Grace is closely related to God’s benevolence, love, and mercy. Grace is defined as “God’s favor toward the unworthy” or “God’s benevolence on the undeserving.” God is willing to forgive and bless us abundantly by His grace, even though we don’t deserve to be treated so generously.
Jeremy-Bouma writes, “Grace is that aspect of divine action by which God blesses his rebellious creatures, whether through preservation (common grace) or salvation (special grace).”
As a new believer, I believed God first showed His grace by sacrificing His Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty of humankind’s sin. I understood the Old Testament as God’s rule by law and the New Testament rule by grace. However, I realized how wrong I was when I dug into the Old Testament. God’s unmerited grace is woven throughout all of scripture.
“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Timothy 1:9).
God knew full well that when He gave Adam and Eve the freedom of choice, they would choose to become their own God when tempted by Satan. That act of disobedience was the first sin committed by humanity. God, knowing the penalty of disobeying Him was eternal death, wasted no time in making it clear that He would sacrifice His Son, who would be born of a virgin girl, would overcome Satan with the promise of forgiveness.
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3: 15).
God continues to show His grace throughout the Old Testament by reassuring His people that a time was coming when their sins would be forgiven through the coming Messiah. By God’s grace, He extended hope for the Jews through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, with the Old Testament writers having over 300 prophecies of the coming Savior.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:6,7).
“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2).
God showed His grace to Moses on the mountain.
“The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
God showed His grace to both Abraham and Sarah for their lack of faith.
Abraham was 99 years old; God told him Sarah would give birth to his son, Isaac. All this seemed impossible to Abraham and Sarah. They responded to God with disbelief. Sarah even mocked God by laughing at the notion that she would bear a child at such an advanced age; God answered, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Genesis 18:14, and then extended grace.
“The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him” (Genesis 21:1,2).
God showed grace to David.
God granted grace when He chose David to slay a giant and eventually rule over the Jewish nation. David decided to be disobedient in all areas of his life. David was a liar, thief, fornicator, and murderer. God had every reason to kill David, but instead, God offered him a chance to repent and receive the gift of grace.
“The Lord has taken away your sin” (2 Samuel 12:13).
David saw the evil in his choices and repented of his sins. God healed his heart, and he was made right again with God. However, there were still natural consequences for David’s actions that would follow him.
The Israelites repeatedly rebelled against God, yet He graciously rescued them.
The pattern of God extending unearned grace to the Israelites through the Old Testament prophets was continual. The Israelites grumbled against God, broke His commands, worshiped false idols, and lived as the pagans lived. Then God would speak to the prophets and tell them that He was going to destroy their land, their possessions, and their lives. In the process of their disobedience, the Israelites lost God’s protection and suffered significant consequences. God did not give up on them. When they repented from their sins and returned to God, He gave them more grace than they deserved. After a while, Israel again rebelled, and again, God forgave and extended grace. This pattern of God’s extending grace to Israel for their disobedience happened repeatedly.
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:13,14).
While it is possible for Christians, like Israel, to be unfaithful to God, God will always be faithful to Himself and His Word. Christians are secure in God’s divine grace that covers our sins. God then calls us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices by always being willing and ready to extend His grace to others.
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:9-11)