No Greater Love

No Greater Love - By Grant Phillips - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/10/01/no-greater-love-by-grant-phillips/ When I was a young teenager back during the early 1960s, our church choir performed a few John W. Peterson cantatas on Easter Sundays. He must havebeen a man with a heart for God because the music he composed really blessed the heart. He wrote a lot of beautiful Christian music. One year our choir sang an Easter cantata called "Hallelujah! What A Savior!" The following year we sang an Easter cantata called "No Greater Love." I, and others my age, sang with the adult choir on a regular basis. We spent a great deal of time in preparation for our performance of these greatmusicals, and I still warmly reflect on those years long ago. I don't know what made me think of the words "no greater love," but when I did, these Easter cantatas came to mind as did the following Scripture verses. "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). "Hallelujah" is only mentioned four times in Scripture (Revelation 19:1, 2, 4, and 6). (The KJV and NKJV list it as "Allelujah.") "Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns'" (Revelation 19:6). As my mind recalls the music while I consider the greatness of our God, I am overwhelmed by the love He has for all of mankind. Even during the Tribulation,when His wrath is at fever pitch, His love shines through all the devastation as His patience waits for others to come to Him and be saved. Yes, our God is a God of wrath against His enemies, but His love is there to save any who will come to Him. Even the enemy can be saved if they willturn and come to Him, acknowledging they are a sinner and asking Him, in belief, to save them too. "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life"(Romans 5:10). There is nothing more tragic than one who lives his life on this earth and then dies without believing in Jesus. He may possess everything the worldhas to offer; riches, fame, beauty, power, but what good is it when death ends this life on earth? We cannot buy our way into Heaven. Fame is only good while alive on earth; afterward, it means nothing. Our beauty is changed to a rotting corpse.None of us has enough power to come back to life and start over. Only those who trust in Jesus can leave this world through the gate called "death" with a smile and peace in their soul. They have gathered richesin Heaven. They are known by God. The beauty of His righteousness is their beauty, and death has no power over them. Riches for the Believer "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal" (Matthew 6:20). Fame for the Believer "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10). Beauty for the Believer "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, havingthe glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper" (Revelation 21:10-11). Victory over Death for the Believer "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians15:55, 57). Every believer in Christ has everything to look forward to, but every unbeliever has nothing but judgment that waits in hell. We wonder why God wouldeven care about us, but He does, and you can be saved if you repent (change your mind) and come to Him. "But one testified in a certain place, saying: 'What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.' For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God,might taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:6-9). Verse nine says it all. Jesus became one of us and died in our place that we might have life in Him. One day every believer in Jesus will joyfully shout, "Hallelujah! What a Savior!" Every believer knows now and will understand even more so then thatthere is no greater love than God's love for us. Our eyes will be opened to the wonders of God and Heaven. "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known" (1 Corinthians13:12). Every unbeliever in hell will be asking themselves, "Why didn't I listen?" Every unbeliever standing before the White Throne judgment will grasp for an excuse, hoping to avoid the Lake of Fire, but none will escape. Every unbeliever suffering forever in the Lake of Fire will be separated from God forever, never having another opportunity of changing their fate.Every moment of the flames will be a reminder of all the opportunities they had but ignored. In the following passage, the God of Heaven calls out to all who will listen: "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. "God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. "There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God'sone and only Son. "And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions wereevil. "All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. "But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants" (John 3:16-21). There can be no greater love than the love God has shown for mankind. He has shown us that love by the sacrifice of His own Son to save all who willcome to Him through His Son Jesus. Jesus gave His life, was buried and rose again for us. Today ... He can be our Savior and Lord. Once we leave this world ... He can be our Savior if we accept Him today, or He will be our Judge if we rejectHim. Grant Phillips VISIT: PROPHECY WATCHER WEEKLY NEWS: HTTP://PROPHECY-WATCHER-WEEKLY-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM