In Christ: Know It, Live It - 29 (Who IS this God who makes dead rebels alive?)

God made us ALIVE with Christ even when we were DEAD in our trespasses (Ephesians 2:4-5). God gave us His life WHEN we were rejecting it. God gave us His life WHEN we were shaking our puny, helpless rebel fists in His Almighty face. God gave us His life AS we were pursuing the world and Satan and hell at breakneck speed.

WHY? What kind of God would do this?

The Apostle Paul tells us.

• He is "rich in mercy." MERCY is NOT giving us what we deserve: judgment. Mercy is a desire to rescue someone from misery. That God is merciful tells us that He is CONCERNED for sinners in their dead slavery. God FEELS for the wretched condition of those without His life and hope. We WERE under God's WRATH in our sin. His settled and unchanging opposition to sin was against us. But God was not unfeeling towards our plight. And He was not just somewhat merciful, He was RICH, abundant, in mercy. There is a vast and infinite storehouse of rescuing mercy in the heart of God. And we were the recipients of that mercy when He made us alive at the very time we were spiritually dead.
• He has a "great love with which He has loved us." Love is sacrificing for another's good. God's MERCY caused Him to move toward us in our misery and God's LOVE caused Him to DO WHATEVER IT TOOK TO RESCUE US FROM OUR MISERY. "For God so loved the world that He GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life" John 3:16. What it COST God to rescue us rebels from our rebellion was HIS OWN LIFE. But God is great in sacrificial love...and He paid it. God purchased us, the Church, with His OWN BLOOD (Acts 20:28).
• This God is a God who saves by "grace." JUSTICE is getting what we deserve. MERCY is NOT getting what we deserve. GRACE is getting the OPPOSITE of what we deserve. Life instead of death, heaven instead of hell, love instead of wrath, sonship instead of eternal alienation, forgiveness instead of eternal punishment, peace instead of war, meaning instead of meaninglessness, a future and a hope instead of despair. GRACE always flows down from above, because ONLY GOD could sovereignly plan and implement a plan that would allow Him to justify guilty sinners and condemn His sinless Son. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound..."!

Once again, it should be clear that our salvation, this gift of life when we were dead, is ALL OF GOD. Why? Because He is Rich in Mercy, Great in Love, and the Sole Giver of Amazing Grace.