Grace is a word which runs throughout the Bible and is a theme which probably best sums up the whole good news of Jesus Christ. It’s not a word that’s used much in general: we may speak about a graceful dancer or saying grace before a meal or talk about gratitude (with its etymological roots in grace), but overall, the world doesn’t focus much on grace. It’s more concerned with earning our way to good fortune, with a quid pro quo mentality and with what you deserve. Grace is all about undeserved favour and therefore can’t really be understood if we are looking through the viewfinder of meritocracy.
Grace is a unifying theme in the Bible, which tells the story of God’s love and favour to people who, frankly, don’t deserve such things. God created a perfect world with few limitations, but Adam and Eve chose to disobey and wanted to be like God, knowing good and evil. As a result, that perfect world was broken, and we have lived with the consequences of sin ever since. But God, because of His great love for us, shows mercy and grace and made a way for us to come back to Him through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. The New Testament abounds with references to grace; most of Paul’s letters start with phrases such as ‘Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Rom 1:7, see also Eph 1:2, 1 Cor 1:3, Phil 1:2, 1 Thess 1:1).
It’s significant, therefore, that the last word in the Bible goes to grace. Revelation 22 ends with the words, ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.’ (Rev 22:21) Grace is there at the start of our relationship with God: ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.’ (Eph 2:8-9) It’s there every day of our lives to sustain us, given freely by a generous God. (Eph 4:7) Here, in the last book of the Bible, grace is only mentioned twice: at the very beginning (Rev 1:4) and then here at the very end. Grace is like bookends, keeping us safe and at peace with God. The only real way to understand God and life itself is to see it through grace. Grace, God’s wonderful gift to us, will be with God’s people forever, even into the new heaven and new earth, even as we taste of the free gift of the water of life. (Rev 22:17) What a glorious hope we have!
