Should grace be desired for more than simply acknowledgement of our blessings on occasion?
Is the Biblical concept of ‘grace’ the same today as God’s GRACE in the New and Old Testaments?
What is grace?
We associate it with good things as in praying before eating and receiving mercy for those things we ought not to have done.
Paul frequently opens his letters to various churches with grace, peace and other gentle words of greeting. The Apostle then encourages believers in a spirit of grace given to all by God.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 18:17 And they all took hold of Sosthenes the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.
Gospel Grace
Grace appears over 100 times in the Bible
most frequently used in the New Testament.
The Greek word used by the Gospel writers and Apostles is χάρις pronounced: khar’-ece.
grace
that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
A brief look at varied New Testament use of grace, favor and graciousness reveals a much deeper and satisfying application of grace through Christ.
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace G5485 upon grace G5485.
The favor and blessings of grace extend not only between the Lord God and man but also between the mortal flesh and blood of individual souls blessing one another.
Perhaps no blessing of grace is any better known than a benediction of parting the LORD spoke to Moses.
“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance [or face] upon you and give you peace.
“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
And of course most everyone desires at times to receive at least a portion of joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, favour, grace, charm, elegance and acceptance.
Who receives grace?
Is God’s grace all-inclusive or exclusive?
Let’s take a brief look.
The Example of Noah
Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And Yahweh regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh.
Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
Mercy is a transaction granted by a greater one to a lesser recipient.
Grace is a part in a transaction by which supplication (or plea) may have been made from one to another. At times they are even equals — but often not.
In fact God or a king or any human authority may grant grace without you even asking.
.. this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:23 And how is this the Spirit of Grace?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that He might suffer and die on a Cross for sinners like us, that we should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com – on Christ’s Crucifixion & John 3:16
The Apostle John presents the Good News of Jesus Christ in light of the love of God the Father.
Yes, the LORD of Old Testament Scripture to which John will point IS the Almighty God who must judge sin! Yet John testifies of Jesus who reveals God as the Father, the One of relationship who willingly shows mercy for the sake of the Son and saves sinners like you and me by grace.
A brief reintroduction to John
John had unique access to witness the questioning of Jesus by the High Priests of Jerusalem. At the beginning of our journey through the Gospel of John we introduced the Apostle, this youngest Son of Zebedee who we now know was also known in the house of Herod.
It is important to note here that the Apostle John later became the last surviving Disciple of Jesus Christ, living more than fifty years more until nearly the next century.
John wrote the gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia Minor when he was advanced in age (Against Heresies 2.22.5; 3.1.1) – source
John’s Good News is NOT a News Alert to our phone, a BREAKING NEWS HEADLINE interrupting our life at home or even a well-researched story for an Ephesus News Courier.
The Apostle, therefore, has not written the Gospel of John as events unfolded at the horrific scene of the crime of Jesus’ Crucifixion.
In Conclusion
The beloved Apostle and recognized authority of witness to these historical events some decades ago will soon assure the reader of John’s Good News (Gospel): Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
.. but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John now begins the conclusion of his Gospel even before the climax of the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection.
Intermingled with John’s conclusive evidence, he includes reporter-like facts (which we will address in a later post), but his purpose now is to reveal why Jesus did some of what the Lord came to accomplish.
Every mention of Scripture (of course) refers to the Old Testament. John links the events of Jesus’ crucifixion to Old Testament prophesy.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. 3 And they kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were slapping his face.
6 I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pull out My beard; I did not hide My face from insults and spitting. 7 For the Lord God helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have made My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.
14 It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon…
17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.
This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, John tells us.
Scripture includes more than the Law, which Jesus promises will be satisfied; but also the Psalms (or songs of worship), historical scrolls and also writings of the Prophets who Jerusalem’s religious leaders seldom heeded and like now, rarely taught.
Here is this Scripture, a Psalm most descriptive of Jesus’ crucifixion.
READ ALL of Psalm 22, if you dare. And looking upon the scene of the Place of the Skull, with Jesus’ Blood pouring forth from His broken Body on the middle Cross, know His suffering for our sin endured for the grace of God’s love.
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. 5 But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.
John’s Testimony is True
Jesus replied [to Pilate]. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Here is John’s Gospel GOOD NEWS of Scripture fulfilled.
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
John began his Good News speaking of grace. He begins his conclusion by quoting Zechariah’s imagery of the Spirit of grace and of supplication.
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Even Pilate would share some understanding of this Greek concept of grace.
that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
(This, of course, is that love of the Lord Jesus which John frequently shares freely as grace.)
John later greets his fellow beloved believers in his second letter(mailed in about A.D. 90–95):
Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
About 5-10 years earlierin about A.D. 80–90 John would have had his Gospel delivered to these same saints of the churches where he quotes Zechariah (from about 520 BC, five centuries after David and before Christ), whose name means: “The LORD remembers.”
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace..,” John encourages from Scripture, as one who witneesed and had mourned for his beloved friend Jesus near the foot of the Cross.
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
John began his Gospel by hope in the Messiah who was hung on a Cross.
No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.
John 3:13-15 NASB
As Jesus gave up His Spirit while John and other witnesses sat beneath the Bloodied Cross with the corpse of their Messiah and Savior they must have wondered why.
John 3:35–36 “.. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand.
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
“Eli, Eli, lama” are Hebrew words in the Hebrew Bible (Ps. 22:2)
David said “lama azavthani” (why have you forsaken me?) and
Jesus said “lama sabachthani” (why have you sacrificed me?).
-source [2016 site not secure]: http://messiah-study.net/sabachthani.htm
Jesus from the Cross
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with him. When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.
Is your own heart pierced by the cry of death — the death of a loved one, that of your own inevitable failing flesh?
Would your soul cry out even from the grave that the death of God’s own Son should have been your own?
What those imprisoned in the dark dungeons of death must have thought as Jesus cried out as Sacrifice of Blood and Flesh from the Cross!
Who is the Son of Man entering the Jerusalem of the Jews?
In the year of our Lord, 2020, of these last days of a new covenant, I have been sharing the Good News of John.
We cannot cover all of the nuances of reactions to the Messiah entering Jerusalem for the Passover some two thousand years ago, but look back to some of the thoughts of those encountering Jesus between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday which the church celebrates with great joy.
The context of their first century perspective also includes witnesses of many signs of the Messiah including healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, miraculously feeding crowds of followers and raising the deadwho include recently Lazarus of Bethany.
The Apostle Philip & the crowds
John 12:
9 Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.
10 But the chief priests had decided to kill Lazarus also, because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.
The Apostle Philip, of course, travels with Jesus when the Messiah returns to Bethany. Crowds follow them into Jerusalem and friends of the Apostle hear about Jesus the Rabbi of their friend Philip.
21 So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
23 And Jesus answered them, saying,
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…
Jesus has much more to say and then this witness before them:
“…and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”
John 12:27b-28a NASB
Then a voice came out of heaven:
“I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
29 So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes.
Philip witnesses this truly awesome scene after Jesus had said,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit…
John 12:24 NASB
Thomas: ‘Lord, we know not..’
Don’t you have to love a guy who just has to ask the questions you want to ask the Lord?
Peter was one of these sometimes clueless Disciples who asked Jesus the obvious. We have heard much preaching on Peter, this anointed Apostle of the early church, about his denials and restorations in this Holy Week.
Like Peter, a man of bold faith, Thomas, a man of bold questions often gets a bad wrap for questions and doubt exactly like ours.
The Lord got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself, after which Jesus washes his feet along with the other eleven.
[Later]He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.”
22 The disciples began looking at one another…
33 Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come…’
36 Simon Peter said to Him,
“Lord, where are You going?”
Jesus answered,
“Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.”
37 Peter said to Him,
“Lord, why can I not follow You right now?
[Thomas must have also have wondered what Peter so typically blurts out.
Again, fellow believer, consider the gravity of Jesus’ exclusive claim.
For the Lord draws a line in the dust we often omit, when witnessing to win others to Christ through our own blurred vision of this life.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father
but through Me. –
John 14:6
Jesus’ exclusive ____line____ in the dust between death and eternal life
7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said to Him,
“Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?
Let’s pause a moment there, fellow saint of Christ:
Has Jesus been so part of your routine that you have failed to know your Lord?
Jesus continues instructing Thomas:
He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say,
‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?
John 14:10a NASB
The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.
12 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Between Gethsemane & Doubt
We know that Thomas and the Disciples fail to keep alert in the late hours after Jesus shares the New Covenant Cup of communion and broken bread symbolizing and making memorial of what is about to happen to His broken Body and shed Blood of Sacrifice for our sins.
Jesus prays, is betrayed by Judas as the eleven stand near, then bound and taken away to appear in secret before those who will judge their Messiah. They will then sentence their Redeemer to death on a Cross — ALL in fulfillment of Scripture.
We may self-righteously go on about Peter denying Jesus as he also attempts to run away from death for a time.
In fact, all of us may only escape death — for a time.
CHRIST DIED!
The Apostle John relates more details of these events worth your perspective on DEATH from the darkness of these days.
Perspectives of these first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection
Mary of Magdala (a small village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee) discovers Jesus’ tomb EMPTY!
“They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
Mary tells Peter and John
They all return to the tomb with the sealed stone rolled away.
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”
“Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” [My great teacher, master.]
Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Later Appearance to the Disciples
When it was evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews.
Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace to you.“
20 Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again,
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”
22 After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit…
Did you miss the RESURRECTION OF JESUS?
Don’t some of the most important things in life often happen when you least expect?
Returning later to the scene of the Disciples (but not all of them) in the locked room), Thomas returns.
He missed it! (and perhaps was somewhat sceptical when he heard the witness of his fellow Disciples).
“We’ve seen the Lord!”
“Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Eight more days pass
What disappointment. To have followed Jesus the Messiah as He walked the earth for three years of His ministry prior to His fulfillment of Scripture. AND you missed HIS return!
His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst…
“Peace to you.“
And the Lord, turning to Thomas,
“Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
“My Lord and my God!”
And yet again…
John tells us:
30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book…
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying,
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
