Hello
people. It’s another new week with fresh opportunities for us to experience the
goodness of God’s grace.
In
this post we will conclude our consideration of Galatians Chapter 1 and verse 4:
“Who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver
us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father”
We’ll focus now on the third phrase in the verse
“according to the will of God and our
Father”.
This is such a wonderful thought. Jesus gave Himself for our sins
to deliver us from this present evil world and all these did not happen just by
mere human desire or wishful thinking. Jesus did not take the decision to give
Himself up for us independently. It was all done in accordance with God’s will.
It tells us that what we have by grace isn’t due to lucky chance, happenstance
or coincidence. It was pleasing to God and He purposed that the Son would die
for us. There was a divine pre-arrangement, order and plan.
It
was by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God that Christ was
delivered up into the hands of wicked men, and put to death by them; it was His
will of purpose and decree, to deliver Jesus up into the hands of justice and
death, and that He should give Himself sacrifice for sin. It was God’s will of
command, that He should lay down His life for His sheep, to which He was
obedient; it was His pleasure, it was what was agreeable to Him, was to His
good liking, that He should die for the sins of His people; it was owing to the
love of God, who is our Father in Christ, and by adopting grace, and not to any
worth of ours, that Christ gave Himself for us.1
Peter while addressing the people on the day of
Pentecost said this to them: “This Jesus, following the deliberate and
well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men….”2 The sacrifice
of Jesus is also described in another verse of scripture in this way: “He died
like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even
though it has only lately-at the end of the ages-become public knowledge, God
always knew he was going to do this for you”.3
It is good to know that God always had us in mind. He
then formulated a plan of grace and brought the plan to completion. It makes us
know that we matter to God; we are precious in His sight.
Whatever our present circumstances and
situations, we should never let them cloud our assurance. God had us in mind
before we even came into existence and He had it all sorted out in a well-thought-out plan. Live this week
and the rest of your time with the knowledge that the grace you’ve received is
a product of a divine set up. The Almighty God Himself planned and
executed it all.
And that is just another snapshot of God’s
overwhelming grace! Have a wonderful week.
Notes
1. John Gill’s Commentary
on Galatians 1:4
2, Acts 2:23 The Message
3. 1 Peter 1:20 The Message
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