So That

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now as work in the sons of disobedience... among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ... by grace you have been saved... and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:1-7

These have been our Fighter Verses over the past few weeks at church.  Last week I wrote about the marvelous phrase But God, this week the words that stick out to me are again two little words.

So that.

There is a lot of bad news becoming good news in this passage.  In this passage we go from dead to alive, from child of wrath to loved by God, from under the power of Satan to alive together with Christ, from following the course of this world to seated in the heavenly places.  This passage is dripping with good news. 

But why?  Why did God do this?

For one, God did this because of His immense love and mercy toward us.  That is absolutely true.  God did all that for us because He is rich in mercy and because He loves us with a great love.  The passage says that loud and clear.

But we see the words "so that" in this passage.  "So that" clearly is a phrase that proceeds the purpose being given.  So what's the "so that"?

God did all this so that His glory might be displayed.  God the Father crushed God the Son as a perfect sacrifice for us so that the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us might be displayed both at conversion and for all of eternity as we continue to enjoy Him forever. 

See, God did not become more merciful or loving at Calvary.  God has always been infinitely all that He is.  Never has an attribute of God been added to or subtracted from.  Calvary, the Gospel, is a grand display case for the love, mercy, kindness and grace of God.

God redeemed us from our former life of doom to the heavenly places so that God could display His infinite grace. 

That is a short sentence that could summarize the passage.  It's important that we get this.  The Gospel is of incredible benefit to us but it isn't primarily about us.  The Gospel is about God being passionately committed to His glory being known.  To paraphrase John Piper, "God's glory is His holiness going public."  His holiness and grace went public at Calvary and at our conversion. 

Thank God that He is committed to the whole world seeing His amazing grace displayed today.