LUKE 2:40 (NASB)
“THE CHILD CONTINUED TO GROW AND BECOME STRONG, INCREASING IN WISDOM; AND THE GRACE OF GOD WAS UPON HIM.”
SIX MONTHS BEFORE JESUS CHRIST WAS BORN, JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS BORN FROM A BARREN WOMAN NAMED ELIZABETH. HIS FATHER IS ZECHARIAH. THE NAME OF ZECHARIAH, WHICH MEANS “ GOD REMEMBERS” AND THE NAME OF ELIZABETH, WHICH MEANS “MY GOD IS AN OATH OR GOD‘S PROMISE” AND ALSO THEIR SON NAMED JOHN, WHICH MEANS “GOD’S GRACE” WERE NOT CONCURRED BY CHANCE. THE CONCURRENCE WAS ACCORDING TO THE FULFILLMENT OF A PROPHECY. THE CHILD NAMED JOHN BORN BY ELIZABETH WILL BE THE VOICE CALLING FROM THE DESERT TO PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD. (ISAIAH 40:3) THIS IS SIGNALING THE MOST AWAITED MOMENT FOR THE ISRAEL; THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH. JOHN’S NAME IS SPECIAL BECAUSE ELIZABETH AND ZECHARIAH HAS NO RELATIVE ON THAT NAME JOHN. ISRAEL WHICH IS ALSO BARREN FROM GRACE OF GOD FOR A LONG TIME, CAN SEE THAT SOMETHING SPECIAL WILL ALSO HAPPEN TO THEM, A LIGHT OF HOPE WAS IN THEM. GIVING MEANING TO THIS EVENT, THIS POINTS OUT THAT GOD HAD REMEMBERED AND FULFILLED HIS PROMISE TO ISRAEL, THE GRACE BESTOWED BY GOD HAS BROUGHT TO ISRAEL A SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.” ACTS 13:23 SAYS, “FROM THE DESCENDANTS OF THIS MAN (DAVID), GOD BROUGHT OUT SALVATION TO ISRAEL ACCORDING TO HIS PROMISE…”
BUT JESUS (WHICH MEANS “GOD SAVES”) FOLLOWING THE BIRTH OF JOHN, WAS ALSO VERY VERY SPECIAL. HE WAS NOT BORN BY NATURAL MEANS FOR IT IS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD THAT A VIRGIN NAMED MARY HAS CONCEIVED HIM. HE WAS BORN TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS. HE WAS BORN TO MAKE COME TRUE WHAT THE LORD HAD SAID IN ISAIAH 7:14 THAT “BEHOLD, A VIRGIN WILL BE WITH CHILD AND BEAR A SON, AND SHE WILL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL (WHICH MEANS “GOD IS WITH US”).” HE IS SPECIAL BECAUSE JESUS IS MORE THAN ANY PROPHET, HE IS MORE THAN JOHN, HE IS MORE THAN THE PROPHET JONAH WHO BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS TO NINEVEH. JESUS DID NOT ONLY BROUGHT GOOD NEWS, HE IS THE GOOD NEWS HIMSELF. IN TERMS OF HIS DEITY, JESUS IS GOD, THE WORD FROM THE BEGINNING, AND BECAME FLESH, DWELT AMONG THE PEOPLE, AND SHOWED HIS GLORY, GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN FROM THE FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH (JOHN 1:1-14).
FOLLOWING THE STORY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, LUKE 2:40 SAYS, “THE CHILD (JESUS) CONTINUED TO GROW AND BECOME STRONG, INCREASING IN WISDOM; AND THE GRACE OF GOD WAS UPON HIM.” WHEN JESUS WAS BORN, GRACE WAS MENTIONED FROM TIME TO TIME IN THE BIBLE. JESUS IS NOT ONLY BEARER OF GRACE, JESUS IS THE GRACE OF GOD.
TITUS 2:11-14 SAYS, “FOR THE GRACE OF GOD HAS APPEARED, BRINGING SALVATION TO ALL MEN, INSTRUCTING US TO DENY UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY DESIRES AND TO LIVE SENSIBLY, RIGHTEOUSLY AND GODLY IN THE PRESENT AGE, LOOKING FOR THE BLESSED HOPE AND THE APPEARING OF THE GLORY OF OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR, CHRIST JESUS, WHO GAVE HIMSELF FOR US TO REDEEM US FROM EVERY LAWLESS DEED, AND TO PURIFY FOR HIMSELF A PEOPLE FOR HIS OWN POSSESSION, ZEALOUS FOR GOOD DEEDS.”
JESUS APPEARANCE ASSURED THAT SINNERS WHO REPENTED WILL NOT BE PUNISHED ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY BUT WILL BE JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE. CONTINUING TITUS 3:4-7, IT SAYS, “BUT WHEN THE KINDNESS OF GOD OUR SAVIOR AND HIS LOVE FOR MANKIND APPEARED, HE SAVED US, NOT ON THE BASIS OF DEEDS WHICH WE HAVE DONE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY, BY THE WASHING OF REGENERATION AND RENEWING BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHOM HE POURED OUT UPON US RICHLY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR, SO THAT BEING JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE WE WOULD BE MADE HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE.”
JESUS CAME AS THE GRACE OF GOD, HE DOESN’T ONLY BRING GRACE TO US, HE IS THE GRACE OF GOD HIMSELF. THAT IS WHY, SALVATION IS A GIFT THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD. IT CAME FIRST THROUGH REPENTANCE. JOHN WAS BORN TO PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD, AS IT IS REQUIRED THAT REPENTANCE MUST TAKE PLACE IN ORDER TO GIVE WAY FOR THE GRACE OF THE LORD, OUR SALVATION.
NOW SALVATION, WHO IS JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, IS THE GRACE OF GOD. WHEN WE RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST AS OUR SAVIOR, WE RECEIVE THE GRACE OF GOD. ALL PEOPLE HAVE SINNED AND DO NOT DESERVE THE REWARD OF ETERNAL LIFE, BUT BECAUSE OF GRACE OF GOD, WE NOW ARE ENTITLED TO SALVATION. GOD WILL REWARD US ACCORDING TO HIS GRACE. IT SIMPLY SAYS, WITHOUT THE GRACE OF GOD, THERE IS NO SALVATION. WITHOUT JESUS CHRIST, THERE’S NO SALVATION. AS GRACE OF GOD, HE WORKED FOR US TO BE SAVED. EPHESIANS 2:8-10 SAYS, “FOR BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH; AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES, IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD; NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST. FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS FOR GOOD WORKS, WHICH GOD PREPARED BEFOREHAND SO THAT WE WOULD WALK IN THEM.”
LET’S ACCEPT THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE FROM JESUS CHRIST, THE GRACE OF GOD, THERE’S NO ONE ELSE THAT BRINGS SALVATION, ONLY THROUGH HIM (ACTS 4:12). LET US BE BLESSED AS THE BENEDICTION OF REVELATION 22:21 WAS BESTOWED TO US WITH GRACE. IT SAYS, “THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS BE WITH ALL. AMEN.” AND AMEN.
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