O How the Grace of God Amazes Me

I am reading a book called BY Grace ALone by Sinclair Ferguson, and I have been greatly encouraged by it so far. The book is walking through the stanzas of a hymn entitled, "O How the Grace of God Amazes Me," written by a 20th century African pastor, Emmanuel T. Sibomana. The hymn is beautiful, so go look it up and enjoy!

One chapter has particularly gripped me, in it Dr. Ferguson walked through Luke's account of the passion of Jesus. He points out two things that I just did not realize or ever think about.

First he talks about Jesus being the Christ, meaning the Messiah, or the anointed one. If He is the Christ, and we know that He is indeed, that makes Him the Great Prophet, Great High Priest, and the King of kings. We know that Jesus fulfills all of those roles, of prophet, priest, and king, but the idea proposed here, is that those three roles were given to us, so that we could somehow grasp the idea of the Christ.

God gave us the roles and figures of prophet, priest, and king just for our benefit, so that when Jesus came, we could try and wrap our minds around who He is and what He does for us. That is very humbling to me. It encourages me to know that God is willing to come to our level for us to understand. It is more evidence for the fact that God is for us, and He longs for the salvation of men.

The second thing Dr. Ferguson brought to my attention was the charges that Jesus was put on trial for. First, the Pharisees and religious leaders try and convict him for blasphemy. Then, knowing that this charge would not interest the Romans at all, they try and convince Pilate that Jesus is committing treason by claiming to be a king. I say try, because the Luke records several statements from Pilate himself that Jesus is innocent, and that he finds no fault in Him. Of course He is crucified anyway, but Pilate never condemns Jesus as guilty.

What is the significance of these two charges? Well they are the same charges that we are guilty of before the throne of God. We have blasphemed God by trying to be like Him, or to put ourselves before Him. And we have committed treason, rebelling against His rule and authority.

Again a humbling thought, but also encouraging to know that it has not ended there. If we have placed our faith and trust in Jesus, we are no longer guilty of treason or blasphemy, but we are the righteousness of God. God is so good, kind, and wise!

Hallelujah what a Savior!