The Last Year Of Grace

The man stepped forward on the platform, certain of his impending doom! He was recently arrested for inciting an insurrection in Jerusalem and was about to have his death sentence confirmed by a mob of people who were bloodthirsty and were gathered in a huge mass of humanity just below where he stood. As he waited, his mind surely drifted back to other days when he witnessed other condemned men each dying a cruel death on one of those torturous Roman crosses and the thought of the pain and the agony awaiting him made him close his eyes and wince! Just then …another man stepped forward. Unbeknownst to everyone present, this second man was a Substitute who had been prepared from eternity past to die in the convicted man’s place.  Somehow, some way, the Lamb of God had arrived just in time to supply a substitute of mercy at the exact moment Barabbas needed it most! The Substitute’s name was Jesus. Barabbas was pardoned. And thus began the Age Of Grace that is frighteningly about to close on an unsuspecting and sleeping world! 

CIRCA 1826 BC…..

The Father of the nation Israel is bewildered!  Abraham has shockingly been commanded by God to lead his son Isaac up Mount Moriah and sacrifice him on an altar similar to the child sacrifices practiced by the pagan religions of the day. Although Abraham is well aware of the blood lust required by the gods of his neighbors in their practice of child sacrifices, he is surprised and troubled by the test his own God is presenting him with. He had waited 100 years for his barren wife to miraculously provide him with an heir and now the same God who promised him that heir years ago was asking him to take his precious son’s life!  In spite of his dismay, however, Abraham dutifully leads Isaac up the mountain with wood in hand and a heavy heart. He will be obedient to His Lord and trust that God will resurrect his dead son after the sacrifice is complete. 

Abraham’s life had already been punctuated with several pivotal moments of truth when great faith needed to be exhibited for God to move him on the set course that the Maker had designed for his life. 

-The moment of his calling to leave his father’s home and travel to a new land where a new nation would come from his offspring. 

-The promise of a son from his wife Sarah (though she was old and barren) and the belief that the entire world would be blessed through that offspring. 

-The belief that a land currently inhabited by numerous fortified hostile tribes would one day belong to his children and his promised nation would be the mightiest in the world. 

Believing God would fulfill all those promises was a testament to Abraham's trust. 

“Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Gen 15:6)

But now the greatest test of all is before him and a weary Abraham obediently forges ahead! 

As Isaac lies on the altar,  Abraham sadly raises a knife to perform the heartbreaking deed. Providentially, somewhere close by,  the familiar sound of “baaa” distracts Abraham and he turns . Then he hears a voice of an angel commanding him to release the rope-bound boy and instead,  sacrifice the ram who is within view and has his head caught in a thorn bush. (The parallels of what Isaac must have felt and what Barabbas would one day experience are hard to miss)

“Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” -Gen 22:13-14

Although the practice of sacrificing a choice lamb to Almighty God had been practiced since all the way back in Able’s day, this was the official beginning of a sacrificial practice known as “substitutionary atonement” by the Jewish family. God will emphasize this principle with an entire animal sacrificial system entrusted to the Levitical priests when Israel is freed from Egypt over four hundred years in the future. The first “Passover” will set the stage for what will be a 1400-year model of constant animal sacrifice to show the sinfulness of the people and the need for someone to pay for sin in their place. The burnt offerings of these creatures could not actually take away sin. They were never intended to. They were merely a temporary signpost pointing to the One True worthy substitute who would one day come, His head wrapped in a crown of thorns, and take the place of all the world’s condemned!

And like the ram in the bush … He will accomplish it all on Mount Moriah! 

JESUS, OUR SUBSTITUTE 

From before the creation of the world, the plan of God was always to send His Son as a substitute for sinners to pay our debt to God. 

“…the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” (Rev 13:8b)

In God’s plan, redemption for the fall of humanity would be completed in one man, His Son, and all history would point to that Substitutionary Atonement! 

-The pre-flood sinfulness showed the potential of unchecked evil and the downward trajectory of humanity under the influence of the evil fallen angels and their own sinful hearts. Judgment was coming! And with it, the need for salvation. But salvation could only be accomplished by a “Substitute” who could take the punishment of judgment in the place of all the sinful creation. Otherwise, all would perish in their sin. 

-The Ark in the flood waters showed a microcosm of there being only one singular hope of salvation from the wrath of the watery judgment, just as the prophesied  “Substitute” would be the singular hope for humanity in the wake of eternal judgment. 

-The Law showed the hopelessness of the human condition with everyone falling short of the “good” and “perfect” standard God required to enter Heaven. Without that required perfection, only a “Perfect Substitute” (who could take our place in judgment and impute His perfection to us) would allow us to escape damnation. 

-The Sacrificial system showed the pattern of a constant need for a final sacrifice and the unworthiness of animal sacrifices to take away sin permanently. The perfect and worthy human  “Substitute “ was needed. 

-The prophets and God’s Word foretold the purpose and details of the life of the “Substitute” and prepared the world for the Messiah’s incarnation. 

-John The Baptist announced the “Substitute’s” arrival and called the Jews (who had long been the recipients of God’s Word and should have known what to look for) to repent and turn their hearts to Him. 

-The Church has been pointing back to that “Substitute” for 2000 years as the only Hope for humanity. 

-The watchers of our day are pointing to the “Substitute’s” second coming to fulfill all the rest of prophesied History. 

And in the middle of it all is the Cross and the man hanging from it who was “The Substitute” for you and me. The same man who stepped forward as a “Substitute” for Barabbas the day before Jesus’ crucifixion. 

THE LAMB

John the Baptist understood all the lamb symbolism and the purpose of the Sacrificial system and the Passover. He confirmed that understanding when He first saw Jesus before His Baptism as recorded in the Book of John:

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

John knew Jesus was the “Substitute” sent by God to take the place of sinners. And upon that Substitutionary act, Jesus would open the door to Grace that would welcome in the nations of the world to receive eternal forgiveness by believing in God’s “Substitute”. The practice of the sacrificial system constantly placed a lamb on the altar before God as a symbol of what would happen to His Son when He would obediently lay down His life for the sins of humanity. The Cross was erected on Mount Moriah (“The Lord will Provide”) and wearing a thorny crown, Jesus took our place just as the ram had for Abraham’s son nearly two millennia before. 

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6) 

THE OPEN DOOR

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:9-10)

Jesus Christ is the door to get into Heaven. 

He proclaimed Himself as such in John 10. Our Lord used many metaphors (ladder, Good Shepherd, Light of the World, Living Water, Bread of Life, etc.) to show us how He is the Only One worthy to save mankind from Hell and these metaphors all have Old Testament references that prove Jesus is who He claimed. But … when He says He is the Door, He not only is opening up a way for us into Heaven, but He is also the One who someday will close the Grace Age by shutting the door. 

It is a sad fact that most of the world does not understand or appreciate the “Age of Grace” we have been experiencing for the last two thousand years since our Lord opened the Heavenly door. While the religions of the world seek works and enlightening experiences to pave the road of their eternal journey toward some universal cosmic balancing act they think will give them peace, they ignore the wide open door to eternal life that Jesus has placed right in front of them. The truth is that salvation isn’t a destination, it is a Person. Eternal life isn’t a path or a journey …. It is a Being. The world is looking for a pilgrimage when it should be looking for a Door! Jesus is that door. And without Him, all those religious paths are simply dead ends. 

THE CLOSING DOOR

“So they went into the ark with Noah, two by two of all living beings in which there was the breath and spirit of life. Those which entered, male and female of all flesh (creatures), entered as God had commanded Noah; and the Lord closed the door behind him.” (Gen 7:15-16)

Our Heavenly Father is not bound to any particular Modus Operandi in unfolding history. In His all-powerful perfect sovereignty, He can keep things hidden if He wants or reveal things in any way He so chooses and He owes no explanation to anyone. But … that is not how He does things. He uses patterns and foreshadowings and typologies and His prophets throughout His Word to prepare us for what is to come and when He was about to bring judgment to the pre-flood world, He put an exclamation point on that age by closing the door of the ark. That was the end of any hope those outside the giant boat had to survive and God closing the door meant their fate was sealed. 

The Apostle Peter chose to refer back to that time of global judgment when he sent out a warning to those who would be doubters just before the Lord Jesus returns to judge the world the second time. 

“Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 3:3-7)

Furthermore, Jesus himself used a similar analogy of what the end of the “Grace Age” would look like when answering one of His followers' questions about salvation :

“Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”

And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from…” (Luke 13:23-25)

This is a frightening warning by our Lord and one we would do well to pass on to anyone who will listen. The “Grace Age” is wonderful and a time of incredible patience from our God but it does have an expiration date. It has been ongoing for 2000 years now and with all the signs of Jesus' return being fulfilled at breakneck speed around us, it is becoming apparent that very soon, the “Grace Age” will come to a close and our Lord will stand up and close the door! When He does, literally, all Hell will break loose. 

THE LAST YEAR OF GRACE

As we enter 2025 it would appear that all the Biblical timelines will be intersecting within the next 8 years or so. The climax of the first 6000 years of man on earth (since sin first entered the world) coupled with the anniversary of it being 2000 years since our Lord’s Crucifixion and resurrection, makes the 2032-33 timeframe quite intriguing. In addition, we have the potential arrival of a falling Astroid or star (Apophis) in 2029 (possibly explaining an event in Revelation 8:10-11) and the beginning of the last Trump Presidential term this month (Rapture being at the last Trump) and it all gets a little eerie when speculating on the near prophetic future. 

If our calculations are accurate (We know a day is as one thousand years to the Lord and a thousand years is as a day ) then Scripture teaches us that a week to the Lord would be the same as 7000 years. We are about to embark on the seventh millennium which should be the Sabbath millennium (since the sabbath was the seventh day) when the Lord returns to rule the earth with peace (“The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”). If that’s about to happen and 2032-33 are the anniversary years to welcome the Lord’s return to rule, then the rapture should occur by the end of 2026 or sooner. That means the door of this age is about to close quickly and abruptly! 

It is very possible that New Year 2025, as the ball drops, will be the ushering in of the final year of Grace. The final year that the Holy Spirit is freely available to anyone who will believe and put their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior while maintaining the blessed Hope of being kept from the hour of trial coming upon the whole earth. The last year to avoid the awful Tribulation period and the dark reign of the Antichrist that lies just ahead. Most of the Christian world is living in denial as to the lateness of the hour. And the lost world is totally unaware of the Horrific season of wrath that is about to engulf planet Earth! It is very reasonable that the rapture may be as close as one of the days on the 2025 Calendar you just received for Christmas! 

CONCLUSION 

Will 2025 be the last New Year of the Age of Grace? Perhaps watchers are overthinking the signs? Maybe we are getting too technical in trying to determine the time of the Lord’s return when He Himself said “ No man knows the hour or the day!”(Matt 24:36) Maybe we are just supposed to always be watching and seeking to recognize the season as it approaches but we are not to get too meticulous as to dates? Maybe; But I don’t think Scripture supports that view. 

“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief“ (1 Thess 5:4)

While I truly believe that our Heavenly Father is sovereign to do as He pleases and He can certainly delay or speed up the timelines any time He wishes, it seems He is too exact of a mathematician to use random dates and times to fulfill His incredibly detailed plan.  Everything is lining up EXACTLY as Scripture has indicated it would just before Jesus’ return. And we are about to see a trap spring closed on the unsuspecting world. 

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

(Luke 21:34-36)

Barrabas unknowingly was standing before the son of man but his concern was his growing feeling of doom that the mob was about to sentence him to. He was totally unsuspecting of the amazing grace that was about to be poured out on him as our Lord took his place in judgment and opened the door on the Grace Age. The world today is just as unaware that the Grace age is about to close. And when the Lord stands up and shuts the Door, they will not be standing before the Merciful Savior as Barabbas was, but they will be standing before the Righteous Judge!

“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

(Rev 22:12-13)