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Old Testament Revelation: God is Love
March 20, 2022In the Old Testament, God reveals Himself as a relationship of giving and receiving love that overflows in a tender love for man that is both fatherly and spousal.
God is a relationship of giving and receiving love. In Genesis 1:26, God reveals Himself as a Trinity: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” In one God, there are three distinct persons. From this mystery, we see that God is fundamentally relational. In fact, the three persons of the Trinity are defined by their relationships to each other. They are distinguished in how they give and receive love to each other. The Father is the lover, the Son is the beloved and the Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son.
God also reveals in the Old Testament that He is always present to man. As proclaimed in the first reading today, in Exodus 3:14, God communicates His name to Moses as “I AM.” This means that God is the one who is existence. God causes everything to be. God did not create the world at the beginning of time and then step away. God unceasingly gives life to the world. Anything in existence is something continually held into existence by God. God is close, present, and faithful. He is not checked out and unaware.
Furthermore, the love of God is revealed to overflow to man in a love that is spousal and fatherly. As written in Isaiah:“No more shall people call you ‘Forsaken,’ or your land ‘Desolate,’ but you shall be called ‘My Delight,’ and your land ‘Espoused.’ For the LORD delights in you and makes your land his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.” (Isaiah 62:4-5)The love of God for man is intimate, deep, faithful and spousal. In Hosea 11:3-4, God's love is described as Fatherly.“Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them. I pulled them along with cords of a man, with ropes of love, and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them.”God cares for each man and is attentive to him like he is His own child. God pursues man with a love that is both fatherly and spousal for He has a personal interest and tender care for each man.
As God gradually reveals himself throughout the Old Testament, He reveals Himself most of all as love. May we be receptive to His love. May we let God love us and draw us deeper into His love.
—Megan Healy | Director of Faith Formation
