Title: General Grace/Genesis 1:14
Content Source: Gwangju Eunpyeong Church Student Council
◎Genesis 1:14 ◎Explanation of Genesis⑩(General grace)
Following the prelude to the fourth day, the first thing we will consider at this time today is the general grace of God. On the fourth day, God made the sun, the moon, and countless stars.
God said, “Let there be light in the firmament of the heavens, to divide the day and the night. And let the light be for signs, seasons, days, and seasons.”
Verse 14 says this: Here we can see that God made a great light in heaven that was different from the light he made on the first day. God created light on the first day. This is not material light. It is just light without a form. That's why we called it 'the light of God'.
This is not natural light. There is a sun and there is something like a nuclear fusion reaction, so it's not light, it's just light. There was just light and there was night and day. This is like the light that shone on the Israelites when they left Egypt. Then there was light to them and darkness to the Egyptians. They could not explain why the light was shining. There was no sun, no electric lights, no luminous lights in the air. It was just light. It was the light of God, the light of mystery, the special light, and the miracle light.
What God created on the first day is the light of God. But God has always created natural light instead of letting this special light illuminate the world. From the fourth day onwards, this normal light illuminates the earth and rules night and day. That is, the special light is changing into the normal light. If you use a more difficult expression, God's special grace has been changed into general grace.
Let me explain with an example (eg, life in the wilderness and in the land of Canaan)
The process of farming and harvesting manna means that God's grace is becoming common. The mystery of God is hidden, and the laws of nature take its place.
Through this common grace, God tests the heart of man. As long as miracles happen, people cannot but believe in God. No matter how foolish and stubborn you may be, when miracles happen, you become a little humbled and try to acknowledge God. However, God is the One who seeks to acknowledge and praise God according to normal reason and thoughts, not by such miracles or abnormal methods, but by discovering God in the normal natural laws that occur every day. When grace is normally displayed in this way, the heart of a person is revealed. Some people believe that when they receive miraculous help, they believe it is God's help, but they do not think that normal help is God's help. Such a person believes that God has healed a person who is healed by praying, but is not thankful for going to the hospital and undergoing surgery. Because they think modern medicine has cured them. Such a person is arrogant and ignorant.
It is a grace and a test for us that God does not miraculously grant grace, but covers it with the general laws of nature. In this normal way, God reveals the pride and deceit in man. What did the Israelites do when they entered the land of Canaan? When they ate manna, they served God, but when they harvested in the land of Canaan, they forsook God and chose the god Baal. They didn't give the thanks and praise that they should give to God because they thought that what they had obtained in a normal way was not God's provision, but rather they obtained it through their own efforts. They thought that God was the god of manna, and that the Canaanite god of grain was Baal.
The age in which we live today is an age full of common grace. In fact, man-made things are far more beneficial today than miracles. So, people try to get more of the benefits of civilization and to be recognized by society, but they do not want to thank God for His grace and worship Him. Today, there are many cases where people get better through prayer, but there are many hospitals and medical techniques are well developed. There are graces from the Bible, but you can learn a lot at school. This is a test. It is God testing who we are.
Everyone, if you are satisfied with what you see today, you have failed the exam. When we see the abundant grace of the benefits of civilization, we need to look to God more and pray more and be humble so that our hearts do not become swayed by this. Because these common graces quickly make our hearts foolish and proud. The Israelites had to thank God more in Canaan than they did in the wilderness. But~
Ladies and gentlemen, we need to pray more when our lives are plentiful than when we are poor. Only then can we look to God in the midst of wealth.
Everyone, be careful. If you are not careful, the sun or moon will cover God and you will miss God and you will lose something bigger. What have humans done? They gained the sun and lost God. They gained the moon and lost God. They got a job and a job and lost God. After entering a good school, he lost God.
Conclusion.
God is not hiding. God is watching us quietly from behind the sun and behind the moon. To test our hearts and test our humility and sincerity.
Do not struggle in the midst of this test and win. The parts we don't feel in our daily life, and if you know those parts, it's God's general grace. In the name of the Lord, I declare in the name of the Lord that you do not thank God only when you visit specially, but that you will be grateful to God in your daily life as well.