No Greater LoveSample

Israel is a Witness of God’s Love

Have you ever questioned the durability of God’s love? How about His desire for you especially when you’ve blown it? Is His a “three strikes and you’re out” sort of love?

Being loved is an essential need we all have. It’s the critical, super-nutrient for every healthy heart and mind. Love provides security and acceptance and fuels a full life.

We were made for love, and yet our love for one another is plagued with imperfection. The love we need, not just in theory but experientially, is God’s unconditional embrace.

Painful life experiences can cause a distortion in our understanding of God’s nature. Is there a faithful witness we can look to, and hear from, who will show us God’s character?

Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen Me, has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9), and the writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus is the exact representation of God’s nature (Heb. 1:3). For a crystal-clear picture of the Father, we look to Jesus.

When we want to see how that supreme love interacts with broken humanity, the Bible calls us to look at an additional witness—Israel.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God repeatedly assigned Israel as His servant, His witness, and a light to the nations—for the purpose of revealing God’s character, His salvation, and His ways with humanity.

Israel has been an imperfect messenger. Although loved and chosen by God, Israel has been willful, and because of sin, experienced centuries of banishment from the land God promised to them. They’ve been at odds with God and suffered at the hands of the nations, but God has never abandoned His people.

We, too, are imperfect in our obedience, and we know what it is to have our faith tested and found wanting. Our sin has brought division and suffering. We can relate to Israel.

What is the message to us through Israel’s witness? Will God’s love endure?

It will, as we will see, His love is everlasting!