Grace

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We’re continuing in our Kingdom Story series, our discussion of the biblical story which began with the account of creation in Genesis 1 and 2, and which will find its fulfillment in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So far, we’ve looked at the Image of our Creator God revealed in Jesus, and we’ve looked at the symbolism of Light and Darkness as they relate to that Image. Then we talked about humanity’s intended Identity and Purpose in that creation kingdom, to receive God’s Love and blessing, to reflect that love and blessing to him and to each other, and to bless and steward creation with that same love and care. And last time, we looked at the symbolism of the Genesis 3 story some call “The Fall”, and we allowed Jesus to help us think differently about the meaning of the words, Sin and Righteousness.

That leads us to the word we’re talking about today—“Grace”. In English, it’s a word that’s used in a variety of contexts. We name our daughters Grace, we may say grace before a meal, we can move with grace, show grace under pressure, or receive grace after a bad decision. In religious circles, the word is often synonymous with “forgiveness”. In Hebrew the word is “chen”, and it can mean “delightful, beautiful or favorable”, but also “favor or kindness”. It comes from the word “chanan” which means “to bend or stoop in kindness”. In the Old Testament, “chen” is associated with a gift of favor or kindness, given solely out of the delight or pleasure of the giver. We get a sense of this in the prayer of blessing that the Hebrew priests were to speak over God’s people: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” In Greek, the word is “charis”, and it means “inclined towards, or leaning or reaching towards to show kindness or favor”. It’s interesting to note that Jesus rarely used the word “grace” himself, but the New Testament authors used it frequently to speak about the grace of God, and when they did, they insisted that it was intimately connected to Jesus. So, if we put these definitions together, we could say that “grace” is our Creator, Father God reaching toward his image-bearing children to give them the gift of his favor and his kindness because he loves them, he delights in them, and he wants to bless them and be near them.

Now, let’s take a look at how these definitions fit into the biblical story we’ve been following. When we left the Genesis story last time, we saw image-bearing humanity sent out of the garden—the place of wholeness, blessing, and rest—because they had chosen to mistrust their Creator and put their trust in the voice of the serpent, a symbol of the dark, anti-creation power that rejects the light, love, and life of the Creator. Their choice unleashed chaos, confusion, and darkness back into the “very good” creation and into the hearts, minds, and spirits of the image-bearers themselves. Blinded, ashamed, and fearful, they hid from their Father—the one who loved them, the one who blessed them, the one in whom they found their wholeness, their rest, and their abundant life. 

But the story tells us that before they were sent out of the garden, God spoke a cryptic promise. He said that one day an offspring of humanity—a Son of Man if you will—would come to fight against the serpent—that dark, adversarial power—and conquer it, even though he himself would be struck down in the process (Genesis 3:15). And as we’ll see, this would not be the last promise God would make to his image-bearers. 

This promise should give us some insight into the heart of our Creator for his children and his creation. Instead of the picture of an angry, punishing God, turning his back on his human creatures for their disobedience, and casting them out to fend for themselves; we see a Father determined to restore what was lost, a Father who already had a plan to rescue and redeem humanity from the dark consequences of their “sin”—their choice to “miss the way”. And even though the image-bearers would be outside the garden now and would forget him, ignore him, rebel against him, and distort his image; even though the human family would now be scattered and lost; the biblical story shows us a Father who will continue to reach toward them, to speak to them, to guide them, and to show them his “grace” not because they deserve it, not because they will earn it, but simply because they are his children and he loves them and wants them back. We see God’s “grace” played out throughout the Hebrew story, but there are a few striking examples that help illustrate this concept and bind the whole story together. 

Fast forward in the Hebrew story from the Genesis 3 garden to Genesis 12, and we see God reach toward a man named Abraham. God tells Abraham that he’s going to give him a big family and a land he and his descendants can call home. Then God tells him that he is going to bless Abraham and his family so that through them, all the people of the world will be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3, 15:7). 

This event is foundational to the Hebrew story. It is the promise that undergirds the hope of the nation Israel in the Old Testament, but as we’ll see, it is a promise that will flow into the New Testament as well. Let’s think symbolically about this promise as it relates to what’s happened previously in the story. Remember, from Genesis 3 on, we saw the image-bearers lose their family—their harmonious relationship with their Creator and with each other—and become scattered, divided, and in conflict with one another. We saw them sent out of their home, the place of shalom where God’s intimate presence dwelled with them in his intended, eternal, seventh-day rest. We saw them abandon their blessing, the gift of the Creator’s light, love, and abundant, flourishing life. And we saw them forsake their intended purpose, to reflect that light, love, life, and blessing into creation. Now think about what God is promising Abraham here. He is saying that he is going to use Abraham’s family to restore what was lost in that Genesis 3 choice to “miss the way”. He is going to reconcile the human family, to reconnect them to himself and to each other. He is going to redeem them and bring them back to their “very good” creation home, and he is going to restore humanity’s image-bearing purpose and the Genesis 1 blessing. In essence, he is promising to “put things right”.

In the Hebrew Scriptures this promise is called “The Covenant of Abraham”. The word “covenant” in Hebrew is “berith” and it means “a treaty, an alliance of friendship, or a contract”, but it can also mean “a divine promise”. In Greek the word is “diatheke”, meaning “a testament or will, an arrangement, or a promise”. In ancient times a covenant was made in a very specific way. First, some animals would be killed and cut in half and the pieces would be laid opposite each other. Then both parties or representatives of the covenant would walk between the pieces of flesh, which was a symbolic way of saying, “May I be like this animal (cut off or cut apart), if I do not keep my part of this contract”. So, how do we know if the covenant made with Abraham and his descendants was a contract or a promise? The answer is fascinating. In the story, when Abraham pressed God for proof that he would make good on what he had told him, God instructed him to prepare animals for the traditional covenant-making procedure. But instead of both parties in the covenant—God and Abraham—walking through the pieces together to seal the contract, God alone (by the sign of a “smoking firepot” and a “blazing torch”) went through the pieces (Genesis 15:17-19). Abraham did not walk through. God was making it clear that this was indeed a promise and not a contract. He would be the one to ultimately fulfill his promise to redeem and restore, in spite of the repeated failure of the image-bearers. He would fulfill the promise through his “grace” alone.

And indeed, God’s “grace”—his reaching toward humanity with this promise and in his kindness, compassion, and love—would continue through the whole of the Hebrew story. He would reach toward Abraham’s children and grandchildren and reiterate this promise. He would reach toward his people through a man named Moses, to rescue them from slavery, and to clarify his promise to bless them by giving them “the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exodus 34:28 NASB), instructing them on how to receive his blessing and how to be a blessing to the world. Then he would continue to reach toward them with his provision and presence in a pillar of cloud and fire as they wandered in the wilderness (Exodus 40:38). He would restate his promise yet again to King David, adding a revelation of the one who would eventually bring this promise to its fulfillment (1 Chronicles 17:1-15). And even though his children, including Abraham’s chosen family, would turn away from him, misinterpret him, and distort his image and his blessing, he would continue to reach toward them through his prophets, warning them and correcting them yes, but also reminding them that he would one day reach toward them with his “grace” to fulfill his promise. The prophet Isaiah insists, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (Isaiah 30:18 NIV). And God himself promised through Malachi, the final prophet of the Old Testament, “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come…” (Malachi 3:1 NIV).

Then, after 400 years of waiting in hope, Malachi’s prophecy would come to pass. God himself, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth—God’s “grace” in the flesh—would reach into the darkness to seek out the lost and broken image-bearers. Jesus was the promised one who would fulfill the covenant promise and begin the process of “putting things right”. He would begin reversing the effects of humanity’s “sin”—their “missing the way” of love and trust—and he would do it by opening eyes that had been blinded by darkness, changing minds that had been darkened, healing hearts that had been corrupted and hardened, revealing the true image of the Creator that had been distorted, rescuing and forgiving those who had “missed the way” and had become lost, and restoring identity, authority, and purpose back to the image-bearers once again. 

Jesus was the new covenant promise. He would make good on the promise God had made in the garden. He would do battle with the dark power of the serpent and overcome it. He would save and redeem the image-bearers from the sin and darkness that had corrupted and enslaved them, and he would reconcile his family back to himself. He would launch the restoration of his new creation kingdom through his image-bearing life, his self-sacrificial death, and his victorious resurrection. He would restore the garden blessing to those who would trust him, and he would empower them, so that they could once again fulfill their purpose—to reflect his light, his love, his life, and his blessing out into the world. 

The Apostle Paul summed it up this way: God “…saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. He gave us this grace by means of Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but now it has been revealed to us through the coming of our Savior, Christ Jesus…” (2 Timothy 1:9-10 GNT).

Jesus is God’s grace in person, his reaching toward us from the beginning with the gift of his kindness, his forgiveness, and his compassion, not because of anything we have done to earn it or deserve it, but simply because he is our Creator, Father, God, and we are his beloved image-bearing children. And that is indeed, amazing grace.