From the beginning to the end, God’s love covers all our sins.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned- This verse continues a line of worship and praise to God for His grace. I encourage us today from the perspective of standing in the grace of God and looking back at the glorious saving work of God. It is as if Paul, standing in the presence of God turns around and looks back to the beginning of his life before God. Usually when we think of the beginning of life, we look back to our birth into this world. However, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, saw when he (and we) became an enemy of God, enslaved to sin, and destined for destruction. Long before our conception, he (and we) chose to rebel against God and ran headlong into the wrath of God. God did not choose for anyone to be destroyed in hell. Mankind, all together became useless to God. He saw that he chose to become “a vessel of wrath, prepared for destruction.” We chose to be a vessel of wrath against God—hostile and destined to spend eternity away from the presence of God. The grace of God in which we stand and the reconciliation Jesus accomplished had to cover sin which accrued to our accounts from the beginning. In this verse, Paul introduced a contrast between the impact of Adam’s actions and the impact of Jesus’ actions on our lives. He will work that out in the following verses. In this verse, we see that our lives began in Adam, the first man and father of humanity. By God’s accounting, when Adam sinned, we sinned. When he died to God, we died to God. And thus our lives of enmity and hostility toward God began. From the time we were born, we were already dead and condemned. The grace in which we stand because of the reconciliatory work of Christ covers everything. From Adam’s and our first sin to the last sin in our bodies in this world, the blood of Jesus has satisfied the wrath of God. Such is the love of God which was demonstrated when Jesus died for us. We love because He first loved us. May we give God glory and boast in God’s grace as we grant that same grace to others today. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com