Covenant, Restoration, Joy

How the depth and layers of God's love are revealed and passed on to us.

One of the most remarkable truths of the Gospel is that the God who created the galaxies also loves us deeply, personally, and intimately. He knows our inmost thoughts. He counts the number of hairs on our heads. He stores our tears for safekeeping. And then some.

The truth of God’s love, once grasped, becomes for us an incubator for deep joy.

Love, as we commonly understand it, is about feelings that come and go. According to recording artist Tina Turner, love is “a sweet, old-fashioned notion” and “a second-hand emotion.” But God’s love is much more compelling, unwavering, and durable. It is a love that is built on the sturdy anchors of covenant, restoration, and resulting joy.

God’s Love Means Covenant

The concept of covenant runs throughout the pages of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. God establishes a covenant with Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, and ultimately with everyone who receives the Gospel. His basic covenant is:

“I will be your God and you will be my people.”

His covenant love assures and reassures us of His steady presence and eager, unwavering commitment to stay faithful to us, even when we are unfaithful to Him (Hosea; 2 Timothy 2:13). As a bride and groom covenant to be faithful to each other in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, for better or for worse, God covenants Himself to us.

Once God marries Himself to us, there is no possibility that he will leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

Covenant assumes and pledges protection and certainty. The fact that God loves us on the basis of covenant means that once we become His children, we cannot un-become his children. We are safe with him, and kept safe by him. He will not reject us.

On our best days and our very worst days, the God of covenant is loyal. This is a unique aspect of Christianity—it offers full assurance of continued acceptance even when we fail repeatedly.

God will not leave us or cast us out when we fail Him.

We are never on eggshells with Him because He forgives and stays.

None of this can be said of our work. If we fail at our jobs, we have no guarantee that we’ll be forgiven; we might be demoted or fired. Our financial investments also might not forgive us; if we predict the market wrongly, we could end up in financial ruins. Our athletic or academic ambitions won’t forgive us; if we fail to perform consistently, we might be benched or receive a failing grade. Our relationships might not forgive us; if we fail people badly enough, they might not give us a new start and we could be discarded.

The Gospel is altogether different. By grace through faith in Christ, the Gospel gives us a God who stays with us—who refuses to reject us—both on our best days and our worst days. The Gospel gives us a God who repeatedly forgives us when we repeatedly fail Him. Remember David’s infidelity and murder! Never forget Peter’s betrayals or Rahab’s home wrecking or Paul’s persecuting ways!

God’s Love Means Restoration

Made in the image of God, we human beings crave restoration.

We feel deep satisfaction when we are able to mend things that are broken, enhance things that are dull, and beautify things that are ugly. Mechanics restore cars, contractors restore houses, and physicians restore health. We love the feel and look of a nice haircut or a newly-hemmed pair of pants.

In a word, we love to take things that have been worn down through time and make them like new again. We call it re-new-al. Jesus makes all things new and we get to participate. This is God’s vision for us as well as the whole creation.

Scripture says that God intends to make us glorious—to renovate us to the uttermost. We are His workmanship (literally His poetry), created in Christ Jesus for good works (Ephesians 2:10). When God first created humans, we were perfect. Man and woman together reflected His likeness with distinct beauty and glory (Genesis 1:26-27). When sin entered in, that beauty and glory was marred. We and every other person, place, and thing became fractured and subject to decay.

God’s love is further revealed in His intent to restore to us the paradise that was lost and the beauty that was marred when sin entered the world. Scripture promises that when God is finished sanctifying us, we will be like Jesus and possess a character that is like none of us has ever seen or heard—free from all selfishness, insecurity, fear, and corruption. The fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)—will no longer be a goal but dominate the character and life of every last one of us.

J.I. Packer says that to truly love someone is to make them great. To love someone is to look at the caterpillar of today and envision the butterfly of tomorrow. Love does whatever it takes to help the caterpillar become the butterfly. This is God’s intention for those He loves.

God’s Love Means Joy

God takes great delight in His children and rejoices over them with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). When we believe in Jesus and humbly receive the benefits of His finished work on our behalf, God is not just satisfied with us, He adores us!

The Song of Solomon is one of history’s most erotic pieces of literature. This divinely-inspired romance is meant to be read as a parable of the love God wants to enjoy with us. The most committed and the most erotic experience of human love is merely an appetizer for the feast of love that God has for those who believe the Gospel. We are not only daughters and sons of God the Father and carriers of God the Spirit. We are also the Bride of God the Son.

There is intimacy and delight shared between the Three members of the Trinity. God in Three Persons wants us to share and be swept up into that joy.

Joy is in our nature. Students light up when they get a paper back with the professor’s note, “Great job! A+.” Athletes come alive when the crowd cheers for their performance. Employees feel larger than life when the boss rewards their fine work with a promotion or a large bonus. Children cry out constantly to their parents, teachers, and peers, “Watch me!” because they love to be praised, adored, approved of, and delighted in. A bride blushes when she walks down the aisle with all eyes on her groom, and he melts as he waits to receive her. These are all pointers to the many ways in which God, in his kindness, wishes to share in the joy that he has over us.

We who long to be cherished…are.

The father in Luke 15:11-32 (representing God) illustrates God’s willingness even to embarrass himself in the expression of his love for us…for you!

The God who made you adores and desires you deeply. His words to Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17), are also directed toward you as you rest by faith in Christ.

And guess what? Even when you feel that this is all too good to be true…

…it still is.