Gods grace has been described …

Gods grace has been described by some as his undeserved kindness towards people who instead of love only deserve his wrath. But his grace is his choice and has nothing to do with our goodness.

To understand this we can look at psalm 7:11 God is a righteous judge and a God who shows His wrath every day. some translations say he is angry at wickedness everyday but in Hebrew it is more a case of Gods stance rather than feelings. for example you can love your child whilst still keeping our boundaries in place and meet out correction on behavior.

john 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

So how does God show his wrath? As far as i know it’s not against the world that his wrath is expressed but in the calamity he brings on individuals, sometimes without remedy. Like the rest we were by nature objects of wrath. Ephesians 2:1-5

So if we can grasp the fact that he is angry at us and that we are the objects of his wrath according to his stance or position we can see that it doesn’t mean he doesn’t love us. you could say it’s his boundary. the thing that defines an attribute of himself such as ‘be holy for i am holy.

So by understanding his position on this we can see that although we are objects of his wrath and displeasure we are also objects of his love.

For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls which I have made. Isaiah 57:16 There is a day for Gods wrath in revelation when his wrath will indeed be poured out upon the earth. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Zephaniah 1:15

John the Baptist, when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said unto them, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Matthew 3:7 and then goes on to say “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance or in other words show you are repentant by your deeds.

But for now we have his Grace (undeserved kindness.) you could say if the wrath is still to come then the Grace must be here now and all can receive it. So it’s not a strange thing nor is it a magic word to ward of legalism or the laws of god. But it does have one very important component or result within the new Cristian. It stops us boasting in ourselves in regards to salvation.

That’s really a significant thing because we are so adapt to saying how we are something and exalting ourselves above others. We do this through spiritual rituals that we observe, we do it with our ministries and we do it by sometimes putting others down. We even use wealth as an example how we are more blessed than someone else when Jesus said it is the meek that will inherit the earth not the rich.

So Grace, (his underserved kindness) helps us to realize that it was because of his choices not ours that made the difference in his stance towards us. And as  demonstration of this undeserved kindness he paid the price to provide the ability for this to take place through the death of his son.

Without Jesus paying the price and taking upon himself the wrath that rightly belonged to us he would not have been able to impart his kindness towards all who accept his sacrifice. Without Christ we could have no grace. So what of the world in general? They too can have grace but without accepting the sacrifice of Jesus in their own lives they cannot benefit from his grace. the wrath of God still abides on them because they have not accepted his sacrifice for their sins.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. John 3:36

As i look back over my thoughts here i see its still overly complicated and needs further work. Perhaps its because one thing leads to another thing and it becomes so long winded or perhaps its that nothing has a definitive border around it such as 1+1=2. Its more like algebra.

So i guess simply you could say that “we are objects of gods judgments for our sins.

he doesn’t want to punish us but we need to know that we are deserving of it because we break his laws which outline many of his attributes (Repentance.)

He pays the price to satisfy his natural requirements to punish sin. (Jesus sacrifice)

then he is able to pour out his kindness upon us instead of wrath (forever)

In that way you can see that Jesus and Grace are closely connected. Grace could only be given or received at the death of Jesus.  Or if you like, his act of mercy.

The old testament talked about a box called the ark or the covenant. Basically a box that the laws given to mosses by God were put into. the lid of this box was called the mercy seat. Now if you lifted the seat or lid and looked in on the box you would see the laws but would have removed the mercy.

When you look at the old testament laws without recognizing that Jesus fulfilled them all then you would begin to be condemned by what you read in them as though the weight of fulfillment of those laws was once again placed upon your shoulders and they were all interconnected in a way that if you broke just one then you were guilty of breaking them all.

Jesus closed the lid on the laws as far as those who believed in him was concerned. Because Jesus has fulfilled them all on their behalf. So any rull’s or laws that have a place in a Christian’s life now are fulfilled through the character and nature of Jesus expressed in their lives. he writes them on our hearts and we walk out those laws in two ways. loving God with all our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourselves and we benefit from his Grace. the undeserved kindness towards us expressed in his actions by dying on the cross taking the punishment’s on our behalf.

So Jesus death was an act of mercy so could impart his grace. When we are frowned upon for our lack of an observance of some kind as though we have somehow neglected to do something that ensures his continued grace (undeserved kindness) then the bible teaches that we have fallen from grace.

Anything that adds a work of any kind towards salvation or towards Gods continued kindness towards a believer removes the mercy seat once again from the laws and takes away the complete sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf and we become subject once again to Gods wrath as a law breaker. But when remember Jesus fulfilled all on our behalf the mercy seat once again covers the law and his grace enfolds us once again.

Sadly in my observances with churches we still become burdened by well intentioned individuals that like to lay weights upon believers to do certain things as signs that they are saved. Even going to church becomes a thing of bourdon if done as a ritual rather than something God puts in our hearts. Its like the desire to read the bible should come naturally as the desires for good things take hold of our lives. If they don’t then it’s possible Jesus has still not been handed the keys to our lives.

it’s possible that we have not yet understood the price Jesus paid on our behalf or that we are indeed deserving of Gods wrath and thus not fully repentant.

In which case grace is not given as God cannot give grace to sinners  if we do not repent and receive Christ and the sacrifice he offers.  we will still remain in our sin.