Who is this God, and what is His nature? The apostle John tells us, when he says: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (I John 4:7,8). Love made all things. It’s hard for us to conceive of a love as great as God’s, for this is a love that makes all things good, whatever the cost. One Eastern Orthodox writer imagines the counsels of this love before the world was made. He writes: God says to His Son, ‘My Son, let us create man!’ and the Son replies, ‘Yes, Father!’ Then, speaking of what will come, the Father says, ‘Yes, but man will sin and fall away from his calling, and his glory, and You will have to redeem him on the Cross,’ and the Son says, ‘So be it.’

When He made us, God knew what would happen. He knew that sin, death, and destruction would wreck His creation and bring untold pain and tragedy to people everywhere. He knew that He Himself would have to pay a terrible price to recover mankind, but He still did it, for His love is always greater than His pain.