Grace Trail

Imagine a bride walking down the aisle, her veil partially obscuring her features.  She exchanges vows with her groom, and when they are pronounced "husband and wife" her spouse lifts the veil, exposing her features, and they kiss.  The covenant of marriage has created a way past the veil.

God has made a covenant too.  Reflections of the everlasting covenant of grace (Heb 13:20) are found in the book of Genesis, especially in the life of Abraham.  In Genesis 15 we see detailed promises given to Abram, as he was then called.  But then something weird happens.

God tells Abram to cut up some animals.  Apparently, when folks would make a binding contract, they would cut animals in half, and then walk together down the bloody trail between the pieces. But in this account (Gen 15:9-17) Abram was a non-participant.  A "deep sleep" fell upon him, and then a "smoking furnace" and a "burning lamp" (vs 17) passed between the pieces.  The fiery glory of God walked the bloody trail.

God had made the covenant with Himself.  True, Abram was involved.  He was the recipient of the blessing, but he was not the guarantor.  God was the one Who had done the work.  In this same chapter we read, "And he [Abram] believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Gen 15:6.

Later, the Apostle Paul quotes this verse in his letter to the believers in Rome.  He is arguing that from the get-go, justification has always been through faith alone. (See Romans chapter 4.)  Most of us understand that.  At least, that is what we say.

But what really goes on in our minds and hearts as we attempt to approach God in prayer?  Maybe we have a sense of sin.  We don't think ourselves worthy.  Maybe our hearts feel dead and lifeless; we may not feel a desire to pray at all.  Perhaps we try to stir up our feelings.  Surely we can work ourselves into some kind of spiritual mindset!  But it doesn't work.

We have to find the Grace Trail.  It's the bloody trail that God has walked.  Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa to the cross and shed His blood to open that path.  The blood of the animals in Genesis is just a picture, a prelude, of Calvary, where the Grand Transaction took place.  We don't walk the Trail ourselves.  We simply acknowledge that Christ did it for us.

We acknowledge our own unworthiness.  Not only have we sinned, we are also completely unable to participate in the covenant-making process.  We must die to our own thoughts of "doing" enough or "feeling" the right way.  Christ has truly done it all.

When Jesus died, the veil in the Temple that hung in front of the Holy of Holies was torn in two.  Suddenly a way was made into the presence of God.  That's why we pray, "In Jesus' name."  There is no merit, no goodness in ourselves, to earn our way in.

The veil is torn open because our covenant God walked the Grace Trail.

Carried to the Table

Mephibosheth was a nobody.  Actually, worse than that: he was a grandson of King Saul, displaced by the new king, David.  Later his cousins would be slain for Saul's offenses; as it was, Mephibosheth was lame.  In the days before office jobs, this was a major disability. He had lost whatever land was his by family allotment and was living with someone else.

The crown jewel of the family was dead, and so was Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan, who would have been next in line for the crown if things had gone differently.  Evil had cloaked the family since the day both king and son had perished: Mephibosheth's caretaker, fleeing from possible enemy soldiers, dropped him; he was lame from the age of five.

The particular word Hebrew word translated "lame" describing this man's feet is not used elsewhere in the Old Testament to describe the condition of "lameness".  The basic meaning is to be "smitten".  It's based on a verb that means that someone was involved in the smiting or striking.  Did God smite him?  Or was it just part of what seemed to be a family curse?  In any case, Mephibosheth had no reason to rejoice.

Meanwhile, King David, now secure in his throne, began to think about his dear friend Jonathan, who had helped him even when it displeased his father the king.  He had promised to show favor to Jonathan's house--that is, his family--and now he sought to fulfill that oath.  Was any of his family yet alive?

Investigation turned up Mephibosheth.  They brought him before the king:

"Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself.  Then David said, 'Mephibosheth?' And he answered, 'Here is your servant!'  So David said to him, 'Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.'"  II Sam 9:6-7

Wow.  Not only had the young man obtained favor with the King, he was going to eat at his table!  Clearly Mephibosheth was astonished:

"Then he bowed himself, and said, 'What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?'"  II Sam 9:8

There was no claim he could make upon David.  Indeed, the king was granting this kindness "for Jonathan's sake."

We are all smitten as Mephibosheth was: part of a people stained and cursed with evil.  Our feet are lame.  We cannot walk as we would, nor do any good ourselves (Rom 3:10-12).  Only through the merits of Another can we approach God.

Mephibosheth took his meals with the king.  I wonder if he was carried.  He was certainly helped.  Every day we are helped by the Spirit of God to take our meals with the King.

So precious was this relationship that when Mephibosheth was tricked by his servant and lost his land again (see II Sam 19:24-30), his did not insist on any "rights"--he merely wanted the king in his rightful place, and himself at the table.  Mere worldly blessings were secondary.

The name Mephibosheth means "dispeller of shame."  In his youth he must have thought the name a joke, as every misfortune dragged him down.  But certainly all shame was dispelled by his king.

"Only a sinner--saved by grace!"