God displays His love toward us through His marvelous grace, which is more than just unmerited favor. It is receiving blessing that we do not deserve instead of punishment that we do deserve. The following passage speaks of God’s amazing, full and recurring grace.
14“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15John testified about Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’’ 16For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him” (John 1:14-18).
According to the first few verses of the Gospel of John, the “Word” is the eternal Son of God who was, is and always will be fully God—second person of the Trinity. He created everything that has been created and is sovereign over all of His creation. Then John states, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” We refer to this as the incarnation—God becoming fully man, the man Jesus Christ. He did not just appear as a man, but “became” a man.
God’s grace is seen throughout the scripture quoted above. First, He came and “dwelt among us.” God gave Himself to us. Jesus lived among the disciples and rubbed shoulders with people from all walks of life—even “untouchable” people, broken people, sinful people, hurting people, lost cause people. He did not reside in some palace on a mountain top nor did He insulate Himself from society inside the Temple.
Second, Jesus displayed God’s glory (made His character visible), and that glory is full of grace and truth. Jesus is the truth about God—He is the genuine revelation of God. He did not hide God’s character or deceive us about who He is. Jesus is also the truth about man, not man in our sinful state, but perfect man—man as He created us to be.
When we look at Jesus, the perfect man, we begin to recognize how far short of His glory we fall (Romans 3:23). And then we learn of His grace, amazing grace. John says in verse 16, “of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” Jesus holds nothing back. He gives out of His full (infinite) supply of grace.
The phrase “grace upon grace” is interesting and a real source of encouragement. The word “upon” in the original language of the Bible literally means “instead of” or “in place of.” When I first noticed that meaning I was confused. How does grace replace grace? I could understand grace in place of condemnation or punishment. But grace in place of grace? Then the Lord seemed to bring an illustration to my mind.
The Columbia River is the fourth largest river in the continental United States. It begins in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, then winds through the state of Washington until it forms the border between much of Washington and the state of Oregon. Finally, it flows into the Pacific Ocean at the northwest corner of Oregon, near the city of Astoria. On one of our many visits to that town we traveled on a bridge that runs across the river from Astoria to Washington. The bridge is four miles in length. As the river moves into the ocean, just beyond that bridge, it is flowing at the rate of almost two million gallons of water per second. What an abundance of water!
Suppose you were to go down to the river, just beyond that bridge. You have a cup in your hand, and dip it into the water. When you bring the cup of water out of the river, would you leave a hole in the river? Of course not. The flow of new water (two million gallons per second) would instantly replace the cup that you remove. Suppose you take a five gallon bucket and dip it into the river. Would that leave a hole? The answer is still a resounding no. What if you rented a helicopter with a bucket designed for fighting forest fires? Those buckets can hold more than two thousand gallons. Would you leave a hole in the river this time? The answer is still no, because in one second of time there will be two million gallons to replace the two thousand gallons—far more than what you remove. God’s grace is like the water in the river. The size of the container that we use to dip into the river is like the size of our sin. We need God’s grace every day, throughout day. Sometimes we only need a little cup of His grace. Other times we need a bigger bucket of His goodness. And occasionally we need a giant helicopter bucket full of His grace to extinguish the firestorm that is raging in our lives. After a while we can begin to think that God’s grace is not going to be sufficient. Certainly, we think, there must be some limit to His supply. But John says in this scripture, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” Or, “grace in place of grace.” As soon as we receive some of God’s grace there is instantly an overabundance to replace what we have taken. God’s full supply is available to each of us and His supply is never depleted. No matter how great our sin, “His grace is greater still.”
Finally, in John 1:17 we read, “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” This may appear to be a contrast of Law versus grace and truth. But the Bible declares that both are good and both serve a purpose. Paul says that the Law is good (Romans 7:12). But the Law was never intended to save us; the law was never intended to improve us—it could not do that. The Law can show us how we should live, but is powerless to make that happen. The Law condemns us, and then points us to the one who can deliver us, Jesus the Messiah. So, the Law is like a carpenter’s level. A level can reveal how out of whack a wall is, but is powerless to correct it. It requires other tools to fix the wall. We need the Law to show us our need for a savior, but then we need the grace of Jesus to save us. We need the Law to show us what Godly behavior looks like, but we need the grace of Jesus to actually grow in Christian maturity (Titus 2:11-12). Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the Law on our behalf, and by His grace we are made perfect. “For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).
If you are feeling broken beyond repair, place your hope in the grace of God. If you feel that you have offended God beyond the limits of His grace, think again. Of His fulness we have all received, and grace to continually replace grace. Place you hope in Christ and Him alone.
Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of you faith, whose grace will lead you home.
If you have the time, click on the following link to enjoy a beautiful recording of Amazing Grace on Youtube.
Amen! I thank God for His Amazing Grace! ❤️🙏
Thanks for taking the time to read my post and respond. That means a lot to me!