“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.
(John 3:16)
What a word! What a word is this, is not it? In paradise everything had changed in one moment. When you believe John 3:16, then likewise everything has changed in one moment, then everything has been restored; yea, more is then given us than we had in Paradise.
John 3:16 is a word that does wonders when the Holy Spirit makes use of it. It quickens a man who is spiritually dead. It makes him happy who out of sorrow does not know where to find a hiding place. It saves him in whom the question arises: “Is not taking my own life the best I can do?” It covers the naked, it adorns them who are marred, it purifies the unclean and it affords temporal as well as spiritual and eternal things. It gives us all things, once again, in one moment! When God speaks by means of the word of John 3:16: “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3), then there ís light, but it must be believed. Whosoever does not believe it, will ignore it, and he has recourse to the visible and material things, and thinks that he can expect his help from them. Thus the world seems to be full of resources, but sooner or later it will come to light that they are dried out ditches. Ah, how great the disappointment will be then! It must be believed, we must have it in our heart, the truth must be written in our heart. The Apostle Paul says: we believe with the heart, and we confess with the mouth (Rom. 10:10).
Count it a great wonder that you are still here, for you can still go back now. Soon, when death is come up into your windows (Jer. 9:21), you will no longer be able to go back. Ah, there is no consciousness in the grave! Believe the Word! It is a word spoken by God Himself, and the matter described by it is God’s matter, and the outcome of a matter of God will suit you very well! Someone once spoke these fine words: “I count them happy, who have a good God, a good matter and a good conscience.” That is rightly spoken. It could well happen that, when later you come to lie on your sickbed, there would be no longer a willing ear for you from heaven. And what could you do then, left by God? Have you felt something of this, left by God, left over to ourselves? The apostles have preached: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
(From: Meditations, 10 December. Sermon on John 3:16, 8 January 1956 in The Hague.)