Musing – Did You Realize that John 3:16 Says It All?

 Hebraic Musing – Did You Realize that John 3:16 Says It All?

Why can I say that the most memorized and quoted verse in the Bible summarizes the entire Bible message?  Let’s read the verse and then we’ll look closely at the three key statements Jesus declared to us.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life..” John 3:16  KJV

1. GOD LOVES EVERYONE.  “For God so loved the world” is a declaration that God loves everybody, which means everybody.  Who is everybody?  Every class of people from all cultures and nations and skin colors and conditions of their lives.  Yes, God even loves those steeped in sin no matter what they may have done.  Paul clarifies that for us in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  There’s absolutely nothing we can do to cause God to stop loving us!  He loves His creation – everything made in the first five days and especially the creation He made “in His image” on the sixth day – us! 

That love was taught to many of us in a very popular children’s song. ♫ “Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black, brown* and white.  They are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.   Jesus died for all the children…      Jesus rose for all the children…” ♫

2. EVERYONE NEEDS JESUS.  God knew this, so “He gave His only begotten Son” because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23.  BTW – if you look up the word “all” in the dictionary it means ALL.  God gave His children the Ten Commandments and if we are honest we have to admit that no one can keep them.  Truth be known, we violate them every day; especially if we consider Jesus’ clarification of them in His famous “Sermon on the Mount” in chapters 5, 6 & 7 of Matthew.

3. EVERYONE CAN BE SAVED.  This is clear in the phrase “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  The“whosoever(s)” are everyone; and that word appears often in the Bible!  Example –  Rom.10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And “Whosoever” appears 8 times in John (&163 times in the whole Bible!). The Book of Revelation concludes with the Holy Spirit saying “And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev. 22:17   So every person we meet is potentially a whosoever… IF they believeth in Him.  This belief is not simple head or intellectual knowledge about Jesus.  Probably 90% or so of the people of the world might believe Jesus was a person who existed.  But Believeth in Him refers to a heart commitment to all that the Bible says about Jesus, the whole good news of the Gospel.  (Many many people will miss Heaven by 18”, the distance from the head to the heart.)  That is why Jesus cautioned us with “and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matt. 7:14

So the heart-believer who makes Jesus his LORD will “not perish but have everlasting life.”  And with that statement Jesus declared the contrasting destinies that await us all – Perish in Hell for eternity, OR have “life everlasting.”

CONCLUSION – God loves EVERYONE,       and we ALL need Jesus,   but only the WHOSOEVERs that truly BELIEVE will have LIFE EVERLATING.

Point(s) to Ponder

What would you do if you only had one verse to recite to a lost person?

Do we realize that the “whosoevers” are every person we meet?

“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16:15

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                          December 29, 2020

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”     Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

Note – Inspired by message from Sam Moore, evangelist & member of Immanuel Baptist Church, Rogers, AR.
*  “Brown” was added by the Filipino community that ordained me.  (>: