My point is that grace is certainly the expression of love moving downwards, it is undeserved favor but it is guided or directed by a series of considerations in every case. Like the feathers on the shaft of an arrow or the grooves or the inside of a gun barrel, these considerations guide the expressions of grace every time. Humanly we can see how this is so, we get that, but what guides God's mind when it comes to Him being the bestower of grace? It still is an absolutely free act of His will towards us, Ephesians 2:8,9 demonstrates that, but what directs His will to be gracious to whom He will be gracious? Does God just show grace to everyone and under every circumstance, like a great grace dispensing machine where all you do is pull the lever and you get . . .
It was Donald Grey Barnhouse who once said, ?Love that reaches up is adoration, love that reaches across is affection, but love that reaches down is grace.? God has given each of us numerous opportunities to reach down, and there are many more times when it has been us who have been taken hold of by grace. You know what has guided your heart to be gracious, the apparent need, the remembrance of your past, the hope for good to occur?all these thoughts and many more go through our minds as we consider whether to be a gracious person in any given circumstance. These considerations do not take away from the fact that it really is grace that occurs.
My point is that grace is certainly the expression of love moving downwards, it is undeserved favor but it is guided or directed by a series of considerations in every case. Like the feathers on the shaft of an arrow or the grooves or the inside of a gun barrel, these considerations guide the expressions of grace every time. Humanly we can see how this is so, we get that, but what guides God's mind when it comes to Him being the bestower of grace? It still is an absolutely free act of His will towards us, Ephesians 2:8,9 demonstrates that, but what directs His will to be gracious to whom He will be gracious? Does God just show grace to everyone and under every circumstance, like a great grace dispensing machine where all you do is pull the lever and you get some more grace automatically? Or does God exercise grace by His own free will in a discriminating manner, showing grace to whom He will when He will? It's pretty clear that if God judges wickedness, and He does, and if God has a holy wrath against sin, and He does, that His grace is directed in a particular way. So what guides the grace of God?
Let me suggest to you that the grace of God is guided by the absolutes of His righteousness, His perfect knowledge and the intensity of His heart for a perfect people, even from lovingkindness to wrath.
Turn with me to Joshua10, as read the first fifteen verses.
I. Grace First Proceeds from the Absolute Righteousness of God.
In a society and time that is forsaking the importance let alone existence of absolutes in favor of pluralism and inclusivism as expressions of a ?higher? human grace, the absolute righteousness of God is like a light house built upon a rock of offense. It's evident that God is moving with grace towards one group and moving with judgment towards another in the passage we just read. Were the Gibeonites a better people, no, they had been deceptive and had tricked Joshua into signing a treaty that Israel would not attack them. When I read this passage I can't help but think that this provided Joshua an easy way out. He should never have made a covenant of peace with the Gibeonites. Deut. 7:2 commanded them not to, yet by deception and their own negligence they had. Now here are these enemy kings about to destroy Gibeon as a tactical move to hinder Israel . All Joshua had to do was let them and, viola, Israel was back on track again. But what happens?grace is extended to Gibeon not by chance nor compassion nor legal entitlement. It is extended by hand of God Who is right in all that He does. The absolute righteousness of God and His grace which proceeds from it will direct us to several things: 1.To move with quick intercession when so directed. 2. To climb through darkness and fatigue in order to get to where the actual battle is. 3.To overcome the fear of loss by a knowledge that victory has already been determined. The absolute righteousness of God directs grace that we would be humbled by His choices, methods and mercy and would worship and glorify Him.
II. Grace Secondly Proceeds From the Perfect Knowledge of God.
It is unmistakable that God not only fights for His people but that these actions are undeserved expressions of grace? vs 10 God confounded them; He slew them; He pursued them; vs 11 the Lord threw large stones from heaven. God fights for His people, and that too is grace! Certainly this covered a considerable area, it involved all kinds of chaos, it even involved the prearranging of a storm to break at just the right moment. Hail takes time to develop, the humidity and wind and temperature all have to be just right. Then when the hail struck there was the problem of how to avoid friendly fire, how not to loose Israelite soldiers to the same elements. What I am saying in all this is that the grace of God is extremely surgical based upon His perfect knowledge. Three things you can know for sure about God's surgical grace? It is precise, It moves with great purpose, It is restorative it is design. Consider the surgical grace in the gift of Jesus Christ, are these three aspects evident? What about the grace of God in your own life, was it precise, purposeful and was the intent restorative? The perfect knowledge of God, of your thoughts, of your past, of the future, of His own will for you and plans for you, all of this works together to direct the expression of God's grace in your life.
III. Grace Proceeds From the Heart of God For a Perfect People.
Israel is being victorious, they have marched all night and fought the day through and are needing to complete the destruction of the coalition armies. This is where we run into one of the most amazing passages of scripture, it has incredible implication and challenges the inerrancy of Scripture to the core. In the presence of the army of Israel Joshua calls out an astounding prayer to God, he asks that sun and moon stand still over Gibeon and the valley of Aijalon so that there would be prolonged daylight to complete the defeat of the Amorites. Was it necessary for Israel 's victory, no. In fact it was such a step of faith that should it not occur Israel may have stumbled, having been done so publicly by their commander-in-chief. Consider these questions?.
1.How long did the sun stand still?was this just a figure of speech, perhaps it just means the day seemed long, perhaps there was a light refraction which seemed like the sun stood still, are any of these reasonable explanations? No, verse 13 says it was almost a full day more of light (approx. 10 hours)
2. For the sun to literally hold its? position in mid sky means the earth had to stop rotating, is this what happened? Yes. See Isa.38:8; Habakkuk 3:11. HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?
3. If the earth did stop rotating wouldn't there be massive tidal waves and earthquakes? If suddenly yes, if it slowed over the course of several hours then no. It would likely cause incredible storm activity.
4. If it was daylight in Israel for an extra long time then it had to be night and twilight in other areas of the world for the same amount of time. Are there any records of this? Yes, see the accompanying chart.
5. What if this is wrong and is a scientific impossibility, can the Bible be still considered inerrant and trustworthy if there is this kind of mistake in it? God doesn't make mistakes, since He inspired the Word, it is without error and is trustworthy.
6. Why would God set himself up for such a conundrum on this issue since Israel 's victory wasn't demanding such a miracle? Why did God do this?
The ultimate answer is, it was Grace, that proceeds from the passion of God's heart for a perfect people. But there are no perfect people, not even Joshua. That's true, but Jesus Christ was God's perfect man and we know Joshua was a picture or type of Christ that cued us to the Messiah to come. Joshua delivered Israel into the promised land, the Messiah more so. Joshua over came the enemies of Israel , the Messiah more so. Joshua moved in obedience to the commands of God, the Messiah more so was perfectly obedient even to death on the cross. God exalted Joshua by stopping the rotation of the earth, the Messiah, Jesus Christ has and will be exalted even more so. As there never had been a day like it when the sun stood still, there was never a day like it when the sun was darkened for three hours at midday at the crucifixtion of Christ. As the Lord fought for Israel through this great sign of daylight, even more so has the Son of God fought for you and His light now shines for the defeat of the greatest enemy and for the highest deliverance known to man, eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Jesus Christ is God's perfect man, perfectly obeying all the Law in perfectly responding to the temptations of sin and Satan. It was this perfection of obedience to the demands of the Law for righteousness that God regarded as the necessary and essential sacrifice for the sin of all. The passion of God's heart for a perfect people was met in the predetermined life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the pinnacle of the extraordinary grace of God.
Joshua's long day around the world: The solid black circles show locations with tales of a long night; open circles plot tales of a long day, and the half-white half-black circle in the Pacific shows the location of a long sunrise tale. Recently, after this figure was made, another long sunrise tale was reported in Hawaii .
1. The Quich? Mayans of Guatemala wrote about the people's reaction to a long night with these words:
They did not sleep; they remained standing and great was the anxiety of their hearts and their stomachs for the coming of the dawn and the day ... ?Oh, ... if we only could see the rising of the sun! What shall we do now?? ... They talked, but they could not calm their hearts which were anxious for the coming of the dawn.38
2. The Ojibways tell of a long night without any light.32
3. The Wyandot Indians told missionary Paul Le Jeune of a long night.33
4. The Dogrib Indians of the North-West tell of a day when the sun was caught at noon and it instantly became dark.34
5. The Omahas say that once the sun was caught in a trap by a rabbit who checked his traps at the break of dawn, presumably before sunrise.35 (This may be Hezekiah's sign, instead.)
6. The Bungee Indians from the Lake Winnipeg area of Canada also tell of a long night.36
7. The Greek historian Herodotus who wrote that when he visited Egypt , the priests there showed him an ancient manuscript which told the story of a day which lasted about twice as long as a normal day. Now the Egyptians had water clocks at that time so that they could accurately measure the duration of the day, not being dependent on the motion of the sun, moon, and stars, as would other peoples around the world.
See www.geocentricity.com/astronomy_of_bible/jld/
Rev. Spence Laycock pastors at Church of the Open Bible, Ponoka, Alberta, Canada.
www.churchoftheopenbible.ab.ca