Genesis 6:5-8

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."

In this passage we have the first use of the word "grace" in the Bible. Against the backdrop of the verses before it, we find the shining light of God's grace. There are many ideas about grace. One idea is that it is some mystical quantity that somehow magically deals with our problems. Grace is so large a concept that in our efforts to expound it and grasp it we miss the very simple idea of it. The dictionary has as one definition, "a favor rendered by one who need not do so." This is a very simple, yet profound statement. To get a right idea of grace, this is a good place to start. Being gracious is a rather simple thing. It is a choice that one makes. Usually grace is seen as grace when the choice is made in the face of a wrong done. There is no need to be gracious to someone who has not wronged you. Consider the things stated in the above verses. God was grieved at His heart for the wickedness of mankind. He, being the one in a position to grant favor, granted it in the face of complete rejection of Himself and His ways.

Here we see the reason why the above definition is profound. Why would God be gracious? Having been treated in this way by the ones He created, why would He be gracious? The only answer that can be found in the Bible is that is the way He is. It is His nature. When Moses saw God, as recorded in Exodus 34, "God descended in the cloud and stood with him there (on the mount), and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And He passed by before him (Moses), and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth..." See here that when God introduced Himself to Moses, He called Himself gracious. This is one of the things that He wanted Moses to know about Him.

In Genesis 6 we find that Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. This is not a trivial statement because, taken in the context of what goes before it, one might conclude that Noah was really no better than any of the rest. That is the true nature of grace. Were there something about Noah that caught God's eye, then it would have been Noah's merit that saved him from the flood that finally came. That would not require grace. But (the verse says "but") Noah found grace. God is not impressed by our credentials. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that we all have sinned and fall short of His glory. There is nothing in our righteousness that impresses Him. All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in His sight (so says the scriptures). When we rightly take in the immensity of our transgression against God, we begin to get a glimpse of the awesomeness of His grace. Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD because God is gracious.

So what is grace? Favor granted. How gracious is God? So gracious that He has put Himself in a position to be gracious to every human that has ever offended Him. But His justice demands that sin be paid for, not glossed over. And therein is the wonder of the gospel. Not that God is gracious, but that He made it possible for Himself to be just and gracious at the same time. And the way He did that is by judging His Son for our sin. The only thing left is for humans to take it in. For if after God has paid such a price for us we decide that it is not good enough, or not good at all, that is, if we reject His sacrifice for us, we have left only a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.

Through Jesus' blood and righteousness, God's grace is greater than all our sin.

HJK