Marie Wandscheer's portret van een vrouw, 1886
[by guest blogger, Nancy Ingold] Today, after many years, Casting Crown’s song, “Glorious Day,” played on the radio. I heard it for the first time in 2009 and fell in love. How true and amazing it is! After nine years of suffering, and a day when pain has almost gone at last, God brought this song to me again, reminding me of the power and beauty of what he has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Living, he loved me
Dying, he saved me
Buried, he carried my sins far away
Rising, he justified freely forever
One day he’s coming
Oh glorious day, Oh glorious day
Glorious day, Oh, Glorious day
This song touches on a certain reality expressed in a section of the Bible called the book of Romans. God gave its author, the apostle Paul, a clear understanding of the gospel and enabled him to write it down for us. Romans is not an easy book to read, but it gives us a glimpse into the deep mystery of God’s love. I will begin with two verses which “Glorious Day” may have been based on:
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2 NKJV)[1]
What is the apostle referring to here? He is unfolding four wonderful promises from God.
1. We have been Justified
The first reality is that we have been justified through faith in Jesus Christ. ‘Having been justified’ means that we have been made free, innocent and righteous.[2] The apostle Paul used the past (aorist) verb tense which means the action of justifying us is “completely done, with results that can still be felt in the present.”[3] This means that once we were justified, we feel it now and always. When we come to Jesus by faith, believing he died and rose from the dead for our salvation, God saves us, justifies us, and makes us free from sin. He made us right before him and we experience this justification every day.
To receive justification, we must believe in the Son of God. If we do not believe in the Son, then none of this is true for us. The wrath of God still remains on us because of our sin and unbelief. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”[4]
God requires sinless perfection in order to come into his presence. But perfection is impossible for humans to attain. How can we make ourselves sinless and perfect? We have done so much wrong in our lives! No amount of effort, meditation, or deprivation will make us perfect in God’s sight.
Fortunately, God knows this, and because he loves us so much, he made a way to save us himself. He sent his son Jesus as a perfect, sinless human being, to take our sin away through his death and to raise us up with him to new life.
“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6,8).
When you surrender your life to God by putting your faith in Jesus, he will save you from God’s wrath, justify you and make you holy and clean. God is that amazing!!
“Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:9).
If you do not know Jesus in this way, I encourage you to ask him to forgive your sin through Jesus Christ and save you. Give your life over to him completely, and he will do an incredible work in your life.
Antonio Allegri da Correggio's Head of Christ, 1521
2. We have Peace with God
The second amazing promise is that, because God justified us, we now have peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace, (eirēnē in the original Greek), encompasses the idea of quietness, rest and prosperity.[5] God no longer sees us as an enemy, and his wrath has been satisfied through his son. But this word means more than an end to punishment for our sin. It connects us with God himself.
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace…” (Ephesians 2:13-14a).
Isn’t this an amazing verse? Jesus himself is our peace. We were once far off, disconnected from God and we have been brought near through Jesus’ blood, through his death and resurrection.
Can we mess up this peace or justification in some way? What if the time comes when we lose our sense of peace? What happens when we’re not right with God because of wrong thoughts or actions we have done since surrendering to him? Can we ruin the peace we have with God? The answer is NO. We cannot mess this up because our salvation and justification doesn’t depend upon us. It depends on God’s finished work in Jesus Christ to save us, not on us and our effort.
If we are saved and cannot lose this salvation, does this mean we can keep sinning because God justified us and will not take it back? A resounding NO. We are no longer our own. We belong to God through Jesus Christ. He put his Spirit inside of us and sealed us. From now on he works out this salvation from within us. When we sin, we act against his Spirit within us, and (if you have noticed, I certainly have) we become profoundly uncomfortable.
We cannot sin and please God. The apostle Peter instructs believers, “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy'” (1 Peter 1:15-16). How do we continue living in this holiness? By faith. By believing his word about who you are in him and what he did to save you.
Titian's The Penitent Magdalene, 1565
Tell yourself the truth and cast away lies that contradict the Bible. As you take him at his word, your life will change. As you obey his promptings within you, you will begin to move in this world as a light and a change agent of God. So instead of saying, “I am really messed up; God couldn’t possibly love me,” say, “God, I’m so thankful you saved me, made me right with you and have given me peace with you. I have been justified by my faith in Jesus and I am now yours. You love me so much God. Thank you, God!”
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." (Romans 5:8-9)
3. We have Access to Grace
As amazing as it is that we have been justified and have peace with God, there’s more! Through Jesus we have access by faith! Access into what? Romans 5:2 says, “…through whom (Jesus) also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand…”. We have access into grace. The word ‘access’ is used to mean “a leading or bringing into the presence of, or freedom to enter through the assistance or favor of another.”[6] God led us into his presence through Jesus. He gave us access and he enables us to stand in his grace through Jesus Christ.
This particular word for access (‘prosagōgēin’ in Greek), is used only three times in the New Testament. Ephesians 2:8 declares: “Through him (Jesus), we both have access by one Spirit to the Father…,” and then again in Ephesians 3:12: “…in whom (Jesus) we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.” What is this reality that we have, according to this definition? We have access to God the Father through the one Spirit - the Holy Spirit - he has given us through Jesus, so we can boldly and confidently come to him. Thank You, God, that I can come boldly and confidently to you because you gave me direct access through Jesus Christ!
We have access by faith in Jesus into this grace in which we stand. The verb for ‘stand’ in Greek is ‘histēmi,’ meaning abide, stand or make stand.[7] This word gives the feeling of stability, something we continue in; something we have been placed inside of by God. This something is grace. Grace is where we dwell. It’s where we are made to stand. But how do we understand grace?
Grace (‘charis’ in Greek), refers to the “benevolent disposition or character of someone who gives a bounteous gift”[8]. God is our benefactor. The bounteous and free gift is the salvation of our souls through Jesus and life with him forever. In Romans 5:2, ‘charis’ means ‘state of grace’[9] - the condition of being freed from sin, of having been justified by God, of being right with him - given as a gift from our benevolent Father. We receive this gift through faith, not because we did anything to earn it. God showed this favor when we deserved none. Now through faith in Jesus, we stand in this grace.
Can anything remove us from this grace? What if we sin again? Nothing, thank God, can remove us from this state of grace. The Bible tells us that Jesus “is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus is able to save us completely and he even intercedes for us. When we go through hard times or when we are tempted to doubt God’s word, Jesus prays to his Father for us.
Albert Bierstadt's Valley of the Yosemite, 1868
4. We have an Eternal Hope
Because of this gift of grace, we can “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” We rejoice with expectant dependence on the glory of God to save us completely and fulfill his promise to us of life with him forever. We can rejoice, even if we suffer for a short while on this earth. He saved us from sin and death, justified us, and he will save us completely when Jesus returns. God loves us so much that he made all of this possible. All we have to do is believe.
Is there anything that can separate us from his love? Consider these words from the apostle Paul:
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-35, 37-39)
These four truths have sustained me during the past nine years of sickness. When I was tempted to despair, I remembered God’s love which he poured out for me through Jesus Christ. I remembered the mystery of the gospel that saved me, freed me from the power of sin and death, made me right with God and placed me in his presence forever. I believe and know that nothing can separate me from his love. Not nine years of sickness and immobility. Even when I could not “do ministry” or do anything much at all, I knew I could confidently rest on his completed work in Jesus Christ and wait on him to bring glory to his name through my life, even through this sickness. I pray that I will understand the lessons he is trying to teach me from this time of suffering. As he gives me clarity, in time, I may begin to write it down.
Living, he loved me
Dying, he saved me
Buried, he carried my sins far away
Rising, he justified freely forever
One day he’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day
Glorious day, Oh, Glorious day
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[1] All verses are in the NKJVll verses are in the NKJV [2] Strong’s Exhaustive Bible Concordance defines “having been justified” as: “to render (ie show or regard as) just or innocent -- free, justify, be righteous.” [3] (https://ancientgreek.pressbooks.com/chapter/31/) [4] John 3:36
[5] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1515&t=NKJV
[6] Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Access [7] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2476&t=NKJV [8] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G5485&t=NKJV [9] This state of grace through Jesus Christ differs from the notion of some Christians, who state that we move in and out of the state of grace based on what we do, needing to confess to a priest in order to re-enter this state. We stand in this grace and are not moved because God Himself placed us there.
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About the author: Nancy Ingold with her husband Paul have spent their adult lives sharing the truths of the gospel with people of diverse backgrounds, from the squatter communities in South Asia to recovering addicts in major urban centers. They reside in Vancouver, Canada.