why have we been talking so much about God’s grace lately? Because it is only through the power of God’s grace that we be able to stand till the last hour. There can be nothing more urgent that power of God’s Grace working in the lives of believers. I first began seeing the power of this end-time grace in Zechariah 4:7.

Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, Grace unto it.

Prophetically, this points to the completion of the Temple, the dwelling place of God in the earth. And, we know that His final Temple will not be a building made of stones.

In the revelation God gave Paul there was no mention of a Temple made with stones. Rather, he saw the Temple in three dimensions made of living Stones, the lives of human beings.

1) The individual believer—I Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you...
2) A local fellowship of believers—I Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God....
3) The church universal (The Bride of Christ)—Ephesians 2:20,21... Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord.

Paul saw no further revelation regarding the temple. The final dwelling place of God will be in the lives of His people in all the earth. At this temple's completion there will be shoutings. The Hebrew word the Prophet Zechariah used here means the noises of devastation, like that of a storm with its wind, lightning, and thunder. These are celebrations of God's power from the natural heavens.

The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven; the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.—Psalm 77:1

These will become mere whispers in comparison with the shoutings that will celebrate the completion of God's work in His Temple as the joyful noise from every quarter of the earth ascends to extol His grace. Indeed, the lightnings and the thunder of the last day will be the shouts of saints rejoicing in the devastation of Satan's work and the triumph of God's grace in the lives of us all.

Paul points us to this celebration of God's grace. Actually, his Epistle to the Ephesians is a celebration, in word, of God's grace revealed in Christ Jesus. In fact grace reigns in Ephesians. Paul tells of Jesus as the One in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace—Ephesians 1:7.

Redemption, from the Greek apolútrosis, means deliverance from bondage upon payment of a ransom. Riches is from ploútos which means opulent wealth. Ephesians points us on to a celebration of grace that will come at the end of the age. Grace abounds toward us in the Redemption with an opulence that confounds the strength of every bondage.

Just as we hear of a redemption yet to be realized (Romans 8:23), there is a release of grace yet to be known in it fullness.

In that first long and wonderful sentence opening the Epistle, Ephesians 1:3-14, Paul used a word that is similar in meaning to shoutings of Zechariah's prophecy. It's translated praise and is from the New Testament Greek word épainon. It means a celebration of honor, an applause, a commendation.

Running through this Ephesians passage is the little Greek word eis (to, into or unto). Like a directional arrow it points time and again to épainon. It's as though Paul is saying, "Keep on moving through all that grace is doing in your life, for there is coming a release of grace upon you, and through you, like you have never known. At the final day you will join in the glorious celebration of this grace."

Look at these three statements in Ephesians. Mark them in your Bible so they can stand out to you in Paul's overall statement.

• Ephesians 1:6—To the praise of the glory of His grace…
• Ephesians 1:12—to the praise of His glory...
• Ephesians 1:14—unto the praise of His glory.

Each of these statements in the Greek begins with that word eis. The arrow of revelation keeps pointing onward and onward toward the outburst of praise that will close this age.

The word glory in the above verses is from dóxa which means the bestowal of splendid and magnificent honor upon someone who is high in government. In verse 6 it is the grace of God that receives this splendid honor.

Graceis from the Greek cháris. It means the beautiful favor God extends to us in our greatest need. When we have nothing to place in His loving hand except our bruised and helpless soul, we find His grace.

the power and glory of a parable in Luke 14:16-24 extends so far beyond anything we can imagine that we can only suppose what it means for the last hour. We see in it something of the reason behind the grand celebration at the end. It will be the greatest revelation of God's grace ever known as it reaches to every destitute soul, everywhere.

For you who aren't familiar with the word of Luke 14:16-24, go now and review it. Take note of the characters in the story. There is a certain man who is called the master of the house. Who can this be but our Father? He makes a great supper which we have found is "the last meal of the day." He sends His servant, who is indeed a "bond-servant," to call them that were bidden, "the called ones." Doesn't this mean that the last hour call will come first to the church?

With excuses, the called ones decline. Their widespread refusal causes the master to become angry. On observing this in the Greek, we find orgistheís, an Aorist Passive Participle which speaks of an action that has come to its completion. The refusal of the called ones provokes the master's anger—or better, His wrath—so that it reaches a fullness. Can we understand that the wrath of God will become full because of a condition that exists among those who have claimed to be His Own? Don't we have a further glimpse of this in something Peter said? For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God... I Peter 4:17.

After the called ones refuse his invitation, the attention of the master turns outside his house. Here we see that expression of overflowing grace. He sends His bond-servant to fetch the least likely ones to adorn the table of his feast. This points to the Holy Spirit's last-hour reach through God's humble servants as they go out into the streets and lanes and highways and hedges. They bring in the most lowly and destitute people on earth to sit at the banquet table spread with heaven's delectable feast. Not one of those to whom the invitation is now extended can compensate the master of the house. The entire feast is an extension of His grace.

As we go though our daily lives we need to remember the ones who received the final call. Every time we see the poor, and the maimed, the halt, and the blind we need  to remember this: they are targeted for God's grace.

When the call first went to the called ones, the feast had already been prepared. It was made ready for those in the house. Everything served in it, however, would satisfy the hunger of the destitute company outside.

Because this feast was first offered to the called ones, the strong impression has been coming to us that there are in the church multitudes as destitute as those on the outside. The trouble is they know it not. Their destitution is spiritual. Lovingly, and with a compassion many in the church have never dreamed of receiving, God is offering healing and deliverance in His house. This is part of His last hour grace.

Take note of the words of Jesus to the lukewarm Laodicean church of Revelations 3:14-22. Many believe that ancient congregation foreshadowed the church of the last days. Some things Jesus said in this passage reveal the true condition of the called ones of Luke 14 who refused to accept the master's invitation.

In Revelations 3 we find the Lord saying,
15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17Because thou sayest, I am rich (Greek ploúsios—wealthy, abounding in glory, distinguished), and increased with goods (peploúteka—brought to the place of being abundantly furnished with goods, both material and spiritual), and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched (talaíporos—distressed and harried, afflicted with trouble and inner turmoil), and miserable(eleeinós—something to be pitied and in need of mercy), and poor (ptochós—no more than a beggar; the same word used in Lk 14:21 to describe those on the streets), and blind (tuphlós—unable to see; another of the words from Lk 14 describing the destitute of the streets), and naked (gumnós—without proper or sufficient clothing; like the wrongly clad guest at the wedding feast of Mt 22:12).

The saddest thing about these discovered by the Lord is that they are not aware of their condition. His piercing eye alone can uncover the true condition of souls like these. Yet, what grace He offers! He says, "If you will open the door, I will come in and sup with you"—Revelations 3:20.

God’s grace reaches to every human need there is. It is greater than financial poverty or material poverty or spiritual poverty which is everywhere rampant, even in the church. But we can discover this poverty for what it is because there are some marks that will betray its presence. If we can see these in ourselves, we can better discern where we are spiritually and partake of the grace God offers.

The betraying marks of spiritual poverty are anger, low self esteem, fear, resentment, bitterness, resentment, hopelessness, anxiety, depression... All or any of these things that will weigh us down are likely to take lodging in us if we are spiritually poor. God's grace can break the power of any of them.

The anger of spiritual poverty cripples a person and makes their response to life's problems painful. In spiritual poverty, there is no faith for trials. In spiritual poverty there is no understanding for the confusing things of life. In spiritual poverty there is no peace when destruction or sickness knocks at the door. Sometimes in spiritual poverty, a person is left with so poor an idea of personal value that life—and purpose—are thrown to the wind.

Trials do come, but the healing power of the Lord lavished in His grace releases any soul bound in poverty to discover God's provision. It can release that soul to a liberality that opens them to see to the needs of others.

The Holy Spirit seems to be pulling back the spiritual covers behind which many of us have been hiding. The marks of poverty are rampant. But the gracious work of the Spirit is ready to deliver and heal. He is far more powerful than any of poverty's strongholds.

Father,
I don’t want any spiritual poverty left in me
or anything that will grieve You. Have mercy on me,
Dear Lord, as You do to those who love Your Name.
Direct my footsteps according to Your Word; let no sin rule over me.
I offer the parts of my body to You as instruments of righteousness
because Your have brought me from death into life.
I renounce the control of sin in my life,
for sin shall not be my master,
because I am not under law, but under Your grace.

  Now continue on to the next chapter...
The Power of God’s Grace...release from the bondage of poverty

© Berean Ministries

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