature of the God who created us:
“For now we see in a mirror dimly…(1Cor. 13:12)."
We do not have the Holy Spirit without measure at this time as Christ did. We have the ability to love because we were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) but in between that love is our sinful, carnal nature (Jer. 17:9) inherited when Adam and Eve took of the forbidden fruit, but God is continuous perfect love.
“He who does not know love does not know God for God is love(John 4:8)."
The love and mind of God and Christ and the way He uses it to bring about His will are unfathomable to the human mind at this time. God will even create and use evil for an eventual good outcome (Isa. 45:7).
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” Says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9).”
The apostle Paul also greatly rejoiced and marveled at the mind of God after disclosing to the Romans in chapter 11:28-32 that through God’s love He would eventually save all of mankind.
“Oh the depth and the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to Him?”
In Ex. chapter 32, Israel had sinned greatly when Moses delayed coming down from Mt Sinai with the Ten Commandments by making and worshipping a golden calf. God became so angry with the Israelites that He told Moses that He was going to destroy them and then make Moses’ descendants into a great nation (Ex. 32:9); however God was actually allowing Moses to act out the Old Testament shadow role of the future reality of Jesus Christ as the future intercessor for the spiritual people of God. By Moses intercession for the Israelites, God relented from destroying them (Ex. 32:11-14). God, still angry with His people commanded Moses to lead the Israelites up to the promised land with his Angel before them, but God said that He would not go up with them lest He destroy them over another serious act of disobedience (Ex. 33:2-3). Now after God told Moses this, Moses again later approached God, this time in the tabernacle he pitched outside the camp away from the congregation of Israel and once again proceeded to intercede for the Israelites, and try to change God’s mind about not going up with the people to the promised land, but this time Moses did it in a different way. He approached God intimately and asked Him:
“...to show me now Your way, that I may know You." (open Your inner being up to me) and that I may find grace in Your sight (Ex. 33:13)."
In other words Moses was asking God to reveal to him who He really was; what was really inside of Him and what was His inner being. Was He really this God of punishment upon disobedience? By asking God this question it brought out of God for a moment His true identity and nature, that He was a God of grace, a God of infinite love, later to be manifested through Jesus Christ by the New Covenant. This strong desire of Moses to know the true God and His way inspired God so much that He changed His mind and told Moses He would lead the Israelites to the promised land by a renewing of the covenant in Ex. 34:10-11. Notice God’s answer to Moses’ questions about wanting to know Him more intimately in Ex.33:19:
“I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name (identity) of the Lord before you.”
God through Moses’ request was now going to reveal exactly who He was, His identity, His nature and character, which again was later revealed in Christ through the New Covenant. Moses also requested to see God’s glory in verse 18 but God responded:
“You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live.”
It appears whatever glory and spirit God was composed of would vaporize a human instantly. In EX. 33:21-32, God told Moses:
“Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be when My glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with My hand as I pass by and I will take away My hand and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
In Ex. 34:1-4 God commanded Moses to cut two new tablets of stone so God could re-write the Ten Commandments on them (he broke the first set in Ex. 32:19) and commanded Moses to come up to Mt. Sinai and stand on the rock He described to him. Now notice verse 5 of Ex. 34:
"Then the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, AND PROCLAIMED THE NAME OF THE LORD."
He began to proclaim WHO He was by revealing to Moses HIS NAME COMPOSED OF SEVEN PARTS OR IDENTITIES. Now notice the revealing of the seven parts or components of God’s name in verse 6:
And the Lord passed before him (Moses) and proclaimed “the LORD…"
The first name He reveals is that He is the Lord, which in the Hebrew translates to the name YEHOVAW,’ meaning the self existent one, the eternal one, the one who has life within himself, and the one who has existed forever. Then God revealed the second part of His name, His identity in verse six:
"The Lord, the Lord GOD…"
The Hebrew word translated here for God is EL, pronounced ale, which means the ALMIGHTY ONE. These first two names God revealed to Moses identified Him as the one true Eternal, Almighty living God, creator of heaven and earth that obviously the traditional Christian world recognizes and believes in. This article will focus on the last five names of God He revealed to Moses, which is the outline of the great components of His love; His perfect love. Through the identification of these five components there is again one component sorely lacking in the so called Christian world by the deception of Satan the Devil.
Notice now the third name in Ex. 34:6 God revealed to Moses, and the first component of His love later manifested in Christ:
And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, MERCIFUL…"
The first great component of God’s love is that He is merciful or that He is mercy. The Hebrew word translated here is H3749: rachuwm from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, and this word means to be compassionate or full of compassion; to be merciful, and this word is derived from H9355: rachham, which means to fondle, to love, have compassion on and to have pity. This is the first and the greatest attribute of God’s love that He revealed to Mosesthat was not demonstrated to near it’s clearest and fullest extent to the Israelites until the brightness of His (God’s) glory and express image of His person was manifested later in the flesh: Jesus Christ in the New Testament (Heb. 1:3). I will also include Webster’s Dictionary’s definition of mercy and the other components because I feel it compliments them and does not contradict these Hebrew words that describe God’s love. Mercy: Refraining from harming or punishing offenders, enemies or persons in one’s power. Kindness in excess of what may be demanded by fairness, forbearance and compassion. A disposition to forgive, pity or be kind. Again God was revealing to Moses for a moment who He really was that He did not reveal to the Israelites. Notice Ex. 33:11:
"So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend."
Then when God told Moses He would lead the Israelites to the promised land after Moses interceded for them again He said to Moses in Ex. 33:17:
"I will also do this thing that you have spoken; “For you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name (intimately)."
God never had this same relationship with any of the other Israelites at this time. For a brief moment Moses brought out of God what was to come in the New Testament, a covenant of mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In many ways, especially on an individual level the Old Covenant was a covenant without mercy as the following descriptions and examples imply.
“Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses (Heb. 10:28)."
The apostle Paul called the Old Covenant the ministry of death (2Cor. 3:7). How about when Uzzah grabbed hold of the ark of God to try and steady it when the oxen stumbled as King David was attempting to transport it to Jerusalem in 2Sam. 6:6-7:
"And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and he struck him there for his error; and he died there before the ark of God."
Yikes! No mercy there; not even for a good intention. King David was so afraid after this incident that he was afraid to move the ark any further as noted in 2Sam. 6:9-10.
David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, "how can the ark of the Lord come to me?" So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the city of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
How about the man who was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath day when Israel was in the wilderness in Num. 32:36?
Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him under guard because it had not been explained what should be done with him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.
Can you imagine the man begging for his life and pleading for mercy? But there was no mercy as Heb. 10:28 testified. Remember when Moses, the friend and servant of God and Aaron failed to hallow the name of the Lord when Moses in his anger struck the rock to bring forth water, and claimed during the incident that he was the one to bring forth the water in Num. 20:1-12? In his error there was no mercy shown. Moses and Aaron were forbidden by God to fulfill their calling and bring the children of Israel into the promised land. This sentence by God to Moses and Aaron actually has a deep spiritual meaning to be discussed in a future article.
Now back to the first component of God’s love in Ex. 34:6. Again God was revealing a brief glimpse of His true identity later revealed in Christ. Many scriptures in the Old and New Testament point to the fact that mercy is the greatest attribute of God’s love. Notice Nehemiah 9:17:
“They refused to obey (Israel) and were not mindful of Your wonders that You did among them. But they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion they appointed a leader to return to their bondage. But You are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful."
And in verse 31:
"Nevertheless in Your great mercy You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; for You are God, gracious and merciful."
Read Psalm 136. The whole Psalm continually magnifies the Lord God’s enduring mercy which will be fully manifested when God brings to completion His great and merciful plan for all who have ever lived and died since the time of Adam (Rom. 5:12-21, 11:29-33, and 1Cor. 15:20-26). Read Romans 11:29-33:
“...for the gifts of God are irrevocable. For as you (Gentiles) were once disobedient to God, yet now have obtained mercy, through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient (Israel), that through the mercy shown you they may also obtain mercy for God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.”
Just as these scriptures proclaim: God is mercy and will manifest it by the eventual step by step plan of salvation for all mankind through his Son. Notice in the New Testament what great statements Jesus had to say about mercy. It is mentioned among the beatitudes in Mat. 5:7:
"Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy."
Notice what Jesus said in Lk. 6:35-36:
“...but love your enemies, do good, and lend hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Highest. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore BE MERCYFULL, just as your Father is merciful."
Jesus here is pointing out that the ability to show mercy to ones enemies is of the highest distinction of the Christian walk. If we are able to love; to show mercy to those who hate us, Jesus says we will be Sons of His Father. Why? Because He is first and foremost merciful in His love for all mankind; both good and evil and if we do the same we will be like Him! Jesus later backed up these words when He was being crucified by His enemies by asking His Father to forgive the Roman soldiers for crucifying Him because they were doing it in ignorance (Lk. 23:34). Jesus
also said in Mat. 12:7 that He desires us to show mercy over all other types of religious acts. Jesus also declared that mercy was one of the weightier matters of the law in Math. 23:23. We could go on and read scripture after scripture about the mercy of God and his Son such as Micah 6:6 but the time would fail us. Do a study of your own on the mercy of God and the many scriptures that describe and testify of it.
Now to the second component of God’s love that makes up the forth part of God’s name or identity that He proclaimed to Moses in Ex. 34:6:
The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and GRACIOUS…"
The second great component of God’s love is the state or quality of being gracious. The Hebrew word from Strong’s Concordance is chanan, (H2587) and is derived from the Hebrew word chanan. This word is similar to mercy and means to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior, to favor; bestow the quality of being able to be moved by petitioning, grant favor, show mercy, to have pity upon. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word gracious as follows: Having or showing kindness, courtesy and charm, to be merciful and compassionate; having pleasing qualities; attractive and being characterized by having divine grace; virtuous; good. If we were to break it down further gracious means to be kind, sympathetic; good willed, affectionate, friendly, tenderhearted and generous. Now does anyone picture our heavenly Father in this way; according to the first two attributes of His love? I didn’t know for years while attending the Worldwide Church of God what the Father’s love was really like until He revealed these scriptures to me back in the late 1990’s. Now I believe the word gracious derives from the word grace and this is why the believer stands before God blameless through Christ. Read the definition above again: to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior, to grant favor and to show mercy. God demonstrated His love toward us by delivering up His Son for us to death so that all might have the opportunity to be saved as Paul and the other apostles attested in the Gospels and epistles. Paul always led off his epistles with the words grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle John testified of the graciousness of Christ in John 1:14:
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
The word for grace here in the Greek is G5484 from Strong’s Concordance meaning graciousness of manner or act; acceptable, benefit, favor, gifts and gracious. Jesus came to fulfill what God proclaimed in outline form in the Old Testament, and remember the words of the apostle Paul in Eph. 2:8:
“For by grace (5485 as in John 1:14) you have been saved, through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
It is because of who God is, His very being, is the reason we stand here today and will all be eventually saved. There are many scriptures in the Old Testament that declare that God is a gracious God, including Psalms 86:15:
"...but you O Lord are a God full of compassion, and gracious…,” and Psalm 103:8, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities (prophecy of the future salvation of mankind?)
Many other scriptures describing God's graciousness include Psalm 111:4, 112:4, 116:5, and Joel 2:13.
Now to the third component of God’s love:
"The Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, LONGSUFFERING…"
This has to be one of the hardest concepts of God’s love for the carnal mind to grasp and understand; let alone practice this component in ones daily life. The Hebrew word for longsuffering is H750 of Strong’s awake meaning long; (-suffering-winged), patient, (slow to anger). This word is derived from the Hebrew word H748 arak, meaning to be long, defer, draw out, lengthen, prolong and tarry. Webster’s Dictionary defines as follows the word longsuffering: Bearing injuries, insults, and trouble for a long time; patient; not easily provoked. Long and patient endurance of injuries, insults and trouble.
Now how many times did not God demonstrate this trait to the children of Israel when they continuously provoked Him to anger from the time He took them out of Egypt in 1491 B.C. with their continual unbelief and idolatry until He finally removed them (northern 10 tribes of Israel) from His sight in 721 B.C. and the kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C. (950 years total). In fact the brutal history of the world and it’s inhumanity is a testimony to our all patient and longsuffering God. Notice Mal. 3:6:
“For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
Because longsuffering is a part of His identity and love, He has for the most part put up with our evil ways whether they be great or small to this very day! Have you ever noticed the people around you at work or at social gatherings who continuously take the name of God and Jesus in vain so carelessly and habitually, trampling the holy and reverend name of the one who created them without fear? Yet the Lord daily puts up with the abuse of His name allowing them to live on and break one of the 10 commandments that defines what sin is:
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you (be patient, endure insults and trouble for a long time), do good to those who hate you, that you may be sons of your Father (who is longsuffering) in heaven; for He makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”
God’s longsuffering is also one of his attributes that Paul declared in Romans to allow us time to come to repentance.
“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
Because of this attribute of God’s love, His plan of salvation for all of mankind will not fail and be carried out. Notice Isa. 46:9-11:
“Remember the former things of old, For I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying “My council shall stand, and I will do all My pleasures, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My council from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.”
Because God has the attribute of longsuffering He has the power to stay the course in what He has purposed for mankind in spite of what He sees and puts up with from mankind. Notice the longsuffering described about Jesus in Heb. 12:3-4:
“For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed striving against sin."
If you have read the four gospels you can clearly see that Jesus was harassed, tormented and accused falsely almost continually; especially noted in the book of John where he was accused of being mad or out of his mind, or that of having a demon or using the Devil to cast out evil spirits as described in the book of Matthew. And it was mentioned in John that Jews often sought to kill him, but because of this component of the love of His Father by the Holy Spirit in Jesus; longsuffering, He was able to endure the constant insults and trouble for three and one half years until the purpose of His first coming was completed at His brutal trial in which He endured false accusations, insults, mockings, beatings and then ending with His crucifixion that fulfilled Isa.46:9-11 as mentioned above. Notice what the apostle Peter said about the long suffering of Jesus in 2Pet. 3:9:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some call slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
And all who have ever lived and died on the Earth will come to know just how longsuffering God is when He eventually will bring most, if not all to repentance and salvation by the resurrection of the dead both in this age and in the ages to come through Christ.
Lets examine the forth component of God’s pure and holy love and the sixth part of His name. Again to Ex. 34:6:
“The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in GOODNESS…”
God is goodness or good and He says He abounds in it. The Hebrew word for goodness here is H2617 of Strong’s Concordance called checed; meaning: kindness by implication, piety, beauty, favor, good deeds, kindly, loving kindness, merciful, pity and reproach. This Hebrew word can also be translated in other scriptures of the O.T. as loving kindness or again mercy and the word also means goodness, kindness and faithfulness. So here our God is revealing that He has a kindly affection toward us manifested in goodness. Webster’s dictionary defines goodness as the state or quality of being good in virtue, excellence, kindness, generosity and benevolence. So this great all powerful God with unlimited might is revealing that His attitude towards us is that of a being with a high moral standard of deep out flowing care and concern for us, and that He is a God that is abundantly good to us and is full of loving kindness towards us. We state here that the whole traditional/mainstream Christian world cannot begin to fully understand the deep love He has for all of mankind; so much so that He will at one step at a time reconcile the whole world, all who have ever lived and died, He will reconcile to himself through Jesus Christ our Lord, and they will be born into God’s family as His very sons and daughters (Rom. 8:21, 5:18-19 and 1Tim. 2:4). Traditional Christianity on the other hand preaches a God of wrath where most of mankind, even the billions who never even heard the name Jesus Christ will be cast into everlasting unfathomable eternal torture in hellfire. The traditional Christian world again cannot fullygrasp the depth of the goodness and kindness of God in that He will have all men to be saved (1Tim.2:4). Notice Jer. 29:11-13. This not only speaks of the captive Jews in Babylon but it is also for the whole world being fulfilled through Christ.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future hope (eventual eternal life for all). Then you will call upon Me and go, and pray to Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
This was a prophesy not fulfilled by the Jews when they returned to the promised land after their Babylonian captivity; for they later rejected Christ and were destroyed and scattered in 70 A.D. This will be fulfilled when Jesus reconciles the whole world to God through the second resurrection in Rev. 20 and Ezek. 37. Oh the goodness and loving kindness of our eternal Father who dwells in the highest of the heavens! Truly the psalmist had the right description of our God when he said in Psalm 33:3-5:
“Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy. For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."
The world cannot begin to understand God’s eventual goodness towards it but over time it will through Jesus Christ our Lord! No wonder why the 24 elders around the throne of God in heaven fall down before throne of God and cast their crowns continually before Him (Rev. 4:4,10). They see Him eye to eye and must hear the indescribable good things that proceed from God and from the mouth of the Lamb at His right hand and see how holy and righteous God and Christ are that They are so moved with awe and reverence that our minds could hardly begin to comprehend it, and by this awe and reverence from God’s inexpressible goodness they are inspired to fall down continually and worship the One who sits on the throne. In psalms 31:19 David shouted for joy when he wrote:
“Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!"
David was praising God over the reward of those who will receive son ship in His family and the inheritance of all things. Eventually this gift will be bestowed on all that who have ever lived! Notice again in Rom 2:4 that it is God’s goodness, His infinite love towards us that leads us to repentance: or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” How great and awesome is our God in all His mercy, graciousness, longsuffering and goodness towards those who put their hope in Him and walk in the Spirit of truth.
And now to the last all important component of God’s great love, the fifth component and seventh part of His name that He proclaimed to Moses in Ex. 34:6:
And the Lord passed before him (Moses) and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and TRUTH.”
Truth is the fifth component of God’s great love that was manifested and demonstrated later by the reality of the shadow of the law; Jesus Christ, and He also says He abounds in it along with goodness. Now those who are sincere in the traditional Christian world and other denominations see that Jesus laid down His life for others, they strive for good works in His name towards others, they reach out to the poor, are involved in missionary and humanitarian work towards the downtrodden and suffering around the world in the name of Jesus. They can pretty much see and understand the first four components of God’s love, but through the purposeful blindness at this time by God (Deut. 29:1-4. Isa. 28:9-14, Matt. 13:1-16 and Rom 11:7-10,25), Satan has been allowed to take advantage of this blindness of just about all of humanity into what truth is, because God is not calling or working with most of the world at this time. Remember Satan is still the god of this world (2Cor. 4:4 and Lk. 4:4-7), the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2), and has deceived the whole world (Rev. 12:9). Mainstream Christianity rightly believes in an Almighty Eternal Creator God and in the Savior of the world Jesus Christ. They rightly teach the doctrine of grace through faith to salvation through Christ, but just about every other major doctrines they teach about them are false and are outright lies, and these doctrines they think they know to be Christian truths are actually none other than the Satanic inspired doctrines of the Babylonian Mystery Religion begun 4,000 plus years ago by a woman name Semiramis, and is now cloaked or veiled in the name of God and Christ from the false pagan doctrine of the Trinity or triune god, the lie of the immortal soul; to the sick Satanic doctrine of eternal indescribable torment in hell of the unbelieving, carnal sinner, and the billions of people who have never even heard of the One who can save them; from the time shortly after the creation of the world down to this present time. They are misrepresenting the Almighty Creator and His Son to those they are trying to convert to! Listening to someone like Hank Hanagraff and his Bible Answer Man Christian psychobabble explanations about the condemnation in hell of those who never heard the gospel of salvation simply astounds me! Since the third and forth church areas of Rev. 2:12,15, and verses 20-23 mainstream Christianity (Catholic Church) has snared the Christian world into The Babylonian Mystery Religion of Rev. 17:1-6; teaching a Christianity of truth mixed with pagan idolatrous lies. And if they are teaching falsehood about God and Christ then the truth, The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, and the love of God are not dwelling in them! Again they have attached to God and Christ abominable pagan doctrines that are plain lies. This is the evidence that mainstream Christianity does not have the Holy Spirit or the love of God because they do not walk in the complete truth or knowledge of God and Christ and do not teach the truth about them; who they are and what their plan for all mankind is. What is the Holy Spirit called? He is called the Spirit of Truth in John 14:17, 15:27, and 16:13, and Who is also called truth in John 14:6?:
Jesus said to him (Thomas) I am the way, the truth and the life…”
What did Jesus call the word of God in John 17:17?
“Your word is truth.”
Probably one of the greatest blunders of traditional Christianity is the casting away and the blindness of future spiritual meanings of the letters or shadows (hidden mysteries) of the old covenant and law which reveals who God and Christ are, what they have done, and what they eventually are going to do spiritually for all mankind. When I mentioned to my older brother (a Catholic) recently that the old covenant and law were a shadow or outline of what Jesus did and what He would later do for mankind at his second coming he immediately cut me off and said if it has to do with the O.T. I want nothing to do with it! Millions of sincere people are striving to enter in through the narrow gait but the lies that have been past down to, and fed to them as truth since the third and fourth church eras of Rev. chapter 2 has caused them to blindly enter the broad gait. In truth, Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister said in truth that if you tell a lie over and over, and long enough, people will over time believe that lie. These pagan lies have been passed down and taught to the Christian masses for 17 or 18 hundred years! I have shown, explained, and discussed some of these lies to some friends and acquaintances that see them and know about them and agree they are pagan lies, but these lies seem to be so ingrained in them that they just can’t break away from them. God proclaims in Rom. 9:15:
“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,”
And in John 6:44 Jesus said:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day."
You have to first be called and chosen by God and only a remnant or first fruits are being called at this time to reign with Christ in the kingdom of God and have opened their eyes to truth, the last component of God’s love (Lev. 23:7). Notice plainly what Jesus said to His disciples in Math. 13:10-16 after telling the Jewish masses about the parable of the Sower in which even His disciples didn’t have a clue as to what it meant!:
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance: but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand (truth). And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand (truth), and seeing you will not perceive (truth); for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand (truth) with their heart and turn and I should heal them."
Jesus plainly blinded the masses on purpose because it was not their time to be called by God to Christ (first fruits) and that blindness lies over the whole world to this day. (Rev. 12:9). The whole world at this time is still following in the footsteps of their father Adam's sentence by God in Gen. 3:19 in that it is appointed for us (Heb 9:27) once to die:
“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread (Adam) till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken: for dust you are and to dust you shall return (unconscious death)."
The penalty of sin was past to us from Adam, and with it all men being subject to death, and cut off from God until a small first resurrection of Christ's elect, and later a massive second resurrection when all men and women: Muslims, Hindus, Pagans, Buddhists, atheists, and just about all the so called Christians today will be raised together and will have their eyes opened to the truth and willat that time have the opportunity to claim that one sacrifice; Jesus Christ in the hope that no one should be lost, but that all will have life eternal through Jesus. This will be explained in a coming series of articles. Again before the preaching and the meaning of the above parable from the time of Adam through the time of Christ and up until this present time the world has not been able to discern truth, the last component of God’s love: for God has not given them the Spirit to understand it and has allowed Satan in this present evil age to deceive the whole world as testified in Rev. 12:9:
"So the great dragon was cast out (of heaven), that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world..."
So what does this word truth mean here in Ex. 34:6. The Hebrew word for truth here from Strong’s Concordance is H571: the word emeth, and means stability, certainty, truth trustworthiness, assuredly, establishment, faithful, right, sure, true and verity. The word means that what God says, means, and has established is stable, dependable, absolutely certain, is true, is absolute truth, true, sure and right. Webster’s Dictionary defines truth as the quality of being in accordance with experience, facts or reality; conformity with fact; reality or actual existence; correctness, and accuracy, verified fact; a true statement or proposition: an established principle, a fixed law or the like. So to walk in truth; the fifth component of God’s love the Christian must walk in genuineness of heart in trustworthiness and must walk according to what is fact or truth established by God, what is true and what is reality. Again, traditional Christianity has been deceived for almost 2,000 years; starting with the Catholic Church absorbing, adopting, teaching and walking in a Christianity full of pagan lies. Again the apostle John said in 1John 2:21 that:
“...no lie is of the truth.”
Now if you are not walking in the truth of God you are not walking in the love of God! As Jesus said it is a very narrow gait, (the first resurrection of Rev. 20:5 that leads to life), and many professing sincere Christians will seek to enter it but will not be able to. Why? Again because they have been blinded to truth. This author presents a challenge to the readers of this article and this website. Go and research on your own computer or at the library the origins of such doctrines as the Trinity, the immortality of the soul, the origin of the traditional Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter, the punishment of the unsaved (uncalled) with an open mind and see if they are of Christian origin. Did you know that the English word hell meant simply the ground or earth 400 to 500 years ago and gradually came to mean the word it is today? This word hell is actually a mistranslation of all the words it is used for in the bible! But over time false Christianity and the gaff of the KJB translated this word hell into a different meaning to represent gruesome everlasting torment. To give you an example of this mistranslated word a former co-worker of mine who lived in England for 3 years said that when a house is built in England the basement by law can only be dug so many feet into hell (the ground)! These doctrines can be traced back over 4,000 years to a woman named Semiramis and her husband Nimrod. Christmas was none other than the most sacred day of sun worship when the sun could be seen returning to the northern hemisphere with the naked eye on December 25th. In the days of ancient Israel and Judah they turned to this sun worship, learning it from the heathen nations around them and sacrificed their children by causing them to “pass through the fire” to Moloch and Baal (Nimrod who represented the sun God). Easter was none other than the celebration/lamentation of Semaramis’ son Tammuz, who was killed by a wild boar while hunting one day and that’s the reason for the traditional ham on Easter. Go research this stuff for yourself; it's not some fairy tale! To give you a taste of the origin and customs of Easter click on the following link and read the article The Pagan Origin Of Easter at http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html Ask yourself, where did all these strange customs such as putting fir trees in ones home with presents under it, or celebrating Easter with the Easter Bunny and eggs originate from? Did all this stuff come from the apostles and Jesus? They certainly did not! But because the so called converts to Christianity did not want to give up these idolatrous doctrines and festivals (lies) almost 2,000 years ago the Catholic Church “Christianized” them by cloaking them in the name of Christ, allowing Satan, the true author of all this stuff to spiritualize them and make them look like festivals of light. The apostle Paul spoke about the ability of Satan to do this in 2Cor 11:14:
“And no wonder for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
Ask yourself if Jesus and God would want to have their name attached to a day in which human child sacrifice was attached to at one time (Christmas)? Ask yourself this question. To tell a child that Santa Claus exists, is it a lie or is it the truth? As a lawyer would say to some one on the witness stand at a trial: just answer the question; yes or no! Is it a lie or is it the truth? We know the answer, and there is no dancing around it or justifying it no matter how cute and innocent it appears to be. And if this is a lie about the existence of jolly old Santa and you willingly tell it knowing it is a lie over and over and year after year you are not walking in the fifth great component of God’s love and do not have the Spirit; for the Spirit again is truth. You have become a transgressor of the law, bearing false witness, the sixth commandment and are not walking in truth according to fact, and in continuance of this sin of lying have fallen from grace. The apostle Paul said in 1Tim. 1:9-10:
"...that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars…"
This is saying that the liar stands in the same condemnation as the one who is a murderer. Both have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Would the traditional Christian world celebrate the Muslim month of Ramadan if they made it Christ centered? Why they would be indignant at this idea! They would claim that it would be a lie, blasphemy, and idolatry to do such a thing to Christ! Yet they are doing the very same thing to this day and age although now mostly in ignorance by the deceptions of Satan.
In conclusion, man through his creation in the image of God has the ability to love, but on a much lower level than his Creator and through what they see and understand about God’s love in the Bible can enhance and magnify their love for one another. God’s love is revealed in outline form in the book of Exodus chapter 34:6 which was manifested later by Jesus Christ in the Gospels and now by the remnant few elect of God at this present time through the Holy Spirit; the Spirit of truth. The five great components of God’s love in which He also identifies as part of His name are:
I: Mercy
II: Gracious
III: Longsuffering
IV: Goodness
V: Truth
Traditional Christianity and other variants of it basically understand the first four components but have been blinded to the fifth component, truth; just as the rest of the world has been blinded and deceived to what the truth of God and Christ represent (Rev. 12:9). The Holy Spirit alone guides the called Christian of God into truth and since the traditional Christian world has mixed the belief of God with pagan lies they do not have the Holy Spirit or the love of God dwelling in them. They will have this opportunity to understand all truth when they are raised in the second resurrection (Rev. chapter 20) and then after repentance will be born into the family of God.
By: Rick Gedeon
"No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another God dwells in us and his love is perfected in us (John 4:12)."
We know that Jesus Christ was and is the ultimate example of the manifestation of God the Father’s love. He obeyed His Father, walked in all His commandments, and demonstrated God’s love for us by laying His life down to the point of death, so that all of humankind would have the opportunity to eventually be saved. If we could break God’s love down point by point, what would it look like? If we could see an outline of His love, what would the components of it be? Certainly the love chapter of 1Cor. chapter 13 gives us a great description of it, but if you wanted it in outline form you need to go to the Old Testament and there in Exodus chapter 34 you will see it point by point. Remember, the Old Covenant and Law contains the shadow or outline of the future manifestation of it's reality, Jesus Christ; what He came and fulfilled in the New Testament, and what events He will yet fulfill in the future at and after His second coming (Heb 10:1 and Col. 2:16-17). The Old Testament law and covenant is like the frame of a building in which Jesus fills in with all the finer and beautiful details. This description in Ex. chapter 34 is the outline of the great components of God’s love, which again was later demonstrated through Christ. In identifying the love of God point by point, there is one glaring aspect of it that is missing in traditional Christianity and such groups as the Mormon church and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and to have the Holy Spirit in you, you must have all five of these components of God and Christ’s love. This one aspect of God’s love is revealed by God’s Spirit alone; therefore, the love they think they are manifesting is their own human love heightened by the knowledge of what they do see and understand in the bible about God’s love. People do have the ability to love and that love can be greatly heightened by inspiration, motivation, and knowledge. Truly with knowledge there is power! People can and have literally laid down their lives for others without the Holy Spirit. Soldiers in combat have given up their lives by throwing themselves on grenades to save their fellow soldiers and friends. On 9/11/2001 many police men and firefighters gave up their lives to try to save their fellow citizens trapped in the World Trade Center. Mainstream Christian leaders and theologians will point to groups such as the Mormon Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or churches such as the Seventh Day Adventists and brand them as heretics, but these groups demonstrate the same kind of love and service to one another, and to those outside their faith as does mainstream Christianity, therefore there is no real distinction in the love they demonstrate that Jesus said would identify them as His true disciples. Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus have the ability to love one another and serve one another. Atheists have the ability to love unselfishly. Jesus Himself said in John 13:34-35.“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another; and in John 15:13 Jesus also told His disciples: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” All these religious groups mentioned above have the ability to love, serve and lay down their lives for one another. The ability to love obviously was one of the emotions put in man at his creation (Gen. 1:26). There is again one huge component of God’s love through the Holy Spirit that is missing, that Satan has deceived and blinded them from understanding and not without the allowance by God for Satan to do this. In all these groups there is evidence that they do not have the Holy Spirit, and therefore have entered the broad gait (Math. 7:13). Now do not get the wrong impression, the love of God is higher, deeper, and broader than anyone can imagine as stated in Eph. 3:17-19:
"...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and depth and length and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge: that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (with the fullness of God’s love through Christ)."
We can hardly begin to understand the imesurable holy and loving nature of the God who created us:
“For now we see in a mirror dimly…(1Cor. 13:12)."
We do not have the Holy Spirit without measure at this time as Christ did. We have the ability to love because we were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) but in between that love is our sinful, carnal nature (Jer. 17:9) inherited when Adam and Eve took of the forbidden fruit, but God is continuous perfect love.
“He who does not know love does not know God for God is love(John 4:8)."
The love and mind of God and Christ and the way He uses it to bring about His will are unfathomable to the human mind at this time. God will even create and use evil for an eventual good outcome (Isa. 45:7).
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” Says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9).”
The apostle Paul also greatly rejoiced and marveled at the mind of God after disclosing to the Romans in chapter 11:28-32 that through God’s love He would eventually save all of mankind.
“Oh the depth and the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to Him?”
In Ex. chapter 32, Israel had sinned greatly when Moses delayed coming down from Mt Sinai with the Ten Commandments by making and worshipping a golden calf. God became so angry with the Israelites that He told Moses that He was going to destroy them and then make Moses’ descendants into a great nation (Ex. 32:9); however God was actually allowing Moses to act out the Old Testament shadow role of the future reality of Jesus Christ as the future intercessor for the spiritual people of God. By Moses intercession for the Israelites, God relented from destroying them (Ex. 32:11-14). God, still angry with His people commanded Moses to lead the Israelites up to the promised land with his Angel before them, but God said that He would not go up with them lest He destroy them over another serious act of disobedience (Ex. 33:2-3). Now after God told Moses this, Moses again later approached God, this time in the tabernacle he pitched outside the camp away from the congregation of Israel and once again proceeded to intercede for the Israelites, and try to change God’s mind about not going up with the people to the promised land, but this time Moses did it in a different way. He approached God intimately and asked Him:
“...to show me now Your way, that I may know You." (open Your inner being up to me) and that I may find grace in Your sight (Ex. 33:13)."
In other words Moses was asking God to reveal to him who He really was; what was really inside of Him and what was His inner being. Was He really this God of punishment upon disobedience? By asking God this question it brought out of God for a moment His true identity and nature, that He was a God of grace, a God of infinite love, later to be manifested through Jesus Christ by the New Covenant. This strong desire of Moses to know the true God and His way inspired God so much that He changed His mind and told Moses He would lead the Israelites to the promised land by a renewing of the covenant in Ex. 34:10-11. Notice God’s answer to Moses’ questions about wanting to know Him more intimately in Ex.33:19:
“I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name (identity) of the Lord before you.”
God through Moses’ request was now going to reveal exactly who He was, His identity, His nature and character, which again was later revealed in Christ through the New Covenant. Moses also requested to see God’s glory in verse 18 but God responded:
“You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live.”
It appears whatever glory and spirit God was composed of would vaporize a human instantly. In EX. 33:21-32, God told Moses:
“Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be when My glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with My hand as I pass by and I will take away My hand and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
In Ex. 34:1-4 God commanded Moses to cut two new tablets of stone so God could re-write the Ten Commandments on them (he broke the first set in Ex. 32:19) and commanded Moses to come up to Mt. Sinai and stand on the rock He described to him. Now notice verse 5 of Ex. 34:
"Then the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, AND PROCLAIMED THE NAME OF THE LORD."
He began to proclaim WHO He was by revealing to Moses HIS NAME COMPOSED OF SEVEN PARTS OR IDENTITIES. Now notice the revealing of the seven parts or components of God’s name in verse 6:
And the Lord passed before him (Moses) and proclaimed “the LORD…"
The first name He reveals is that He is the Lord, which in the Hebrew translates to the name YEHOVAW,’ meaning the self existent one, the eternal one, the one who has life within himself, and the one who has existed forever. Then God revealed the second part of His name, His identity in verse six:
"The Lord, the Lord GOD…"
The Hebrew word translated here for God is EL, pronounced ale, which means the ALMIGHTY ONE. These first two names God revealed to Moses identified Him as the one true Eternal, Almighty living God, creator of heaven and earth that obviously the traditional Christian world recognizes and believes in. This article will focus on the last five names of God He revealed to Moses, which is the outline of the great components of His love; His perfect love. Through the identification of these five components there is again one component sorely lacking in the so called Christian world by the deception of Satan the Devil.
Notice now the third name in Ex. 34:6 God revealed to Moses, and the first component of His love later manifested in Christ:
And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, MERCIFUL…"
The first great component of God’s love is that He is merciful or that He is mercy. The Hebrew word translated here is H3749: rachuwm from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, and this word means to be compassionate or full of compassion; to be merciful, and this word is derived from H9355: rachham, which means to fondle, to love, have compassion on and to have pity. This is the first and the greatest attribute of God’s love that He revealed to Mosesthat was not demonstrated to near it’s clearest and fullest extent to the Israelites until the brightness of His (God’s) glory and express image of His person was manifested later in the flesh: Jesus Christ in the New Testament (Heb. 1:3). I will also include Webster’s Dictionary’s definition of mercy and the other components because I feel it compliments them and does not contradict these Hebrew words that describe God’s love. Mercy: Refraining from harming or punishing offenders, enemies or persons in one’s power. Kindness in excess of what may be demanded by fairness, forbearance and compassion. A disposition to forgive, pity or be kind. Again God was revealing to Moses for a moment who He really was that He did not reveal to the Israelites. Notice Ex. 33:11:
"So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend."
Then when God told Moses He would lead the Israelites to the promised land after Moses interceded for them again He said to Moses in Ex. 33:17:
"I will also do this thing that you have spoken; “For you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name (intimately)."
God never had this same relationship with any of the other Israelites at this time. For a brief moment Moses brought out of God what was to come in the New Testament, a covenant of mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In many ways, especially on an individual level the Old Covenant was a covenant without mercy as the following descriptions and examples imply.
“Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses (Heb. 10:28)."
The apostle Paul called the Old Covenant the ministry of death (2Cor. 3:7). How about when Uzzah grabbed hold of the ark of God to try and steady it when the oxen stumbled as King David was attempting to transport it to Jerusalem in 2Sam. 6:6-7:
"And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and he struck him there for his error; and he died there before the ark of God."
Yikes! No mercy there; not even for a good intention. King David was so afraid after this incident that he was afraid to move the ark any further as noted in 2Sam. 6:9-10.
David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, "how can the ark of the Lord come to me?" So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the city of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
How about the man who was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath day when Israel was in the wilderness in Num. 32:36?
Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him under guard because it had not been explained what should be done with him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.
Can you imagine the man begging for his life and pleading for mercy? But there was no mercy as Heb. 10:28 testified. Remember when Moses, the friend and servant of God and Aaron failed to hallow the name of the Lord when Moses in his anger struck the rock to bring forth water, and claimed during the incident that he was the one to bring forth the water in Num. 20:1-12? In his error there was no mercy shown. Moses and Aaron were forbidden by God to fulfill their calling and bring the children of Israel into the promised land. This sentence by God to Moses and Aaron actually has a deep spiritual meaning to be discussed in a future article.
Now back to the first component of God’s love in Ex. 34:6. Again God was revealing a brief glimpse of His true identity later revealed in Christ. Many scriptures in the Old and New Testament point to the fact that mercy is the greatest attribute of God’s love. Notice Nehemiah 9:17:
“They refused to obey (Israel) and were not mindful of Your wonders that You did among them. But they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion they appointed a leader to return to their bondage. But You are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful."
And in verse 31:
"Nevertheless in Your great mercy You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; for You are God, gracious and merciful."
Read Psalm 136. The whole Psalm continually magnifies the Lord God’s enduring mercy which will be fully manifested when God brings to completion His great and merciful plan for all who have ever lived and died since the time of Adam (Rom. 5:12-21, 11:29-33, and 1Cor. 15:20-26). Read Romans 11:29-33:
“...for the gifts of God are irrevocable. For as you (Gentiles) were once disobedient to God, yet now have obtained mercy, through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient (Israel), that through the mercy shown you they may also obtain mercy for God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.”
Just as these scriptures proclaim: God is mercy and will manifest it by the eventual step by step plan of salvation for all mankind through his Son. Notice in the New Testament what great statements Jesus had to say about mercy. It is mentioned among the beatitudes in Mat. 5:7:
"Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy."
Notice what Jesus said in Lk. 6:35-36:
“...but love your enemies, do good, and lend hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Highest. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore BE MERCYFULL, just as your Father is merciful."
Jesus here is pointing out that the ability to show mercy to ones enemies is of the highest distinction of the Christian walk. If we are able to love; to show mercy to those who hate us, Jesus says we will be Sons of His Father. Why? Because He is first and foremost merciful in His love for all mankind; both good and evil and if we do the same we will be like Him! Jesus later backed up these words when He was being crucified by His enemies by asking His Father to forgive the Roman soldiers for crucifying Him because they were doing it in ignorance (Lk. 23:34). Jesus
also said in Mat. 12:7 that He desires us to show mercy over all other types of religious acts. Jesus also declared that mercy was one of the weightier matters of the law in Math. 23:23. We could go on and read scripture after scripture about the mercy of God and his Son such as Micah 6:6 but the time would fail us. Do a study of your own on the mercy of God and the many scriptures that describe and testify of it.
Now to the second component of God’s love that makes up the forth part of God’s name or identity that He proclaimed to Moses in Ex. 34:6:
The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and GRACIOUS…"
The second great component of God’s love is the state or quality of being gracious. The Hebrew word from Strong’s Concordance is chanan, (H2587) and is derived from the Hebrew word chanan. This word is similar to mercy and means to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior, to favor; bestow the quality of being able to be moved by petitioning, grant favor, show mercy, to have pity upon. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word gracious as follows: Having or showing kindness, courtesy and charm, to be merciful and compassionate; having pleasing qualities; attractive and being characterized by having divine grace; virtuous; good. If we were to break it down further gracious means to be kind, sympathetic; good willed, affectionate, friendly, tenderhearted and generous. Now does anyone picture our heavenly Father in this way; according to the first two attributes of His love? I didn’t know for years while attending the Worldwide Church of God what the Father’s love was really like until He revealed these scriptures to me back in the late 1990’s. Now I believe the word gracious derives from the word grace and this is why the believer stands before God blameless through Christ. Read the definition above again: to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior, to grant favor and to show mercy. God demonstrated His love toward us by delivering up His Son for us to death so that all might have the opportunity to be saved as Paul and the other apostles attested in the Gospels and epistles. Paul always led off his epistles with the words grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle John testified of the graciousness of Christ in John 1:14:
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
The word for grace here in the Greek is G5484 from Strong’s Concordance meaning graciousness of manner or act; acceptable, benefit, favor, gifts and gracious. Jesus came to fulfill what God proclaimed in outline form in the Old Testament, and remember the words of the apostle Paul in Eph. 2:8:
“For by grace (5485 as in John 1:14) you have been saved, through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
It is because of who God is, His very being, is the reason we stand here today and will all be eventually saved. There are many scriptures in the Old Testament that declare that God is a gracious God, including Psalms 86:15:
"...but you O Lord are a God full of compassion, and gracious…,” and Psalm 103:8, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities (prophecy of the future salvation of mankind?)
Many other scriptures describing God's graciousness include Psalm 111:4, 112:4, 116:5, and Joel 2:13.
Now to the third component of God’s love:
"The Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, LONGSUFFERING…"
This has to be one of the hardest concepts of God’s love for the carnal mind to grasp and understand; let alone practice this component in ones daily life. The Hebrew word for longsuffering is H750 of Strong’s awake meaning long; (-suffering-winged), patient, (slow to anger). This word is derived from the Hebrew word H748 arak, meaning to be long, defer, draw out, lengthen, prolong and tarry. Webster’s Dictionary defines as follows the word longsuffering: Bearing injuries, insults, and trouble for a long time; patient; not easily provoked. Long and patient endurance of injuries, insults and trouble.
Now how many times did not God demonstrate this trait to the children of Israel when they continuously provoked Him to anger from the time He took them out of Egypt in 1491 B.C. with their continual unbelief and idolatry until He finally removed them (northern 10 tribes of Israel) from His sight in 721 B.C. and the kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C. (950 years total). In fact the brutal history of the world and it’s inhumanity is a testimony to our all patient and longsuffering God. Notice Mal. 3:6:
“For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
Because longsuffering is a part of His identity and love, He has for the most part put up with our evil ways whether they be great or small to this very day! Have you ever noticed the people around you at work or at social gatherings who continuously take the name of God and Jesus in vain so carelessly and habitually, trampling the holy and reverend name of the one who created them without fear? Yet the Lord daily puts up with the abuse of His name allowing them to live on and break one of the 10 commandments that defines what sin is:
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you (be patient, endure insults and trouble for a long time), do good to those who hate you, that you may be sons of your Father (who is longsuffering) in heaven; for He makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”
God’s longsuffering is also one of his attributes that Paul declared in Romans to allow us time to come to repentance.
“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
Because of this attribute of God’s love, His plan of salvation for all of mankind will not fail and be carried out. Notice Isa. 46:9-11:
“Remember the former things of old, For I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying “My council shall stand, and I will do all My pleasures, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My council from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.”
Because God has the attribute of longsuffering He has the power to stay the course in what He has purposed for mankind in spite of what He sees and puts up with from mankind. Notice the longsuffering described about Jesus in Heb. 12:3-4:
“For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed striving against sin."
If you have read the four gospels you can clearly see that Jesus was harassed, tormented and accused falsely almost continually; especially noted in the book of John where he was accused of being mad or out of his mind, or that of having a demon or using the Devil to cast out evil spirits as described in the book of Matthew. And it was mentioned in John that Jews often sought to kill him, but because of this component of the love of His Father by the Holy Spirit in Jesus; longsuffering, He was able to endure the constant insults and trouble for three and one half years until the purpose of His first coming was completed at His brutal trial in which He endured false accusations, insults, mockings, beatings and then ending with His crucifixion that fulfilled Isa.46:9-11 as mentioned above. Notice what the apostle Peter said about the long suffering of Jesus in 2Pet. 3:9:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some call slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
And all who have ever lived and died on the Earth will come to know just how longsuffering God is when He eventually will bring most, if not all to repentance and salvation by the resurrection of the dead both in this age and in the ages to come through Christ.
Lets examine the forth component of God’s pure and holy love and the sixth part of His name. Again to Ex. 34:6:
“The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in GOODNESS…”
God is goodness or good and He says He abounds in it. The Hebrew word for goodness here is H2617 of Strong’s Concordance called checed; meaning: kindness by implication, piety, beauty, favor, good deeds, kindly, loving kindness, merciful, pity and reproach. This Hebrew word can also be translated in other scriptures of the O.T. as loving kindness or again mercy and the word also means goodness, kindness and faithfulness. So here our God is revealing that He has a kindly affection toward us manifested in goodness. Webster’s dictionary defines goodness as the state or quality of being good in virtue, excellence, kindness, generosity and benevolence. So this great all powerful God with unlimited might is revealing that His attitude towards us is that of a being with a high moral standard of deep out flowing care and concern for us, and that He is a God that is abundantly good to us and is full of loving kindness towards us. We state here that the whole traditional/mainstream Christian world cannot begin to fully understand the deep love He has for all of mankind; so much so that He will at one step at a time reconcile the whole world, all who have ever lived and died, He will reconcile to himself through Jesus Christ our Lord, and they will be born into God’s family as His very sons and daughters (Rom. 8:21, 5:18-19 and 1Tim. 2:4). Traditional Christianity on the other hand preaches a God of wrath where most of mankind, even the billions who never even heard the name Jesus Christ will be cast into everlasting unfathomable eternal torture in hellfire. The traditional Christian world again cannot fullygrasp the depth of the goodness and kindness of God in that He will have all men to be saved (1Tim.2:4). Notice Jer. 29:11-13. This not only speaks of the captive Jews in Babylon but it is also for the whole world being fulfilled through Christ.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future hope (eventual eternal life for all). Then you will call upon Me and go, and pray to Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
This was a prophesy not fulfilled by the Jews when they returned to the promised land after their Babylonian captivity; for they later rejected Christ and were destroyed and scattered in 70 A.D. This will be fulfilled when Jesus reconciles the whole world to God through the second resurrection in Rev. 20 and Ezek. 37. Oh the goodness and loving kindness of our eternal Father who dwells in the highest of the heavens! Truly the psalmist had the right description of our God when he said in Psalm 33:3-5:
“Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy. For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."
The world cannot begin to understand God’s eventual goodness towards it but over time it will through Jesus Christ our Lord! No wonder why the 24 elders around the throne of God in heaven fall down before throne of God and cast their crowns continually before Him (Rev. 4:4,10). They see Him eye to eye and must hear the indescribable good things that proceed from God and from the mouth of the Lamb at His right hand and see how holy and righteous God and Christ are that They are so moved with awe and reverence that our minds could hardly begin to comprehend it, and by this awe and reverence from God’s inexpressible goodness they are inspired to fall down continually and worship the One who sits on the throne. In psalms 31:19 David shouted for joy when he wrote:
“Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!"
David was praising God over the reward of those who will receive son ship in His family and the inheritance of all things. Eventually this gift will be bestowed on all that who have ever lived! Notice again in Rom 2:4 that it is God’s goodness, His infinite love towards us that leads us to repentance: or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” How great and awesome is our God in all His mercy, graciousness, longsuffering and goodness towards those who put their hope in Him and walk in the Spirit of truth.
And now to the last all important component of God’s great love, the fifth component and seventh part of His name that He proclaimed to Moses in Ex. 34:6:
And the Lord passed before him (Moses) and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and TRUTH.”
Truth is the fifth component of God’s great love that was manifested and demonstrated later by the reality of the shadow of the law; Jesus Christ, and He also says He abounds in it along with goodness. Now those who are sincere in the traditional Christian world and other denominations see that Jesus laid down His life for others, they strive for good works in His name towards others, they reach out to the poor, are involved in missionary and humanitarian work towards the downtrodden and suffering around the world in the name of Jesus. They can pretty much see and understand the first four components of God’s love, but through the purposeful blindness at this time by God (Deut. 29:1-4. Isa. 28:9-14, Matt. 13:1-16 and Rom 11:7-10,25), Satan has been allowed to take advantage of this blindness of just about all of humanity into what truth is, because God is not calling or working with most of the world at this time. Remember Satan is still the god of this world (2Cor. 4:4 and Lk. 4:4-7), the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2), and has deceived the whole world (Rev. 12:9). Mainstream Christianity rightly believes in an Almighty Eternal Creator God and in the Savior of the world Jesus Christ. They rightly teach the doctrine of grace through faith to salvation through Christ, but just about every other major doctrines they teach about them are false and are outright lies, and these doctrines they think they know to be Christian truths are actually none other than the Satanic inspired doctrines of the Babylonian Mystery Religion begun 4,000 plus years ago by a woman name Semiramis, and is now cloaked or veiled in the name of God and Christ from the false pagan doctrine of the Trinity or triune god, the lie of the immortal soul; to the sick Satanic doctrine of eternal indescribable torment in hell of the unbelieving, carnal sinner, and the billions of people who have never even heard of the One who can save them; from the time shortly after the creation of the world down to this present time. They are misrepresenting the Almighty Creator and His Son to those they are trying to convert to! Listening to someone like Hank Hanagraff and his Bible Answer Man Christian psychobabble explanations about the condemnation in hell of those who never heard the gospel of salvation simply astounds me! Since the third and forth church areas of Rev. 2:12,15, and verses 20-23 mainstream Christianity (Catholic Church) has snared the Christian world into The Babylonian Mystery Religion of Rev. 17:1-6; teaching a Christianity of truth mixed with pagan idolatrous lies. And if they are teaching falsehood about God and Christ then the truth, The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, and the love of God are not dwelling in them! Again they have attached to God and Christ abominable pagan doctrines that are plain lies. This is the evidence that mainstream Christianity does not have the Holy Spirit or the love of God because they do not walk in the complete truth or knowledge of God and Christ and do not teach the truth about them; who they are and what their plan for all mankind is. What is the Holy Spirit called? He is called the Spirit of Truth in John 14:17, 15:27, and 16:13, and Who is also called truth in John 14:6?:
Jesus said to him (Thomas) I am the way, the truth and the life…”
What did Jesus call the word of God in John 17:17?
“Your word is truth.”
Probably one of the greatest blunders of traditional Christianity is the casting away and the blindness of future spiritual meanings of the letters or shadows (hidden mysteries) of the old covenant and law which reveals who God and Christ are, what they have done, and what they eventually are going to do spiritually for all mankind. When I mentioned to my older brother (a Catholic) recently that the old covenant and law were a shadow or outline of what Jesus did and what He would later do for mankind at his second coming he immediately cut me off and said if it has to do with the O.T. I want nothing to do with it! Millions of sincere people are striving to enter in through the narrow gait but the lies that have been past down to, and fed to them as truth since the third and fourth church eras of Rev. chapter 2 has caused them to blindly enter the broad gait. In truth, Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister said in truth that if you tell a lie over and over, and long enough, people will over time believe that lie. These pagan lies have been passed down and taught to the Christian masses for 17 or 18 hundred years! I have shown, explained, and discussed some of these lies to some friends and acquaintances that see them and know about them and agree they are pagan lies, but these lies seem to be so ingrained in them that they just can’t break away from them. God proclaims in Rom. 9:15:
“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,”
And in John 6:44 Jesus said:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day."
You have to first be called and chosen by God and only a remnant or first fruits are being called at this time to reign with Christ in the kingdom of God and have opened their eyes to truth, the last component of God’s love (Lev. 23:7). Notice plainly what Jesus said to His disciples in Math. 13:10-16 after telling the Jewish masses about the parable of the Sower in which even His disciples didn’t have a clue as to what it meant!:
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance: but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand (truth). And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand (truth), and seeing you will not perceive (truth); for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand (truth) with their heart and turn and I should heal them."
Jesus plainly blinded the masses on purpose because it was not their time to be called by God to Christ (first fruits) and that blindness lies over the whole world to this day. (Rev. 12:9). The whole world at this time is still following in the footsteps of their father Adam's sentence by God in Gen. 3:19 in that it is appointed for us (Heb 9:27) once to die:
“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread (Adam) till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken: for dust you are and to dust you shall return (unconscious death)."
The penalty of sin was past to us from Adam, and with it all men being subject to death, and cut off from God until a small first resurrection of Christ's elect, and later a massive second resurrection when all men and women: Muslims, Hindus, Pagans, Buddhists, atheists, and just about all the so called Christians today will be raised together and will have their eyes opened to the truth and willat that time have the opportunity to claim that one sacrifice; Jesus Christ in the hope that no one should be lost, but that all will have life eternal through Jesus. This will be explained in a coming series of articles. Again before the preaching and the meaning of the above parable from the time of Adam through the time of Christ and up until this present time the world has not been able to discern truth, the last component of God’s love: for God has not given them the Spirit to understand it and has allowed Satan in this present evil age to deceive the whole world as testified in Rev. 12:9:
"So the great dragon was cast out (of heaven), that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world..."
So what does this word truth mean here in Ex. 34:6. The Hebrew word for truth here from Strong’s Concordance is H571: the word emeth, and means stability, certainty, truth trustworthiness, assuredly, establishment, faithful, right, sure, true and verity. The word means that what God says, means, and has established is stable, dependable, absolutely certain, is true, is absolute truth, true, sure and right. Webster’s Dictionary defines truth as the quality of being in accordance with experience, facts or reality; conformity with fact; reality or actual existence; correctness, and accuracy, verified fact; a true statement or proposition: an established principle, a fixed law or the like. So to walk in truth; the fifth component of God’s love the Christian must walk in genuineness of heart in trustworthiness and must walk according to what is fact or truth established by God, what is true and what is reality. Again, traditional Christianity has been deceived for almost 2,000 years; starting with the Catholic Church absorbing, adopting, teaching and walking in a Christianity full of pagan lies. Again the apostle John said in 1John 2:21 that:
“...no lie is of the truth.”
Now if you are not walking in the truth of God you are not walking in the love of God! As Jesus said it is a very narrow gait, (the first resurrection of Rev. 20:5 that leads to life), and many professing sincere Christians will seek to enter it but will not be able to. Why? Again because they have been blinded to truth. This author presents a challenge to the readers of this article and this website. Go and research on your own computer or at the library the origins of such doctrines as the Trinity, the immortality of the soul, the origin of the traditional Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter, the punishment of the unsaved (uncalled) with an open mind and see if they are of Christian origin. Did you know that the English word hell meant simply the ground or earth 400 to 500 years ago and gradually came to mean the word it is today? This word hell is actually a mistranslation of all the words it is used for in the bible! But over time false Christianity and the gaff of the KJB translated this word hell into a different meaning to represent gruesome everlasting torment. To give you an example of this mistranslated word a former co-worker of mine who lived in England for 3 years said that when a house is built in England the basement by law can only be dug so many feet into hell (the ground)! These doctrines can be traced back over 4,000 years to a woman named Semiramis and her husband Nimrod. Christmas was none other than the most sacred day of sun worship when the sun could be seen returning to the northern hemisphere with the naked eye on December 25th. In the days of ancient Israel and Judah they turned to this sun worship, learning it from the heathen nations around them and sacrificed their children by causing them to “pass through the fire” to Moloch and Baal (Nimrod who represented the sun God). Easter was none other than the celebration/lamentation of Semaramis’ son Tammuz, who was killed by a wild boar while hunting one day and that’s the reason for the traditional ham on Easter. Go research this stuff for yourself; it's not some fairy tale! To give you a taste of the origin and customs of Easter click on the following link and read the article The Pagan Origin Of Easter at http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html Ask yourself, where did all these strange customs such as putting fir trees in ones home with presents under it, or celebrating Easter with the Easter Bunny and eggs originate from? Did all this stuff come from the apostles and Jesus? They certainly did not! But because the so called converts to Christianity did not want to give up these idolatrous doctrines and festivals (lies) almost 2,000 years ago the Catholic Church “Christianized” them by cloaking them in the name of Christ, allowing Satan, the true author of all this stuff to spiritualize them and make them look like festivals of light. The apostle Paul spoke about the ability of Satan to do this in 2Cor 11:14:
“And no wonder for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
Ask yourself if Jesus and God would want to have their name attached to a day in which human child sacrifice was attached to at one time (Christmas)? Ask yourself this question. To tell a child that Santa Claus exists, is it a lie or is it the truth? As a lawyer would say to some one on the witness stand at a trial: just answer the question; yes or no! Is it a lie or is it the truth? We know the answer, and there is no dancing around it or justifying it no matter how cute and innocent it appears to be. And if this is a lie about the existence of jolly old Santa and you willingly tell it knowing it is a lie over and over and year after year you are not walking in the fifth great component of God’s love and do not have the Spirit; for the Spirit again is truth. You have become a transgressor of the law, bearing false witness, the sixth commandment and are not walking in truth according to fact, and in continuance of this sin of lying have fallen from grace. The apostle Paul said in 1Tim. 1:9-10:
"...that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars…"
This is saying that the liar stands in the same condemnation as the one who is a murderer. Both have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Would the traditional Christian world celebrate the Muslim month of Ramadan if they made it Christ centered? Why they would be indignant at this idea! They would claim that it would be a lie, blasphemy, and idolatry to do such a thing to Christ! Yet they are doing the very same thing to this day and age although now mostly in ignorance by the deceptions of Satan.
In conclusion, man through his creation in the image of God has the ability to love, but on a much lower level than his Creator and through what they see and understand about God’s love in the Bible can enhance and magnify their love for one another. God’s love is revealed in outline form in the book of Exodus chapter 34:6 which was manifested later by Jesus Christ in the Gospels and now by the remnant few elect of God at this present time through the Holy Spirit; the Spirit of truth. The five great components of God’s love in which He also identifies as part of His name are:
I: Mercy
II: Gracious
III: Longsuffering
IV: Goodness
V: Truth
Traditional Christianity and other variants of it basically understand the first four components but have been blinded to the fifth component, truth; just as the rest of the world has been blinded and deceived to what the truth of God and Christ represent (Rev. 12:9). The Holy Spirit alone guides the called Christian of God into truth and since the traditional Christian world has mixed the belief of God with pagan lies they do not have the Holy Spirit or the love of God dwelling in them. They will have this opportunity to understand all truth when they are raised in the second resurrection (Rev. chapter 20) and then after repentance will be born into the family of God.