_THE WELLS OF SALVATION_
JOHN iii. 1-21.
The springs of our redemption are found in infinite love. "God is love!"
Redemption was not inspired by anger, but by grace. We do not contemplate
an angry God, demanding a victim, but a compassionate Father making a
sacrifice. At one extreme of our golden text is eternal "love," and at the
other extreme is "eternal life." What if the two are one? Etymologically,
"love" and "life" are akin. What if they are only two names for the same
thing?
To "believe" in the love is to receive the life. For when I believe in a
person's love I open my doors to the lover. And to believe in the love of
God is to let the heavenly Lover in. And with love comes a wonderful
tropical air--light, and warmth, and air; and "all things become new!" It
is the letting in of the spring, and things which have been in wintry
bondage awake, and arise from their graves.
And so I "_enter into the kingdom of God_." I become a native of a new and
marvellous country. I begin to be acclimatized in the realm of the blest.
And I "_see_ the kingdom of God." Spiritual perceptions become mine, and I
gaze upon the mystic glories of the home of God.