The Immanence of God

The psalmist declares, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18 ESV). This simple statement is meant to bring encouragement to the suffering as they consider the amazing fact that the transcendent God of the universe chooses to draw near to them in their time of need. The One who created time and space and yet exists outside of both is fully capable of entering into the pain and suffering of His children.

Yet some deny God’s perceivability and accessibility. They view God as a distant and difficult-to-know deity who is disengaged from and disinterested in the affairs of men. This deistic view of God paints Him as an aloof and impersonal absentee owner who manages His creation from the confines of heaven and rarely interacts with mankind. In this rather pessimistic understanding of God, He offers little in the way of guidance, comfort, protection, or personal input.

The God of the deist is too big and far too great to expect Him to interface with His lowly creation. Even King Solomon seemed to believe that God was too immense to be truly immanent. When Solomon completed the construction of the grand Temple he had built to serve as God’s earthly dwelling place, he stated, “But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27 NLT). Solomon recognized that his immaculate Temple was insufficient to house the God of the universe. Yet, God was more than willing to bless the Temple with His presence.

When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of the Lord. – 1 Kings 8:10-11 NLT

Then the transcendent God delivered a very personal message to His servant Solomon.

“I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.” – 1 Kings 9:3 NLT

The doctrine of God’s immanence teaches that God’s presence is all-pervasive. It is closely related to His attribute of omnipresence, which teaches that God is not limited by time and space. He is not restricted to a human body or confined to a particular place or time. David was blown away by the amazing reality of God’s grandeur and immeasurable vastness and attempted to put his thoughts in writing.

I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me. – Psalm 139:7-10 NLT

For David, God was both near and far away. He was at the same time distant and close at hand. God could not be avoided or escaped from. There was no place on earth where His presence was missing or His power could not penetrate. To put it simply, there is no place where God is not; He is everywhere at all times.

But God’s immanence is not to be confused with Pantheism, a pagan doctrine that “teaches the belief that God is equal to the universe, its physical matter, and the forces that govern it” (“Pantheism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pantheism. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024).

“Canon W. G. Holmes of India told of seeing Hindu worshipers tapping on trees and stones and whispering ‘Are your there? Are you there?’ to the god they hoped might reside within. In complete humility the instructed Christian brings the answer to that question. God is indeed there. He is there as He is here and everywhere, not confined to tree and stone, but free in the universe, near to everything, next to everyone, and through Jesus Christ immediately accessible to every loving heart.” – A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

God’s presence permeates His creation but is not equal to it. God’s omnipresence should not be construed to mean that everything is God. That is the false and unbiblical premise of Pantheism. What makes the doctrine of God’s immanence so incredibly unique is that it maintains the integrity of His otherness while assuring us of His closeness. Moses reminded the people of Israel, “What great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on him?” (Deuteronomy 4:7 NLT).

The incomparable and incomprehensible God of the universe has chosen to make Himself known and knowable.

The high and lofty one who lives in eternity,
    the Holy One, says this:
“I live in the high and holy place
    with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.
I restore the crushed spirit of the humble
    and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.” – Isaiah 57:15 NLT

He is high and lofty yet intimately involved in the affairs of men.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18 ESV

Who can be compared with the Lord our God,
    who is enthroned on high?
He stoops to look down
    on heaven and on earth.
He lifts the poor from the dust
    and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
    even the princes of his own people!
He gives the childless woman a family,
    making her a happy mother.

Praise the Lord! – Psalm 113:5-9 NLT

Why would the all-powerful, fully righteous God of the universe stoop so low as to have a relationship with sinful men? What would possess the holy transcendent God to condescend and care for those who have chosen to reject Him? The simple answer is “Love.”

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 ESV

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:6-8 NLT

The transcendent God took it upon Himself to transcend time and space by entering into the sin-darkened world as the light of life. God’s presence had always pervaded His creation but with the coming of Christ, His presence took on a personal and perfectly relatable form.

In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
    and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it. – John 1:1-1-5 NLT

God became flesh. Jesus, in His incarnation, became Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22-23). He was fully God and fully man. He was the God-man. In His humanity, Jesus made God visible, relatable, and easily knowable. He was the flesh-and-blood God, but no less divine and fully holy in every way. As John points out in his gospel, Jesus was the light shining in the darkness.

The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. – John 1:9-12 NLT

The immense significance of Jesus’ immanence should not escape us. As John points out, “The Word became human and made his home among us” (John 1:14 NLT). God took up residence among us. He literally “tabernacled” among us. Not only that, He poured out His unfailing love and faithfulness to undeserving humanity through the life of His Son. And John adds the mind-blowing note that, as a result, “we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (John 1:14 NLT).

The transcendent became immanent. The invisible became visible. The incomprehensible became fully relatable and knowable. According to Paul, “in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body” (Colossians 2:9 NLT). Through Jesus, God has made Himself fully known and easily knowable. Jesus assured Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9 NLT). Jesus boldly claimed, “If you knew me, you would also know my Father” (John 8:10 NLT). Just hours before His death, Jesus told the crowd gathered in Jerusalem, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark” (John 12:44-46 NLT).

Yet, the light wasn’t well received. The presence of God in human form wasn’t fully appreciated by those who saw Him. Jesus’ entrance into the world was met with mixed revues, as He Himself confessed.

“God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” – John 3:19-21 NLT

The light of the world was eventually extinguished, but that was not the end. Jesus was put to death but the grave could not hold Him. His life was taken from Him but His divinity could not be extinguished. Jesus burst from the tomb in a blaze of glory so bright that it paralyzed the Roman soldiers.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. – Matthew 27:2-4 NLT

The light of the world was alive and well. The light of life overcame the darkness and defeated death and the grave – once for all. Jesus was and is alive and lives forever to intercede with God on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25).

Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. – Ephesians 2:18 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Our God Is Alive and Well

44 “You delivered me from strife with my people;
    you kept me as the head of the nations;
    people whom I had not known served me.
45 Foreigners came cringing to me;
    as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me.
46 Foreigners lost heart
    and came trembling out of their fortresses.

47 “The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
    and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,
48 the God who gave me vengeance
    and brought down peoples under me,
49 who brought me out from my enemies;
    you exalted me above those who rose against me;
    you delivered me from men of violence.

50 “For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
    and sing praises to your name.
51 Great salvation he brings to his king,
    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
    to David and his offspring forever.” – 2 Samuel 22:44-51 ESV

David knew that his life was inextricably linked to God. Nothing he did was outside the influence and direct impact of God. His victories were due to God and his position and power were attributable to God. His physical strength was a gift from God. Even his sins were lovingly disciplined by God. No area of David’s life escaped the notice of God, because his God was living, active, and intimately involved in his life.

When David stated, “The Lord lives” he used the Hebrew word ḥay (pronounced khah'-ee). It can be translated as “alive” and refers to flowing water or a green plant. It was an expression used to convey the evidence of life. A stagnant pond would not have been “alive.” A brown plant would have displayed no evidence of life. For David, the proof of God’s “life” was in God’s constant activity and non-stop involvement in his own life. He could “see” God and didn’t have to wonder if God existed. He was convinced of God’s presence by the evidence of his power made visible through His actions and activities.

It is easy to overlook God’s actions or to attribute them to someone or something else. We often refer to luck or good fortune. When something fortuitous happens, we might say, “I was just in the right place at the right time.” If we encounter an unexpected and unpleasant outcome, we might respond, “I guess I had that coming.” We jokingly refer to karma and kismet. We talk about fate as if it exists and holds an irresistible mastery over our future. Even Christians can end up believing that the outcome of their lives is completely up to them or at the mercy of unseen forces.

But David would argue that God is the invisible, unstoppable agent of influence in the life of the believer. He is alive and active, and the evidence of His life is all around us. But seeing and believing it is a matter of perspective. When difficulties come into our lives, we tend to ask, “Where is God?” In other words, we assume that the presence of trouble signals the absence of God. But David would argue that God is there, even in those dark moments.

He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
    he brings down the nations under me
    and delivers me from my enemies. – 2 Samuel 22:48-49 NLT

David sensed God’s presence, even in the most difficult of situations. This awareness of God’s immanence allowed David to live with a sense of expectation and eager anticipation that God was going to act on his behalf. There’s little doubt that much of David’s firm assurance in God’s presence was the result of hindsight. He could look back on his life and recognize the evidence of God’s handiwork. That is why he was so willing to confidently attribute his current success to God’s past actions in his life.

You gave me victory… – vs 44

You preserved me… – vs 44

You hold me safe… – vs 49

You save me… – vs 49

You give great victories… – vs 51

You show unfailing love… – vs 51

David had learned that God reveals Himself through the grace, peace, and mercy that He pours out in times of difficulty. These displays of God’s love aren’t always recognizable and readily attributable to Him. Sometimes it comes disguised in the form of a friend who encourages and comforts us. He sends His children to act as His representatives, expressing His love and providing tangible evidence of His existence.

Seeing God requires that we look for Him. God told the Israelites, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me” (Jeremiah 29:13 NLT). But we have to make the effort to seek evidence of His presence. We have to assume He is there, even when the circumstances tell a starkly different story. When David sat in the damp, dark recesses of a cave in the Judean wilderness, attempting to hide from King Saul, it would have been easy to doubt the presence of God. He could have easily assumed that he had been abandoned by God.

When facing difficulty, our first impression is to assume that God has left the building; He has turned His back on us. But He is there. He is always there. And He is always active because He is the living God. He is not a lifeless idol sitting on a shelf. He is not a dead deity whose story is bound up in an old, out-of-touch book written thousands of years ago. He is the living God of the Bible, which itself is a living, active document that reveals His divine nature and tells the incredible story of His plan for redeeming and restoring humanity.

The author of Hebrews describes the Bible as “alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Hebrews 4:12 NLT). Everything about God is alive, from His Word to His Spirit who lives within each and every believer. Unlike the false gods of this world, our God is a living, breathing, active, and all-powerful God. He has no equal. There are no other gods who can compete with or compare to Him. All other gods are man-made, powerless, and poor substitutes for the one true God. The prophet Jeremiah pulled no punches when describing the futility of worshiping false gods.

Their ways are futile and foolish.
    They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.
They decorate it with gold and silver
    and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails
    so it won’t fall over.
Their gods are like
    helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
    and they need to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
    for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.” – Jeremiah 10:3-5 NLT

But Jeremiah goes on to differentiate the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David.

But the Lord is the true God;
    he is the living God and the everlasting King. – Jeremiah 10:10 ESV

He is the living God. In other words, there was no point in time when God was made or manufactured by someone else. It is not just that He has life or existence, but that He is the preexistent one. He was not made. God is not the result of man’s creative capabilities. In fact, God is the Creator of all things. He doesn’t have to be carried about and propped up on a shelf. He isn’t restricted to a specific location or limited in any way. God is not isolated and insulated from His creation. He is not stuck in heaven and dependent upon our efforts to call Him down. As followers of Christ, the living God lives within us; we are His temple. Paul reminded the Corinthians of this fact in his second letter to them.

For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” – 2 Corinthians 6:16 NLT

He lives within us and the proof of His presence should be evident all around us. Paul told the Galatians exactly how to spot the evidence of God’s life within us:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… – Galatians 5:22 ESV

That is all the proof we need that our God is alive. He reveals Himself in us and through us. But He also shows up all around us, in the daily affairs of life. We can see Him in the many blessings we enjoy. We can sense Him even in the difficulties that show up in life, as He comforts, corrects, encourages, and perfects us. God is always there. We just have to learn to look for Him.

David had become adept at looking for and seeing God in the everyday affairs of life. He had trained himself to seek God and to expect to find Him. David wasn’t surprised when God showed up; it was his expectation. And his response to the presence of God was to praise Him.

For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
    I will sing praises to your name. – 2 Samuel 22:50 NLT

David’s awareness of God’s active involvement in his life flowed out in praise. He couldn’t help but brag about God. Rather than boast about his own accomplishments, he gave God the credit. He literally sang God’s praises. But David didn’t operate in a vacuum. His words of acclimation and adoration weren’t relegated to his personal quiet time or some secluded spot in his palace. While he directed his praise to God, he wasn’t afraid for others to hear what he had to say. He wanted his people to know and experience the power and presence of God as well. He wanted the nations to hear about the glory of Yahweh.

For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
    I will sing praises to your name. – 2 Samuel 22:50 NLT

David’s God was alive and powerful. His God was worthy of praise, glory, and honor. Unlike the false gods worshiped by the enemies of Israel, Yahweh wasn’t sitting on a shelf somewhere; He was actively involved in the lives of His people and working out His sovereign will among the nations. He was powerful, present, and providentially carrying out His perfect will according to His predetermined plan.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

God In Human Flesh

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. – John 1:14-18 ESV

In verse 14 John returns to the focal point of his entire gospel: The Word of God. But now, he adds another crucial element to the identity of this one who “was in the beginning with God” (John 1:2 ESV). This life-giving “light” penetrated the darkness of the sin-saturated world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. – John 1:10 ESV

And adding an important point of specificity, John states: 

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. – John 1:11 ESV

But how did He He come? In what form did the Word of God appear? In verse 14, John shares the incredible truth regarding the incarnation – the miraculous moment when God took on human flesh. In this one verse, John brings together the two seemingly opposing doctrines of God’s transcendence and immanence. The holy and wholly righteous God of the universe not only made Himself known to mankind, He became one with them. 

…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us… – John 1:14 ESV

God had made Himself known before. He had regularly conversed with Adam and Eve in the garden. He spoke to Noah and Abraham. He appeared to Moses in the form of the burning bush. He revealed Himself to the people of Israel through the pillars of fire and smoke that led them through the wilderness. And God had repeatedly spoken to His prophets, providing them with the words to convey to His rebellious people, warning them of the judgment to come.

But what John is describing here is something different altogether. He is declaring that deity and humanity became one. The God of the universe stepped out of His heavenly palace and took up residence among us. Jesus, the Son of God, left His throne in glory and willingly assumed the nature of an ordinary human being. The apostle Paul describes this remarkable transformation this way:

…though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. – Philippians 2:6-7 ESV

At the time at which John wrote his gospel, there would have been few who denied the existence of Jesus. His ministry had made Him a celebrity throughout Judea. His miracles and messages had attracted huge crowds which gained Him the attention of the religious and political leaders. Ultimately, Jesus’ growing celebrity status had threatened the powerful Jewish religious leaders, so they had Him crucified. And even that fateful event had been well-attended and well-documented. So, there would have been little debate over the humanity of Jesus.

But the deity of Jesus was a whole other matter. One of the primary reasons Jesus had been crucified was because the Jewish religious leaders had deemed Him guilty of blasphemy, for having claimed to be God. At one point, Jesus had said to a group of Pharisees, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30 ESV). And their immediate reaction had been to stone Him to death. And they had justified their action by saying, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God” (John 10:33 ESV).

On another occasion, Jesus had said to the religious leaders: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58 ESV), and again, they responded by picking up stones to kill Him. Why? Because with His seemingly innocuous statement, Jesus had identified Himself as God. He had purposefully used the identifier “I am,” a direct reference to God’s own self-identification spoken to Moses at the burning bush.

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” – Exodus 3:14 ESV

The religious leaders had picked up on Jesus' meaning and immediately understood that He was claiming to be divine. But they refused to accept that Jesus was anything but a man. He was nothing more than a non-descript, uneducated rabbi from the backwater town of Nazareth. He may have been a nuisance and a threat, but He was anything but God.

But for John, the deity of Jesus was essential to understanding the humanity of Jesus. God had taken on human flesh and John claims to have been one of many eye-witnesses to the reality of Jesus’ divinity.

…we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14 ESV

This is most likely a reference to the transfiguration of Jesus that John, James, and Peter had been privileged to witness. Matthew describes this event in his gospel account.

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. – Matthew 17:1-3 ESV

John had been given an eye-witness glimpse of the glory of Jesus. The humanity of Jesus had been transfigured right before John’s eyes, revealing the full divinity and holiness of the one he called master and friend.

John even recalls how John the Baptist had recognized the unique nature of Jesus, describing Him as far more than just another man. When John the Baptist had stated, “He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me” (John 1:15 ESV), he was declaring the divinity and eternality of Jesus.

But why is all this so important? Why is John beginning his gospel account by stressing the deity and humanity of Jesus? Because there were those who denied that Jesus had been divine. Just like today, there were many who were willing to admit that Jesus had been a good man, a wise teacher, and a worker of miracles. They would even confess that Jesus had lived a life worth emulating. But they could not bring themselves to believe that He had been God in human flesh. That was outside their capacity to comprehend and accept.

But for John, the deity of Jesus was a non-negotiable aspect of His identity. If Jesus was not God in human flesh, then He was just another man who died a martyr’s death. And that death accomplished nothing of long-lasting value.

Yet, as his gospel will reveal, because Jesus was who He says He was, His death did have value. It was efficacious. There was a reason why God sent His Son to earth to live and die as a human being. The author of Hebrews reminds us, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22 ESV). The entire Jewish sacrificial system had been ordained by God as a means for sin-stained men and women to receive atonement and cleansing for their sins. But those sacrifices had always been temporary and imperfect. The blood of the animals sacrificed on behalf of sinful men and women was incapable of providing permanent deliverance from the penalty of sin. They provided temporary cleansing from ceremonial impurity and nothing more. Again, the author of Hebrews provides us with an explanation.

Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. – Hebrews 9:13-14 NLT

Jesus, the Word of God, had to become a man so that He could become the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of man. As John will share later on in this same chapter, when John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he described Him as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 ESV). Jesus said of Himself, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45 ESV). When the angel appeared to Joseph, letting him know that his fiance was pregnant, he announced, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Mathew 1:21 ESV).

Jesus took on human flesh so that He could live as a man. But He was born as a Jew so that He would be required to live according to the law given by God to Moses. And because He was divine, He was able to live in perfect obedience to God’s law, making Him the sinless, unblemished, perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins of man.

According to John, Jesus had been “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 ESV), and that fulness expressed itself in the form of “grace upon grace” (John 1:17 ESV). What John seems to be saying here is that Jesus provided a new measure of God’s grace that was greater than that which had been made available through the law. Rather than temporary forgiveness from sin, God was making available permanent forgiveness and the right sinful men and women to be justified before Him. And it was all made possible through the God-man, Jesus Christ.

Up until the incarnation, the law reigned supreme. It was the only means by which sinful men could receive forgiveness. But as the apostle Paul states, “no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (Romans 3:20 NLT). He communicated the same idea to the believers in Galatia.

“…no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” – Galatians 3:11 NLT

John states that Moses brought the law, but that Jesus made possible grace and truth. It is only through faith in Jesus, that sinful men can receive the grace of God and be truly freed from the penalty of sin. The law could never save. But Jesus, the God-man can and does save. And He made salvation possible by taking on human flesh and making God known to man. He made the invisible God visible. He made the unapproachable God approachable. Because He was God in human flesh.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” – John 14:6-7 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson