Grace and Truth, Jesus
John
{1:14} And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
{1:15} John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. {1:16} And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
{1:17} For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
{1:18} No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
The Word was made flesh.
So very, very miraculous.
John
{1:1} In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
{1:2} The same was in the beginning with God.
{1:3} All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
{1:4} In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
{1:5} And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
In the beginning...
Genesis
{1:1} In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
{1:2} And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
In the beginning of ALL things God created heaven and the earth.
We search for our roots as if by finding out our ancestry we might discover we're related to someone important. We search it an without finding a noble of any sort we realize how humble our family line has been. We go back as far as we can and are amazed at the paths taken the branches of the huge tree that have gone off on their merry way never to be thought of as family again. Born in 1400, this one married that one and had five children, your path lies in the last of those five children and yet you have relation to the other four by blood ties. On down to 2000, six hundred years later and you realize that you have so many relatives it's almost easier to think that maybe a few aren't related to you in some way, rather than there are a few who are. Why all this bother about ancestry? Well, in the beginning...
There is a beginning and an end of so many things in our lives that realizing how miniscule our life is in the grand scheme can be a bit troublesome. Here we are, God's grandest of creations and the heaven and the earth have outlasted so many of us. It wasn't supposed to be this way, we weren't suppose to have an end.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and darkness comprehended it not. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
The Spirit moved upon the face of the waters.
The Spirit moved within Mary's womb.
The Spirit brought into being that which God desired to create.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were together in Creation.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were together in Salvation.
When the Spirit moved within Mary's womb and brought to life the human that would be Jesus, Son of God, given to that babe was grace and truth. Grace to save, truth to bear witness to all that is holy and good, bearing witness to God, to love. Truth along with Grace was brought to us. We weren't given just grace. Jesus wasn't full of just grace and that was the end of it. He didn't come to just dole out grace to people, that would leave them floundering.
Like taking a drug addict out of his drug environment and getting him all cleaned up then sticking him back into the same environment without once telling him about how he could defeat the drugs in the environment. Without empowering the drug addict with the knowledge necessary to keep from the drugs there is little point in cleaning him all up.
Jesus who is so much greater than we are knew that with grace had to come truth. With grace there has to be more if those who seek His grace and find it are left without truth to follow they have nothing to keep them from their past life lived without grace. There is nothing to stop them from living a life in sin. Jesus said on more than one occasion-- 'Go and sin no more.'
That's where the truth comes into play so fully. The forgiveness is given to us by grace, we cannot do a single thing to earn it we can only accept it into our hearts. To go and sin no more we need truth with that grace. The truth is brought by Jesus as well and that truth is His life, His total devotion to his Father, to loving His Father and loving His neighbor. This is the truth.
It sounds too easy, too simple, and yet Jesus told more than one person that they were close to heaven by believing the truth, by believing the commandments of God to be loving God and loving your fellow man, all the other laws rested upon those. Too simple and yet the truth. The Pharisees did a bang up job of complicating things so fully that people were left without hope and only put on shows of godliness. Satan complicates things in any way he can, back then and now. As long as confusion is in play then people aren't holding to the simple truth, they're mucking things up with complications. We need Jesus sent to us full of grace and truth. We can't forget that ever. Grace and truth, Jesus.
May the Lord help us as we seek His Grace always and hold fast to His truth forever.
Amen.
10/20/09
Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.Mat 24:5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.Mat 24:6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for allthese thingsmust come to pass, but the end is not yet.Mat 24:7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.Mat 24:8All thesearethe beginning of sorrows.Mat 24:9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.Mat 24:10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.Mat 24:11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.Mat 24:12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.Mat 24:13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.Mat 24:14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.Mat 24:15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)Mat 24:16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:Mat 24:17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:Mat 24:18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.Mat 24:19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!Mat 24:20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:Mat 24:21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.Mat 24:22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.Mat 24:23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, hereisChrist, or there; believeitnot.Mat 24:24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, ifit werepossible, they shall deceive the very elect.Mat 24:25Behold, I have told you before.Mat 24:26Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold,he isin the secret chambers; believeitnot.Mat 24:27For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.Mat 24:28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.Mat 24:29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:Mat 24:30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.Mat 24:31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.Mat 24:32Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summerisnigh:Mat 24:33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near,evenat the doors.Mat 24:34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.Mat 24:35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.Mat 24:36But of that day and hour knoweth noman,no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.Mat 24:37But as the days of Noewere,so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.Mat 24:38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,Mat 24:39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.Mat 24:40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.Mat 24:41Twowomen shall begrinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.Mat 24:42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.Mat 24:43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.Mat 24:44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.Mat 24:45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?Mat 24:46Blessedisthat servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.Mat 24:47Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.Mat 24:48But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;Mat 24:49And shall begin to smitehisfellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;Mat 24:50The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not forhim,and in an hour that he is not aware of,Mat 24:51And shall cut him asunder, and appointhimhis portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
10/20/10
10/20/11