God is love. 1 John 4:24
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God...” (1John. 3:1). This is a call for all believers to consider the kind of love that God has set upon them. It is also an exclamation of joy, wonder and worship as the writer, with his readers, delve into understanding more of the height, depth, length and breadth of God’s love toward us.
This brings to mind the eternality of God’s love. Grasping this phenomenon is important, as we are such time related beings. We can unwittingly put God in a time zone and devalue God’s love toward us as an event that happened in time. In other words we can easily begin to think that God’s love for us began when Jesus died on the cross. Or, some may think that His love for us only kicked in when we came to faith. But this is shallow thinking. It completely misses the truth of the unfathomable love of God. The Psalmist explains it like this in Psa. 103:17 ”But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,”
I also like what author John Gill says on this;
God’s love to His elect is not of yesterday; it does not begin with their love to Him, we love Him, because He first loved us. It was bore in His heart toward them long before they were delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. It does not commence in time, but bears date from eternity, and is the ground and foundation of the elect’s being called in time out of darkness into marvelous light: I have loved thee, says the Lord to the church, with an everlasting love. [Grace Quotes].