Grace: A Divine Plan

Hello people. It’s another new week with fresh opportunities for us to experience the goodness of God’s grace.

In this post we will conclude our consideration of Galatians Chapter 1 and verse 4:

“Who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father”

We’ll focus now on the third phrase in the verse “according to the will of God and our Father”. 

This is such a wonderful thought. Jesus gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil world and all these did not happen just by mere human desire or wishful thinking. Jesus did not take the decision to give Himself up for us independently. It was all done in accordance with God’s will. It tells us that what we have by grace isn’t due to lucky chance, happenstance or coincidence. It was pleasing to God and He purposed that the Son would die for us. There was a divine pre-arrangement, order and plan.

It was by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God that Christ was delivered up into the hands of wicked men, and put to death by them; it was His will of purpose and decree, to deliver Jesus up into the hands of justice and death, and that He should give Himself sacrifice for sin. It was God’s will of command, that He should lay down His life for His sheep, to which He was obedient; it was His pleasure, it was what was agreeable to Him, was to His good liking, that He should die for the sins of His people; it was owing to the love of God, who is our Father in Christ, and by adopting grace, and not to any worth of ours, that Christ gave Himself for us.¹

Peter while addressing the people on the day of Pentecost said this to them: “This Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men….”² The sacrifice of Jesus is also described in another verse of scripture in this way: “He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately-at the end of the ages-become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you”.³

It is good to know that God always had us in mind. He then formulated a plan of grace and brought the plan to completion. It makes us know that we matter to God; we are precious in His sight.

Whatever our present circumstances and situations, we should never let them cloud our assurance. God had us in mind before we even came into existence and He had it all sorted out in a well-thought-out plan. Live this week and the rest of your time with the knowledge that the grace you’ve received is a product of a divine set up. The Almighty God Himself planned  and executed it all.

And that is just another snapshot of God’s overwhelming grace! Have a wonderful week.

Notes

1.   John Gill’s Commentary on Galatians 1:4    

2,   Acts 2:23 The Message

3.   1 Peter 1:20 The Message