THE GLORY OF HIS GRACE

“To the praise of the GLORY of HIS GRACE, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved”” – Eph.1:6

What is the GLORY of HIS GRACE? There is a strong connection between God’s Glory and His Grace. How else can the overflow of His Grace be described than Glorious? God’s Glory is the immeasurable fullness of Grace manifested in His Son: “and we beheld His GLORY, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, FULL of GRACE and truth” (Jh.1:14). On the human side, Grace is the pinnacle of God’s Glory. Grace is the divine Capstone: ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’ (Zech.4:7). God is best known and experienced by Man through His Grace. All of His divine dealings with humanity are directed towards Grace. Jesus didn’t merely teach the Grace of God or invite us to His Grace, but He is Grace personified!

Grace is the most magnificent facet of God’s Glory – human-ward (vv.5-6). God predestined us unto son-ship, so that praise would come not just to His glory but to the pinnacle of His glory – His grace: “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph.2:7). We were predestined to live for “the praise of the glory of His grace.” Everything else about God – including His wrath – supports and serves that ultimate purpose: “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,  and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory” (Rom.9:22-23).

God, desiring to show His wrath, and to make known His power – and do it with much patience – endures vessels of wrath, in order to make known the riches of His glory to the vessels of mercy and grace. Wrath and mercy are not coordinate. Wrath is subordinate and serves mercy. His wrath serves the revelation of the riches of His glory to the vessels of mercy. That’s what makes Grace the pinnacle of the mountain of His glory because wrath is part of His Glory. It is a glorious thing for God to be angry at sin, but it’s not the main thing. It’s part of the mountain, leading to the mountain-top – Grace! The apex of the Glory of God is the Grace or the Mercy of God. Oh! How Glorious is His Grace!

God planned the praise of the Glory of His Grace – before creation. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (v.4). Grace was not an afterthought when God saw Adam and Eve sin. The Fall did not catch God off-guard. He chose us in the Redeemer before the foundation of the world, to the praise of grace. His plan was that the praise of the Glory of His Grace would manifest through His Son, Jesus Christ. God called us to a holy calling not because of works, but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus pre-creation: “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2Tim.1:9). Grace was given to us before the universe was made, and it was given in Jesus Christ.

Oh how Glorious! That we who believe in God’s Son as Lord and personal Saviour have been “accepted in the Beloved” – “to the praise of the GLORY of HIS GRACE”! We are no longer rejected “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise” (Eph.2:12). We are now “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom.8:17); “heirs according to the promise” (Gal.3:19); “heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Tit.3:7); “heirs of salvation” (Heb.1:14); and “heirs together of the grace of life” (1Pet.3:7)! It is all to the Praise of the GLORY of HIS GRACE!