14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
and purify for Himself
God wants His own type of people, a people purified. Jesus purified us by His blood. He cleansed us from our sin.
1 Jn 3: 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
His own special people,
God has people for His own special and personal possession. Since we are God’s very own, we carry the responsibility to represent Him properly on earth in time. Christians are different from those who do not know Christ. We are God’s special people. Christ’s death made us that way.
zealous for good works.
Grace will make us zealous for good works. It promotes good works. A true understanding of the grace principle leads inexorably to a godly life.
PRINCIPLE:
God wants us to orient ourselves deliberately to His grace in the past and His glory in the future.
APPLICATION:
Christians have both an epiphany of God’s grace and an epiphany of His glory. We have God’s grace to live the Christian life. We look forward to the glory of full grace one day, where God makes all the provisions necessary. We live in the light of the two appearances of Christ, His first in the incarnation and His second in the Rapture.
