The Inseparable Love of God (1) [ Romans 8:38-39 ] Why can nothing separate us from the love of God? 1. Because God’s love is eternal. Romans 8:29a says: “For those whom He foreknew…” The word “foreknew” refers to before eternity began —before the creation of heaven and earth . The phrase “those whom He foreknew” does not simply mean knowing about someone intellectually, but rather loving them. In other words, it refers to “those whom God loved from eternity past.” Amos 3:2a says: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” If “known” merely meant intellectual knowledge, that would imply that God only knew Israel and did not know the other nations—which cannot be true, because the all-knowing God lacks knowledge of nothing. Therefore, “I have known you only” means “I have loved you only.” God loved Israel among all the nations of the earth. Hosea 13:5 says: “I knew you in the wilderness , in the land of great drought.” The “wilderness” was where the Israelite...
‘Wait for what the Father had promised’ [Acts 1:1-5] In a verse from a children's song, there are lyrics like this: ‘Promise with your pinky finger tightly crossed.’ It's a verse that young children enjoy singing when making promise. However, it seems they understand that promise can be easily broken, as the method and procedure for reaffirming promise continue to evolve. Initially, they would simply hook their pinky fingers, but at some point, after hooking their pinky fingers, they stamp it with their thumbs as a sort of "seal." Now, after making the promise and sealing it, they say "copy" to each other while pressing their palms together. This means that the promise has been duplicated, so it must be kept. Some children go even further and add a step of signing on the palm after copying the promise. It's their own triple or quadruple lock system for promises (Internet). ...