God always wanted heaven and earth to be joined as one. He created earth to be a part of heaven, with Himself and His human family living together in unity and harmony.

We know this because, at the end of time when He has dealt with the intrusion of sin and death into His plan, He will finish what He started.

Revelation 21:1-4 NIV
[1] Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. [2] I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. [4] ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He would destroy all the rebels and all the effects of rebellion with the same word with which He brought the earth into being in the beginning.

God’s plan to press the “reset button” was a daring one. He would come to earth in the person of the second person of the Trinity, live as a fallible human with the same temptations as the first man, take on the debt of humanity for destroying His plan, and pay the debt Himself. He would return to the Father in glory, taking with Him all who agree with and become a part of His work. The rest would join His adversary in the punishment He determined for setting the whole mess in motion.

To make this plan workable, He would send His Spirit to earth, after His return to heaven, to power the plan and make it happen.

The whole plan depended on Jesus, as a man, protecting His unity with the Father despite all the odds stacked against Him. One slip and He and all mankind would be lost forever.

Jesus came fully equipped for the task.

John 1:14 NIV
[14] “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

We need to get the full impact of John’s words.

Jesus was fully God, but His glory was veiled in humanity. Jesus was fully man but His humanity was empowered by the grace and truth of His deity. He came in the frailty of human flesh but equipped with the Spirit and with eternal truth to treat sinners with grace, to reveal the Father’s heart and to go the full length of love for them.

This plan was risky because of the scope of the task, to reconcile sinful humans to a Holy God. This plan was workable because of the players involved…God in three persons. This plan was successful because of the character of the one tasked to do it and the power of His equipment.

So, in two short sentences, John shows us how Jesus blazed the trail.

John 1:14, 16-18NIV
[14] “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”…

Not only did Jesus have the equipment to do the job, but He also freely gave His “tools” to believers to live it out in their lives, grace and truth, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

[16] “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. [17] For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [18] No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

God’s people, up to that moment, only knew God as the God of law. They missed His grace and truth because, through their persistent rebellion, they were always on the receiving end of His discipline. They did not know of His pain when He was forced to act against them.

Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9 NIV
[1] “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. [2] But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. [3] It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. [4] I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them…
[8] “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. [9] I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man— the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities.”

Time and again, despite their wickedness, God chose to forgive and not to destroy them completely. He continually saved a remnant so that the nation of Israel would always endure.

So, Jesus came from heaven with a mission…to reveal God’s grace and truth in all its fullness, a river of divine favour released on all people, Jew and Gentile, because He would deal with the impenitrable barrier of sin. The truth of God’s mercy in all its facets and forms, would flood the human situation and wash away all false notions about Him by the revelation of truth.

What is grace? A marvel and a mystery, too big to define in a single sentence!

Grace underpins everything God does for sinners. It’s the motivation behind His action, the power He releases that drives His intervention, the one-size-fits-all strength He supplies for every occasion.

Let’s look at grace like this… God’s DNA is holy-love. It’s who He is. His DNA is made up of a twisted strand of all His attributes…goodness, kindness, mercy, patience, wisdom, knowledge, power, sovereignty etc…all bound together and expressed through His grace.

Writes Peter…

I Peter 4:10 NKJV
[10] “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Peter described God’s grace as “manifold”, variegated or rainbow-coloured, and believers mirror that grace by the many-coloured gifts He has given us to serve one another. Isn’t that beautiful? As many as are the colours of a rainbow when light is split, so God’s grace splits into whatever function is needed to supply help. Likewise, our spiritual gifts are split into as many functions as are needed to serve God’s people.

So, truth supplies the reason, and grace the power to meet the need of every person who calls on the name of the Lord. Through Jesus, the one who came equipped with an abundant supply of grace and truth, we can approach the Father and He will rise to every occasion because that’s the God He is.

Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV
[15] “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”