PROLOGUE
"GOD is Spirit, and they that worship Him,
must worship Him in spirit and in truth."[Jn.4:24]. God as a Spirit person
is omnipresence, omnipotent and omniscient; and as the sole Creator of the Heaven
and the Earth, possesses the sovereign power which requires all creation to comply with His eternal plan
of obedience to His commandments, laws, precepts and statutes with desired
expectations of accountability of righteous stewardship; yet, God chooses to
remain benevolent to the extent that the sinners among them could still be
saved by GRACE! [Rom.5:8]. This divine attitude poses a spiritual puzzle which
only God, in His divine capacity can wisely solve.
GRACE is
an extra-ordinary love, it is incomprehensible, unimaginable indiscernible, and beyond human understanding. It is an all-embracing benevolence of the LORD GOD, the creator of
the heavens and earth, which is given with, "agape"(gr.), ie; the
kind of love without borders, without let or hindrance, without human
promptings or intercessions.
G R A C E, also an undeserved kindness –shown by
GOD to mankind is akin to Christ’s
sacrificial gift. For it is written, “…that HE, by the grace of God should
taste death for every man.” [Heb.2:9, 10].
Jesus’ mission was to seek and to save the lost.
Sinners are saved through God’s great love, mercy and kindness as expressed to
us in Christ.
Most bible scholars and teachers express the
word ‘GRACE’ with the acrostic –
1. “Great Redemption At Christ’s Expense,
2. God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense,
3. God’s Redemptive Action Continues Expressly”
etc;
but as I
commenced this writing, the Holy Spirit whispered to me, this new acrostic:
“God’s Revealed Atonement Continues Eternally”.
It is on
this new revelation that I would hinge my exposition.
GRACE, an unmerited favor, is the common but
unique key to SALVATION. The New Concise Bible Dictionary states that the idea
of Grace involves forgiveness, salvation, regeneration, repentance and the love
of God. So many other proper nouns could be added to convey appropriately, the
theme of Grace. The Old Testament [OT], Bible expresses Grace with two Hebrew
words, (1.) Chesed, meaning, steadfast
love or loving-kindness – often associated with the covenant love of God for
Israel. (2.) Chen, meaning, a totally undeserved favor,
like the word, 'faithfulness’, which was applied by Prophet Jeremiah in
his [OT] book of Chapter 31:2, as follows, “Thus says the LORD, The people
which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I
went to cause him to rest.” This
expression of grace transcends from a superior to an inferior, i e. from GOD to
man or man to man, but never from man to GOD; man can never do GOD a favor!
God expressed His love in Grace after the
Fall of man by providing Adam and Eve
with a more effective clothing, [Gen.3:21], to cover their shame; ”...… for Adam also and for his wife did the
LORD GOD make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
The New Scofield Reference Bible’s footnote on
Gen.3:21, describes the coats of skin as,
“…… a type of Christ, made unto us righteousness [1Cor.1:30] – a
divinely provided garment that the first sinners might be made fit for God’s
presence.”
In the New Testament [NT], the Lord Jesus, in many of His parables taught the
doctrine of Grace; “The Lost Son”[Lk.15:11-32] being a vivid example of a
sinner’s pardon in grace.
God’s acts of Grace span the entire Bible, but
suffice it to say that the true believer’s response to His Grace should be a
resolute faith that would establish and ensure a special and permanent
relationship with Him.
Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”[2 Cor. 12:7],
according to Scofield, ”was some kind of bodily weakness or disease, possibly
it may have been an eye affliction, [Gal.6:11,cp.4:13-15].Undoubtedly, the
reason that its particular nature is not disclosed is so that Paul’s
consolations may avail for all to whom any type of “thorn” is given. For God’s
people,- deprivation, weakness, infirmity, and even disease may be divinely
permitted :
1. To cause them to be humble; [2Cor.12:7];
2. To caution them against presumption in
prayer; [2Cor.12:8]; and,
3. To exhibit the all-sufficiency of God’s
grace. [2Cor.12:9].
About a decade prior to 12.55am of 19thOctober,
2002, when God the Holy Spirit inspired this treatise, I made a covenant with
the God Head that the manuscripts of my first published work would be written
ON MY KNEES! What, in the name of the Lord could have prompted such an unusual
promise? It was a biographical account of Apostle James’ “Carmel knees”, in the
Foxe’s Christian Martyrs of the World!
It is recorded on page six, that the Apostle James, (half brother of the
Lord), reverently called, “The Just” and “the safeguard of the people”, because
of his holy life, spent so many hours in the Temple on bended knees, for the
remission of the sins of the people,…“that his knees lost their sense of
feeling and, became hardened like the knees of a Carmel.” When the
Holy Spirit eventually gave His approval for this title, He reminded me of my
covenant and promptly I went on my knees and proceeded. Two hours later, I felt
discomfited but carried on; however,
three hours on, there was this agonizing
pain all over my body and I was about to renege on the covenant when the
voice came soothingly and reassuringly; …”
my grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in
weakness…..,”[2Cor.12:9].
I was immediately invigorated and I said,” Yes
LORD, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Brethren, the
following pages are the reward of God’s revelation through the obedience of
bended knees! They are all yours to spiritually consume, ingest, digest,
ruminate and meditate upon for solutions to life’s challenges, situations and
circumstances, especially at this precarious and perilous end-time. FROM THE UNBROKEN CHAIN OF GRACE BY DR DAVID TUNDE OLUFON.
