John 1: 16

"And from His fulness we have all received, grace upon grace."

Here I noticed that from verse 14 John began using the pronoun 'we'. Who is the 'we' he refers to? Could it be those who believed and received, the children of God, those born of God? This is who I think he refers to even though I realize that the whole world benefits from Christ's coming with grace upon grace. I believe John is speaking of those who would receive Christ through the new birth. So what have we received? Grace upon grace! From what have we received it? From His fulness! Think about that- His fulness- incomprehensible in magnitude. From His fulness we received grace stacked upon grace. Grace, His unmerited love and favor toward us, on us.

What are some of these? Not in any particular order:

• the application/ imputation of Christ's righteousness to us
• the gift of eternal life
• pardon, cleansing from sin's guilt
• redemption- bought back from the slave market of sin to be set free to love God and live for Him
• favor of God upon us
• mercy
• blessed with every spiritual blessing the the heavenly places in Christ
• chosen from before the foundation of the world
• given every thing we need for life and godliness
• adopted into the family of God
• a rich inheritance
• the Holy Spirit who is the source of all these benefits to live in us
• the Holy Spirit living the life of Christ through us
• the Word of God- we can read every day, God speaks to us through His Word- grace upon grace

From His fulness- a never ending supply of His goodness, grace, and truth. Jesus is full of grace and truth.
My mind cannot grasp a picture of this. When I am full (of food) I am beyond the limit of satisfaction to the over indulged. It is painful, causes a physical stomach ache. When my heart is full it wants to explode- there is pain of sorts. In sadness a groan must escape. In joy a shout or a song or a 'Yes' must escape. Sometimes, both the pain of sorrow and the joy of something overflows with tears. Fulness bubbles over, flows over the top like a full glass of water will flow over the rim.

All this goodness, blessing, grace flows out of God's fulness. He is so full of Who His Is, holy, holy, holy!! In His holiness His character bursts over the top and flows to us continually. His fulness never ends.

Each of us who is born again, born of God receives His grace out of His fulness.

for the praise of His glory!