Fourth Sunday in Advent--Love

[Royal Bride]

Fourth Sunday in Advent
Love

This fourth Sunday of Advent brings Christmas full circle as to the Birth of Christ. As I was waking up this morning, I found myself singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". I stopped and really thought about those first few words of this song.

Hark the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinner reconciled."

"God and sinner reconciled", the word reconciled just jumped out at me. Upon doing some research on the word reconcile, I found reconcile was a verb. I think the Lord really likes verbs as they are action words. Reconcile is to make peace between, reunite, propitiate, bring to terms, restore harmony between. My words just could not do the justice that this topic really deserved so I turned to the best words which are those found in the Bible.

John 3:16

For God So Loved the World

16 “For God so loved the world, [1] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 3:16 Or For this is how God loved the world


1 John 4:8-16

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (ESV)


Romans 5:6-10

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (ESV)


Matthew 22:36-38

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. (ESV)


John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (ESV)





So the circle was made. God loved us, came to earth in His Son, Jesus. Jesus showed His Love by completing the law and being a sacrifice for us.

Are we going to continue this circle of Love?

1 Peter 4:8

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (ESV)