October 2

Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. — 2 Pet 1:2 BSB

If we don’t know Jesus personally, through a spiritual revelation of who He is and what He’s done, what proof do we have of being partakers in His grace? Because there’s no grace outside of Him, for “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” This should always be our goal.

Our daily and constant desire and prayer should be to have spiritual revelations of Christ; to see Him with the eyes of faith; to grasp His glorious person and completed work; to feel His presence, taste His love, and truly know Him and the power of His resurrection. This was what Paul so earnestly pursued (Phil. 3:10); and for this surpassing knowledge, he considered everything else worthless, that he might gain Christ. To know Him as our Surety and Sin-bearer, our Advocate and Intercessor, our Friend, Husband, and Brother; to know our personal interest in Him, and our union with Him; to understand our place in His heart, our name engraved on His breast, our remembrance held in His hands—what could be more blessed than this knowledge?

Through this experiential knowledge of Christ, grace flows into our lives. Just as a watercourse brings refreshing streams from a river into a dry meadow, so a knowledge of Christ opens a channel for His grace to flow into our barren souls. And just as grace alone brings us to know Him, every new outpouring of grace deepens our knowledge of Him.

The grace that comes through knowing Him also brings peace, for He is “our peace.” He has “broken down the dividing wall of hostility” and, through His death, abolished the law’s condemnation. He preached peace to those far away and those near. His blood speaks peace to a guilty conscience, His voice stills the storms in our hearts, His last gift to us was, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you;” His dying promise was, “In me you will have peace;” and as the Prince of Peace at God’s right hand, He fills us with “all joy and peace in believing,” for His kingdom is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Through knowing Him as Lord, “grace and peace” are multiplied.