If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 

1 Corinthians 15:19 ESV 

According to Paul, it is a sorrow and a misfortune to believe in Christ without any hope for a life after death. In fact, he calls it the biggest misfortune by calling such men ‘most to be pitied’. It is a pitiable estate for any man, whether he be an atheist, an agnostic, or even a religious person who has no hope of a resurrection, but ‘most’ pitiable for the Christians who having come so close to the actual thing, have the misfortune of missing it entirely. 

So many pilgrims who come to Christ, desire a partial Christian life, whether it be, as we see in this case, a disbelief of the resurrection, or in other cases, a disbelief in God’s sovereignty, or his purposes to cause all things to work together for our good, and so on. If one receives Christ without a belief in the resurrection, he is most to be pitied. But if we come further down the ladder, all disbelief of Christian doctrine is a pity of some measure or another.

You may have heard it preached that if you give your life to Jesus, you can’t give him part of your life, for he requires of you the whole of it. And what we’re talking about here is simply another way of saying the same thing. If you come to Christ, you have to come for ‘all of Christ’.  A lot of people confess with their lips that they have given their everything to Jesus, but then live out those lives making excuses saying, “Jesus understands”.  However, if you come to Christ, his word, for all of Christ, then you have to deal with all of God from all over the Bible. This isn’t a loose promise of ‘Lord I give you my everything’, but a compelling and intentional way of life where you pursue a clear understanding of who the Lord is, and what he requires of you, every day. 

There is a growing number of professing Christians today who see Christianity as a useful religion because of its valuable principles. The ethics and moral values they say are more important than the many supernatural “myths” that are better avoided. And of all these so-called myths, the most preposterous is the ‘resurrection’ of the dead. Yet, according to Paul, the greatest of these absurdities is among the central realities of the Christian hope. Men who look at the Bible as a mere moral compass are most to be pitied. 

Now, having laid that groundwork, it is time we asked the questions, “What exactly makes the resurrection such an important teaching for the Christian?”

God's Not Dead

We serve a Living God, not the memory of a dead God. This is Paul’s main defence of the doctrine of resurrection. 

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.  
We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 

1 Corinthians 15:12–15 ESV 

If life after death is a myth, then Christ no longer lives. That would mean that death defeated Christ once and for all. Why would the eternal and benevolent One put aside the glories of heaven to come and die along with a people destined for death? 

There is no salvation without the resurrection. Doug Wilson often clarifies that Jesus did not die that we might live. Jesus died that we might die to our sin once and for all. But we have life because Jesus rose from the dead. To say otherwise, is to misrepresent God. 

The Bible is not a buffet where you cherry pick your moral values, it is the word of God in which he discloses himself to us in order that we may have faith, faith in the resurrection. 

Therefore, to say ‘He is risen’ is to say that we have hope that he will raise us too. And to say that there is no resurrection is to say that Jesus is dead.

 

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We are justified by the resurrection

Not only is our faith futile (useless) but we live in our sins. According to Paul, if Jesus died and did not rise, then he suffered the fate of mankind along with mankind and nothing’s changed. 

but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,  
who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. 

Romans 4:24–25 ESV 

He was raised for our justification. This is not to say that Jesus’ death had no role to play in our justification. It had every role, but the death of Christ is ultimately meaningless without his resurrection.  

According to verses such as Acts 17:31, there is a vindication of Christ that the Father achieved by raising him from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is God’s statement of approval that Jesus is who he said he is, the son of God. Therefore, without a resurrected Christ, we are not justified before God because our justifier is not shown to be vindicated before God either. 

The resurrection is not an additional achievement to the work of Christ, it is an elemental transaction that happened, the climactic conclusion to the redemptive work that sealed our justification.  Not only did he take our sins upon the cross, but he absolved our guilt in his resurrection. We are redeemed because Jesus defeated death. 

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  
The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 

1 Corinthians 15:25–26 ESV 

Death is Christ’s enemy, not ally.  

I hope you see the centrality of the resurrection in the Christian belief. So now, let us turn our attention to the first fruit of resurrection, Christ our Lord.

The Great I AM

When Moses asks God the sublime question – what is your name, the Lord responds in Exodus  3:14 

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 

Exodus 3:14 ESV 

We call this attribute of God’s self-existence, aseity. God does not exist because of anything apart from himself. He is forever the uncaused Cause, the uncreated Creator. He wasn’t just there at the beginning of all things, He was the beginning of all things including time.

Brothers and sisters, if you have an ambiguous image of the God whom you worship, then do away with such ambiguity by looking to the word of God. Ponder and meditate on the fact that the name most apt for our God is ‘I AM’. It is the ultimate statement or name of self-identification. He exists not because of anything, and everything else exists because of Him.

Now, John the Apostle, in his Gospel narrative, emphasises what we refer to as the seven ‘I AM’ statements of Christ. You may have guesses now where I’m going with this.

1. I AM the bread of life 

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 

John 6:35 ESV 

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 

John 6:51 ESV 

Jesus here offers us an imperishable food, a bread that does not stale or rot, for it is living. And this living bread gives unending life to the one who eats it. Not only that, but He himself is that imperishable bread.

Is it not interesting that this metaphor of a living bread that does not depend on preservatives or external aid, has a certain aseity to it? Such a bread that removes all hunger and thirst for all time can only be found in the essence of the eternal I AM. 

However, for many of us, the question remains, “How does one eat this bread of life?”  

Well, we eat our daily fill of the food of this world in order to sustain our physical bodies. We follow diet plans to ensure a more healthy life. We measure the kind of food we have, and how often we eat from outside. In fact, for a lot of us, a lot of life revolves around what we eat. In much the same way, this metaphor of the bread of life shows us that we are to depend on Christ for the sustenance of our lives. This is reflected in the hours you spend in prayer, learning God’s word, and in fellowship with the saints. 

Can you think of some practical ways in which this can be a reality in your life, that you depend on the great I Am willingly?

2. I AM the light of the world 

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

John 8:12 ESV 

Unlike the fragility of the candles we light in the dark, we have here a light  that does not fade. This light is certain at all times in all darkness. It is therefore called the light of life, not the light of the morning or the light of the evening. It is the light of all life. 

And Jesus is that light. 

Again, this light unlike any other light, was not lit at a certain point in time. It does not fade just as it was not made. The light of Christ is an eternal light that cannot be put out by any external source. 

How does one use this light of life? Again, use the metaphor. You use the light of a candle to find your way around a dark room. In the same way, you let the light of Christ lead you in this dark world, a world where there are many false lights, and false twinkles of hope, you are called to stay with the only certain light you have – Christ. If you do not let the light of Christ lead your way, you will be lost.

Now, you might argue that all that is still metaphorical language. What is this light of Christ then?  

It is the light that comes from all that Christ has to offer. It is the light that you receive when you receive him entirely. The same as the bread, you take ‘all of Christ’ from ‘all of Scripture’ and depend upon him for your sustenance. He is the bread of life. And you depend upon him for light in dark places for he is the light of life. 

3. I AM the door 

Jesus talks to the people about a shepherd, his sheep and thieves. In that analogy, Jesus says, 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 

John 10:1 ESV 

That door to the sheep-pen is locked and shut, and only the shepherd has the keys to open and close it. The thief has no way of entry and are forced to jump the fence. 

Then Jesus said, 

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  
All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.  
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 

John 10:7–9 ESV 

Jesus is the door of true safety. Those who come in through that door are not thieves but those who are saved. There are many worldly enticements hanging on barbed fences all around us, and there is none who does not regret having climbed out the fence with the thieves. 

Little children often ask the question, “Couldn’t thieves just bring a car and run the door over? Or use an explosive?”. Well, the point of the passage is not simply that Jesus is the door, but that Jesus is the door [emphasis on Jesus]. This door will not budge to the enemies of your souls. 

What does this metaphor mean? It means that none can force their way into the sheepfold of God. There is but one door of entry, and Jesus is that door. Only by receiving all of Christ can one have eternal life. 

4. I AM the good shepherd 

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 

John 10:11 ESV 

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 

John 10:14 ESV 

Not only is Christ the door, but he is also the good shepherd that leads his flock. This good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. It is a significant thing that Jesus should call himself the ‘good’ shepherd. When the rich young ruler called Jesus the good master, Jesus asked him, Luke 18:19 

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 

Luke 18:19 ESV 

He did this to test the young ruler if he understood what he meant by calling Jesus the good master. If only God is good, and Jesus is good, then it must logically follow that Jesus has to be God. So if he is the good shepherd, he is not ‘good’ by human standards, he is good by eternal standards. He is the righteous shepherd. We as sheep are to look to our shepherd and trust him as good all the time. We are to have a trust in all of Christ, for all of time. 

5. I AM the resurrection and the life 

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 

John 11:25 ESV 

This is why we believe in the resurrection. Because He is the resurrection and the life. To believe in Jesus is to have life, because to receive him is to receive life. The eternal life we possess is not a separate force interposed on us, but eternal life is having Jesus. Death is defeated for though we die, yet shall we live. 

We are to set our hope of life after death upon all of Christ. 

6. I AM the way, the truth, and the life 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

John 14:6 ESV 

The use of the definitive article ‘the’ in front of way, truth and life is no grammatical accident. All of the way, the truth and life, is bound up in the person of Christ. He is not one among many ways, and many truths and many lives. He the way, the truth, and the life. To live our lives with this understanding is to search for Christ in everything we do. We do not seek our own path but turn to all of Christ revealed in his word. We do not believe our own truth but turn to all of Christ revealed in his word. This way, truth and life transcends all creation. It is the ultimate source of meaning and purpose. 

Such a grand claim can be made only by the great I AM. 

7. I AM the true vine 

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 

John 15:5 ESV 

All our pursuits in life have its life giving source in the vine, Jesus Christ. Can we trace all our activities and fruit bearing, to the vine? He is not just the vine, he is the true vine. True meaning original, one of a kind. This vine is the head of all and eternal. A vine divine, uncreated and eternal. Apart from him, we can do nothing. Is that a felt and known reality in our lives? We have to turn to ‘all of Christ’ for all that we do. 

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These are the seven I AM statements of Christ and in each you can see how they reflect the great name of the I AM in Exodus. These words of the incarnate Saviour are echoes of his own words he made before his incarnation from behind the fires of a burning bush. If God Is, then we have all that we have IN HIM. 

Now, Jesus makes two more I AM statements in John that are not usually included among the seven because they don’t occur as metaphors. They are direct and explicit, but I believe they must be numbered here for us to understand Jesus’ intentions (or John’s intentions for recording these in his Gospel account) behind using the ‘I AM’ statements, and also to convince you that all this is not some fantasy of a fanatic preacher. 

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 

John 8:58 ESV 

There is no metaphor here. To the Jews who held Abraham in high regard, Jesus responded by saying, “before Abraham was, Ego Eimi’ – I AM. The same words used by the Greek Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament that the Jews used during Jesus’ time. There is no question that Jesus here claims explicit union to God Almighty because when he makes this claim, the crowd picked up stones to kill him. 

And the last one, John 18:4-5 

Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”  
They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 

John 18:4–5 ESV 

English translations ought to stop helping out contemporary readers so much. There is no ‘he’ in the original Greek, just ‘Ego Eimi’ – I AM. 

And we read, John 18:6 

When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 

John 18:6 ESV 

The strangest thing happened when Jesus said this, or was it strange?  Moses fell to the ground at the sight of the burning bush in his reverence of God, but these wicked and unrepentant men too fell to the ground at the this declaration of Christ. I do not believe like many charismatics claim that this is evidence of what they call the gift of ‘slaying in the Holy Spirit’. This here is Jesus, God Almighty, saying his name, and it shook the people off their feet.

This season, this year, in this celebration of Christ’s resurrection, I want to remind you church that are call to receive all of Christ for all of life. 

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“For God So Loved The World, That He Gave His Only Begotten Son, That Whoever Believes In Him Shall Not Perish, But Have Eternal Life.

– John 3:16

One can say that the Christian community stands largely united on their acceptance and use of this verse. It would, I think, be uncommon to come across churches or Christians who would refuse to believe in John 3:16. And if there are those who refuse this, I believe most of us would not consider them Christian, simply because if you remove this fundamental gospel of Christ, we have no basis for our faith. Although it is joyful to know that we as Christians stand united in this statement of our hope and salvation, I am afraid that many a times it is more a facade of unity that keeps us from seeing fundamental differences easily overlooked. Whatever shape or form these differences may take, it can ultimately be classified under one of two categories – a man-centred approach or a God-centred approach. Let us explore these two categories and then carefully examine John 3:16 within the Biblical context.

A Man-Centred Theology

I grew up in a Christian home where, if my memory serves me right, the first verse I ever memorised was John 3:16, maybe even the only one my lazy mind was willing to accommodate. It was, for me, the key verse in the Bible. It still is but here is how I understood it back then.

God loves me. In fact, He loves me so much that He came down to die on the cross for me so that I would be spared, and all I need to do is believe in Him. He offers me eternal life in Heaven with Him forever. So, if this God loves me so much to die for me, then that means that there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for me. He would never let me have pain, never let sickness come upon me, never let me fail. My dad would do the same for me if he could. So why not God the Father? I could always succeed in everything I did as long as I had faith. I could chase my dreams and build my future and grow my life to any heights. I could live my better life now. All I had to do was to believe.

John 3:16 taught me about my worth and value in the eyes of this loving God who thought of me, above all. It created in me this man-centred theology where I became the focus of all things that God did. Many Christians, maybe even some reading this right now, believe this. You’re probably wondering what’s so wrong about believing this way. My dear brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you today to take a closer look and recognise that this is not the truth. It may be the most popular version of the gospel you hear out there but I assure that if you feel that any other way of seeing John 3:16 is lesser, like I used to, it is truly quite the opposite. This man-centred theology is a low view of the Gospel and it takes away from it all that is beautiful and precious. This kind of theology is the birthplace of the famous beloved prosperity gospel. This is the gospel that teaches that God does not want you to be poor, or be sick, or to fail. But we know that this is  simply not true. We see sickness, poverty and failures in the real world, all around us. And among them are many faithful brothers and sisters in the faith who are going through severe financial crisis, many who are sick with all kinds of diseases, and many who fail. There are some in our local churches, our neighbourhoods and even in our own families. Those who advocate this alternate gospel would say that this pain and suffering is caused by a lack of faith or that God has a higher (material) purpose – to “reward you after you overcome this struggle”. Untrue! So very false. It is not in order to sound pious that Jesus asked us not to store up riches on earth but in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). Whatever the argument, we simply cannot elude the real struggles that Paul, the other apostles and the disciples, both in Jesus’ time and down through the centuries, had to endure for the sake of the Gospel. Acts 5:41 tells us that the disciples walked away rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name, when they were beaten by the order of the Sanhedrin for preaching the Gospel. None of them, not even Jesus our Lord, lived on this earth in a manner that supports the prosperity gospel. When a man told Jesus that he would follow Him anywhere, Jesus responded to him in Luke 9:58 saying, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

The teaching of the New Testament does not promise us a comfortable and painless life. It offers us a life of peace amidst all of the pain and suffering. James 1:2 asks us to consider it all joy, brethren, when you encounter various trials (paraphrased). This shows me a mindset that does not seem to be man-centred. They don’t see themselves as being the centre of God’s purpose but instead, they see God as the centre of His purpose in our lives. God equips us to live our lives for His glory. They rejoiced in being considered worthy to suffer shame for His name? That’s astounding!

You see, the prosperity gospel is not the Gospel. It is not even a gospel. It is a lie, an anti-gospel, that takes away from us the truth that God is the centre of the Gospel and not us. God is the focus of John 3:16 and not us.

A God-Centred Theology

It was much later that a friend shared with me a preaching by a man named Paul Washer, titled ‘The Shocking Youth Message’. You can find the video on YouTube. Many of you may have already been changed by it. God used this one sermon to change my life. I’d been suppressing a lot of spiritual and theological tensions caused by the man-centred prosperity gospel and all of it were dragged out by the scruff of the neck and cut down by the truth of the real Gospel this man preached. I still remember that day, and oh how wonderful an experience it was! It was as though my blind eyes were beginning to see real beauty in God’s word. I heard the Gospel, through John 3:16, for what it truly was, and I believed. Not like before. Not with conditions of blessings but with a conviction, as though the truth were being inscribed in my heart. All of the darkness that once blocked my view fled before the light of the truth.

What is this truth? Well, the key word to understanding it, is context. Pulling John 3:16 out of the context of the entire biblical narrative is like pulling a headline from the news and adding your own take of the events it highlights.

EXAMINING JOHN 3:16

Take a look at John 3:16. We find three persons explicitly and one implicitly being addressed here.

1. There is God, the Father, who loves us.
2. God, the Son, who is given for our sins
3. There is man, us, who believe in the Son
4. And from the rest of the Bible, we know that all things God does by His Spirit. It is the Spirit who quickens us to believe and guides us into all truth. This is the One implicitly present in this salvation process.

Now, both the man-centred and God-centred gospels make assumptions of each of these persons. These assumptions then form the basis of how we understand John 3:16. How? Let me explain. I am not a very tall man nor am I a very strong one. But, imagine if you, being my friend, met a stranger who claimed to know me and described to you how incredibly strong and tall I was, what would your reaction be? Either they are making a sarcastic joke or they have me confused with someone else. Or they have very poor eyesight. In any case, the person they are describing is not me. Any other version of me that is not me is simply not me. Now, suppose that these assumptions that you make are of the triune God and is not true. It must either mean that we are confused or joking, right? Any version of God that is not God is simply not God. Any version of the Gospel that is not the Gospel is simply not the Gospel. Paul reacts quite harshly to the Galatians, in the very first chapter, for deserting the true Gospel for another, which he says is not really another but just that some were trying to distort it. So, for even the slightest of distortions, Paul calls them fools.

That Leaves Us With The Question, “What Is The True Gospel Message?”

THE GOSPEL

God created a good and perfect world, a world with no sin and no pain, a world of joy and pleasure, a world of peace and harmony. He created man and woman to rule over the earth and they were the most privileged of His creation, for they were created in His very own image. This man and woman, the very first generation of all our ancestors, disobeyed God and broke the one command that God gave them and through their disobedience, brokenness entered into the world. Sin entered into mankind. All that was once beautiful was now filling with evil. It wasn’t anger that prevailed in the moments that followed the fall of Adam and Eve, but mercy. Mercy that stayed the hand of God from wiping them out permanently. Instead God, even though He warned Adam of the consequences before the fall, acted in mercy and banished him to work and toil on the earth till the day he died. All that remained for humanity was to await the judgment of God where all men would perish under His wrath in the flames of His just anger for He is a Holy and just God who would never let the guilty go unpunished. Justice demands our lives and we deserve it. The sin we carry is sin against an eternal Holy God and such a sin deserves an eternal punishment. Yet, He abounded in love. Whose mercies are new every morning. God is perfect and this perfection is reflected in all His attributes including love and justice. Perfect love and Perfect justice can be met in the destruction of mankind. Hard to believe? You see, it is quite simple. If one must love, then one must also hate. A love for all that is good has to hate all that is evil. In fact, the greater the love for good, the greater the hatred for evil. Hence, the destruction of humanity would fulfil justice in the punishment of our guilt and it would fulfil love by our death because we are all evil born into sin as sons and daughters of Adam. There is none among us who desire God, no not one (Romans 3:11). If He destroyed Adam and all hope of a future for mankind, He would be perfectly just and perfectly loving. On the other hand, if He spared us without punishment, then He would not be perfectly just or loving. And in here lies the question, why are we still alive? What is the purpose of life without any hope of salvation? Wherever we go, whatever we achieve, they greatest of these are still filthy rags before this Holy God (Isaiah 64:6).

Under the shroud of this dark hopelessness, shines the perfect and righteous purpose of God in our lives that was purposed before the very foundation of the earth. Throughout history, God spoke of this, the hope of humanity, of the One who would come to save us from our sins, the Messiah. He came in human flesh, God incarnate, and He was called Jesus. He was born to die, a sinless and perfect man, truly human yet truly God. And thus, here is born a word called ‘grace’ – unmerited favour to an undeserving people. O the depth of God’s love that He has Himself come down to His own people to save them. O the depth of His love, that He has chosen to change the hearts of those who are called to believe in Him, by dying on their behalf, and restoring them to the place of life that Adam and Eve once enjoyed, by rising from the dead. On the cross of Christ, we see God’s perfect justice, that should have fallen on us, fall on His only begotten Son and we see God’s perfect love in saving a people for Himself, those who believe in this Son.

The cross is the display of perfect love and perfect justice, united. Now, we who are the fruits of His redemptive work are washed clean of our sins and set as lights for the world, to proclaim the hope of the Gospel of God in Christ Jesus. He does not promise us comfort or luxury in this life on earth. For who, now clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness, would ever pursue something as futile as material prosperity? Sadly, many. We who follow Him will be hated just as He was hated, but no longer can we consider these trials as sorrowful because we have received grace upon grace, hope that is imperishable, that we are His and He is ours. We trade in our earthly treasures, that moth, rust and thieves plunder, gladly and instead store for ourselves treasures in Heaven that none can take away. For to us, to live is Christ and die is gain. This is the purpose for which we were created, not to live for ourselves but to live for Him. So, we consider it joy to be humbled under trials and failures because we know that we are loved in spite of our flaws, and in Him we will grow more and more to be like Him. Therefore, we, who now believe in Him, who love Him and obey Him, must decrease, and He must increase, for He is the centre of our world, the purpose for which we live because all that was once lost has now been reclaimed. To this God who does all things for His glory, the lover of our souls, be glory and majesty and honour and praise forevermore.

Conclusion

You are not the centre of God’s universe, God is. I pray that you stay your pursuit of God for the sake of your earthly pleasures and pursue Him for Him, for His love for you is unlike any you can experience elsewhere. A day in His courts is better than thousand elsewhere. This is the Gospel of Christ and this is the Gospel that unites us.

John 3:16 makes no sense if you don’t know the supreme glory of the God who loves, the grace of His begotten Son who was given, the invincible power of the Spirit who quickens us to believe and the unbridled depravity of the man who is offered the imperishable hope of eternity. The Christian community at large agrees on the centrality of the gospel statement in John 3:16 without a unified understanding of what it means. If we don’t seek for deeper clarity among churches in this statement of faith, we would, in the name of unity forsake the very gospel that unites us.

John 3:16 is the headline to the story elaborated in 66 books that form the Bible which is God breathed where He explains the redemptive purposes of His will and reveals the very nature and character of who He is. Let us be careful not to read the headline and make baseless assumptions. Instead, let us pick this book up and read it and sing to Him with joy,

“…like a rose, trampled on the ground, You took the cross, and thought of You, above all.”

Michael Teddy

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