Hebrews 11:32–39
“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.”
All these things were done through faith. Through faith in the Most High, not through any power of man, not through any church of man, but solely through the Master. As Paul also says in his discourse to the Corinthians, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” We do not know what shall happen in this world, only the Lord of Hosts can know the future, and therefore He should be our guide.
Through faith can we be saved. There are those who argue we are saved by a combination of both faith and works, and this is partly true, although they misrepresent what must be done. We are “justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ,” but “faith without works is dead.” And what is the greatest work that must be done? Repentance. Therefore, if we take all of these in conjunction, we can see that we are justified by faith alone, but to live for the Lord, to live according to His precepts, we must repent and follow His commands. We must repent and live in holiness, set apart from the world, in a basic mimicry of the Lord.
This is the work unto salvation, not any sacrament, although those are well and good, salvation comes by faith in the Lord. Allow me to demonstrate, logically, how we cannot be saved through anything that we do, but fully through the King. Suppose our sins could be taken away by something that we do, whether that be a Eucharistic style of forgiveness or confession, or what have you. Now, if our sins could be taken away in such a fashion, what then would be the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice?
Indeed, it would be made null and void by our very actions. We, fallen humans, would nullify a portion, in fact, the most important part, of the plan of the Almighty. Now, does that make sense? Is it logical that we might be saved through any action that we do? Surely, it must seem rather arrogant, rather filled with hubris to think that we can do anything but believe and have faith for our own salvation. “For God says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’”
Not through any action of ours, but solely through the grace of God unto faith. Allow me, dear reader, to examine grace in finer detail, as the purpose of this devotional is not to focus upon self, but rather the attributes of the Most High, the King of Creation. Grace is what saves us, and grace and mercy go hand in hand. They feed off one another, mercy is the beginning of grace, and grace is the culmination of mercy.
Allow me to explain. Mercy feeds off patience, and patience is what the Lord has held us in ever since Adam first sinned. Without mercy, there would be no human life on earth, for the Lord of Hosts would have destroyed us all for our sins long, long ago. Yet He has been patient, He has forbore our sins, for we know not what we do. However, and I feel like I’m starting many branching paths here, even if we don’t fully understand what we do, we are still culpable for our evil, and therefore guilty in the eyes of God.
This is mercy: that He doesn’t immediately annihilate us for the great evil which we commit. For He would be justified in doing so: that is the greatness of our wickedness. However, He does not destroy us, thanks to His mercy. But this mercy does not last forever. For if we are to die in our sins, then we would remain in a state of rebellion against the Lord for the remainder of eternity, not changing, simply desiring, and receiving, eternal separation from His Presence.
Therefore, as I have demonstrated how we are currently living in a state of forbearance or merciful life from the Lord, allow me to expound upon His grace. The word used for grace in Ephesians 2:8 (For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.) which is the word used throughout most of the New Testament, is ‘χάρις’ or pronounced ‘chariti’ in English. Now this word has three different, but similar translations throughout the New Testament. It either means grace, favor, or credit.
Now, grace is the one we will be examining, which literally means ‘unmerited favor.’ We do nothing to earn this, nothing. It is unmerited, unearned, freely given. “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” It has been given to us through Christ so that we might be forgiven through His blood and see the Father. Grace is what covers us, it is the vessel through which our forgiveness is wrought. We cannot earn the favor of the Lord, is it freely given to every man, albeit some will accept and some will reject.
However, those who accept this gift, those with their names in the Book of Life, how blessed are they! For they do not reject the gift that has been given, they do not remain in sin, they turn from their wickedness out of love for the Lord, and partake in the grace as bestowed upon all the saints. For all with their names in the Book of Life, living and dead, are saints, all who have been saved by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ are called blessed.
How awesome, therefore, is the Lord! For through His grace are we saved, so that we might join Him in eternal communion in glory! Not by any merit of our own, but solely through the faith we place in the promise of His forgiveness, purely through His grace, His unmerited favor.
