Far As the Curse Is Found

Nehemiah 10:28, 29

The great hymn writer Isaac Watts penned the words to “Joy to the World”, nearly 300 years ago. I do not know if he intended for it to be used primarily as a Christmas song, but I do know that it is full of theology. The third verse in particular, emphasizes a point that I believe should be brought to light often:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

With the arrival of Jesus and His subsequent death on the cross, we now have the power to “no more let sins and sorrows grow”, but we do still have thorns infesting the ground. However, the price paid by Christ with His precious blood has given us a guarantee that someday all of the curse against this earth will be lifted (Revelation 22:3), and that His blessings will truly flow, “Far as the curse is found”.

Man has had the knowledge of the curse on the ground, and the sorrow of sin, since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, but he has not had the knowledge of the curse of the law forever. Until Moses gave the law, sin was not imputed (Romans 5:13), though it did exist. With the advent of the law, came the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20), and the oppressive weight of the curse of death.

Fourteen years after the return of Ezra to Jerusalem, Nehemiah led up a company of Israelites to restore the walls and civil authority. The book that bears his name is the record of those events, and its ninth chapter is the prayer of repentance by the people, while they observe the Feast of Tabernacles. The 10th chapter opens with the people and the priesthood signing a covenant, which they have written, basically, promising God that they will not sin again, and verse 29 describes what this covenant represented:

“They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.”

The moment that Israel entered into this covenant, they identify it as a curse! This covenant is not a blessing; it is a curse, which is exactly what breaking the law brings. It is viewed as a curse because the people were confident in only one thing when they entered into it: they could not keep it.

For the believer under the New Covenant, we have the assurance that God has removed the curse of the law from us, because Jesus took the curse upon himself (Galatians 3:13). The Father did not cut covenant with you and I, because we are notorious for not keeping our end of the deal, so He cut the covenant with His Son (Galatians 3:16). Now, you and I have no fear of the curse when we fail because Jesus has taken the curse for us.

May His blessings flow for you today, “far as the curse is found”.

No More Curse

Revelation 22:1-4

What a beautiful scene is laid out in front of us in this text. The pure river of water of life flowing from beneath the throne of God, with the Lamb Jesus sitting there as well; all of it a picture of God’s wonderful provision and love. It takes place in the new Paradise, known as New Jerusalem on the New Earth which is our eternal home. God’s provision, as wonderful then as it is now, provides living water and trees which are “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2).

There will also be no more curse on this New Earth. The earth that we occupy dwells under a constant curse of death. When Adam sinned in the Garden, God told him that from that day forward, “cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” (Genesis 3:17-19). God also multiplied a woman’s sorrow in conception and cursed her to dependence on her husband, with him being over her. There was also an obvious separation placed between man and beast, as before the fall, Adam had perfect interaction with them.

Death is the most obvious result of the curse, as all of us will meet that same fate someday. When Christ died at Calvary, He became the curse for us so that we could live in the blessings. His death at the cross conquered the entire universe, but He has yet to take claim of all that He conquered, choosing instead to allow time to pass so that more people will accept His payment.

The author of Hebrews wrote that Jesus offered one sacrifice for sins forever and then sat down on the right hand of God. From that moment forward, that same Jesus is waiting as one-by-one, all of His enemies are made His footstool, meaning that Jesus is resting His feet over the forces of darkness, but He has yet to put all things there (Hebrews 10:12, 13). The very last thing that He will slide up under His victorious, nail-scarred feet will be death, thus finishing the curse (1 Corinthians 15:26).

The scene of Revelation 22 also shows us that the name of Jesus will be written in the foreheads of the redeemed for eternity. We will bear a mark on us that identifies us with Him, and this is the opposite of the mark of the curse of this world. Satan will duplicate this action during the Great Tribulation with what we refer to as “The Mark of the Beast”, but where his denotes a curse, God’s denotes a blessing.

This action of the marked forehead providing the cure from the curse was first introduced in Genesis 4, when God told the murderous Cain, “Now art thou cursed from the earth” (Genesis 4:11). Cain complained that his punishment was greater that he could bear and he appealed to God for help. God, who is rich in mercy, marked Cain in the forehead so that anyone who saw him would not kill him. What could God have placed on the forehead of Cain that would make a potential killer back away? It must be something that identified Cain as being protected from God, for the curse shrinks away from the life-giver. Just as we are marked in the New Earth, Cain was marked in the old one. Thank God for His wonderful grace and mercy!

Under the Curse

Galatians 3:10-13

When Jesus died on the cross, He took all of our sins into His body, but He also took upon Himself the curse that accompanied the law. That curse could not come upon Jesus for His own law-breaking, for He had none, so it came upon Him because at Calvary, Jesus took our place. What was meant to come upon the whole of humanity was put upon Christ with full force at the cross. The curse was death, and its application on Jesus freed the rest of us from torment.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Not only did Jesus take the curse intended for law-breakers, but He actually became the cursed object at Calvary. As the perfect sacrifice, He became the object of scorn for the wrath of God, and literally, the lightning rod for God’s judgment. The fullness of that punishment gave liberty to all of those who would accept Jesus by faith, thus coming under His wonderful grace.

When a believer sins, they do not fall out of God’s grace, nor do they go under the curse of the law. They can’t fall from God’s grace for they are positioned under grace, not above it (Romans 6:14). At the same time, while under His grace, they are truly surrounded by it, for Paul told us that if there is an abundance of sin, there is a super-abundance of grace (Romans 5:20). This means that when the believer fails, they do not fall from grace, but rather they fall into grace!

Failure by a saint does not put them back under the curse of the law either, for Jesus has already been made the curse for us. He fulfilled the law in its entirety; therefore no failure on your part can put any portion of the curse on you. If Jesus had failed to completely finish the work at the cross, there would be something left to be done by you and I, but thank God He meant it when He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

How does one go back under the curse of the law? Paul makes it clear that “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse” (Galatians 3:10). He does not say that if you fail to keep the law you are under the curse, for we know that is why Jesus became the curse. Instead, he emphasizes that everyone who works the law to achieve righteousness is going back to their own performance of the law, and they must suffer the curse that accompanies failure. Why would we want to take upon us that which Jesus has already taken upon Himself? Why would we desire to seek justification by our ability, when Jesus has freely justified us based upon His finished work?

It takes no faith to live according to the letter of the law; it simply takes obedience (Galatians 3:12). You can obey the instructions of the law and not even like it. You can obey the law and have no heart change. You can obey the law and hate the law-giver! You cannot help but rejoice in pure righteousness, and have a change of heart and fall in love with Jesus when you receive His free gift of salvation and sanctification by faith and none of it comes from your talent.

You are not cursed believer, for Jesus was cursed for you. That which is blessed cannot be cursed so reject the lie from Satan that you have been hexed or any such foolishness. Take your stand in the knowledge that Jesus bore your curse so that you can always bear His blessing!

Far As the Curse Is Found

Nehemiah 10:28, 29

The great hymn writer Isaac Watts penned the words to “Joy to the World”, nearly 300 years ago. I do not know if he intended for it to be used primarily as a Christmas song, but I do know that it is full of theology. The third verse in particular, emphasizes a point that I believe should be brought to light often:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

With the arrival of Jesus and His subsequent death on the cross, we now have the power to “no more let sins and sorrows grow”, but we do still have thorns infesting the ground. However, the price paid by Christ with His precious blood has given us a guarantee that someday all of the curse against this earth will be lifted (Revelation 22:3), and that His blessings will truly flow, “Far as the curse is found”.

Man has had the knowledge of the curse on the ground, and the sorrow of sin, since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, but he has not had the knowledge of the curse of the law forever. Until Moses gave the law, sin was not imputed (Romans 5:13), though it did exist. With the advent of the law, came the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20), and the oppressive weight of the curse of death.

Fourteen years after the return of Ezra to Jerusalem, Nehemiah led up a company of Israelites to restore the walls and civil authority. The book that bears his name is the record of those events, and its ninth chapter is the prayer of repentance by the people, while they observe the Feast of Tabernacles. The 10th chapter opens with the people and the priesthood signing a covenant, which they have written, basically, promising God that they will not sin again, and verse 29 describes what this covenant represented:

“They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.”

The moment that Israel entered into this covenant, they identify it as a curse! This covenant is not a blessing; it is a curse, which is exactly what breaking the law brings. It is viewed as a curse because the people were confident in only one thing when they entered into it: they could not keep it.

For the believer under the New Covenant, we have the assurance that God has removed the curse of the law from us, because Jesus took the curse upon himself (Galatians 3:13). The Father did not cut covenant with you and I, because we are notorious for not keeping our end of the deal, so He cut the covenant with His Son (Galatians 3:16). Now, you and I have no fear of the curse when we fail because Jesus has taken the curse for us.

May His blessings flow for you today, “far as the curse is found”.

No More Curse

Revelation 22:1-4

What a beautiful scene is laid out in front of us in this text. The pure river of water of life flowing from beneath the throne of God, with the Lamb Jesus sitting there as well; all of it a picture of God’s wonderful provision and love. It takes place in the new Paradise, known as New Jerusalem on the New Earth which is our eternal home. God’s provision, as wonderful then as it is now, provides living water and trees which are “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2).

There will also be no more curse on this New Earth. The earth that we occupy dwells under a constant curse of death. When Adam sinned in the Garden, God told him that from that day forward, “cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” (Genesis 3:17-19). God also multiplied a woman’s sorrow in conception and cursed her to dependence on her husband, with him being over her. There was also an obvious separation placed between man and beast, as before the fall, Adam had perfect interaction with them.

Death is the most obvious result of the curse, as all of us will meet that same fate someday. When Christ died at Calvary, He became the curse for us so that we could live in the blessings. His death at the cross conquered the entire universe, but He has yet to take claim of all that He conquered, choosing instead to allow time to pass so that more people will accept His payment.

The author of Hebrews wrote that Jesus offered one sacrifice for sins forever and then sat down on the right hand of God. From that moment forward, that same Jesus is waiting as one-by-one, all of His enemies are made His footstool, meaning that Jesus is resting His feet over the forces of darkness, but He has yet to put all things there (Hebrews 10:12, 13). The very last thing that He will slide up under His victorious, nail-scarred feet will be death, thus finishing the curse (1 Corinthians 15:26).

The scene of Revelation 22 also shows us that the name of Jesus will be written in the foreheads of the redeemed for eternity. We will bear a mark on us that identifies us with Him, and this is the opposite of the mark of the curse of this world. Satan will duplicate this action during the Great Tribulation with what we refer to as “The Mark of the Beast”, but where his denotes a curse, God’s denotes a blessing.

This action of the marked forehead providing the cure from the curse was first introduced in Genesis 4, when God told the murderous Cain, “Now art thou cursed from the earth” (Genesis 4:11). Cain complained that his punishment was greater that he could bear and he appealed to God for help. God, who is rich in mercy, marked Cain in the forehead so that anyone who saw him would not kill him. What could God have placed on the forehead of Cain that would make a potential killer back away? It must be something that identified Cain as being protected from God, for the curse shrinks away from the life-giver. Just as we are marked in the New Earth, Cain was marked in the old one. Thank God for His wonderful grace and mercy!

Under the Curse

Galatians 3:10-13

When Jesus died on the cross, He took all of our sins into His body, but He also took upon Himself the curse that accompanied the law. That curse could not come upon Jesus for His own law-breaking, for He had none, so it came upon Him because at Calvary, Jesus took our place. What was meant to come upon the whole of humanity was put upon Christ with full force at the cross. The curse was death, and its application on Jesus freed the rest of us from torment.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Not only did Jesus take the curse intended for law-breakers, but He actually became the cursed object at Calvary. As the perfect sacrifice, He became the object of scorn for the wrath of God, and literally, the lightning rod for God’s judgment. The fullness of that punishment gave liberty to all of those who would accept Jesus by faith, thus coming under His wonderful grace.

When a believer sins, they do not fall out of God’s grace, nor do they go under the curse of the law. They can’t fall from God’s grace for they are positioned under grace, not above it (Romans 6:14). At the same time, while under His grace, they are truly surrounded by it, for Paul told us that if there is an abundance of sin, there is a super-abundance of grace (Romans 5:20). This means that when the believer fails, they do not fall from grace, but rather they fall into grace!

Failure by a saint does not put them back under the curse of the law either, for Jesus has already been made the curse for us. He fulfilled the law in its entirety; therefore no failure on your part can put any portion of the curse on you. If Jesus had failed to completely finish the work at the cross, there would be something left to be done by you and I, but thank God He meant it when He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

How does one go back under the curse of the law? Paul makes it clear that “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse” (Galatians 3:10). He does not say that if you fail to keep the law you are under the curse, for we know that is why Jesus became the curse. Instead, he emphasizes that everyone who works the law to achieve righteousness is going back to their own performance of the law, and they must suffer the curse that accompanies failure. Why would we want to take upon us that which Jesus has already taken upon Himself? Why would we desire to seek justification by our ability, when Jesus has freely justified us based upon His finished work?

It takes no faith to live according to the letter of the law; it simply takes obedience (Galatians 3:12). You can obey the instructions of the law and not even like it. You can obey the law and have no heart change. You can obey the law and hate the law-giver! You cannot help but rejoice in pure righteousness, and have a change of heart and fall in love with Jesus when you receive His free gift of salvation and sanctification by faith and none of it comes from your talent.

You are not cursed believer, for Jesus was cursed for you. That which is blessed cannot be cursed so reject the lie from Satan that you have been hexed or any such foolishness. Take your stand in the knowledge that Jesus bore your curse so that you can always bear His blessing!

Sour Grapes

Ezekiel 18:2-4

In a previous devotion, we dealt with what Paul called “old wives’ fables”. We briefly covered this passage from Ezekiel, dealing with the fathers eating sour grapes and then the children’s teeth being set on edge. I want to look at it with a bit more detail, to show you something great that Jesus accomplished for us.

First, the theme for this proverb begins at Mt. Sinai while God is giving the law to Moses, and he tells him, “I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Exodus 20:5). This promise from God was to those who walked in sin, with the guarantee that He would send down punishment upon the children for what the father’s had done. Some in the church call these “generational curses”.

The parable first surfaces in Jeremiah 31:29, 30, where we see the fathers having “eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”. By the time Ezekiel tells of the proverb, they have eaten “grapes”, denoting more than one. Sin always increases, both in scope and in size.

In Jeremiah, God says that “they shall say no more” regarding this proverb and Ezekiel says, “ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel”. Something is going to transpire that will cause the principle of the fathers partaking in sin and the children reaping the punishment to change.

Jeremiah goes on to say that the time when this saying will be used no more will also feature the LORD putting His law, “in their inward parts” and writing it, “in their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). He also promises that He will “forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more” (verse 34). Fortunately for us, we know when this time period is, as the author of Hebrews quotes this passage when he tells us that Jesus Christ took away the first covenant, “that he may establish the second” (Hebrews 10:9-18). We are living in that New Covenant now, so the father’s eating the sour grapes and the children paying the price for it can no longer apply!

It is not enough to say that this time period is simply over with. What caused this parable to be rendered obsolete? To find the answer, we must take a look at Christ on the cross. John tells us that, “Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, ‘I thirst’” (John 19:28). Jesus has done everything up to this point that He needs to do in order to redeem mankind, but there remains one thing left to be done. When He says that He is thirsty, they fill a sponge full of vinegar and lift it up to Jesus’ mouth, which he drinks.

The word ‘vinegar’ is the Greek word “oxos” and it means ‘sour wine’. Jesus had to receive the sour wine willingly, which verse 30 tells us that He did. When He drank it, He was drinking all of our sour wine or the “sour grapes” of our sins. He took the sour wine so that our teeth would never be set on edge. Because He bore the iniquity, we have no repercussions. Hallelujah!
There is no generational curse hanging over you dearly beloved. Jesus took all things at the cross so that you would not have to. After drinking the sour wine, He declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Thank God, it truly is.

Know the Righteousness of the Lord

Micah 6:5

Most Christians claim that they know what it takes to be righteous. Things such as reading your Bible, having a daily prayer time, giving in the offering and going to church regularly will usually find their way onto the list. All of these things are great, but none of them make us righteous. These things come from those who are righteous, but they in no way improve upon their righteousness.

Believers are made righteous because Jesus was made to be sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our right standing with God comes now, not because we keep all of the law perfectly, but because Jesus did, and the Father accepts Him. If God accepts Jesus, then God shows us His righteousness by accepting us (Romans 3:26). If we see how righteous that He is through His acceptance of us, then we have an insight into the righteousness of God.

God spoke through Micah, stating that Israel could know how righteous that God was by remembering the story of Balaam and Balak. Balak was the king of Moab, and he watched as the nation of Israel marched past his kingdom in the book of Numbers. He consulted with the wizard Balaam to place a curse on God’s people as they were encamped in the valley, taking Balaam to a high mountain to show him a fourth part of the camp. Balaam agreed to do it for the money, but found that every time that he opened his mouth to curse God’s people a blessing came out instead. What God has blessed, no man can curse!

After repeated attempts at cursing God’s people, Balaam made this very telling statement about how God views His own:

“He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them” (Numbers 23:21).

Even though God’s people had complained over lack of water in chapter 20, and had mocked God’s provision of manna in chapter 21, God still sees no iniquity in Jacob or perverseness in Israel. How can this be? Surely not everyone in the camp of Israel had no sin in their life. Remember, Israel has just put the brazen serpent on a pole in chapter 21 and all who looked upon it were healed. That serpent was a type of the cursed Christ at Calvary, of which all who look upon will be saved. Because Christ took the curse, we CANNOT BE CURSED! Thus, when God looked down into the camp of Israel he saw no sin in Jacob or perverseness in Israel.

God specifically uses “Jacob” and “Israel” in His description, though we know that they are the same person. Jacob means “supplanter” or “heel-catcher”. In other words, he was a cheat by nature. Israel means “prince with God”. One represents the hopeless, while the other represents the hopeful. Notice that God saw no sin in Jacob, though by his name he is a cheater. No matter what stage of development that you are in while living for Christ, Jesus is in you as the hope of glory, and you are viewed as sinless in God’s eyes. Praise God!

See how righteous that He is in you by remembering that what God has blessed, no man can curse. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Far As the Curse Is Found

Nehemiah 10:28, 29

The great hymn writer Isaac Watts penned the words to “Joy to the World”, nearly 300 years ago. I do not know if he intended for it to be used primarily as a Christmas song, but I do know that it is full of theology. The third verse in particular, emphasizes a point that I believe should be brought to light often:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

With the arrival of Jesus and His subsequent death on the cross, we now have the power to “no more let sins and sorrows grow”, but we do still have thorns infesting the ground. However, the price paid by Christ with His precious blood has given us a guarantee that someday all of the curse against this earth will be lifted (Revelation 22:3), and that His blessings will truly flow, “Far as the curse is found”.

Man has had the knowledge of the curse on the ground, and the sorrow of sin, since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, but he has not had the knowledge of the curse of the law forever. Until Moses gave the law, sin was not imputed (Romans 5:13), though it did exist. With the advent of the law, came the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20), and the oppressive weight of the curse of death.

Fourteen years after the return of Ezra to Jerusalem, Nehemiah led up a company of Israelites to restore the walls and civil authority. The book that bears his name is the record of those events, and its ninth chapter is the prayer of repentance by the people, while they observe the Feast of Tabernacles. The 10th chapter opens with the people and the priesthood signing a covenant, which they have written, basically, promising God that they will not sin again, and verse 29 describes what this covenant represented:

“They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.”

The moment that Israel entered into this covenant, they identify it as a curse! This covenant is not a blessing; it is a curse, which is exactly what breaking the law brings. It is viewed as a curse because the people were confident in only one thing when they entered into it: they could not keep it.

For the believer under the New Covenant, we have the assurance that God has removed the curse of the law from us, because Jesus took the curse upon himself (Galatians 3:13). The Father did not cut covenant with you and I, because we are notorious for not keeping our end of the deal, so He cut the covenant with His Son (Galatians 3:16). Now, you and I have no fear of the curse when we fail because Jesus has taken the curse for us.

May His blessings flow for you today, “far as the curse is found”.

How to Be Cursed

Galatians 1:6-9

Everyone wants to be blessed, but I have never met anyone who wants to be cursed. There is much advice to be found floating about the Christian community on how to be blessed and to be a blessing, and considering there are very few people lining up to be cursed, there is a surprising amount of information on why so many Christians are living under a curse.

First of all, there is no curse to be found on or around those who have accepted Jesus Christ. Paul wrote that Jesus became cursed at Calvary, so that we would be free from the curse (Galatians 3:13). Yet, there are many preachers breathing out threatenings against God’s people, warning that sin will curse them, or not giving in the offering will curse them, or their grandfather’s addictions have cursed them. Stand firm in the liberty that Jesus paid for at Calvary, and know that He took the curse so that you do not have too.

However, some may be infatuated with curses, so the Bible does provide them with a sure-fire method to operate under the oppression of a curse. Paul wrote to the church in Galatia that he was amazed that it had taken so little time for them to abandon the gospel of grace in favor of some other message (Galatians 1:6). He then announced that if he himself, or an angel from heaven were to preach anything other than the original message of God’s grace and goodness, then “let him be accursed” (verse 8). He is so adamant about this, that he says it again, in the very next verse, nearly word for word.

Paul never shows this type of vehement anger in any other of his 14 epistles. To the very intelligent church at Galatia, he shows little patience. In chapter 3, he calls them “foolish”, and not for some act of atrocious sinful behavior, but rather for the fact that they are teaching that men are saved by grace and go on to growth by the works of the law (3:3). If this angered Paul, nearly 2000 years ago, when the church was small and young, how would he react in our massive churches today?

Remember, Paul received the message of the New Covenant directly from the lips of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12). He was not taught his doctrine by any man, but he relied on the identification of the Spirit to show him what was to be the way of living for this new church of Jesus Christ. Never once does Paul threaten believers with eternal damnation, not even using the word “hell” in any of his writings. An edifier of believers to the very end, it is remarkable, in light of this, that Paul gets so upset with the church at Galatia.

He took the perversion of the gospel of grace very seriously. So important was pure grace to Paul, that he evokes the Greek phrase for “eternally condemned” when he uses “accursed” in Galatians 1. So important is pure grace to God, that this letter makes it into the canon of scripture, as a warning to all who dare preach a gospel of mixture, combining the beautiful grace of heaven with good deeds and works to achieve sanctification and wholeness.

What man calls balance, God calls mixture. Paul wished to see no one living or operating under the threat of a curse, but he was not afraid to call one down on those who did not take the gospel of grace seriously.

Rest today in this good news of God’s grace and know that the same message that Paul preached 2000 years ago is still alive in your heart.