07-Reconciliation
VI. RECONCILIATION
Reconciliation means to be brought from enmity to friendship. To bring peace where there was once hatred and strife. God is not reconciled to man, but man to God.
A. The Need For Reconciliation
1. When Adam disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden tree in the garden he became alienated from Him (Gen 3:23-24). Before, when he was innocent, he could have fellowship with God; but after he ate, a barrier of sin was erected and this fellowship was broken. All of Adam’s descendants are also alienated from God because they sinned in him (see IMPUTATION).
2. God, because of His love, desired that man be reconciled back to Him. Since man is unable and unwilling to deal with sin and make matters right, God had to initiate the reconciliation. He does this by redeeming the believer from sin and bringing him up to His righteous standard by the intermediary work of Christ.
B. How Reconciliation Was Obtained
1. Before man could be reconciled to God there had to be a mediator to represent both parties (Gal 3:20). Job, who thought matters were not right between himself and God, yearned for someone to mediate between them (Job 9:32-33). The only person who can represent both God and man is the "...man Christ Jesus." He is fully God and fully man-"God manifest in the flesh" (1Ti 2:5, 1Ti 3:16).
2. It took the obedient life, sacrificial death, shed blood, and bodily resurrection of Christ to reconcile man back to God (Rom 5:10, Rom 10:15; Col 1:20-22). He paid the sin debt man owed, tore down the wall of partition (Eph 2:11-13), and made peace with God for all who will receive Him (John 16:33; Acts 10:36; Rom 5:1, Rom 10:15; Eph 2:14).
3. While He was on earth Christ suffered through life much as all other men do. He learned what it was like to be tempted, slandered, ridiculed, hated, poor, forsaken, condemned, and also to die. This fully qualifies Him to represent man. On the other hand, He can represent God because He is God-the second person of the Trinity (John 1:1-3; 1Jn 5:7). Now, since He is in Heaven, He ever lives to make intercession for the believer against all the accusations of Satan (Heb 2:18, Heb 4:15, Heb 5:8, Heb 7:25).
4. Jesus Christ is the believer’s advocate (Rom 8:33-34; 1Jn 2:1). If anyone, anywhere, throughout eternity, challenges the standing of any Christian, Christ takes the position of a defense attorney to represent him. He declares the saint regenerated, justified, sanctified, redeemed, and reconciled to God. He can say this because He paid for the believer’s sins Himself and is the source of every virtue he has. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom 8:31; see also, Justification; Sanctification; and Redemption).
C. The Christian’s Duty Concerning Reconciliation
1. The reconciled believer has a duty to go into the world and tell the lost that they can be saved from sin and reconciled to God. Every Christian has been given a ministry of reconciliation (2Co 5:18-21). He is God’s ambassador to the world and is to preach the gospel (1Co 15:1-4) to every creature (Mark 16:15), letting each know that he does not have to die in his sins. The Christian who is obedient in this greatly pleases the Lord.