Think if Satan had prevailed in the War in Heaven. Satan is the antithesis of God. Near the pinnacle of power, Satan would rule for his own selfish ends. He would assure that no one sins so that no redemption is necessary. He would escort us through mortality not because he loves us, but because we serve his ends to his personal glory. Those who disobeyed him would be instantly destroyed with no opportunity to repent.
Thankfully, wonderfully, mercifully, such is not our God. Hence my astonishment and my gratitude that the God of power is also the God of love.
God's Power
First, consider the majesty of God's power. While he has the power to do all things, the power he enjoys the most – the power about which he is most anxious and pleased to tell us about – is the power to create. Consider the following representative examples of God's power:Isaiah 44:24 "the Lord, thy redeemer... maketh all things... stretcheth forth the heavens alone... spreadeth abroad the earth by myself."
Christ stands with the Father as the Supreme Creator. He makes everything that exists. Man in all the imaginations of his heart did not create the heavens and the earth. God created them. Now, he may have delegated responsibility, as we learn in the temple, but the work was done under his direction and by his power.
Isaiah 40:12-15 "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing."
God is powerful enough to hold all of the oceans in the cup of his hand. He can measure the breadth of the sky with the span of his hand, from the tip of his thumb to the tip of his little finger. He can put the largest mountains on a scale and measure their weight. There is no one who knows more than God. He needs to be taught by no one. The great nations of the earth, such as China, India, and the United States are but drops of water in a bucket to him. They are like dust on the surface of the scale, which makes no difference in the balance.
Moses 1:33 "worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten."
Now take our earth, which God has created and which he can hold in his hand and measure on a scale and which is just a drop in the bucket and is like inconsequential dust, and about which he knows everything, and multiply it endlessly. Such is only the beginning of power of God.
Moses 1:35 "behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them."
Yet amid all of this creative power, God does not forget a single thing he has created. Though the number of his worlds is too great for the human mind to comprehend, God knows and remembers every one of them.
Moses 1:37-38 "And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine. And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words."
As special and unique as we may feel our world is in the great span of creation, we are just one of innumerable worlds. And yet, each world is special and unique to God. Each one belongs personally to him. His work goes on forever, and he reveals himself forever to his creations. Worlds come and go through their stages of mortality, but God does not forget a single one.
Moses 7:30 "were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still"
God revealed the same truth to Enoch that he revealed to Moses. If we could count the particles – even the molecules, the atoms, and the subatomic particles of the atoms – contained in this earth, we would have to multiply that number by millions, and we could still not approximate the number of God's creations. And he is still creating today.
Such is the God we worship.
God's Love
And yet, amidst all of this power, there is love. Indeed, all of this creative power is the expression of love. When he could do anything he wants in the universe, why does God choose to create galaxies and stars and worlds and oceans and mountains and dust and molecules and atoms?Moses 1:39 "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
God works so that we, his children, can become like him. He does not create worlds just for the fun of creating them. He creates them for us.
And how do we know he does this out of love, and not for some ulterior motive?
Isaiah 44:21-23 "Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel."
God has redeemed us. He has done the work to remove all of our sins. Having paid the price for us, he can never forget us.
Moses 7:30 "yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever;"
God's heart is centered on us. It is in his very nature to be merciful and kind. He is just, for that is also in his nature, but he has worked out a way for mercy to overcome justice.
Isaiah 49:15-16 "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."
God's love is stronger than a mother's love. Even if a mother could forget the child she bore, Christ would not forget us, the children he has born and for whom he has labored and sacrificed and atoned. We are never out of his thoughts.
Isaiah 49:24-25 "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children."
Though we may be temporarily captured by the terrible enemy of our souls, Christ will wrest us from Satan's hold. He will fight against Satan in our behalf, and he will save us who are his children.
Romans 8:35-39 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The Father and the Son cannot be separated from us. We may choose to separate ourselves from them, but they will not be separated from us. There is no power in heaven or on earth that can tear us from their hearts if we choose to be connected to them.
Jeremiah 31:1-11 "I [will] be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people... saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.... For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.... They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he."
God is the father of our spirits. Christ is the father of our spiritual rebirth. We are all equal in their eyes. They treat each of us as if we were the firstborn, their only child. We weep when we think of how much they love us. Though we may wander off, Christ will gather us back to him as a shepherd gathers his lost lambs. He has ransomed us from the "natural man", who is often stronger in this mortal world than our spirits.
2 Nephi 1:15 "But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love."
What does it feel like to be loved by God? It is like being encircled in his arms. It is like being wrapped in a warm blanket after having fallen into icy waters on a cold night. It is a feeling that never has to end.
How do we know God loves us?
John 3:16 "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."
Because he sent his Son to prove it.
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