Chapter II

Using Scripture to Paint A Word Picture
Revealing God’s Agape for Man.

In this Booklet, I would like to “paint” a word picture for you using multiple Scriptures revealing God’s Agape for man from BEFORE time began and then down through the successive ages of time to our present time and place in history and continuing on into our future into eternity – either with God in His Kingdom or separated from Him in Hell.

We need to start our picture by determining just “Who Is ‘Man’ to God?” Why all of the hoopla given to man in the Bible? Not even the angels are given all of the attention that man is. What makes man so special to God? I believe there are two traits that set man apart from the rest of the physical species on the earth – we are physical beings having a “spirit” that can communicate with God the Holy Spirit, and we have a superior mind/intellect to the other physical creatures which was addressed in Chapter I.

The following text is almost hilarious until we realize how ignorant Job was in understanding the necessity of God’s presence in every nanosecond of all life. Scripture shares with us that God is a “vital necessity” to all men! Prayerfully this study will begin to help you to see and understand God’s embracing of you!
Job 7:12-21 {Job in his self-pity is talking to God} “O God, am I some monster that you never let me alone? 13-14 Even when I try to forget my misery in sleep, you terrify with nightmares. 15 I would rather die of strangulation than go on and on like this. 16 I hate my life. Oh, let me alone for these few remaining days. 17 What is mere man that you should spend your time persecuting him? 18 Must you be his inquisitor {cross-examiner} every morning and test him every moment of the day? 19 Why won’t you let me alone-even long enough to spit {To spit in privacy is IMPORTANT to men! Job is complaining that God just will NOT leave him alone at all. That He is too intimately involved with him. Now listen to what he thinks of God:}? 20 “Has my sin harmed you, O God, Watcher of mankind {Job’s cynicism of God}? Why have you made me your target, and made my life so heavy a burden to me? 21 Why not just pardon my sin and take it all away? For all too soon I’ll lie down in the dust and die, and when you look for me, I shall be gone.” {Ha Ha Ha – I will fool you God!!!} TLB

Job 15:14 What is man, that he could be pure and clean? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be right and just {through their faith in Jesus Christ}? AMP

Psalms 8:4 What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him {through Your foreknown and predestined plans for him}? AMP

Psalms 144:3 Lord, what is man that You take notice of him? Or [the] son of man that You take account of him {keep tabs on him}? [Job 7:17; Ps 8:4; Heb 2:6.] AMP

Job was/is not the only man who did not recognize the “vital necessity” of God in every nanosecond of our lives!

Psalms 14:2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who understood, dealt wisely, and sought after God, inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him [of vital necessity]. AMP
Jeremiah 29:13 Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. [Deut 4:29-30.] AMP

1 Chronicles 28:9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever! AMP

So, how involved is God in your life? Many Christian teachers use 1 John 4:19 “We love Him {God}, because He first loved us.” AMP to share with us God’s AGAPE/embracing of His offspring. The question that I want to ask you is, “WHEN did God FIRST LOVE YOU/US?” Scriptures reveal it was when He was writing on your page in His Book of Life His foreknown and predestined plans for you that He FIRST KNEW YOU, and that He FIRST LOVED YOU from BEFORE time began:

Psalms 139:16 {David says about God} Your eyes saw my {yet – NKJV} unformed substance, and in Your book {of life where} all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. AMP

I ask you to think about God’s loving you/us. God has emotions which is illustrated to us by the numerous times in the Old Testament that God became angry with His Chosen People – Israel. To have truly deep emotions and attachment for and to someone takes time and participation in your relationship with someone. I believe that God indeed loved you from BEFORE the beginning of time, and the more plans He wrote for you/us in His Book of Life, the more He became emotionally attached to you/us! The MORE that He Agapaed us the more He became attached to us! Several times in the Old Testament, He shared with His chosen People Israel that He loved them and was so attached to them that He would never leave them. The same principle is also true for us His adopted children. We MUST understand God’s emotional attachment He has for us through His love for us because of our love for Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, Lord God, and Master! NOTHING can separate us from His eternal Agape which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!!!
Hebrews 13:5 Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] [Josh 1:5.] AMP

Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, 39 Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. AMP

This being said, the SAME PRINCIPLE also is true and applies to us! During our relationship with God, the more we read His Word, the more that we pray to Him and have our prayers answered, the more that we meditate/think about what He is doing in our life, and the more that He reveals Himself to us not only indicates His LOVE for us, BUT this in turn brings us to TRUST Him MORE, then we OBEY His Word MORE bringing us to Agape Him UNCONDITIONALLY MORE!!! This was an awesome lesson for me to learn! I prayed for some time that God would teach me how to truly LOVE Him. I believe I can now truly say that I AGAPE God unconditionally!!! This fulfills the royal “Law of Christ” at work in me.

Matthew 22:37-40 And He {Jesus} replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). [Deut 6:5.] 38 This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. [Lev 19:18.] 40 These two commandments sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets. AMP

Galatians 6:2 Bear (endure, carry) one another’s burdens and troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ (the Messiah) and complete what is lacking [in your obedience to it]. AMP
James 2:8 If indeed you [really] fulfill the royal Law in accordance with the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself, you do well. [Lev 19:18.] AMP