He Embraces You -- Now!

Everybody needs a hug once in while. Whether from a parent or a spouse, we want to know the physical intimacy of being loved just for who we are. Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus:
"[God] Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 5-6)

We are His children through Christ, who died for us and as us at the Cross.

As children, we can enjoy God's rich, lavish love for us.

An example of this love is in the parable of the Prodigal Son. After wasting his portion of the inheritance and overcoming the worst privations, the son comes to his senses:

"I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

"And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

"And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." (Luke 15: 18-20)

Many commentators have rightly pointed out that the Father was looking for his son daily. Not afraid to embarrass himself, for older men by custom are not permitted to run, the Father rushed to his son and embraced him. This is the hug that waits for every person who believes on His Son.

This Father's love is the same as God the Father for us. Jesus wants those who believe on Him and live depending on Him to know this:

"I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." (John 17: 23-24)

God loves each of us as much as His own Son, and God loved His own Son before the foundation of the world. Now we can see ourselves standing before God in the stead of His own Son:

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)

Our identity in Christ would be an impoverished revelation if we are not keenly aware of how much God loves and accepts us! He loved us first, He loved us in His Son before the foundation of the world.

Now, we enjoy God's love-hug every day through the Holy Spirit, who lives and dwells in us. When Peter was preaching to the house of Cornelius, the Holy Spirit fell upon them:

"And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." (Acts 10: 42-44)

In this verse, "fell on" is the Greek word ἐπιπίπτω epipipto, which means "embrace or grip strongly.

Every believer is in the loving grip of the Holy Spirit.

Now, many believers may say: I do not feel God's love. But we must learn to walk by faith, trusting His word, just as we believe in radio waves --- even though they are invisible, and just as we trust that we have a brain in our heads, even though we cannot see it or sense it. We take God at His Word, which renews our minds to the eternal reality of things unseen as well as seen.

The Lord is embracing each of us now! Let us rest in this blessed hope that He who never leaves us nor forsakes us is ever embracing us in the firm grip of His love.