The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Romans 16:24
Paul uses the word Grace (CHARIS=Greek) many times in his epistles, including over twenty times in his epistle to the Romans alone. The Greek word CHARIS, which means “favor” or “grace”, references the grace and favor that all of us have received from the Lord in the gift of forgiveness and salvation from our sins. In fact, Paul uses the word grace in the opening greetings and closing farewells of every one of his epistles. Peter opens and closes his epistles with a pronouncement of grace on the reader as well. And the apostle John greets readers, and bestows a final blessing on readers of the book of Revelation with this same word.
The very first time we see the word for GRACE in the Old Testament is when God is announcing his plan to destroy all living flesh on the earth. The exception to this plan is Noah, and that instead he found favor in God’s eyes.
The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor (CHEN = Hebrew word for GRACE) in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6:7-8
The very first time we see the word for GRACE in the New Testament, it is when the angel Gabriel uses it when greeting Mary. Gabriel describes the favor that God has for Mary, and then delivers the news that she will conceive and bear the Messiah.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor (CHARIS=Greek) with God.” “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” Luke 1:30-31
There is an interesting tie-in between these scriptures and their use of the word grace. Noah and his family were the instruments used by God to build the ark. It was in this ark that all mankind and all the animals were preserved from destruction. The flood waters were a judgement on the evil world that brought death to every other living thing. In the same manner, Mary was the instrument by which God brought forth another type of ark, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by placing ourselves into Christ that we also are saved from certain destruction. Those who reject Christ and refuse to enter into His safety will surely suffer an eternal death in the coming destruction of final judgement.
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few — that is, eight people — were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him. I Pet. 3:18-22
The last time grace is used in the Old Testament is in Zechariah 12:24. This verse is prophetic of the coming deliverance of the Nation of Israel during the period of the Tribulation. During this time period, the Jews will turn back to Jesus and accept the Messiah they previously rejected. They will be protected by the Lord during the Tribulation’s many judgments, and from the plans of the evil one.
Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn. Zech. 12:24
The last use of the word grace in the New Testament is by the Apostle John in the very last sentence of the book of Revelation. It is in the book of Revelation where we see the rapture of the Church prior to the tribulation period to come. We then see the focus return to the Jews, and we see the long-promised restoration of Israel back to God and their ultimate deliverance from the evil one. The Millennial Kingdom of the Lord is established here on Earth, with Jesus ruling from Jerusalem. It all culminates with the destruction of those who reject God, the “evil-doers”, being cast into the lake of fire along with Satan and his demons. And, lastly, we see our ultimate restoration, back to paradise where we dwell continually in the presence of the Lord, with no more pain and no more tears. The soon to occur events recorded in the both Zechariah and Revelation are the fulfillment of our “salvation” as believers and Christ followers.
He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Rev 22:20-21
