Holiness and Grace

Heb.9:27 - And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

A man lives and a man dies. Mankind attempts to fulfill and enjoy the life that bridges those two events. But regardless of how great a man becomes, or how much gain he possess, death still awaits him just as it awaits the lowest and poorest of men. The king and the serf meet at the same place called death, and it welcomes both of them as equals. And when a man passes through death’s portal, all his former days are as nothing. Death swallows up all his achievements and all his triumphs, as well as all his failures. He is dead, and the world will feel his footsteps no more.

But after death that same man must give an account for his earthly life. He who gave him that life will now righteously sift that life through the perfect sieve of His own justice. And this Righteous Judge will require more than just some litany of good works, or even a protestation that the good works outweigh the bad. What will be required goes even beyond a model of perfection as assessed through human understanding; the requirement will be absolute holiness.

What? Holiness!? It is impossible for a man, a sinner, to even understand what holiness means. Most men believe holiness to be something we do not do, but it goes far deeper than that. In fact, man is conceived in iniquity and is by heritage and practice a sinner. Born with Adam’s fallen legacy ingrained within his very soul, each man willfully builds upon Adam’s patrimony and stamps his own imprint upon the massive portfolio of transgressions. Each man then enters eternity without excuse.

Heb.12:14-15 - Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God;

And therein lies the unfathomable predicament for each and every sinner. He cannot see (or be with) the Lord unless he is completely holy, but not only is he not holy, but he is wrought with sin both inside and out. He stands before the Divine Judge already condemned and without a remedy. And although he was born with the stain of sin entrenched within his loins, he has richly earned an eternal sentence of justice and punishment based solely upon the fallen manifestations of his own sin plagued life. But again, God demands holiness.

But look at Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 15. There it is. There is the word, the glorious word, which by its definition brings a glimmer of hope. This unattainable holiness is tethered to the word “grace”. Now the ship has anchored in an entirely different port with an entirely different essence and with the hope of an entirely different outcome. And behold! This is not some shallow human grace that shows a morsel of unearned favor when it suits us and makes us feel humanitarian and magnanimous; this is the grace of God. As if God’s attributes and gifts could be separated and weighed individually and compared against each other, God’s grace toward fallen man seems to soar above all others. Of course it is motivated by God’s love, but God’s grace has no explanation at all. Do not bother to ask why for that question has no answer.

This grace contains forgiveness, but it is far beyond that, if that is possible. This grace completely forgives, and eradicates all semblance of guilt or shame. This grace makes the sinner righteous, and overshadows him with a divine favor that pronounces him as a “son”. Can there be any greater revelation of God’s favor than that of being adopted as a son and an heir? The vilest of sinners, redeemed by God's grace, has been grafted in and is now a son of the Living God. What grace indeed!

But there is one last facet of God’s favor that soars beyond our ability to understand or even accurately imagine. The favor of God, which has made us holy, will also make us like Him who knew no sin and was not made holy but was eternally holy from everlasting to everlasting. And if the mind cannot fathom such a sacred truth, how can the tongue bespeak it with clarity and even imagery? In its final and eternal act, God's grace will make all those who are cloaked by His grace through faith, in the likeness of the Lord Jesus, the Author of God’s amazing grace.

If it seems like foolishness to you then it surely is, but to us who are saved it is the power of God! But do not be mislead, we who have received this grace are still without one plea and still without one shred of righteousness of our own. We stand wholly upon the grace of the Lord Jesus and we present nothing less or nothing more than that. Sinners we still are, perhaps less demonstrative than before, but that too is by His grace. Bathed and clothed, soaked and saturated, controlled and imprisoned, all by His grace, we look to this future event which will change us but crown Him again and again.

But God forbid the spotlight be shone upon us. All of this narrative revolves around the Crucified and Risen Christ, and let the eternal glory of the universe shine upon Him. Holiness? We know nothing of it beside Him. Righteousness? We have not a morsel without Him. Sin? Of that we are well acquainted and well rehearsed. But all thanks and praise be unto Him and Him alone!

Eph.1:3-6 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.