He Loves Me… He Loves Me So Much!

He affirmed His love for Jesus openly to Him at significant times:

1. At His Baptism—Before His being tempted of Satan in the wilderness. “This is my BELOVED son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).
2. On the Mt. of Transfiguration when Moses and Elijah spoke to Him of His approaching crucifixion. “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him” (Matt. 17:5).
3. After He had raised Lazarus and the Jews had sought to kill Him. At the same time, as the word of Lazarus’ resurrection spread, Greeks came “desiring to see Him.” Jesus knew that His hour of death was even closer, and He was troubled in His soul, saying, “Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause come I into this hour. Father, glorify thy Name.”

Then there came a voice from heaven saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John 12:21-28).
Jesus knew the Father was always with Him. He said to His disciples, “The hour is come when every man will scatter and leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16:32).
John 8:16: “…I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.” John 8:29: “And He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone…”

Some might point out that on the cross, in His hour of greatest suffering, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). Notice what He did not say: “My Father, my father…”, because the Father never forsake Him on the cross, or Jesus would not have been able to say, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Rather, He said, “My God” because as the sin offering, He represented all our sins, and a holy God could not look upon them, but had to turn away!

Even Satan knew how much God loved His Son Jesus. That’s why in his tempting Jesus, twice he said, “If thou be the Son of God.” He was egging Jesus on to do a miracle—not to see a miracle, but to raise doubts in Jesus’ mind of His identity. Notice that Satan did not say, “If thou be the Beloved Son of God,” because he did not want to remind Jesus that His Father loved Him!
And he never wants us to be reminded of how much our Father loves us! He not only loves us as much as He loves Jesus—but He loves us more!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him, should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

And when we believe on Him, we receive not only eternal life in the age to come, but right here and now, we know that “He has made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6).
“I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine…”(Song of Solomon 6:3).