D____ wrote:

Mike, Thanks for sending over the letter you wrote to T____. I understood your points. It still begs the question about what love actually looks like. It isn’t what we we’ve been taught in Babylon that’s for sure.  I still have to tell myself, over and over and over, that the Lord chastens me because He loves me. For some reason (okay, after the counsel of God’s will), we’ve been ‘trained’ to believe that love is marshmallows and warm cocoa, when in reality, it isn’t that at all. This first fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) to be mentioned is love, and yet many of us are far from being able to love as we ought. It (loving as we ought) seems almost futile when you spend some time really meditating on it. I believe that is the point, because when we understand that we can’t love as Christ tells us, then we realize (AGAIN) that we need Christ to be able to do that in us and through us. Looking forward to your next letter on this topic. D____

Hi D____,

I do not know just how deep in your heart the words you have spoken in this email are rooted, but you have said it all right here. It is indeed “futile” to think that we can of ourselves keep God’s spiritual law of love. Israel, as a nation could not keep the “law… for the lawless” much less the spiritual “law of Christ.” Since you ask, “What does love look like,” here is the short answer:

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

So that is what love is. That is what love ‘looks like.’ When you ‘look’ for a man of God, don’t look for miracles and signs and wonders. These can all be present without the love of God being present. The church at Corinth demonstrates this Truth:

1Co 1:1  Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
1Co 1:2  Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

The church at Corinth was “sanctified in Christ Jesus…  [ and] called to be saints.” How many of the gifts of the spirit are with those who are “sanctified in Christ Jesus… called to be saints?” Here is the scriptural answer:

1Co 1:7  So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

We come now to the Truth which has been overlooked and denied by the “historical orthodox Christian church.” Overlooking this vital truth has empowered the beast and the dragon to lead billions of “saints… sanctified in Christ Jesus,” to confuse the gifts of God’s spirit with the fruit of God’s spirit. These words of God we are going to quote are just as true as the words of verses one, two and seven of chapter one. Now just look at what can be, and most often is, the spiritual condition of someone who is “sanctified in Christ Jesus… called to be a saint… coming behind in no gift:“

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

It is “strong meat” for many “babes in Christ” to discover that a saint can have the gifts of the spirit and be “yet carnal.” It is strong meat to discover that God Himself has given the adversary the power to “deceive the whole world by the means of  miracles.”

Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

“Sanctified in Christ Jesus… coming behind in no gift… yet carnal… babes in Christ” Christians are empowered to perform miracles with which to “deceive them that dwell on the earth.”

So which ‘commandments’ are we to “keep?” What is it that separates the “yet carnal” spiritual “babes in Christ” from “him that overcomes?”

The answer is, it is the commandments which teach love, which reveal both God and men of God. God loves His enemies whom He has “created for the day of evil.”

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The Bible is full of commandments, and Christ tells us we are to “live by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” So when the Old Testament tells us, at the very time when the Old Testament, the old covenant, is being given to the people, that another prophet “like Moses” would some day come and “Him ye shall hear,” then what that prophet tells us becomes “the sum of thy word:”

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Deu 18:16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb [‘Horeb’ is Mount Sinai where the old covenant was given] in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken [the natural man is unwilling to die with Christ].
Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

When God’s spirit inspired the words “He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him” is this telling us that Christ was going to come and simply repeat what Christ Himself had given to Moses? No, that is not what those words mean. If that is what they meant, then we would not have all of those, “You have heard it said by them of old time… but I say unto you…” changes and reforms which Christ is so well known for making. “My words which He shall speak” are now reforming the covenant. Like Moses before Him, Christ was a reformer, and the old covenant was to endure only “until the time of reformation.”

Heb 9:10  Which [ first tabernacle and first covenant] stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Only when we, like the apostle Paul, come to see ourselves as “chief of sinners,” only after we have, by the sovereign hand of God, been reformed by the Great Reformer, only then will we be able to say that we have indeed lived by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God. Only then will we be able to “look behind me to see the voice which spoke to me.”

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

Being “the first and the last” means that if we want to ‘see’ Christ, if we want to ‘know what love looks like,’ we must come to see that we must be born of water before we can be born of spirit.

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6  That which is born of the [water] flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Some of the first words which proceeded out of God’s mouth for man were these:

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Gen 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Your question is, “What does love look like?” If I were to tell you “This is the love of God , that we keep His commandments,”  and did not give to you “the sum” of God’s Word on this subject, I would not be doing you a service at all. We need to notice that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is called a tree “that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.”

God’s Words were not simply “thou shalt not eat of it.” No, He also said “for in the day you eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Now you and I cannot see ‘love in those words, “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” But the “revelation of Jesus Christ… the sum of Thy Word… every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” is not just what describes works of righteousness and overcoming of the flesh. God’s love is His entire work. His work includes a tree of knowledge of good and evil which will be partaken of before anyone will partake of the Tree of Life.

Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

If you want to come to know what Love is, then you must come to see that it was not Satan who created that deadly “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” It was Love which created both the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. It is only our flesh which rejects this knowledge. God is not unclear about what His methods are. It is only the doctrines of men which have clouded God’s Word which reveals what He is doing to bring about the salvation of all of mankind. God does not blame Satan for anything. He tells us very clearly that He is responsible for all evil which is in this world. Our flesh screams blasphemy when we hear such teachings, but consider just a few of the hundreds of scriptures which plainly declare that God is using evil to produce good:

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: [Hebrew:  ‘ra’ same Hebrew word translated ‘evil’ in “tree of the knowledge of good and evil‘] I the LORD do all these things.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Pro 20:24  Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

Rom 9:11  (For [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

And yet “historical orthodox Christianity” to this day tells you that you that you are a “free moral agent” and you are under the commandments of Moses when it quotes 1John 5:3, and then points you to the ten commandments of Exodus 20.

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his [Christ’s] commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

The ten commandments of Exodus 20 are not the sum of God’s Word. The ten commandments, and the entire old covenant, veil who God is and what He ‘looks’ like. The ten commandments are “not [even] for a righteous man.” What God ‘looks like’ is Jesus Christ. If you want to know what love looks like, look at Jesus Christ. He is “the express image of the invisible God.” But Jesus Christ is “full of grace and Truth” and grace and love both “chasten every son…”

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10  For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

Heb 1:3  Who [Christ] being the brightness of his [Father’s] glory, and the express image of his [Father’s] person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Christ came “to reveal the Father:” The old covenant “law for the lawless” certainly had not done that:

Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

So if indeed you learn “what love actually looks like” you will have to find out what Christ actually ‘looks like.’ And when you ‘look’ for Christ you have to look beyond the ten commandments and the law of Moses, which are the old covenant. You must come to ‘see’ a God who “loves His enemies” so much that He will destroy their flesh in order to save them all.

1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus

The first covenant is for the ‘lawless’ first Adam. The new covenant is for the new man who is being conformed to the image of Christ.

Deu 4:13  And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

Deu 9:11  And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, [even] the tables of the covenant.

There were some few who were “blameless touching the righteousness which is in the law.”

Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

While Paul was “blameless touching the righteousness which is in the law,” the way he displayed his zeal for that righteousness was to breathe out slaughter against the church of God:

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

Paul’s breathing out slaughter was as consistent with the law as was the Pharisees’ desire to stone the woman caught in adultery. Of course, according to Moses, the Pharisees should also have had the man who was caught with the woman. Here is what Moses required in both cases:

Deu 20:16  But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee [for] an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

Deu 22:22  If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

But Christ was not concerned with keeping the law of Moses. He was very much concerned with a law which requires far more of us than what the old covenant required:

Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

It was not the words of Moses which could give life. It was the words of Christ only:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

There were many words which Christ had to say which the apostles could not yet bear while Christ was still with them in the flesh.

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

So ‘love’ is not just the words of Christ while He was on the earth. Love is the entire revelation of Jesus Christ from Genesis to Revelation.  Love is “the sum of thy word:”

Psa 119:160  The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting. (YLT)

Here is a scripture which reveals to whom God opens up his word and reveals Himself and all of His love:

Isa 66:2  (b) … To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Jer 23:28 (a) The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.

The truth is that God is love:

1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Eternal life is to know God and Christ:

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Love trembles at every word of God. It does not talk about faith and love without telling all that “who[m] God loves He chastens and scourges:”

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Here is a pretty fair description of love:

1Co 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [Greek: agape], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1Co 13:2  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
1Co 13:4  Charity [agape] suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1Co 13:8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

While it is not the complete sum of God’s Word, when you put  Hebrews 12 together with 1 Corinthians 13, you do get a pretty good picture of “what love looks like”. You are exactly right. True love is tough love. It is not “marshmallows and warm cocoa.” As I mentioned in the previous email I forwarded to you, Love does not ignore any of Christ’s commandments. Love applies them all, for they are all what make up true love from a pure heart.

I hope this helps you to see what love ‘looks like’. God is love. Unlike the ministers of “historical orthodox Christianity”  God loves even His enemies. We can only know God through Christ, and Christ is being revealed to us from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21. You will be learning what is Christ and what is love and what love looks like until the day you are separated from this vessel of clay which is “marred [Hebrew: destroyed] in the Potter’s hand.” It is God who is in the process of destroying this “vile, corruptible, conceived in sin, shapen in iniquity, marred vessel of clay [which is so far] short of the glory” of an invisible spiritual God. While you are right and we of ourselves cannot love as we ought, we can “do all things through Christ who strengthens” us.

Phi 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Mike