Two profound statements in Scripture about Jesus arrest my attention nearly every time I read them:
Luk 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
The first shows that as a child who was waxing strong in Spirit and filled with wisdom, Jesus had the grace of God upon Him. The second shows that Jesus tasted death for every man by the grace of God.
Comparing these two verses, we see that Jesus—both as a sinless child and as a dying Christ who died for our sins—was what He was by the grace of God! Obviously, these verses do not have as their primary focus that Jesus Himself was “very God of very God” because God does not need grace to be or do anything.
Yes, Jesus was “very God of very God,” but these verses forcefully teach us that we must not make that glorious truth the sum total of our understanding of Jesus’ life from childhood to death. A theology and practice that mostly overlooks or ignores the biblical teaching about the grace of God in Jesus’ life is a distorted and unbiblical theology and practice.
Although He was fully God Himself, Jesus yet both lived and died by the grace of God that was upon Him! Let us take great encouragement from these truths that we can be like Jesus (in the ways that we can and should be) from childhood to death by the grace of God!
Praise God for His marvelous grace that He pours out on all who repent toward Him and believe in His Son!
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