118. Loved of the Father
John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
John 14:23a If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him.
God is Love; Jesus loves me. This we know, but here the conditional promise that the Father will love you is based on the condition that you love Jesus. If you love Jesus, then the Father will love you. Actually, the Father loves you before you loved the Son, for that love for you motivated Him to send his Son to die for you. God loves all people, whether they love Jesus or not. All this love from God is because that is what He is, Love.
The love of the Father in this promise is that the love of God is effective and activated because of Jesus. God’s love is unearned: that is why Jesus came, because God loved us before we could do anything or even before we existed. However, God is unable to give, share or activate that love in action until Jesus died and paid for our sins. Justice, perfect holiness, demands that sins be punished and paid for. Until that happens love cannot legally be given out; undeserved love and mercy would destroy justice and holiness; without upholding holiness in perfection the universe would crumble, life would disappear, God could not be trusted, and God’s Word would be meaningless. This is a strange way of putting the truth, but listen: Jesus earned the favor, blessing, mercy and forgiveness of God. Grace is defined as unearned favor, but in truth it is earned favor; it’s just that Jesus earned the favor and forgiveness of God by His death and resurrection. That’s Grace; Jesus earned it.
The father will love those who love Jesus simply means those who believe in Christ. It is a given that the Father (and any parent) loves the Son (and any child), but it is a further given that Jesus earned favor and mercy by perfect obedience. By faith (and in Baptism) we are identified with and in union with Jesus Christ, the Son of God; therefore the Father must love us, as He loves the Son. Therefore, we are not allowed to have any doubt whatsoever that God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, loves us unconditionally and totally. That’s a promise.