Faith reflects an honour upon all those who have lived by it. (continued)
GRACE
1. THE PROMISE OF GRACE
I: THE book of the prophet Zechariah we read: "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication" (Zech.
xit. 10). When God seeks to destroy the enemies of Israel, so it is promised, He will "pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplication". When God intends a great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is to set them to pray. Thus He seeks to destroy their enemies by stirring them up to seek Him and what He would do for them. For though He has purposed it and promised it, and it is for his own glory to do it, yet He will '"'for this be inquired of by the house of Israel"' (Ezek. xxxvi. 37). Ask, and it shall be given. This honour will He have to Himself, and this honour will He put upon prayer and upon praying people.
But this promise has reference to, and is performed in, the graces of the Spirit given to all believers. Let us observe, then:
(a) Upon whom these blessings are poured out. (i) On the house of David, on the great men, for they are no more and no better than the grace of God makes them. It was promised (Zech.
xii. 8) that ''the house of David' shall be as the "angel of the Lord''. For this purpose the spirit of grace is poured upon them. For the more the saints have of the spirit of grace, the more like they are to the holy angels. When God was about to appear for the land He poured His spirit of grace upon the house of David, the leading men of the land. It bodes well for a people when they go before the rest in that which is good (2 Chron. xx. 5). The house of David is all summed up in Jesus Christ, the son of David, and upon Him, as the head, the spirit of grace is poured out, from Him to be diffused to all His members. ''From his fulness we receive, and grace for grace."
(ii) On the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the common people. The operations of the spirit of grace are the same upon the mean and weak Christians as upon the strong and more grown. The inhabitants of Jerusalem cannot influence public affairs by their powers and policies as the great men of the house of David can; yet they may do good service by their prayers, and therefore upon them the spirit of grace shall be poured out. The Church is Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. All true believers who have their conversation in heaven are inhabitants of this Jerusalem, and to them the promise belongs. This is that earnest which all that believe in Christ shall receive. Thus are they sanctified. Thus are they sealed.
(b) What these blessings are. It includes all good things, for the grace of God is the favour of God and all His gifts. He will pour out His Spirit as a spirit of grace, to sanctify us, and to make us gracious. He will pour out His Spirit as a spirit of supplication, inclining us to, instructing and assisting us in, the duty of prayer. Wherever the Spirit is given as a spirit of grace He is given as a spirit of sanctification. As soon as ever Paul was converted, '"'Behold, he prays'' (Acts ix. 11). You may as soon find a living man without breath as a living saint without prayer. There is a more plentiful effusion of the spirit of prayer now under the Gospel than was under the law. And the farther the work of sanctification is carried in us, the better is the work of supplication carried on by us.
(c) What the effect of them will be. "I will pour upon them the spirit of grace." One would think it should follow. And they shall look on Him whom they believed and shall rejoice. It is true that that is one of the fruits of the pouring out of the Spirit, whence we read of the joy of the Holy Ghost. But it follows,
They shall mourn. There is a holy mourning that is the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit, a mourning for sin, which quickens faith in Christ and qualifies for joy in God. This mourning is a fruit of the spirit of grace, an evidence of work of grace in the soul.
2. [HE GRACE OF THE Lorp JESUS CHRIST
This promise of the pouring of the spirit of grace was fulfilled in Jesus Christ (fohn i. 14, 16). The things we have received by Christ are all summed up in this one word, grace. We have received xa ydouv, "even grace'', so great a gift, so rich, so invaluable. We have received no less than grace. That is a gift to be spoken of with an emphasis. It is repeated,
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''grace for grace". For to every stone in this building, as weil as to the topstone, we must cry, Grace, grace.
The blessing we have received is of the good will of God towards us, and the good work of God in us. God's good will works the good work, and then the good work qualifies us for further tokens of His good will. As the cistern receives water from the fullness of the fountain, the branches sap from the fullness of the root, and the air light from the fullness of the sun, so we receive grace from the fullness of Christ.
We receive "grace for grace". The phrase is singular, and interpreters put different senses upon it, each of which will be of use to illustrate the unsearchable riches of the grace of
Christ. "Grace for grace"' speaks: (a) The freeness of this grace. It is grace for grace's sake. We receive grace, not for our sakes, be it known to us, but "'even so, Father, because it seemed good in thy sight". It is a "gift according to grace''(Rom. xii. 6). It is grace to us for the sake of grace to Jesus Christ. God was well-pleased in Him, and is therefore well-pleased with us in Him (Eph. i, 6).
(6) The fullness of this grace. 'Grace for grace" is abundance of grace: Grace upon grace; one grace heaped upon another, as ''skin for skin"' is skin after skin, even all that a man has (Job ii. 4). It is a blessing poured out that there shall not be room to receive it, plenteous redemption. One grace a pledge of more grace. '"'Joseph—he will add." It is such a fullness as is called the fullness of God which we are filled with. We are not straitened in the grace of Christ if we be not straitened in our own bosoms.
(c) The serviceableness of this grace. "Grace for grace'' is grace for the promoting and advancing of grace—grace to be exercised by ourselves, gracious habits for gracious acts. Grace to be ministered to others, gracious vouchsafements for gracious performances. Grace is a talent to be traded with. The apostles received grace (Rom. i. 5; Eph. iii. 8) that they might communicate it (1 Pet. iv. 10).
(d) The substitution of the New Testament grace in the room and stead of Old Testament grace. This sense is confirmed by what follows (John i. 17). The Old Testament had grace in type; the New Testament has grace in truth. There was a grace under the Old Testament. The Gospel was preached then (Gal. iii. 8); but that grace is superseded, and we have