Searching for grace

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.  God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:9-10

We can read in the scripture above that, by the word of God, an enormous shift took place on the earth. God had decided that he wanted to gather all the water to one place, in order that the land could appear. God was revealing just how powerful His Spirit was to gather and make one, in order to make something else appear. In this case the “land” appeared.

How interesting that it was only when God gathered the water together to one place that the land could then appear. In the Old Testament, God’s promises were always connected to a ‘land’ he would one day give his people access to. The promise of God was found in a ‘land’ that he had prepared for His people.

Now we know that the actual physical land in Israel was only a shadow of the better things to come, that being Christ. The reality is always found in Christ, and, in my opinion, seeking to understand the ‘promised land’ is no exception. When we seek to understand the scriptures from the perspective of knowing Jesus, we can understand that the place of blessing and fulfilment of God’s promises are not found in a physical land, but rather found in Christ! He truly is the ‘land’ of promise; in Christ is where the fullness of God’s grace is found; it is only there that God’s people can fully receive their promised inheritance.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1

The promise that we can all live in Christ was indeed promised to all of us, right from the beginning. The question however, was how could God give this promise to all mankind, when all mankind was so divided? The Israelites were convinced that God’s promises were only for their nation, and the gentile nations all had their own ‘gods’ with their own promises attached. There were division not only between Jews and gentiles, but between the rich and poor, the slaves and free, men and women. Divisions ran down every aspect of life.

Before God could give his gift of living in Christ to all mankind, He had to make us all one, that we would no longer be divided, and that is what the finished work of Jesus upon the cross accomplished for us all! The sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross not only made the way for us to be forgiven, but also for all of us to be made a new creation, that all mankind could be gathered together to one place, to be made one body that we could together be heirs of the promised inheritance of God!

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men) — remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace. Ephesians 2: 11:15

So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:5

Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Colossians 3:11

God didn’t just gather us together, so that there were many people in the one place, but still remained inherently different. God made each of us a brand new creation! That means that he made us all new, no longer with our old identities that drove us to be hostile and divided, but with our new identity that bonded us together in perfect unity!

The gospel truth is that God has gathered us all together, regardless of our backgrounds, and in Christ made us a new creation, He truly made us one, so that the promise of God, that we freely receive now that we are  in Christ, could truly manifest in our lives! Remember who you truly are! You are not your old self, but have been made brand new! We are heirs together with Christ! We are citizens of a better kingdom; God’s glorious kingdom. Remember, by the grace of God, we are one!

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20

Share on Facebook

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!