Thankful for God’s Grace at Work

Thankful to God the Father

God’s work of salvation for humanity

God the Father desire is for mankind is to be save from their bondage to sin, under Satan’s control, a son of disobedience against God, and from the wrath of God the Great Judge of mankind.

God the Father sent the Son to save mankind.

Gen 3:15: I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike your head,

and you will strike his heel.

Christian Standard Bible (Ge 3:15). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.

God choose a man to make a nation through which His Son would come into the world. This family would become a nation while in slavery and the LORD would deliver them out of bondage through the Passover Lamb, which would be a type (shadow) of God’s Son being our deliverer out of the slavery of Satan and the bondage of sin by the blood of the Lamb of God. (John 1:29)

2. Gen 12:2-3 2 I will make you into a great nation,

I will bless you,

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,

and all the peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.

Christian Standard Bible (Ge 12:2–3). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.

God choose this nation to be His witness to the nations of the work that God would do for humanity. Isaiah Their were to be a witness to the world of the one true God and of His Holy word that would point to His Son as the King and Savior of the world.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Witness

The people of Israel themselves were declared God’s witnesses (Is 43:10; 44:8, 9). They were witnesses to the existence of God, to his uniqueness, holiness, power, and love. When they failed to acknowledge his uniqueness and holiness and turned to polytheism, he sent them into captivity, as he had warned, for they had failed in their witness and had given opportunity for the enemies of God to blaspheme.

God not only choose a nation, but He choose a Kingdom out of that nation to rule not only Israel, but this King would rule the world. It is under the rule of this King that mankind would enjoy peace, justice, and most of all fellowship with God.

1 Chronicles 17:7-11

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 17

7 “So now this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘This is what the LORD of Armies says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel. 8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a name for you like that of the greatest on the earth. 9 I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done 10 ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.

“ ‘Furthermore, I declare to you that the LORD himself will build a house for you. 11 When your time comes to be with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who is one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will not remove my faithful love from him as I removed it from the one who was before you. 14 I will appoint him over my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.’ ”

God knowing that Israel would fail in being the perfect witness to the world regarding who the true God is and how to worship the true God that created the heavens and the earth. God would send God the Son to be His witness to Israel and to the known government at the time He would arrive on the earth. God’s Son would give hope to Israel and to the Gentiles nations of the hope freedom from oppression. Isaiah 42:6-8

6 “I am the Lord. I have called you

for a righteous purpose,,

and I will hold you by your hand.

I will watch over you, and I will appoint you

to be a covenant for the people

and a light to the nations,

7 in order to open blind eyes,

to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,

and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.

8 I am the Lord. That is my name,

and I will not give my glory to another

or my praise to idols.

Christian Standard Bible (Is 42:6–8). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.

Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

Psalm 2 “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his Anointed One: “Let’s tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us.” The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them. Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath: “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with an iron scepter; you will shatter them like pottery.” So now, kings, be wise; receive instruction, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with reverential awe and rejoice with trembling. Pay homage to the Son or he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment. All who take refuge in him are happy.”

Isaiah 51 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you. When I called him, he was only one; I blessed him and made him many. For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song. Pay attention to me, my people, and listen to me, my nation; for instruction will come from me, and my justice for a light to the nations. I will bring it about quickly. My righteousness is near, my salvation appears, and my arms will bring justice to the nations. The coasts and islands will put their hope in me, and they will look to my strength. Look up to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment,

Isaiah 53 “Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, h…”

Isaiah Leader stumbled over their Messiah and turned Him over to the Roman authorities, but God in His Providence used this occasion to save the world through the Cross of His Son. Giving Humanity Hope of reconciliation to God and redemption from Satan’s bondage and oppression and the power of sin broken over our lives. We have the HOPE of eternal life with God and His Son. We have the HOPE of being adorn with the righteousness of Jesus and we reflect no long wickedness by our actions and attitudes, but the glory of the Son of God. We have the HOPE of being called sons of God.

This is why Paul gave God praise. He was thankful that the gospel was working in peoples lives to open their heart, eyes, and ears to the work the Father authorized the Son to do to save people from their sins and bring them into the family of God.

2 Corinthians 5:19–21“That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We should have a sense of grateful towards God for the work He has appointed His Son to perform for us. We were without hope destined to live eternity in the Lake of Fire, but God. God knew before the creation of the world that He would provide for mankind a means for being saved. Jesus is the only means for salvation for the whole world and he choose us before we know Him.