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January 8, 2023

Grace and Reality Coming through Jesus Christ

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ. 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

Nineteen hundred years ago, Pilate asked, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). Many people have also asked this question. We cannot explain the biblical meaning of truth according to our concept. We have to consider what truth is according to God's Word. The word truth in Greek means "absolute reality." Hence, truth is not a theory but a reality. We do not know the theory behind many real things, yet we can touch the fact and the reality of them. According to John 1:17, the law was given through Moses, while grace and reality came by Jesus Christ. Grace is not an attitude of God, but a work of God. Grace is the work that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, has accomplished for us. God's Son has been crucified on the cross and shed His blood to accomplish God's work of redemption. There is no need for us to do anything by ourselves. By trusting in Him, we are saved. Without the work of the cross, God had no way to dispense His grace to man. Through Moses, He was only able to give man the law. Grace comes to us only because of the work of the cross. Therefore, grace is the work of God. Both grace and reality are in the same verse. Grace came through Jesus Christ, and reality also came through Jesus Christ. When God gave the world His only begotten Son, He intended that He be reality as much as grace. Through the work of His Son, there was grace. Through the work of His Son, there was also reality. Ephesians 4:21 says, "The reality is in Jesus." God has accomplished the truth in the Lord Jesus. The truth is in Him; it is His work. The Lord Jesus said, "I am...the reality" (John 14:6). The truth mentioned in the Bible refers to nothing other than the reality. What is reality? It is what we really are before God as a result of the Lord Jesus' accomplished work. This is truth, and this is reality. The Lord Jesus has shed His blood to redeem all those who belong to Him. This is a fact. Because of Him, I am a redeemed person before the Lord. This is the truth. The truth is what I am as a result of the facts accomplished in the Lord Jesus. I can only have the truth through the work that the Lord Jesus has accomplished. If the Lord Jesus had not worked, I would not have any truth or any reality before the Lord. I was a dead man and a sinner before God; I did not have any standing or anything before Him. But now, thank the Lord, through the work of the Lord Jesus, I have the reality before God; I have gained something solid and real. This real and solid thing is the fact that I am now a redeemed person. We must remember that the truth mentioned in the Bible is not doctrines preached on a platform, but a fact before the Lord. A doctrine is man's explanation of something, while the truth is what we have become in the eyes of God through the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus. Through the work of the Lord Jesus, God has made me another person. This is a truth; it is a reality.

Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, General Messages, Vol. 37, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, pp.147-148. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].

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CWWN - vol. 36 (Central Messages)