Grace

Grace runs through the whole Bible, even where the word is not said. It is clearer in the New Testament, but the Old Testament has a great deal of it too.

Years, decades, even centuries passed between the events we would call wrathful. In those stretches God gave Israel time to turn to Him. Often they would not. That patience is a common picture.

One clear stretch is the time before Babylon took Judah, the kingdom Daniel was carried from. The northern kingdom had already fallen. Judah kept turning away. Manasseh reigned fifty-five years and led the people further than the nations God had driven out: high places rebuilt, altars to Baal, worship of the host of heaven, a son passed through the fire, and Jerusalem filled with innocent blood. 2 Kings 21:1-6 2 Kings 21:16

God did not strike at once. He sent prophets again and again, from the day their fathers came out of Egypt. Jeremiah 7:25-26 Jeremiah alone spoke for twenty-three years, and they would not listen. Jeremiah 25:3 They stole, murdered, committed adultery, and burned incense to Baal. Jeremiah 7:9

The close of that story names the grace in the long wait:

Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy. 2 Chronicles 36:15-16

Then Babylon came. The patience had been real. The turning had not.

Grace is a gift. It is not earned, and it is not deserved. It is not the gift you give on someone else's birthday so that you receive one on yours. It is not a trade. It is given for nothing in return.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says it plainly:

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Grace Is Not Permission

This free gift often starts a debate. What can we get away with? How much can I sin and still get into heaven? That misses the point.

But if you are putting your faith in someone, are you going to keep doing the thing He died for?

The best picture I have heard of this came from a pastor whose name I cannot place.

You go camping with your dad. He says, do whatever you want. Just do not take the boat out onto the lake. It is dangerous.

You play for a while. Then the water looks good, and the boat looks like fun. You go out.

Far enough out, alligators surround the boat. It is not built to hold even one of them. As it tips and you go into the water, you black out.

You wake on the shore. Your dad is beside you, torn up, dying. And he does die.

If you had any gratefulness at all, would you get back in that boat? When you keep sinning, that is what you are doing.

Grace is not permission to keep on sinning. If you are trying to follow Christ, you start to hate sin. Not that you will never do it. We do not become sinless on this side. But we see the cost, so we try not to jump in that boat as often as we might want to.