The Bible begins with the words, “In the beginning, God … ” From its very first sentence, the Bible tells us that it’s a Book about God. The Bible ends with the words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.” These words are followed by the word, “Amen.”
There are plenty of things in the Bible that we don’t understand. If, in our hearts, we say “Amen” to the Bible’s opening and closing words, we will have the right attitude towards the things that we don’t understand. We will know that we are “loved with everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).
We see this love at the beginning of the Bible. We see this love at the end of the Bible. Carrying this thought with us will help us to grasp the Bible’s central message even if we don’t always understand how each part connects with this central theme.
Some people begin with their own idea of “love” and then say, “That’s what God is like.” They may dip into the Bible, reading their favourite passages. They will not take the trouble and make the time for reading the whole Bible. They say, “Why bother putting a lot of time and effort into studying the Bible. We already know what God is like.” They quote the words, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). What they really mean is, “Love is God.”
When the Bible says, “God is love”, it doesn’t encourage us to start from our own idea of “love.” It encourages us to begin with God. We learn of Him as we read His Word. As we learn of His love, we learn that it is a holy love. God’s love is a holy love because God is a holy God.
The difference between “love is God” and “God is love” cannot be overemphasized. To say “All you need is love. Love is all you need” is not the same as saying, “We need God.” When we say, “We need God”, we will not say, “all you need is love.” We will say, “We need God’s love and we also need His holiness.”
Where do we learn of both God’s love and His holiness? – It’s from His Word that we learn of His holy love. We bow before Him in worship, echoing the words of Isaiah 6:3 – “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord … ” We rejoice in the wonder of His love, giving thanks for the great words of Isaiah 6:7 – “Your sin is forgiven.”

1 John 4:8