radical grace
found it hard to sleep so did a little bible study.I guess the night is always the best time to get in touch with the Person who followed you around all day. Funny how He is always there besides you in everything you do, and in every thought you think, in every aspect of your daily existence. yet for most of us we only think of him on sundays, christmas or easter.
Really was think about God's grace. it seems that the grace of God is a subject that is often spoken about but few of us ever come close to understanding. 'the Grace of God' has become somewhat of a cliche. even non-believers use the term 'grace of god' loosely to describe a situation when one is seemingly delivered from an unpleasant situation.
As a young christian, it was always drummed into me about this thing called grace. It seemed a noble concept in many ways. God is Grace,and Grace is God. That is what they said. but what actually was this grace that was so important? was it that God somehow found it within Himself to find the time to do something to redeem us from sin? And how much did he redeem us from the wages of sin and of death? Was it a complete work? And how do I even know it is true?
For if by the one man’s offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:17
By one man's(Adam) sin death reigned. yet by one man's grace (Jesus) and righteousness we as believers will reign in life! I emphasised the words 'much more' there to show that the power to reign in life through Jesus far exceeds any of the powers that consign us to sin and death. The Bible never lies. yet how is it that most of us are not reigning in life? How is it that we are seemingly devoid of 'the abundance of grace' and seems to display little or none of the attributes one would associate with possessing 'the gift of righteousness'?
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9
Here the writer expounds the magnitude of God's grace. '..though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor...' That God himself would come down in human form to live as one of us. That the Son of God himself would live a life very much like you and I. facing the same situations that you and I face on a daily basis. Jesus faced the same trials and tribulations that we encounter in our lives. Jesus encountered the same temptations and urges to commit sin. In fact Jesus faced far more perilious situations than we could ever hope(or not) of facing. Jesus became OUR SIN. Though he knew no sin, the Lamb of God became our sin (2 Cor 5:21). Think of the worst thing you have done. Jesus took that sin upon himself in your place. Think about every evil thing that humanity has done since the dawn of humanity. Jesus took all of that upon himself as well. Take the sin of every man, woman and child who ever lived, is living today and will live in the future and realised that even all those sins were carried by Jesus at Calvary.
Of course at this point we have to emphasise that God is righteous. And that God's righteousness is still maintained as it was since the beginning. Yet the same righteous God took all our sin upon himself. He literally became our Sin. At that very moment God the Father,who is righteous and just, and God the Son,who became our sin offering, were separated. Why? Because sin and God's righteousness cannot co-exist. Little wonder that Jesus cried out as he hung on that cross,"My God,my God, why has thou forsaken me?". For that moment in time, God the Father ceased to be 'father' and became 'God' to his only begotten Son. Jesus became sin personified. And God to maintain his righteousness and justice had to turn away from the One he loved most. Imagine you as a parent having to turn away from your own child and treat him as though he or she was not even there. As much as you love your child and want to hold your child and love your child, your righteousness does not allow it. And then put yourself in the place of God himself, who had to punish every single sin upon the lifeless body of his Son, who in His life did no sin and his every action was pleasing unto God. Yet this very same Jesus suffered unimaginable pain and suffering. It was not merely the physical pain from the beatings, the whippings, or carrying the cross or even being physically nailed to the cross. It was also the anguish and the separation of Jesus from the Father he so loved. The other aspect of this situation was that Jesus himself became our sin and our sin offering all at once. Imagine the only righteous person to walk this earth actually carried every vile deed, thought and action upon himself. Just as God the Father had to turn away from His Son, God the Son had to bear not just the sin of the world, but the PUNISHMENT of our sin as well. Imagine the ordeal as God's righteousness as personified in Jesus was subjected to sin for the first and only time in history. The Father turned away from sin, but Jesus? He had to face the brunt of our sin as he hung helplessly to that cross. Jesus had no way out, no means of escape. No way to separate His righteousness from sin. A righteous God became sin, and sin came upon God himself.
That is just a glimpse of Grace. All my word's fail to do justice to that act at Calvary's Cross. If we could only try little by little to understand the events of that fateful day. Maybe then we could understand what grace truly is.
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:4–5
posted by Lion at
4/09/2007 02:15:00 AM
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