The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Amazing Grace"
What is the most amazing thing about grace, that is, God's freely given acceptance, favor, presence, and working in the Lord Jesus Christ?
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
"Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).
Many answers come to heart and mind. However, that which always finds its way - graciously, of course - to the forefront of my understanding involves not what grace is, but what it cost. Freely given to us, grace required God to pay a price more vast than even eternity will fully reveal.
"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich" (II Corinthians 8:9).
"He hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:6-7).
So much given, so great the cost,
so terrible the sorrow, so vast the loss.
When on that day at Calvary,
the Father smote His Son,
when for us He forsook Him
to bleed and die alone…
So much given, so great the cost.
Or, as the hymnwriter so beautifully penned, "But none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed, nor how dark was the night the Lord passed through 'ere He found His sheep that was lost." We do not know, do we? In fact, what we cannot know about grace - the full extent of its cost - may shine as its brightest light. The Lord Jesus bore our sins on the cross of Calvary. He was also "made… to be sin" for us " (I Peter 2:24; II Corinthians 5:21). What does this mean? None of the ransomed can ever fully know. And in the unknowing, a light shines in the darkness that glimmers with grace in a way that reveals so much. As the saying goes, grace is free. But it was not cheap.
The Apostle Paul tells us that One became poor that many might be made rich. This reveals much. It does not and cannot tell us all, however. The limitations of created beings surely means that the redemptive doings of the Creator transcend our understanding by the vastest of measures. God the Father smote His beloved Son to make possible His not smiting us. The Son became what He was not in order to redeem us into who we are as God's dear children. The Father and the Holy Spirit forsook the Lord Jesus on the cross so that we might be indwelt by the Spirit, and never forsaken (Isaiah 53:4; II Corinthians 5:21; Matthew 27:46; I Corinthians 3:16; Hebrews 13:. These, and countless other sorrowful realities comprise the inestimable meaning of grace.
The most amazing thing about grace? Perhaps no one answer perfectly suffices to answer. However, none transcend the truth of its price, that is, grace comes to us as the freest gift ever given, purchased by the highest cost ever remitted. Amazing indeed. Amazing grace.
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."
(Hebrews 2:9)
Weekly Memory Verse
Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.
(Acts 15:18)
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