“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 4:6
“But now I see,” John Newton wrote in “Amazing Grace.” And later he fleshed it out:
“How astonishing the thought that the Maker of heaven and earth, the Holy One of Israel, before whose presence the earth shook … when He displayed a faint emblem of His majesty upon Sinai—should afterwards appear in the form of a Servant and hang upon a cross, the sport and scorn of wicked men!
“The Redeemer of sinners must be mighty, … and He must be all-sufficient to bless … those who come to Him for safety and life. Such a one is our Shepherd. This is He of whom we, through grace, are enabled to say, ‘We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.’… He made us, He redeemed us, He reclaimed us, … and we are His by our own voluntary surrender of ourselves. For though we once slighted, despised, and opposed Him, He made us willing in the day of His power. He knocked at the door of our hearts; but we (at least I) barred and fastened it against Him as much and as long as possible. But when He revealed His love, we could stand out no longer.”
“How astonishing the thought that the Maker of heaven and earth, the Holy One of Israel, before whose presence the earth shook … when He displayed a faint emblem of His majesty upon Sinai—should afterwards appear in the form of a Servant and hang upon a cross, the sport and scorn of wicked men!
“The Redeemer of sinners must be mighty, … and He must be all-sufficient to bless … those who come to Him for safety and life. Such a one is our Shepherd. This is He of whom we, through grace, are enabled to say, ‘We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.’… He made us, He redeemed us, He reclaimed us, … and we are His by our own voluntary surrender of ourselves. For though we once slighted, despised, and opposed Him, He made us willing in the day of His power. He knocked at the door of our hearts; but we (at least I) barred and fastened it against Him as much and as long as possible. But when He revealed His love, we could stand out no longer.”
Scripture Focus
Ephesians 2:1-7
Insight
“From the first breath of life divine,/ to the last expiring hour,/ The gracious work shall all be Mine,/ Begun and ended in My power.” (William Cowper, 1860)
Bible In A Year
- Ecclesiastes 9-10
- Psalm 67
- John 7
