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.