Love

The Way of God’s Creation

God has created the universe in a certain manner – I call this the natural law of the universe.  His natural law corresponds to the Torah which is an explanation of how a nation should conduct itself according to His natural law.  The Torah also includes special commands that relate to Israel getting a concrete view of how God made things.  For instance the Temple was to be created in a very specific manner which relates to the Temple in heaven (which will reside on earth in the next age – Rev. 21).  It is a viewable, touchable (concrete) model of the Heavenly Temple.

The Torah is built on the principle of loving another as you love yourself.  This is the way God originally created things.  Whatever deviates from this rule is unnatural and evil because it is against the way God created the universe and intends that it should be maintained.  Imagine a world in which everyone loved each other as they loved themselves!  This was the world of Adam and Eve!

We get an insight into this from Paul where he states that love is the fulfilling of the law because it does no harm to your neighbor.  The word “Ra” in Hebrew which is translated as evil actually means harm.  To harm others intentionally is against the natural law (which has been corrupted) of the universe.

Love One Another

There is an ancient story about the apostle John’s last sermon. They brought him in on a cot and he only said four words: children love one another. The Holy Spirit fell on the people in that meeting and many were convicted and crying. His last sermon was about love.

What does it mean to love? The root word for the Hebrew word for love ahava, is “hav.” Hav means to give: God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son. First Corinthians 13 states that you can give all of your goods to the poor and if you don’t have love it profits you nothing. You can give and not love but you cannot love and not give. What is the missing ingredient? The missing ingredient is giving for nothing in return. How do we give to one another?

We are told by the Apostle Paul – in honor to prefer one another affectionately with brotherly love (Rom. 12:10.) Jesus bowed down and washed his disciples feet. God the father bows down to relate to us. He humbles Himself to look upon the heavens and the earth yet comes and ministers (speaks) to us. The word for bless in Hebrew means to kneel. When God blesses us He kneels down and ministers to us. When we bless others we kneel down (in our hearts) and serve (prefer) them and when we have the right motive we do it for nothing in return. As Yeshua said: The greatest among us is the servant of all.