Author:
Teacher Wendy Nilsson
Wendy serves as a called and confirmed Teacher in the restored government of God, and she is an IDCCST Spiritual Life Coach. Teacher Wendy helps you to begin a new and final chapter in your search for truth. View my profile.
Have you ever tried to watch a 3D movie without the special glasses? Everything is distorted and blurred but the moment you put the glasses on, voila! There is it: a clear image with shape, texture and depth.
One of the most beloved hymns of all times is John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” which well describes the effectual power of God’s grace to open the eyes of our understanding to the things of His Kingdom; and (like the 3D glasses) to bring clarity to that which was previously something of a mystery. With the lens of grace, we are enabled to “see” Jesus Christ in His knowledge, which God calls His truth.
In 2 Corinthians 4:6 we read that God “hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. Without the lens of grace, salvation remains a mystery because Christ is not seen.
As the 3D glasses were designed to enable the eye to comprehend the images in 3D format, so God designed His grace to enable the heart to comprehend the mystery of Christ. When “the grace of God in truth” (Colossians 1:6) is not understood, the concept of grace becomes vague, ambiguous and therefore often referred to as God’s unmerited favor. In reality grace is far more than this, so we are going to have a look at it from God’s covenant perspective to understanding how grace is the power of God that saves the soul through faith (Ephesians 2:8) “For by grace you are saved through faith…”
What is Grace?
Grace is God’s prescription lens for salvation, so let’s see how God defines grace. There are 5 basic definitions of grace (quoting from the EVA Glossary of Terms, which is accessed through the IDCCST course on the s8w.org website):
1. Communication – Jesus promised He would manifest Himself to us. (John 14:21)
2. Revelation – The revelation of God to man is Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:17)
3. Illumination – The light of the knowledge of Christ enters the soul. (Hebrews 10:32)
4. Enlightenment – God grants understanding with knowledge. (Ephesians 1:18)
5. Awakening – God awakens the soul out of slumber with an urgency to know Him.
(Ephesians 5:14)What Does Grace Do?
There are 9 distinct operations that God designed in grace to transform the soul to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. We know God through this experience:
1. God issues grace to draw faith from the heart. (Ephesians 2:8)
2. God issues grace to give a heart to perceive Christ. (Acts 12:11)
3. God issues grace to give strength to the will. (James 4:6)
4. God issues grace to create equity in the inner man. (Psalm 99:4)
5. God issues grace to create single mindedness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
6. God issues grace to create sober mindedness. (1 Peter 1:13)
7. God issues grace to nourish the heart. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
8. God issues grace to enlarge the heart. (2 Thessalonians 1:3)
9. God issues grace to keep us rooted in Him. (1 Peter 5:12)[ – EVA Glossary of Terms]
You can share in the in depth unfolding of not only the grace of God, but all 12 the essential elements of the gospel of Jesus Christ, by signing up for free (if you have not already done so) for our online IDCCST course.
So then, in keeping in mind the above definitions and operations in the grace of God, let’s revisit that well known hymn again:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see[verse 1 of the hymn, Amazing Grace]
God’s grace indeed is sweet to the ear of faith, because until God grants us His grace, there is no revelation, communication, illumination, enlightening, no awaking of the soul; hence there can be no salvation. We are born into sin, a state of wretchedness wherein the soul, being separated from God, perpetually suffers in ignorance in this world.
Isaiah 65:1
I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
Without the awakening of grace, man will not ask for God, nor seek Him nor behold Him. But, as we read in the Gospel of John, when the Jews rejected Him, Jesus promised His grace to those who would receive Him to empower them to become sons of God.
John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
This is what it means to have been lost, but now found, blind but now to see – His grace calls to every soul, but the point of liberation is man’s equal reciprocation of faith, and God has always given a framework for faith’s effectual function, joining it to a covenant.
Grace Reveals the Mystery of Christ
Becoming a son of God is impossible if the gospel of Christ remains a mystery and faith is a hit and miss affair. Faith must be both cognitive and competent if you are to work out your salvation according to the design God set in Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith in beholding Him. If you cannot see Christ, how can you know in whom you believe? Having access to the Bible is not the same as comprehending the mystery of Christ; but by the lens of grace the blind see and the lost are found.
God has restored the knowledge of His covenant and the definitions of the elements of Jesus’ gospel, beginning with grace, and He has restored to the church living apostles to re-educate believers in that foundation of truth whereby to walk believers through this learning and the transitional training He has called us to.
By this gift of knowledge, and the oversight of God-appointed and equipped apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, those who convert to the covenant are granted insight into our true purpose for being, and given the power to daily commune with God to learn of Him and grow in His grace. Grace then not only reveals the mystery of Christ through His truth, but how to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)
To grow in His grace is to be increased in godly wisdom, knowledge and understanding that vastly exceed the baser things of our carnal lives. This is what God is inviting believers into, as also those of the early church so greatly rejoiced in; and through that process of daily divine increase do we glorify God through bearing the fruit of faith that carries His likeness.
