John 13:1
Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
One of the great differences between Jesus and us is that we love, but Jesus loved. We often say to people we care for, “I love you.” Jesus says to us, “I loved you.” Loved is more powerful than love because loved means He already chose to love us. Only a couple of times in the Scriptures do you see God using the word “love” when He talks towards us. However, that love is always preceded by loved.
What is the big difference between loved and love? Love is a present tense word that means in the present we love someone. However, loved is a past tense word that means present tense love has already been determined in the past. Let me illustrate. John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world…. The best definition of the word loved is found when God says in Jeremiah 31:3, …Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love…. You will notice that God loved the world so that He could love the world. God loved us with an everlasting love. There are several things the word loved means about God’s love toward the believer.
First, it means God loved us before we were born. Before the world was framed, God loved you. Before you were born, God loved you. Before you took your first breath, opened your eyes, or cried when you were born, God loved you. God loved you enough to create you. God loved you enough that before the world was created, He chose to love you.
Second, it means that God loved us when we were at our best. The fact that God chose to love us before we were created means that He saw us when we were at our best, and He still loved us. However, even our best is not that good because God says in Isaiah 64:6 that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. In other words, even though our good does not measure up to God’s righteousness, He loved us.
Third, it means that God loved us while we were at our worst. Romans 5:8 says, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I love the fact that God did not say that He commendeth His love toward us while we were good, but while we were yet sinners. God saw us at our worst, and yet He still directed His love toward us.
Fourth, it means that God loved us to the end. From the beginning to the end and all in between, there is never a spot when God does not love us. My friend, the fact that God loved us to the end means that even in our foolishness and shameful acts toward God, He still loved us. God could have chosen not to love us when He looked through eternity and saw what we would do, but instead He loved us to the end. God said that He would not allow His love toward us to stop until the end. When is the end? He is talking about His end. In other words, God is eternal, so God loves us to the end of eternity which means that God never stops loving us.
The key to this great truth is the word loved. God loved us so that He could love us. Love is present tense, so God loved us so that He can present tense love us in any circumstance of life. Never doubt God’s love for you because the fact that He loved you means that He loves you right now no matter what your condition of life may be.