Grace and Truth

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jn 1:17 NIV

We need truth. God is not a fairy tale. God created the world. Jesus was and is the eternal Son of God. The Ten Commandments come from God. Idolatry, murder and adultery are sins. That is the truth.

But we also need grace. Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins. Only through God's grace do we receive forgiveness and eternal life, and much more.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Rom 8:31–32 NIV

All Bible-believing Christians agree that we need grace and truth, but in the minds of many Christians it is the other way round, that is not grace and truth, but truth and grace.

But is the order important? In the Bible, it is not just concepts that are important, but priorities.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jn 1:17 NIV

First came the Ten Commandments and then grace through Jesus. But we need to take a closer look at this teaching.

What came before the Ten Commandments?

And God spoke all these words:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Ex 20:1–2 NIV

Rescue from slavery in Egypt came first, and then the teaching of the Ten Commandments.
That is, first grace and then truth.

How did Jesus minister as a preacher? He began by healing the sick, and only later did he reveal the truth that he was the eternal Son of God. In the beginning, he appeared only as a miracle-working prophet. That means first grace and only later the full truth.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. Mt 16:13–17 NIV

Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Mt 16:20 NIV

What was Jesus' approach? First revealing God's love through miraculous healings and then, much later, proclaiming the truth of his heavenly identity.

Many Christians grumble because some are healed in charismatic events, but not all repent.

But Jesus himself healed many who did not become believing followers. This made Jesus very sad, but he continued to heal the sick even though not all became disciples.

Grace first and then truth. That was and is God's approach.

Who is Jesus?

 Jesus lived in Israel as the eternal Son of God.

As a child, he lived in an obscure village. He was not recognised as the almighty God and he did not reveal his identity.

Everyone knew that he was born shortly after his parents' wedding. He was therefore regarded as an illegitimate child. He had to win the respect of his neighbours with humility and patience.

At the age of thirty, he was baptised by his cousin. John the Baptist baptised him in the Jordan.
What did that mean?

People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.
Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. Mt 3:5–6 NIV

Baptism in the Jordan was a sign of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus had no sin, but he came as Saviour and Redeemer. He identified himself with us.

But then something dramatic happened.

As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Mt 3:16–17 NIV

Jesus prepared himself for this by humbly living as a human being. In this he is our role model.

In doing so, he also exemplified God's heart and character. God is loving by nature and also humble.

Three years later, Jesus revealed another side of his nature.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 NIV

How can a man say that?
A man who dares to say such a thing must be crazy, or a deceiver who wants to found a sect to enslave his fellow human beings.

But Jesus is universally respected as a good man and a sincere teacher. If you take his story and his teachings in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John seriously, you can in no way dismiss him as a fraud. His character is obviously genuine.

A humble, kind and loving man who claims to be God can only be God.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 NIV

Jesus also said:

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NASB95

After his cruel execution on the cross, Jesus came back.

Jesus wants to give you a whole new life. He wants to give you an eternal and intimate fellowship with God.

This is hard to understand. That is normal. We are only human. Our human mind cannot comprehend this, but we can experience it with God's supernatural help.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Je 33:3 NIV

God Makes Himself Small

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Lk 2:11–12 NIV

What is the message of Christmas?

God makes Himself small and weak because He wanted to be one of us, because He wanted to be close to us, because He wants to be close to us, because He loves us infinitely.

When he grew up and became a strong man, Jesus still renounced his unlimited omnipotence.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Php 2:6–8 NIV

He raised the dead, but Elijah and Elisha had already done this in the Old Testament.
He stilled a storm, but Moses parted the Red Sea.

Of course, the prophets did not perform these miracles themselves, but God performed the miracles through their faith.

Jesus worked these miracles as a man, through his faith, as an example for us.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. Jn 14:12 NIV

What Jesus did as a human being through his faith, we can also do as human beings through the faith that God gives us.

God made Himself small so that we could live in close fellowship with Him through faith, so that we as small people could have access to His unlimited power and love.

God's Future Plan for Israel

The Jews, in spite of everything, remain God's chosen people.

What does it mean that God has two peoples, the Jews and the Christians?
What does Jesus say?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16–18 NIV84

Jesus died on the cross to forgive all people and give them eternal life. But this gift is not unconditional. Each person must believe in Jesus and be willing to embrace a new life with God.

It is not enough to agree with the Bible's teachings. Nor is it enough to strive to live a virtuous life.

You and I are invited to experience a supernatural personal relationship with the eternal Son of God.

We are invited to be inwardly transformed by his Holy Spirit in communion with God himself.

It makes no difference whether you are Jewish or not. It is only a matter of trusting God through his Son, who is also the promised Messiah of the Jews.

Some then ask if the Jews as a people still have a role in God's plan.
Most Jews in Israel today do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah. According to Jesus, they should not expect a heavenly home without faith in God's Son.

Are we still to recognise the modern Jewish nation as God's work and God's nation?
Has God Himself restored the Jewish nation in Israel in our time? And why?
Does this Jewish nation have a role in Bible prophecy?

In Revelation we find a mysterious prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled.

Revelation 7:3–8 NIV84
(A mighty angel said) “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

What do we learn from this text regarding God's future plans? It is puzzling. Many Bible teachers like to explain a simple theological system. Bible passages that do not fit into this system are ignored or superficially explained away.

We will not understand many prophetic Bible passages accurately in this life until they are fulfilled, but we must not therefore lightly throw them overboard.

Paul taught that the time will come when a whole Jewish nation will be visibly visited by Jesus and all the Jews who then see Jesus will repent, believe and be saved.

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. Romans 11:26 NIV84

Here it is not only Israel that is being spoken of, but the descendants of Jacob, that is, the Jews. Is Paul speaking here of all the Jews who converted to Jesus in all generations?

No.

Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day, or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labour than she gives birth to her children. Isaiah 66:8 NIV84

In Isaiah and in other prophetic writings in the Old Testament, we see many Bible passages that tell of a future Jewish nation in Israel where the Messiah will rule Israel and the whole world.

There are theologians who understand these passages as symbolic, who teach that God is speaking of the Church.

I see no reason not to understand these prophecies literally. That is, clear prophecies of a future Jewish nation after the return of the Messiah.

In this matter, Luther and Calvin misled the Christian world.