Galatians 1:15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…
I read this passage in the flow of Paul talking about the divine interruption of his ‘former manner of life in Judiasim’. Paul was progressing quite well in his professional religion. He had his theological ducks in a row and praise of men in his obvious advancement. However, God according to his good pleasure interrupted him.
It is amazing to consider someone with the religious stature of Paul (or better Saul) being ‘in the dark spiritually’, however, it was true. No doubt there are many within and without the confessing church who seem to be spiritually minded but yet are devoid of life.
This reality of spiritual ignorance really helps amplify the glorious reality of the Father’s intentional activity of disclosing Christ to his children. I love how Paul writes this here, speaking of God, calling him ‘through his grace’ and ‘was pleased to reveal his Son in me’. It is spiritually healthy to chew on this verse for a time. In so doing you will see a couple of things quickly:
First, left unto ourselves, you and me are blind of the value, majesty and glory of Christ. We are quite content gawking at the fallen vistas of this world and making much of the image we see in the mirror or on the television; we do not see the need to gaze upon the glorious image of the Savior. After all, why would we? What does he have that would commend himself to us? And it is here that the power of God is seen in us. We are indeed a hypnotized lot. We are helplessly enslaved to be satisfied in that which does not matter. But God, he would not let this be. He has interrupted those of us in Christ, and he has chosen to flex his almighty power, and reveal Christ to us. He makes that which we have formerly thought to be unsightly and unbecoming to become that which is our exclusive basis for boasting (Gal. 6.14).
Secondly, this text helps us to see the pleasure of God in revealing his Son. Notice Paul says that it pleased God to reveal his Son. I suspect nothing pleases God more than to take that which is eternally satisfying to himself and trumpet it across his creation and then specifically to individual hearts. Indeed it does give God pleasure to take a hard, stony heart that does not see Christ to be great and then arrest it with his grace and in the process cause one like me to believe and behold the Son in such a way that I marvel and find him glorious! God is sharing that which is his delight with his creation. And then what are we to do with this? Well Paul is a good model. He does what God does with the most soul-satisfying, God-glorifying, sin-destroying reality…he proclaims it. The gospel of Jesus finds a residence ‘in’ you and then it floods out through you. If it is not coming out maybe it is not in. Water will seep out when there is a flood.
It is a worthwhile prayer this day if you are a Christian to muse about the power and pleasure of God in revealing his Son to you. Every bit of true joy, hope, kindness, patience, and love that you feel and experience comes from this blessed revelation of Christ. These things do not come in your natural generation from Adam and out of that wrath provoking heart you were born with. Instead they come from the regeneration in Christ and the grace producing fruit of the Holy Spirit that God has been pleased to give in demonstrating his marvelous power.