During the heavily viewed Broncos versus Patriots NFL playoff game on January 14th, one of the commercials stood out like a sore thumb - but one having with it a supernatural healing message. Focus on the Family ran a short ad using young children who separately, and then collectively, quoted and explained John 3:16 – the most famous and crucial verse in the entire Bible.
Some will recall that the Broncos getting to this second post-season game against New England was largely due to Denver’s rookie quarterback Tim Tebow’s efforts against Pittsburgh a week earlier. In that game, he threw for exactly 316 yards with a staggering average of 31.6 yards per catch. Some have called it a pure coincidence. But what would be the odds of those exact numbers occurring twice from this particular QB in one game – especially since the second number was also an NFL playoff record? The chances are probably similar to finding a great white shark swimming around in your backyard pool - in Denver.
But this unique and well-known verse was the one Tebow made even more familiar by stenciling the reference under each eye in the black anti-glare material during games in his college glory years. It is one of his favorite verses just as it is to millions of other believers. He also made reference to it following his team's overtime win against the favored Pittsburgh Steelers on January 8th.
Knowing that the ad was coming, Internet evangelists from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association took advantage and set up a web page for the sole purpose of explaining the meaning of the verse. By the end of the week, some 9,000 people had visited the special site and at least 170 people professed beginning a new personal relationship with Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Of course there may have been many more private decisions but those may not be known about on this side of heaven. Either way, some that were walking in spiritual darkness have changed direction and are now living in God’s light and forever planted in His family. (Colossians 1:13-14)
The president of Focus on the Family stated, "There's been a lot of buzz lately about what John 3:16 says, and we wanted to help people understand it. For Christians, the verse is the essence of the Good News of Jesus Christ, and when you have good news you want to share it with as many people as possible.” The vice president of media relations for FOTF told The Christian Post on Monday, “John 3:16 became the top trending topic worldwide on Twitter after the advertisement aired.” Today’s advertising dollar can certainly get far more in return and exposure than it could even a decade ago – and much of it for free.
For being such a famous and influential verse, John 3:16 is really quite concise. But it is also a spiritual powerhouse and quickly conveys God’s top priority and the solution to mankind’s greatest need. It leaves no doubt about man’s bleak future apart from Christ. But it then also shares the means this most severe of all of life’s issues can be solved.
The apostle John could not have possibly known, when he penned those magnificent words, that this one verse would become the most well-known, most precious, and most preached on passage in all of Scripture. It was the Holy Spirit, who authored it and therefore guided the writer’s pen to transcribe, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Once the absolute truth of this message really sinks in, then acting on it from the heart instantly repairs the breach between sinful man and his holy Creator. It infuses the spiritual life of God and awakens the soul of a man or woman making them part of God’s faith family forever. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Even shorter verses, like those below, reveal all that must be done to find forgiveness, a new life in Christ, and a guaranteed heavenly destiny.
Paul wrote exactly how all are to respond to John 3:16 in order to become justified by Christ’s sacrifice for them on the cross. In Romans 10:13 he declared in just eleven words, "Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." Then the writer of Acts also confirms the same great spiritual truth using just 12 words in Acts 2:21. "Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
Salvation, and being freely justified forever through Jesus Christ, really could not have been explained by God much simpler or made much more decisive than that!
Bill Breckenridge
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