Monday, November 30, 2009
The Grace That Should Come
(I Peter 1:10-16)
The Gospel of the grace of God was an enigma to Old Testament saints, including the prophets. The Old Covenant stood firmly upon the principle of Law—“the man which doeth those things shall live by them” (Rom. 10:5). The problem is, no man could do the works of the law perfectly; and God demands perfect holiness (15, 16). So, even the Old Testament prophets, champions of the Covenant and the Law, understood that something else was desperately needed. And that something was grace (10).
The close of the Old Testament leaves the reader with a sense of incompleteness—a sense of longing. Indeed, if the story of God’s work in the world ended with Malachi, there would be little hope for hopelessly sinful humanity. The law, which had always condemned would condemn still—and the perfection demanded by God would be nothing but an unreachable ideal.
Though the prophets lived and died without seeing Christ’s grace (with the exception of John the Baptist), they predicted grace for us (12). And, their predictions came true: Spirit-filled preachers now proclaim the Gospel, a message so new and unique that angels, some of God’s first created beings, long to understand its intricacies.
And the Gospel of grace, once believed, produces genuine holiness and obedience (14-16). What the law could not do, grace accomplishes. Judicially, believers are robed upon with the righteousness of Christ (Rom. 4:16) and practically, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live lives of obedience to the Lord. Thank God for grace!
