The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
The Great Creator God who made all things is a God of grace. It has been His plan from the very beginning of the ages to bring forth a bride for His Son, the Lord Jesus. This bride is composed of people from all nations who are born-again of the Spirit, those who will bow the knee to receive God’s gift of a complete pardon for rebellion and sin. When one considers humanity’s rebellious nature, and our corrupt hearts before God, this is wonderful grace.
To understand the full meaning of grace, we need to turn to its usage in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word chen means “to bend or stoop.” It has the idea of “condescending favor,” the kind of favor that a King has for one of his people.
Queen Victoria of England, when she was a girl and had just become queen, was asked to sign a death warrant for a person who, by court-martial, had been condemned to death. It is said that she said to the Duke who brought her the warrant, "Cannot you find any reason why this man should be pardoned?" The Duke said, "No, it was a very great offense; he ought to be punished." "But was he a good soldier?" The Duke said he was a shamefully bad soldier and had always been noted as a bad soldier. "Well, cannot you invent for me any reason?" "Well," he said, "I have every reason to believe from his testimony that he was a good man, although a bad soldier." "That will do," she said, and she wrote across the warrant, "pardoned"—not because the man deserved it—but because she wanted a reason for having mercy.[1]
God has stooped down to us in grace and mercy and bestowed His wonderful favor upon us, writing across our warrant, "pardoned." This grace He did not give grudgingly, but lavishly and joyfully. It was what He purposed in His heart to do! That which we couldn't do, that which was impossible for us, He has accomplished in Christ. This kind of love is self-sacrificing, agape love. Justice demanded that the soul that sins must die, but in His love for us God came in the person of His Son, Jesus, to take our place, to die our death instead of us, to taste death for every man. “Jesus…by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9).
Allow me to say something fundamental and let it sink into your soul: there is not one thing that you can do to make God love you more, and there is not one thing that you can do that could make Him love you less. Think about that. Before the apostle Paul was converted, he was a murderer. Worse than that, in his terrible treatment of Christians, he thought He was doing God a favor. Do you believe He offended the Holy Spirit by killing believers? I cannot think of anything worse. While he was self-righteous, and persecuting God's saints, God had mercy and extended grace to him while he was a murderer. The Lord did not wait for Paul to clean up his life. He gave him a new heart! Don't think that there is anything too terrible for God to look at or to forgive. Don't think for a moment that there is any sin that can hold you back from experiencing the grace of God. Let His grace break through to you, wherever you are. Keith Thomas
[1] Charles Spurgeon, Human Depravity and Divine Mercy, http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols10-12/chs615.pdf