“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we
may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this
world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because
fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” (1
John 4:17-18 NKJV)
If we love one another, the love of God has been
perfected among us. It doesn’t mean God’s love is imperfect at all. His love is
perfectly perfect from the beginning to the end, eternally. When it says that
love is perfected, it means the genuine love of God is glorified in our midst.
We are bold and confident in standing before the Lord of Hosts, even in the Day
of Judgment. Why? It is because as He is, so are we in this world. If we love
one another, God abides in us, and we in Him. When we love our brothers and
sisters in Christ, it is not us who love but God does in us. How could he judge
what he did on the Day of Judgment?
There is no fear in love, but perfect love expels
every particle of fear, because fear involves torment, the torture of feeling
guilty. Natural man, even the finest man in history and time, cannot love
perfectly without spot. All natural man is wicked and fallen and sin-stained
born of Adam. Only the saints born of God can love others with His love. Since it
is not the love of natural human but that of Him, there is no particle of
feeling guilty. God is righteous, just, and faithful forever and ever. Those who
are born of God are righteous all the time and there is no condemnation in
Christ Jesus, not because of our merits or qualities but because of His blood
on the cross shed in our place. We enter into the throne of grace through the
blood of Christ Jesus the Lord. “But he who fears has not been made perfect in
love.”
“We love Him because He first loved us. If someone
says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not
love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not
seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love
his brother also.” (1 John 4:19-21 NKJV)
This is a test whether we love God or not. We love
Him because He first loved us. He manifested His love as the public spectacle
on the cross by bruising His own begotten Son. So, we love Him as the response
to the first love. However, if someone says, “I love God,” and hates his
brother, he is a liar. How could he love the invisible God if he does not love
his brother whom he has seen? The commandment of the Lord is this: love one
another. If we say, “We love God,” then we ought to love our brothers and
sisters in Christ. Jesus Christ identified Himself with the saints by saying, “I
am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” (Acts 9:5)
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