How Does God Love Man?
November 4 2025
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
“.. let us consider God’s love for man.”
God wants man’s love. It is the first commandment. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Mt. 22:37-38). We don’t love God in our fallen condition, but we can love God when we are redeemed through faith in Christ. We are saved to love God forever. We are to have a first love for Christ and we are to maintain that first love (Re. 2:4-5). After Peter denied the Lord, Christ asked him three times, “Simon, lovest thou me?” (Joh. 21:15-17).
We love God because He first loved us (1 Jo. 4:19), and the more we know of His love the more we can love Him.
So let us consider God’s love for man.
God created the universe for man.
- The stars are for man. There is no extra-terrestrial life in the stars as far as the Bible reveals. The starry universe was are made for man to learn of God (Ps. 19), for signs and for seasons (Ge. 1:14-18), and for enjoyment (1 Ti 6:17).
God created the earth for man.
- “The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy” (Ps. 119:64).
- The earth is perfectly designed for man’s life: the perfect distance from the sun, a perfect relationship with the moon. Consider gravity, atmosphere, water (a “miracle” liquid), oceans, the hydrological cycle (evaporation, atmospheric circulation, condensation, precipitation, run-off; by the global hydrological cycle water is purified and redistributed and replenished), the oxygen cycle (the process whereby plants produce oxygen necessary for man and animals by photosynthesis and man and animals exhale carbon dioxide that is consumed by plants; the hyper-complicated process maintains a constant of 21% oxygen in the atmosphere, exactly what is needed for man’s life), plant-animal ecosystems, pollination, good bacteria, worms and micro-organisms that aerate the earth, fungi and rhizomes that are essential in the lifecycle of trees and forests, etc. The earth is full of a wealth of minerals for man’s livelihood and pleasure.
God made man in His own image.
- Man is the highest creature; he is the apex of God’s creation.
- The first Adam was the king of the earth; the second Adam is the Lord from heaven (1 Co. 15:47). All of the redeemed are His brethren (Heb. 2:11); they are adopted sons of God and will bear His image and serve Him and rule and reign with Him into the endless aeons of aeons.
- The redeemed will have a resurrected, glorified body designed for eternity with God. They will have high intelligence and great abilities. They will be like Christ, higher and greater than the mighty angels (Heb. 2:5-9).
God gave man the gift of language.
- The creatures can communicate in various ways, but only man has the ability of language. It is an unspeakably great gift. Any healthy baby can learn any language, but no animal can learn a language. Trainers have tried to teach monkeys sign language, but their language ability is pathetic. In the 1970s, a chimpanzee named Nim Chimpsky was raised as a human and taught sign language. He could not understand anything more than simple commands. The longest string of signed words Nim ever signed was “give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you.” David Berlinski observes, “After years of punishing trials, a few of them have been taught the rudiments of various primitive symbol systems. Having been given the gift of language, they have nothing to say. When two simian prodigies meet, they fling their signs at one another. ... Simian social structures are often intricate. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas reason; they form plans; they have preferences; they are cunning; they have passions and desires; and they suffer. The same is true of cats, I might add. In much of this, we see ourselves. But beyond what we have in common with the apes, we have nothing in common, and while the similarities are interesting, the differences are profound” (The Devil’s Delusion, p. 156).
- Man’s language is for the purpose of communicating with God, first of all, and with man and with angels.
God designed man for pleasure.
- Consider taste. Taste buds are found on the tongue and throughout the mouth; there are 2,000 to 8,000 of them and each taste bud has between 50 to 150 receptor cells. The taste buds last about 10 days and are constantly renewed. The taste buds can detect five main types of taste: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (a savory or meaty flavor). Taste buds work together with smell to create the sense of taste. Taste buds are connected with memory and emotions. Taste buds can detect harmful or toxic substances. Taste buds send signals to the brain to trigger the release of the proper digestive enzymes to digest food. “There’s an entire industry that concocts the tastes of the food you buy at the grocery store. Working with phenomena known as phantom aromas or aroma-taste interactions, scientists found that people associate ‘ham’ with salt. So simply adding a subtle ham-like scent or flavor to a food can make your brain perceive it as saltier than it actually is. The same concept applies to the scent of vanilla, which people perceive as sweet” (“12 Facts about the Sense of Taste,” Mental Floss, Jan. 15, 2019). Taste buds “are complex sensory organs that contribute to our overall enjoyment of food and our understanding of flavors” (“10 Facts,” Luxwisp.com).
- Consider smell. Man has about 6 million olfactory receptors, and there are about 400 types. (Dogs have up to 300 million olfactory receptors.) Man can detect over 1 trillion different scents. Scents trigger vivid memories and influence mood. Smell detects dangers. Smell works together with taste buds to create taste. Hotel chains have their own signature smells. “‘Sheratons’ smell like fig, clove and jasmine; Westin lobbies go for white tea while the Four Points venues smell of cinnamon. Montcalm in the UK have used our expertise to create their own ‘scent butler’ where guests can choose what smell they want their room to smell of” (Aromaco.co.uk).
- Consider sight. The human eye has millions of moving parts and is connected to the brain to make sight possible. The eye processes information at 400 million bits per second. The lenses in the eyes create an image that is upside down and backward, and the brain reorients it for proper seeing. There are seven million photoreceptor cone cells that provide color vision. The brain can detect 10 million different colors. The three main colors--red, green, blue--are combined to detect the rainbow of hues. There are 100 million photoreceptor rods that allow vision in the dark; they allow the detection of 500 shades of gray. The human eye can detect a candle flame from about 14 miles away under perfect conditions. The six eye muscles move faster than any other muscles in the body. Man’s field of view is about 200 degrees. The two eyes provide depth perception and allow the discernment of distance. No two people share the same hue of eye color. The eyes are self-cleaning using the blinking reflex which is done about 14,000 times a day. The brain fills in the blanks so that blinking doesn’t interrupt our seeing.
- This is only a glimpse into the glories of the human body that was made by God.
God made Eden for man.
- God’s love for man was evident in the Garden of Eden, which was man’s home before sin. It was designed and built by God because of His love for man.
- It was a paradise with perfect temperature, no rain (Ge. 2:5-6), no storms, no lack of any good thing, no disease, no famine, no dangerous animals, no pests, no thorns.
- It was full of beautiful sights (thousands of types of trees, cedar of Lebanon, oak, maple, fir, weeping willow, millions of types of flowers, blue sky, sunrise, sunset, water reflecting light in countless ways, shimmering leaves, green meadows, butterflies, hummingbirds).
- It was full of nutritious, tasty food.
- It was full of good smells (e.g., flowers, fruit).
- It was full of good sounds (e.g., song birds, water moving in a stream or a water fall, the bleating of a lamb).
- It was full of fascinating things to enjoy and investigate.
God made marriage for man.
- Marriage is part of God’s good plan for man. God made marriage for companionship (Ge. 2:18), for love, for perfection (the woman is man’s completer in God’s will), for strength (a two-fold cord), and for procreation to create a godly seed (Mal. 2:15).
God gives life and all good things to man.
- “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Ac. 17:28).
- “he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (Ac. 17:25).
- “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (Jas. 1:17).
- “the living God, who giveth us richly all thing to enjoy” (1 Ti. 6:17).
- “the earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy” (Ps. 119:64).
God provided salvation for man.
- This is the greatest evidence of God’s love for man. “... the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Ga. 2:20).
- The Triune God planned salvation before man was made. Christ is “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Re. 13:8). He “verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Pe. 1:19-20).
- God paid a great price to redeem fallen man. “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 Jo. 4:14). “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” (Joh. 3:16).
- God’s love is illustrated by Abraham offering his beloved son, Isaac (Ge. 22).
- The price of salvation was so great that Christ asked the Father that “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Mt. 25:39), though He surrendered to God’s will and paid the price by enduring the shame and suffering of the cross.
- God’s salvation is a free gift purchased 100% by Christ.
- God’s salvation is infinite in scope. It consists of forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, justification, adoption as sons, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, all spiritual blessings in Christ, an eternal inheritance as joint-heirs with Christ, citizenship in the New Jerusalem, and being made kings and priests in Christ.
We love God because He first loved us (1 Jo. 4:19), and the more we know of His love the more we can love Him.
So let us consider God’s love for man.
God created the universe for man.
- The stars are for man. There is no extra-terrestrial life in the stars as far as the Bible reveals. The starry universe was are made for man to learn of God (Ps. 19), for signs and for seasons (Ge. 1:14-18), and for enjoyment (1 Ti 6:17).
God created the earth for man.
- “The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy” (Ps. 119:64).
- The earth is perfectly designed for man’s life: the perfect distance from the sun, a perfect relationship with the moon. Consider gravity, atmosphere, water (a “miracle” liquid), oceans, the hydrological cycle (evaporation, atmospheric circulation, condensation, precipitation, run-off; by the global hydrological cycle water is purified and redistributed and replenished), the oxygen cycle (the process whereby plants produce oxygen necessary for man and animals by photosynthesis and man and animals exhale carbon dioxide that is consumed by plants; the hyper-complicated process maintains a constant of 21% oxygen in the atmosphere, exactly what is needed for man’s life), plant-animal ecosystems, pollination, good bacteria, worms and micro-organisms that aerate the earth, fungi and rhizomes that are essential in the lifecycle of trees and forests, etc. The earth is full of a wealth of minerals for man’s livelihood and pleasure.
God made man in His own image.
- Man is the highest creature; he is the apex of God’s creation.
- The first Adam was the king of the earth; the second Adam is the Lord from heaven (1 Co. 15:47). All of the redeemed are His brethren (Heb. 2:11); they are adopted sons of God and will bear His image and serve Him and rule and reign with Him into the endless aeons of aeons.
- The redeemed will have a resurrected, glorified body designed for eternity with God. They will have high intelligence and great abilities. They will be like Christ, higher and greater than the mighty angels (Heb. 2:5-9).
God gave man the gift of language.
- The creatures can communicate in various ways, but only man has the ability of language. It is an unspeakably great gift. Any healthy baby can learn any language, but no animal can learn a language. Trainers have tried to teach monkeys sign language, but their language ability is pathetic. In the 1970s, a chimpanzee named Nim Chimpsky was raised as a human and taught sign language. He could not understand anything more than simple commands. The longest string of signed words Nim ever signed was “give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you.” David Berlinski observes, “After years of punishing trials, a few of them have been taught the rudiments of various primitive symbol systems. Having been given the gift of language, they have nothing to say. When two simian prodigies meet, they fling their signs at one another. ... Simian social structures are often intricate. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas reason; they form plans; they have preferences; they are cunning; they have passions and desires; and they suffer. The same is true of cats, I might add. In much of this, we see ourselves. But beyond what we have in common with the apes, we have nothing in common, and while the similarities are interesting, the differences are profound” (The Devil’s Delusion, p. 156).
- Man’s language is for the purpose of communicating with God, first of all, and with man and with angels.
God designed man for pleasure.
- Consider taste. Taste buds are found on the tongue and throughout the mouth; there are 2,000 to 8,000 of them and each taste bud has between 50 to 150 receptor cells. The taste buds last about 10 days and are constantly renewed. The taste buds can detect five main types of taste: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (a savory or meaty flavor). Taste buds work together with smell to create the sense of taste. Taste buds are connected with memory and emotions. Taste buds can detect harmful or toxic substances. Taste buds send signals to the brain to trigger the release of the proper digestive enzymes to digest food. “There’s an entire industry that concocts the tastes of the food you buy at the grocery store. Working with phenomena known as phantom aromas or aroma-taste interactions, scientists found that people associate ‘ham’ with salt. So simply adding a subtle ham-like scent or flavor to a food can make your brain perceive it as saltier than it actually is. The same concept applies to the scent of vanilla, which people perceive as sweet” (“12 Facts about the Sense of Taste,” Mental Floss, Jan. 15, 2019). Taste buds “are complex sensory organs that contribute to our overall enjoyment of food and our understanding of flavors” (“10 Facts,” Luxwisp.com).
- Consider smell. Man has about 6 million olfactory receptors, and there are about 400 types. (Dogs have up to 300 million olfactory receptors.) Man can detect over 1 trillion different scents. Scents trigger vivid memories and influence mood. Smell detects dangers. Smell works together with taste buds to create taste. Hotel chains have their own signature smells. “‘Sheratons’ smell like fig, clove and jasmine; Westin lobbies go for white tea while the Four Points venues smell of cinnamon. Montcalm in the UK have used our expertise to create their own ‘scent butler’ where guests can choose what smell they want their room to smell of” (Aromaco.co.uk).
- Consider sight. The human eye has millions of moving parts and is connected to the brain to make sight possible. The eye processes information at 400 million bits per second. The lenses in the eyes create an image that is upside down and backward, and the brain reorients it for proper seeing. There are seven million photoreceptor cone cells that provide color vision. The brain can detect 10 million different colors. The three main colors--red, green, blue--are combined to detect the rainbow of hues. There are 100 million photoreceptor rods that allow vision in the dark; they allow the detection of 500 shades of gray. The human eye can detect a candle flame from about 14 miles away under perfect conditions. The six eye muscles move faster than any other muscles in the body. Man’s field of view is about 200 degrees. The two eyes provide depth perception and allow the discernment of distance. No two people share the same hue of eye color. The eyes are self-cleaning using the blinking reflex which is done about 14,000 times a day. The brain fills in the blanks so that blinking doesn’t interrupt our seeing.
- This is only a glimpse into the glories of the human body that was made by God.
God made Eden for man.
- God’s love for man was evident in the Garden of Eden, which was man’s home before sin. It was designed and built by God because of His love for man.
- It was a paradise with perfect temperature, no rain (Ge. 2:5-6), no storms, no lack of any good thing, no disease, no famine, no dangerous animals, no pests, no thorns.
- It was full of beautiful sights (thousands of types of trees, cedar of Lebanon, oak, maple, fir, weeping willow, millions of types of flowers, blue sky, sunrise, sunset, water reflecting light in countless ways, shimmering leaves, green meadows, butterflies, hummingbirds).
- It was full of nutritious, tasty food.
- It was full of good smells (e.g., flowers, fruit).
- It was full of good sounds (e.g., song birds, water moving in a stream or a water fall, the bleating of a lamb).
- It was full of fascinating things to enjoy and investigate.
God made marriage for man.
- Marriage is part of God’s good plan for man. God made marriage for companionship (Ge. 2:18), for love, for perfection (the woman is man’s completer in God’s will), for strength (a two-fold cord), and for procreation to create a godly seed (Mal. 2:15).
God gives life and all good things to man.
- “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Ac. 17:28).
- “he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (Ac. 17:25).
- “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (Jas. 1:17).
- “the living God, who giveth us richly all thing to enjoy” (1 Ti. 6:17).
- “the earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy” (Ps. 119:64).
God provided salvation for man.
- This is the greatest evidence of God’s love for man. “... the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Ga. 2:20).
- The Triune God planned salvation before man was made. Christ is “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Re. 13:8). He “verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Pe. 1:19-20).
- God paid a great price to redeem fallen man. “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 Jo. 4:14). “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” (Joh. 3:16).
- God’s love is illustrated by Abraham offering his beloved son, Isaac (Ge. 22).
- The price of salvation was so great that Christ asked the Father that “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Mt. 25:39), though He surrendered to God’s will and paid the price by enduring the shame and suffering of the cross.
- God’s salvation is a free gift purchased 100% by Christ.
- God’s salvation is infinite in scope. It consists of forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, justification, adoption as sons, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, all spiritual blessings in Christ, an eternal inheritance as joint-heirs with Christ, citizenship in the New Jerusalem, and being made kings and priests in Christ.
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