From our research, it appears this quote is a barely modified version of the text from Dr. David Jeremiah’s book, Captured By Grace: No One Is Beyond The Reach Of A Loving God. The original context is as follow:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of teh Father, full of grace and truth…For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:1, 14, 17).
In the Greek tongue of Paul’s day, the word for “grace” was charis. It carried the connotation of graciousness or favor. But the term evolved in the Greek world until it meant the actual gift, the concrete expression of kindness. Grace happens. As Paul explained it, “The free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many” (Romans 5:15).
Grace happens, and it acts. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
Such grace con come only from God. It is the gift unsought, unmerited unlimited. For no matter what we have done, no matter the depth of our transgression, the darkness of our hearts—grace overrules them all. God pursues us relentlessly; He will not give up, and once He has captured us, He won’t let us go.
These are the broad outlines of the great idea. Yet it is as if we are mapping an uncharted territory—surveying the bounds of heaven, if you will. We can never take in the whole expanse. Grace is too dazzling, too bright, for it is powered by the holy heart of God. Trying to comprehend it in whole is like staring directly into one thousand suns.
Grace is as infinite and transcendent as the God from whom it flows. He is “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10), and He is abounding with mercy for the merciless, help for the helpless, redemption for anyone and everyone. There is no limit to the throng of guests invited to dine at the Master’s overflowing table.
As Griffith Thomas has said, “All this in full measure and overflowing abundance, because of nothing in the object, and because of everything in the Giver, God himself.”
Grace is the bridge over a chasm that seemed infinite—the canyon between our depravity and His holiness. That bridge is wide and sturdy and sure, beckoning us to cross over into a life too wonderful for us to imagine.
Purchase this full work here: Captured By Grace: No One Is Beyond The Reach Of A Loving God by Dr. David Jeremiah (March 2006).
Responses