GRACE IS IN A PERSON
For we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.
(Acts 15:11, NASB.)
We should never lose sight of the fact that grace is presented to man in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Almighty God called Adam and Eve to accountability in the Garden of Eden after they disobeyed His command, He pronounced the consequences of their disobedience, which would not only affect their own lives, but also every soul who would be born into the human race, (Gen 10-19). Thus the apostle Paul states, ‘Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned,’ (Rom 5:12). All the troubles we face in our daily lives as a human race, even the curse on the earth (Rom 8:20-22), can be traced back to one deviation from God’s perfect creation – SIN.
YET, even in the very act of pronouncing the consequences due to their disobedience in this Garden scene, the God of this creation foreshadowed the future grace He would bestow on mankind, namely salvation through “the seed” of Eve, (Gen 3:15). The promise of salvation to all mankind through “the seed of a woman” becomes more evident when Almighty God cut a covenant with Abraham, the father of faith, (Gen 15:1-5), as also stated by Paul, ‘Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say. “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is Christ,’ (Rom 3:16).
And thus the counsel of God unfolds. He pre-destined salvation for all mankind, from righteous Abel to the last one who will believe before God’s final Judgement, IN and THROUGH His own Son who would be born through “the seed of a woman.” This future redemption was the hope of salvation for Enoch, Noah, Abraham, King David, and every believing saint recorded in Hebrews 11, and the hope of salvation for every soul who would believe in the realisation thereof.
Essentially, the Father of grace pre-destined ALL we need for redemption and restoration IN His Son, (Eph 1:18-23; Col 1:13-20; Col 2:1-10). Hence the apostle Paul explained, ‘Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed us with every spiritual gift in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him,’ (Eph 1:2-3). How amazing is the counsel of Almighty God which He established before the creation of the world. That He would one day send His Only Son, IN whom He would sanctify and glorify each one who would believe in, and identify with, His death and resurrection, (1 Cor 15:1-19). In essence, the grace, or free gift of salvation, should never be severed from the Son of God – “the seed.”
At a pre-destined (an appointed) moment in TIME, the exact appointed time, the PLAN of salvation established IN CHRIST JESUS THE MESSIAH, was administrated by the Father. Ephesians 1 states, ‘He (the Father of grace) made known to us the mystery of His will, according to the kind intention which He purposed IN HIM (His Son) with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth,’ (Eph 1:9-10). [Insertions and emphasis added by the author.]
Every spiritual blessing we need to complete our salvation is IN the Person of God’s Only Begotten Son:
- Sanctification, (Eph 1:4);
- The adoption as sons, (Eph 1:5);
- Redemption through His blood, (Eph 1:7);
- The forgiveness of our trespasses, through the riches of His grace, (Eph 1:7);
- An eternal glorified inheritance, (Eph 1:11-12);
- The gift of the Holy Spirit, (Eph 1:13).
GRACE is bestowed upon mankind in ONE Person – the Son of God. Without “the seed,” Christ Jesus the Son of God, NO SALVATION would be extended to ANY person who ever believed. No wonder the Anti-Christ spirit arose and is spreading to an extraordinary degree, (1 John 2:18-24; 1 John 4:2-6).
HE WHO HAS THE SON HAS THE LIFE, HE WHO DOES NOT HAVE THE SON OF GOD DOES NOT HAVE THE LIFE. (1 John 5:12)