Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Ephesians 2:4-5 Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved.
GOD'S AMAZING GRACE: MAKING US ALIVE WITH CHRIST
How amazing is God's grace? It possesses the power to make the spiritually dead alive together with Christ! What does this mean? Something exceedingly wonderful!
Consider: When our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell into sin, in that very moment they died, just as God had warned: "In the day you eat of it, you will surely die." True, their bodies continued to function for a number of years (Adam reached the ripe old age of 930). Yet what God said would happen did happen on the day they sinned: They became estranged from Him. They no longer enjoyed a loving relationship with Him. They no longer looked forward to spending time in His company. They were overcome with feelings of guilt and shame (which prompted them to cower in the bushes). You see, the sin-barrier that now stood between them and the Lord, kept them from drawing near to Him and serving Him in love. That is what it means to be spiritually dead.
This has been the natural state of all people ever since, ours too. The sin-barrier stood between us and our God. We were destined to remain cut off from Him and to enjoy no relationship of love with Him ever. But something amazing happened! "Because of His great love for us He made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved." What a remarkable truth! It's the heart of the Christian Gospel. The God of heaven intervened on behalf of spiritual corpses such as we, and in sheer love transformed us into His dearly beloved children in and through His Son Jesus so that we might possess the gift of a life that never ends! It is as Jesus said: "I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full." How Adam and Eve must have thrilled to this Good News! And so do we!
Grace led my wandering feet
To tread the heavenly road;
And new supplies each hour I meet
While pressing on to God.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 374:4)
