It’s considered by many to to be the most well-known verse in all of Scripture, but millions of believers may not realize it’s stating something very different from what they’ve assumed or been taught.
The line in question is the famous John 3:16, which declares: “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” (NKJV).
“This beloved passage of Scripture is seen and heard everywhere, from churches to sports stadiums across the globe, but it’s misunderstood by millions of devout Christians,” says Joe Kovacs, author of the new best-seller, “Reaching God Speed: Unlocking the Secret Broadcast Revealing the Mystery of Everything.”
“Many take the phrase ‘For God so loved the world’ to mean that God loves the world soooo much.
“Even some fantastic, inspiring movies such as ‘The Gospel of John’ and Bible versions including the New Living Translation actually render the verse that way, stating: ‘For God loved the world so much …'”
“But there’s a serious misperception with that,” Kovacs explains, “because the rest of the Bible does not indicate that God loves the world so much. In fact, the same person who wrote John 3:16 outright declares that followers of Jesus should not love the world or the things of the world at all.”
The apostle John wrote in his first letter:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
“For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever” (1 John 2:15–17 CSB).
“Obviously, God cannot be loving the world sooooo much and at the same time be instructing us not to love the world at all,” Kovacs says. “But there is a simple solution to this mysterious dilemma, and it resides inside the meaning of a very tiny word in John 3:16. That word is ‘so.'”
“There is another meaning for ‘so’ that has absolutely nothing to do with quantity, as in ‘so much.’ It has to do with the way or manner something is done. It means ‘in this way,’ ‘in this manner,’ ‘thus,’ or ‘like this.'”
“For instance, if an athletic coach is trying to teach his or her student to learn the proper way to swim, shoot a basketball, ice skate, or perform any sport better, the coach would say, ‘Do it like so.’ In other words, do it like this, in this way, in this fashion, in this manner. This is exactly the meaning of the word ‘so’ in John 3:16. In its original Greek, the word is ‘hoytō,’ and it means exactly what I’m saying here: ‘in this way.'”
Kovacs says to understand John 3:16 properly, people need to read the two verses before it.
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14–15 NKJV).
“Right there in John 3:14, Scripture says ‘even so’ the Son of Man must be lifted up, and that’s the same meaning of the word ‘so’ in John 3:16,” Kovacs says. “The storyline is focusing on the precise way God rescued His people in the Old Testament after the Almighty sent fiery snakes to kill His own rebellious people.”
“So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died” (Numbers 21:6 NKJV).
“So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived” (Numbers 21:9 NKJV).
Kovacs explains: “John 3:16 is brilliantly correlating what happened with the people’s ancient rescue from death to everyone’s eternal rescue from death that Jesus provided by being lifted up on His own pole, His own execution stake.”
“Hence, it is not about God loving the world soooo much, but rather it is that during the execution of Jesus, God was loving the people of the world like so, in a manner that gave them a way to escape their death penalty, in the same way, in the same manner as the ancient Israelites were spared the death penalty when they looked at the snake mounted on the pole. God is merely repeating the imagery.”
“Some newer Bible translations have awakened to realize this important difference and have published the proper meaning.”
Now, the famous section reads:
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world IN THIS WAY: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14–16 CSB).
“God is a Teacher who instructs us through repetition, as all good teachers do,” Kovacs says. “And what happened in the book of Numbers was actually a preview, foreshadowing what would take place during the physical life of Jesus on Earth.
“Thus, the most famous verse in the Bible – John 3:16 – is simply echoing and repeating the way God saved His people in ancient times. After all, Jesus Christ is ‘the way’ (John 14:6), and He’s also ‘the same yesterday, today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8).”
Endorsed by Chuck Norris and other Christian champions, “Reaching God Speed” is nothing short of a breakthrough work, as it probes God’s hidden messages embedded in popular movies, hit songs from (Adele and the Beatles to Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin), the stories we tell our children, everyday phrases we all say, historic news events, famous commercial campaigns, nature itself, and typical life activities such as such as inhaling every breath you take, sleeping, waking up and many more.
It features a myriad of stunning biblical revelations, as the book:
- Solves with clarity three of the greatest mysteries in Scripture, unveiling the surprisingly simple meaning of “the beast,” “the number of the beast” and “the mark of the beast”
- Easily explains how God embeds hidden messages forecasting the future in the physical, historical events recorded in Scripture
- Examines the miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding, revealing why this famous event took place “on the third day,” why water was poured into six large containers, and why its instant transformation into the most perfect wine has a sublime meaning that goes far beyond what anyone has ever discussed
- Unwraps the secret messages concerning the human birth of God, including the spirit significance of Jesus in a manger, the real reason the shepherds “returned,” and the never-trumpeted, majestic picture the entire story depicts for your own glorious future
- Unmasks the miracle of the blind man healed by washing mud off his eyes. Clue: There’s something intriguing about the mud that becomes obvious when we connect the dots in Scripture
- Reveals the incredible reason the Bible constantly mentions “three days” in both the Old and New Testaments. It goes far beyond the time Jesus spent in the heart of the earth.
- Unveils the sublime, additional meanings emanating from “Let there be light” and “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” There’s much more to the beginning than you’ve ever imagined.
- Illuminates the reason the darkness of night will ultimately be eliminated, and only never-ending light will exist
- Broadcasts the never-before-trumpeted meaning of the Exodus out of Egypt. The ancient event in the days of Moses is actually a picture of something tremendous and glorious that’s still to come in your future
- Explains the incredible meaning behind serpents crawling on their bellies
- Dishes the astounding secret behind the Second Passover, and the fantastic future it holds for billions of people
- Investigates the double meaning concerning “Doubting Thomas,” and the stunning good news it contains for everyone who’s ever doubted God or any Bible story
- Announces the unheard, spirit meaning regarding raising children
- Shines the light on why ancient Egyptians were paralyzed with three straight days of darkness, while God’s people in Goshen had light in their dwellings
- Illuminates the surprising and inspiring meaning of a “darkness that can be felt” (Hint: it’s something you can do right this second)
- Explains what Jesus specifically meant by “outer darkness”
- Clearly reveals why the Bible repeatedly mentions pagan peoples such as Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Girgashites, Jebusites and Hivites. It goes far beyond these ancient tribes with tough-to-pronounce names, as it actually refers to certain people alive today with whom you deal every day
- Tells why Scripture so often talks about thorns and thistles. They’re far more than just sharp prickers growing in your garden
- Explores the untold meaning of the conflict between David and Goliath: it has gigantic significance that Sunday-school teachers seem to have missed
- Fishes out astonishing secret messages God has embedded in the famous story of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish. The scales will finally fall off your eyes when you finally see what you’ve been missing. Plus hundreds more …
The book rocketed to the #1 position in several Amazon categories even before its official release Jan. 25.
“Reaching God Speed” is available now on Amazon and other booksellers, and you can learn much more information at ReachingGodSpeed.com.
Those wishing to contact or interview Joe Kovacs can email him here.
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