Eric Casagrande      /          Genelyn Novabos

 

 

The Rapture & The Age of Grace  -  Part 2

  

Does the grace of God have both a starting and finishing point?

Does it have a beginning, as well as an end?

Some would actually have you believe this lie, by suggesting God’s grace will abruptly come to an end, with the pre-tribulation rapture of the Church. But the simple truth of the matter my friends, is that anyone making such an unbiblical claim, has very little or no revelation of Jesus Christ, and the fullness of His finished work at the cross!

The grace of God has no beginning, and it has no end.

My brothers and sisters, it was the grace of God which appeared in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve sinned, and gave the promise of a coming Savior, who would crush the serpent’s head.(Genesis 3: 15)

It was the grace of God that placed a mark on Cain, after having brutally murdered his brother, Abel, so that people wouldn’t be able to recognize him, and put him to death as well. (Genesis 4: 15)

My friends, it was the grace of God that extended to mankind the space of 120 years to repent before finally having to send the flood. (Genesis 6: 3)

It was the grace of God that preserved the life of Noah, his family, and all the animals, sealing them into the Ark by His own hand. (Genesis 7: 1-16)

My brothers and sisters, it was the grace of God which made a covenant with all of mankind after the flood, and put a rainbow up in the sky as an eternal sign that flood waters would never again destroy all form of life on the Earth. (Genesis 9: 8-17)

It was the grace of God that called Abram (later renamed Abraham), out of his father’s house, and into a land where his future descendents would become a great and mighty nation, through whom the promised Messiah would come. (Genesis 12: 1-3)

My friends, it was the grace of God that had twice protected Sarai (later renamed Sarah), after her husband, Abraham, lied about his relationship to her, for no other reason than to save himself. (Genesis 12: 9-20 and Genesis 20)

It was the grace of God which delivered Lot and his family, from the total destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19: 1-22)

It was the grace of God that allowed Sarah to give birth to Isaac, the child of God’s promise to Abraham, when they were both well advanced in age, at 90 and 100 years old, respectively. (Genesis 21: 1-8)

My brothers and sisters, it was the tender grace of God, that appeared in the form of a well, in the desert of Beersheba, and saved both Hagar, and her son, Ishmael, from dying of thirst. (Genesis 21: 9-21)

It was the grace of God by which Joseph was lifted up out of a dark, filthy dungeon, and made to find great favor in the sight of Pharoah, so that he became second in command over all the land of Egypt, and thus was able to save his family in time of great famine. (Genesis 41-47)

It was the grace of God that sent Moses and Aaron to deliver the children of Israel out from the land of Egypt, after four hundred years of slavery. (Exodus 3 – 12)

My friends, it was nothing less than the grace of God that parted the Red Sea, allowing Israel to pass through on dry ground, and be delivered from the armies of Pharoah, who all drowned while attempting to follow them. (Exodus 14)

It was the grace of God which - under the faithul leadership of Joshua -brought the nation of Israel over the Jordan River, and gave to all its tribes their portion in the Promised Land. (Joshua 1 – 24)

It was the grace of God that used a small, ruddy-complexioned, shepherd boy, whose name was David, and delivered the armies of Israel from the feared Goliath, and all his forces. (1 Samuel 17)

It was also the grace of God, that took this very same shepherd boy, and caused him to be annointed as the King of Israel. (1 Chronicles 11: 1-3)

My brothers and sisters, it was the grace of God that kept both David and Bathsheba from being stoned to death (according to the Mosaic Law), due to their act of adultery, and because David had commanded the murder of Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 11). It was also because of this open display of God’s grace, that Solomon later came to be born. (2 Samuel 12: 24-25)

It was the grace of God which brought the nation of Israel back into their land, after they had been removed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, seventy years earlier. (Jeremiah 29: 10-11)

It was the grace of God that not only walked with, but protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the midst of the fiery furnace that was heated seven times hotter. (Daniel 3)

It was the grace of God that stopped the mouths of the starving lions, and delivered Daniel from certain death. (Daniel 6)

My friends, it was the grace of God that caused Esther to find great favor with King Xerxes, and thereby save the people of Israel from the evil plans of Haman. (Esther 3 – 8) 

It was the magnificent, loving, grace of God, that finally brought about the long-awaited birth of the Christ child, to a young virgin named Mary, in the town of Bethlehem. (Luke 1 – 2)

It was also by the grace of God that, a little over thirty-three years later, this same Christ child would go to the cross, and through His shed blood, death, and resurrection, take away all the sins of the world. (John 1: 29, John 3: 16, and Ephesians 1: 3-8)

It was the grace of God that sent the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and through Peter’s message, caused 3,000 people to become born-again. (Acts 2: 1 - 40)

It was the grace of God which appeared on the road to Damascus, and transformed Saul, the terrorist, into Paul, the evangelist. (Acts 9)

It was the grace of God that brought about the born-again transformation in untold hundreds of millions (if not billions) of lives, over the subsequent two thousand years, since the days of the first century Church. 

It was the grace of God, which not only miraculously preserved the Jewish people for nineteen centuries, but brought them back to the land of Israel as a nation, in May 1948, and into the city of Jerusalem in June 1967.

My friends, it will be the grace of God which commands both the shout of the archangel, and the blowing of the trumpet, as the dead in Christ come out from their graves, and, with the living Church, rise up to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air, and be with Him forever! (1 Corinthians 15: 51-57 and 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17)

It will be the grace of God that seals the 144,000 Jewish believers from out of the twelve tribes of Israel, in preparation to preach the gospel during the tribulation period, and through which uncountable numbers of people from every language, nation, and tribe on earth, have a born-again experience with the Lord Jesus Christ. (Revelation 7 and Revelation 14)

It will be through the grace of God that Jesus Christ returns to planet Earth at the end of the tribulation period, and saves it from complete annihilation, at the hands of the satanically indwelt anti-christ, and his forces of evil. (Revelation 19 and Revelation 20: 1-3)

It will be the grace of God that brings about the millennial reign of Christ, in which the earth and its people finally come to experience unending joy and peace. (Isaiah 11 and Revelation 20: 4-6).

In closing, it will be the grace of God that permanently crushes satan and his demonic hordes, at the conclusion of the thousand year rule of Christ. This will be followed by the creation of the new Heaven and the new Earth, in an eternal period of time that will be so absolutely incredible, it’s beyond our imagination to comprehend! (Isaiah 65: 17 and Revelation 21 – 22)

My friends, as I’ve stated in the first part of this article, the grace of God did not just suddenly come into existence, and neither will it just suddenly end (with the rapture). No! The grace of God is not a “thing”, but rather a person … the person of Jesus Christ. (John 1: 17, Revelation 1: 5, and Revelation 22: 21) 

As such, it has no beginning and it has no end, but exists from everlasting to everlasting!

Oh hallelujah!

 

 

 

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