《Commandment or Promise》 ~ ✨
On the eve of Passover, the Lord gave His disciples a new commandment: that they should love one another (John 13:36). Why did the Lord do this? Did the disciples not know how to love?
1 John 4 declares that God is love. Throughout the New Testament books, all the records I see reveal that God is love! Sadly, during the three years of following the Lord, the disciples failed to grasp this clearly. Even today, some believers and non-believers alike cannot see through or comprehend it. Unbelievers often cite the Old Testament accounts of a seemingly cruel Jehovah God to deny the truth of the Bible, even to deny God’s existence.
When we share the gospel today, if people do not believe our message, there are many reasons; but one rare confession we hear is admitting that we ourselves have not presented it well. If the person you are sharing with believes the God you speak of is not love but cruelty, how would you respond? The disciples on Passover night, and even many believers today, do not truly understand that everything Christ taught and did stemmed from God’s love. On that farewell night, the Lord clearly explained that God is love and commanded His disciples to love others with Christ’s love.
When people read the Old Testament—seeing the flood that destroyed the earth in Noah’s time, the obliteration of Sodom and Gomorrah, the killing of Egyptian firstborns in Moses’ time, and the complete destruction of foreign nations when entering Canaan, along with many other divinely ordered acts of judgement —they perceive God as cruel. Unbelievers often use this as a reason to reject the idea that the God of the Bible is love!
It is no surprise that the world does not understand. If, however, believers misinterpret the events recorded in the Old Testament, or fear acknowledging these events, how can we help others to understand and know God? When people perceive a conflict between God’s image in the Old Testament and His image in the New, how should we correct their misconceptions about God?
The Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) records God’s Law; these are the scriptures the Jews must read. I believe Deuteronomy Chapter Six is a classic within the Law because the entire chapter commands Israel to fear the Lord their God generation after generation, to keep all His statutes and commandments, and tells Israel that the Lord their God is one. They are to love the Lord, the God of Israel, with all their heart, soul and strength. What is right and good in His sight, they are to do, driving out all their enemies as He has said.
The culmination of the Law is Christ (Rom 10:4); Christ is love (1 John 4:16). The Law manifests God’s holiness, righteousness and His judgement on sin. If one does not read carefully, they will not see that God’s actions arise from His holiness and righteousness, and from His intention to grant people peace; He is not a God quick to anger (Ps 103:8).
I see God’s lovingkindness from the very beginning of His creation—from seeing that it was not good for man to be alone, so He made Eve for Adam (Gen 2:18). Human rebellion began with the first human pair created by God, Adam and Eve (Gen 2:16-17; 3:1-6).
Later, God’s chosen people Israel rebelled generation after generation (Rom 10:21). God shows no partiality (Rom 2:11), and He never has. His grace extends to all who call on His name, including Gentiles. Clear examples are Ruth the Moabite widow (Ruth 1:4; Mt 1:5) and Rahab the Canaanite prostitute (Josh 6:25; Mt 1:5), who were chosen to be in Jesus’s genealogy because of their faith.
Among the 613 laws given by Moses in the Old Testament, including the Ten Commandments, the most important were to love God with all one’s heart, soul, and strength, and to honour parents. However, the Law did not explicitly command Israelites to love one another, or to love their neighbours—related or unrelated—as themselves. Therefore, the disciples’ concept of love was narrow; they knew how to love themselves and their relatives, but not those unrelated to them by flesh.
Do you recall these records? When children tried to come to the Lord Jesus, the disciples stopped them. When the poor, disabled, or women tried to approach the Lord, the disciples hindered or murmured. Even on the eve of Passover, just before the Lord was to be arrested, they were arguing about which of them was the greatest.
Seeing scene after scene like this, how could the Lord not be grieved, how could He not be sorrowful? Disciples who had been with the Lord for three years should have seen from His life that all His actions stemmed from love; He even laid down His life for love. He did not speak of distinctions between close and distant, loving only Jews and not Gentiles. Yet at this critical juncture, the Jewish disciples were thinking about who would be the greatest among them. The Lord Jesus gave them a new commandment—not to compete with each other, but to love one another. The Lord further commanded that as He had loved them, so they had to love one another (John 13:34).
The Lord demonstrated this mutual love by washing His disciples’ feet (John 13:14-15). In Jewish tradition, washing another’s feet was a task for the lowly. Therefore, Peter immediately refused the Lord washing his feet because he failed to see why the Lord would do this. Peter saw, as most people see, based on human status and position. Peter considered the Lord’s status extremely noble; how could He do something that even the common would not and could not do—washing the feet of those lower or equal to them?
Today, we understand the Lord washing His disciples’ feet as an example of extreme humility; of course, it also carries the truth of cleansing from sin. The Lord wants His disciples to know: whom He loves, they must also love; what He does; they must also do; even to love friends/brothers to the point of laying down their lives for them (John 14:12 & 15:12-13; 1 John 3:16); just as the Lord gave His life to save sinners.
“Love” is not a new command. From Old Testament times, what God said and did through the prophets, and all His actions, were out of love. From leading Israel out of the house of slavery into a land flowing with milk and honey, to granting their request for a king, to God being pleased with Solomon asking for wisdom to govern his people well—all show God’s love for Israel. Even when God’s discipline came upon Israel, it was out of His love. Yet, the Israelites did not understand at that time. When God’s only Son Jesus Himself came to earth, revealing God’s heart of love for the world, the Israelites still did not understand—they even killed Jesus!
This new commandment the Lord gave His disciples—to love one another—was so that through something ordinary people cannot do but they can, all people would recognise them as the Lord’s disciples. Therefore, for disciples who did not know how to love one another, it was a new command; for believers today who do not understand or do not practice love, it is also a new command! If anyone loves God, as the Lord said, what they do for the least of their brothers, they do for the Lord (Mt 25:40). Love is action, not a slogan; love is sacrifice, not possession; love is humility, not seeking glory.
“God is love” is an ironclad fact (1 John 4:16), and the entire Bible testifies about Christ, about love (John 5:39). Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God (1 John 4:7-8). Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is made complete in us. In this way, love is made complete in us, so that we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.
It is true—Christ’s love can change lives! We come from different backgrounds, develop different personalities, acquire different skills. It is Christ’s love that binds us together and unites us in Him. We have differences, but not divisions. We have the strong and the weak; the strong must look after the weak, the weak must respect the strong. If you only look after yourself, you have no weight in Christ.
Christ gave His life for love; disciples may not give their lives, but they cannot refuse to deny themselves. Calculating everything, doing only what benefits oneself—this is not the love of Christ. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness (2 Peter 1:3). Indeed, living in this generation, lies are beautiful. Repeated lies make the false seem true. People believe lies, but do not love truth. Truth is harsh, and the true way is lonely. Others discard, I do not forsake, as courage is my reinforcement. Through practice comes insight, to discern good from evil. Choosing truth or falsehood—the one who discerns is wise.
May we all discern that the new commandment the Lord gave His disciples is indeed His promise to us. Finally, I share this poem for mutual love and encouragement👇🏻
“Seeing Isn’t Being” ✨
Out of sight is not out of mind.
Unseen viruses can take lives.
Dark clouds obscure.
Blue skies seem gone.
Clouds will disperse.
Blue skies remain.
Cicadas chirp, their forms unseen.
Worker ants tunnel, not before our eyes.
Believing only what’s seen is not faith.
Believing the unseen, that is faith.
The tangible cannot overcome the intangible.
The foundation is laid.
Life and death are set.
Close your eyes.
Open your heart’s door.
Pierce through the visible
With the heart, see the unseen.
✨✨💖 ~
en yan hua fang 