“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Romans 8:32

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WE return to this verse once again. We cannot look too deeply into the meaning of God's action in Christ, for as Paul is at pains to tell us, we find in this action the assurance which is such a comfort in our earthly pilgrimage. The deeper we dig into God's action, and the greater our understanding becomes, the greater will be our confidence that God is so working for our good that our final blessing of eternal life in heaven is sure, because this is God's purpose for us.

Paul is seeking to show us in this verse what God has already done for us in Christ, and what Christ has done for us in obedience to the Father. By showing the greatness of God's gift for us in Christ, Paul would seek to show us that having given such a costly gift, and such a great gift, he most surely will not let this gift be wasted, but will see that his giving goes on until his goal of our everlasting salvation is won.

We have seen that it is God who is acting, and have realised that this reveals God's purpose which he will most surely complete. We have considered in some measure that God did not spare his Son, and what it means that he did not spare him. We have considered that this giving of his Son meant that he did not spare his Son any of the pain necessary for God's law to be satisfied and for our sin to be purged, so that God may justly forgive us all our sins, and welcome us into his kingdom as his children.

Let us go on looking at this verse, and as we do we must notice that God did not spare his own Son. This may seem to be obvious. Jesus was the only begotten of the Father. It must be him that is being referred to, but we need to understand what sacrifice of love God was giving when he gave his one and only Son.

To help us to understand the wonder and love in this action we will look at the action of Abraham when he obeyed God and went to sacrifice his one and only Son Isaac. This bit of history typifies what God was doing in giving Jesus to be our Saviour. Because Abraham was a human being like us, we can more easily identify with him in his action. We find this story in Genesis 22. God called Abraham and told him to take his Son Isaac and offer him up to God in a burnt offering. This involved killing his only true son, and so forfeiting all the promises of God bound up in Isaac. Because Abraham was a human being we can more easily put ourselves into his feeling and thinking and experience as he obeyed God's command. His son who was so precious to him, in whom was bound up all his hopes, he was going to have to kill, and then burn his body to ashes. Abraham loved his son deeply, and he went through all the contemplation of the loss of a beloved son, together with the added horror and pain that his hand had done the killing. Let this human situation and all that it must have meant enter your soul and make you feel something of the tremendous pain involved for Abraham.

Now God gave his one and only Son, Jesus. The love existing between Jesus and the Father was far, far deeper than any love Abraham had for Isaac. God was voluntarily and willingly for our sake, allowing his Son to be afflicted with unimaginable pain. God's hand was doing it. Also Jesus was willingly submitting to the will of God. God was accepting this awful pain and suffering for himself and his Son, Jesus Christ, for us. What would be the point of such pain if the end result was unsure and may fail. What futility this would be. From this the apostle argues we may be sure that having acted in this so great way, and accepted the cost, God will not fail in the lesser action needed to complete his purpose for bring us to share in his glory.

As we go on looking at the words the apostle uses here we come to the words "gave up" or "delivered up". God delivered up his Son whom he loved? The question we must pose is what did God deliver his Son up to?

In seeking to answer this question I find myself struggling to understand. There are things here too deep for me to fathom. However the preacher must seek to be faithful as far as he or she is able, and so I would share with you what little I am able.

We have already extensively seen that Jesus was delivered up to great suffering and pain. The question is as to where this pain came from. Jesus was delivered up to men and placed under their power, but this was only a means to an end. The purpose of God had to be accomplished in this way, and so the wickedness of men was allowed to be expressed in injustice and killing. Also Jesus was delivered up to physical pain and to physical death. This was part of the meaning but only, perhaps, a small part. Jesus endured the pain and suffering of crucifixion and faced death, and this was very severe, but this perhaps can be said to have been the lot of other men.

We must look deeper still at what it meant for Jesus to be delivered up for us. As we do this the first thing that the Scripture tells us is that he was delivered up to shame. In Hebrews 12:2 we read "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning the shame." We can't imagine the degradation this meant for Jesus, but he scorned the shame for us. The shame was that he was made sin for us, who knew no sin. This does not mean that Jesus was made a sinner, or defiled by sin as the doer of evil. What it means is that he had to face the shame of being accounted with all our sin, and being accused of it, and being judged because of it. We may catch a glimpse of what this means if we consider the suffering of a person who is unjustly accused of some awful wrong, and is blighted by society because of it and treated as if he had actually done this thing, and treated as one who was shameful. Jesus willingly accepted the burden of all our evil, and he accepted the shame as if he was the perpetrator of this evil, and he faced God, the holy one, as if he was the doer of all our sin, and faced the reaction of God in his holiness against a person who had done all this sin. It caused God to turn his face from Jesus, and treat him with contempt, the contempt we deserve. It caused God to forsake Jesus and leave Jesus alone in darkness. This is beyond our imagining, but I believe this is something of what it meant for Jesus to be delivered up for us.

Following from this we can see that this delivering up was a delivering up to the law of God in our place to be judged, and condemned as a criminal, and as unfit for the heavenly glory which was rightly his home. We can imagine a very small part of this, if we imagine someone accused of child abuse and murder that he had not done, and condemned and placed in prison to face isolation, because even the other inmates of the jail would despise him. This would be bad enough for one who had committed the crime, but for one who was totally innocent of the crime, the condemnation would be unimaginable. Jesus was delivered up to the law for us in such a way, being accused of all the foulness of sin that we have committed and are, and placed in prison where the devils would mock him.

From this we can understand that Jesus was delivered over to the power of Satan for a time, and to suffer all the derision and gloating which only this arch fiend could think up. This is indicated as describing Jesus being delivered up. In Luke 22:53 the NIV speaks of this being delivered up to the Jews as being "when darkness reigns". However the Greek is more accurately translated as "the authority of darkness", so the phrase becomes ""but this is your hour and the authority of darkness". In other words this was the time when the authority of darkness would be over Jesus. He would be delivered up to the authority of Satan. This was but for a time, because Satan found he had nothing on Jesus. There was no sin for which he could hold him, but for our sins Jesus was placed in Satan's power to be despised, mocked and gloated over by Satan.

All this God did to his Son for us all. There is a wealth of comfort for us in the words "for us all". It is plain these words refer to the ones whom God called according to his purpose. Jesus was delivered up in this way for each one individually and so for all, but the comfort lies in the fact that he was delivered up for us as we were before he saved us. He was delivered up, not for good and righteous people, but for sinners.

Romans chapter 5 opens this wonder up for us so vividly. In verse 6 of this chapter we are told that at God's time Jesus was delivered up for us when we were helpless and powerless, lost in sin, and also when we were ungodly. Jesus was delivered up for us when we were rebels, and haters of God, and living without God in the world and when we were living for ourselves, neglectful of God and the fact that he created us and gave us life. Then again in verse 8 of chapter 6 of Romans we read "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Then again in verse 10 we read "When we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son."

How can it be possible that God, having delivered up his Son in the way we have sought to appreciate, and for us when we were in all our sin and sinfulness, could allow such suffering and sacrifice to be wasted and be lost.

In view of all this how can we not be sure that we, who have been brought to faith in Christ by the action of God, and because he has given his Son for us in this way, will persevere to the end, and be blessed with eternal glory in heaven with Christ our Saviour.

Look at the second clause of our verse "how will he not also, along with him, graciously (freely) give us all things". This is proved because God gives. He does not demand even though he has every right to demand, but all along the line he gives. God is a giving God, he gave his Son, and gave him in the most costly and terrible way, and so there can be no doubt that he will go on giving.

His giving has always been giving in grace. His giving has never been as a reward for anything we have done. He gave his Son from before the world was created. We were in his mind before the world was. He knew our sin and degradation, and he determined in grace and love to give in this way we have seen. His giving is freely, graciously, given, so we can have no doubt that he will continue to give until the end of his giving, our perseverance to glory, is achieved.

What does it mean that he will give us all things? It can only mean one thing, and that is that he will give us all that is necessary for us to be successfully brought to heaven. So all things means that he will give us the fulness of the Holy Spirit to dwell with us, to sanctify us, to defend us, to keep us from all harm. It means that he will give us all that Christ has won for us, and will continue to give and apply this for ever.

It means that as he has given Christ, and not spared him, and delivered him up for us, in grace, he will continue to give so freely, and our perseverance to glory will not depend on our effort, nor our works, nor our deserving, nor any merit on our part, but solely upon his gracious purpose which he has purposed in giving Christ for us.

There is no limit to the gracious giving of God to his chosen ones, who have been called according to his purpose. Never believe the devil's lies that God is looking for our improvement before he continues his blessing. The truth is that we improve because he is working in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. We have nothing to glory in except in Jesus and his cross, and in his everlasting grace towards us.

So as Toplady expressed it -