<p>4:10 <em>Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins</em>- The love of the Father and Son is not &quot;love&quot; as the world understands it; but the love of the cross, that men might be eternally forgiven and saved. One dimension of that love is that it totally takes the initiative; it is not a kind, positive response to those perceived to have loved us. It is the initiative of dying for ones' enemies, in the hope they shall come over to your side- as Romans 5 expresses it. The Judaism which John was up against had much to say of their boasts to &quot;love God&quot;; but it is not our love of Him which is to be the focus, but His love of us whilst we were sinners, and His supreme gift of His Son for our sins and weaknesses, rather than to complement our supposed righteousness.</p><p>John seems to purposefully make the point that the Lord <em>was sent</em> as a one time act in the past &ldquo;to be the propitiation for our sins&quot; (1 Jn. 4:10). In His blood covered body, He was the place of propitiation, the blood-sprinkled mercy seat (s.w. &quot;mercy seat&quot; Rom. 3:25; Heb. 9:5). And yet: &ldquo;If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: for He <em>is </em>right now, each time we sin the propitiation for our sins&quot; (1 Jn. 2:1,2 s.w.). In obtaining forgiveness for us He in some way goes through again the essence of His sacrifice. It is too simplistic to say that we repent, and God forgives. He does, but only on the basis of Christ&rsquo;s atoning act that must come ever before Him in the granting of forgiveness. The Mosaic offerings of blood &ldquo;before Yahweh&quot; all pointed forward to this fact. Awful as His actual physical sufferings were 2000 years ago, we should not separate them from the work He came to do- of obtaining our redemption. He worked this work in His life, on the cross, and continues it until this day. The daily morning and evening sacrifice had to be of a first year lamb without blemish- the identical specification for the Passover lamb. His death on the cross at Passover was the same as His daily life of sacrifice.</p>