Reconciliation

God, through Jesus Christ, Reconciled Us to Himself, Giving Us a Ministry of Reconciliation.

The world begins with God creating a wonderful paradise for all mankind that begins with a record of perfect harmony of heaven and earth, working together in joyful wonderful, beautiful paradise. But then, we see the work of Satan, his tactics, schemes, and intervention allow sin to enter, bringing complete division, deception, death, and separation of mankind from a loving God. We see how disobedience takes place. Man runs from God and hides. And then man is completely separated, cast out from the presence of God: women and men become disobedient and deceitful. Families killing one another, man disrespecting the ways of other men, a world full of sin, a separation of races and nations as Genesis records the awful consequences of sin.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)

Sin caused man to be at enmity to and hostile with God. It was complete separation from a loving God. It is the glory of the gospel that reveals the heart of God going out after men in their sins. Satan initiated the lies for man to fall short and out of the glory of God.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:15–17)

God meant mankind was going to be dead in the physical spirit being and eternally separated from heaven and God. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And yet that wondrous life could not in itself settle the sin question or recover man to God. He took the initiative in reconciling mankind back to himself, which he had a master plan that Satan did not see coming. This resulted in the death of God’s beloved Son.

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Romans 5:10)

Making reconciliation possible, God answers man’s alienation by bringing them back to have a reconciliation to all humanity. He initiated this by Christ’s work on the cross. The whole position of the world was changed by his death so that all mankind is now able to be saved. Jesus’s death rendered the whole world reclaimable back to God. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)

Namely, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. The reconciliation made a change to the relationship from hostility to harmony for all mankind and to be at peace with God, bringing together all humanity into unity, harmony, and in perfect agreement by removing all hostility from mankind. The plan of salvation stands completed, for the reconciliation is personally realized by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ,” (Ephesians 2:1-10) For salvation is applied to those who believe.

Throughout the redemptive consummation, infinite of his mercy and eternal grace, a new covenant through his Son, Jesus, the atonement made on the cross the shedding of his holy blood. His blood shedding on the cross captures all the sin of the world. We were slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to righteousness, “(Romans 6:15-23), through the shedding of the blood of our Lord and Savior. The price for sin has been paid in full. God initiates with man by seeking to reconcile unholy men with the holy one. We also see man’s reconciliation—the most beautifully portrayed reconciliation with our loving God. Having been propitiated through God, it has been a blessing to us, as part of the work of redemption, that we have been freed from the slavery of sin to become slaves to righteousness.

His work had been completely done over two thousand years ago. And so, on the cross, a way of reconciliation was made available for any soul who would place
their trust in Jesus Christ through his atoning death in their place. Having appeared from the Father’s bosom, reflecting the glory that he had before the worlds were
made, Christ brought mercy and grace to mankind. In order to bring man and God together in perfect harmony, through His death, he was made a curse for us, and he
was made a little lower than angels by suffering death and going to the cross. Jesus became the reconciler, casting wide open the gates of the sinful nature of all mankind so he could bring man back into communion with their Creator and be sustained by our merciful God.

We must first understand what happened to the relationship between God and humanity.

It started in the garden, Adam and Eve. The scriptures tell us why we are separated from a loving God. His intention was for mankind to live a sinless life. But we see that disobedience brought man to fall into sinning against God.

Adam and Eve

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:8–9)

The Lord was meaning he would die in spirit and be completely separated from him. So we see Adam was informed not to eat from the tree of good and evil. The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18)

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So, the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:21–24)

The book of Genesis gives very clear explanations that God created mankind, when they were created in the image and likeness of the living God, for us to be walking in perfect harmony with him and each other.

The Fall of Adam and Eve

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? (Genesis 3:1)

We see by this scripture, Satan masqueraded the scheme and a lie to Eve. So she was disobedient to the living God. Satan knew this would bring devastation on humanity and completely separate mankind from the loving God. The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die. (Genesis 3:2–3)

You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:4–5)

Eve wanted to obtain, no matter costs of her disobedience to God. She took a bite of the fruit from the tree that the Lord told her not to eat from. When God said you would die, he meant it would be a separation of mankind from him.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man, and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God. (Genesis 3:6–7)

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?

Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? The man said, “The woman you put here with me she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:8–13)

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. (Colossians 1:21)

The Punishment for Adam, Eve, and the Serpent

This is the punishment the Lord God gave to Adam, Eve, and to the serpent for the disobedient behavior that they had done.

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14–15)

According to God, Jesus will crush Satan’s head, and he will be struck by Jesus’s heel.

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, You must not eat from it, Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:16–19)

Because we dishonor God’s authority and goodness by being disobedient, we damage that relationship with him, which results in hostility with God and his creation. But it also created enmity among all humankind.

Humanity was guilty of sin because they fell short of the very thing for which they were created: revealing God’s glory and power

God calls the nation of Israel to serve as missionaries to the world, demonstrating God’s goodness and character to the surrounding nations. God’s law helped provide the necessary guardrails to keep his relationship with the Jews functional, but they still demonstrated a tendency to go their own way and do their own thing.

This created disobedience, judgment, and repentance of their continued sinning against God. The relationship between God and Israel was often at war because they wanted to continue on their rebellion against the law and sinning against the loving God.

But God’s relationship with his people was maintained by his patient commitment to Israel and not by the depth of their unfaithfulness so they can continue on the earth. All humankind needed was to give offerings on behalf of their children in case they needed to be forgiven of their sins and some unknown actions. A period of feasting had run its course by making arrangements for them to be purified.

While those sacrifices dealt with the offense of sin, they were never entirely able to take them away. Scriptures say, for this reason, it can never be by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year to make perfect those who draw near to worship. The sacrifices under the law were never able to adequately deal with our sins and alienation from God. The worshippers had been trying to cleanse once for all but never able to remove all the guilt for their iniquities. Annual reminder of sins, sacrifices that were insufficient to deal with the problem—they were a constant indication that the problem still remained there.

They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” (Hebrews 8:5)

God’s perfect holiness and righteousness cannot be in the presence of sin.

Because we have all sinned, we cannot even stand in his presence; we are cut off from him, from his loving presence, eternally. Despite the fact we are sinners; however, God still loves us and still longs to have that personal relationship with us. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atone men, through the shedding of his blood, to be received by faith. (Romans 3:23–25)

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking away sin through faith in his blood. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6–8)

For the wages [consequences] of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

There is no difference among us, for we have all sinned against God and are equally in need of his forgiveness and mercy.

Christ’s sacrifice once for all

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:1–4)

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about me in the scroll I have come to do your will, my God.’” (Hebrews 10:5–7)

It does not matter who we are. Every single one of us has sinned against God. Which prevents us from having a personal relationship with God, for God is perfectly holy and cannot be in the presence of sin.

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:8–10)

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties: again, and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. (Hebrews 10:11)

Jesus died on the cross to pay the punishment for our sins and to reconcile us to God. We all stand at the foot of the cross, repenting of our sins. As each person places their faith in the atoning death of Christ on the cross, the blood of Jesus flows down to them, symbolizing God’s forgiveness and reconciliation with all mankind, all people.

But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:12–14)

Jesus’s sacrifice was the beginning of God’s great work to make peace with his creation. Those who decide to follow Jesus become part of this process. He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First, he says: This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. (Hebrews 10:16–18)

God made the way for us to be reconciled to himself. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect, sinless life we could never live. Jesus then took upon him. self all of our sins and bore the punishment for us through his death on the cross. He died as a ransom, a substitute, a sacrifice for all those who would repent and believe in him. He rose from the dead three days later, eternally conquering sin, death, hell, and the devil. Through his death and resurrection, he has made reconciliation with God possible for us.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Reconciliation only through him, Christ Jesus poured out his holy blood by shedding it on the cross. That gives us reconciliation, justification, sanctification, salvation, redemption, forgiveness, adoption, and complete freedom. The atonement sacrifice on the cross is him purchasing us with a holy price, a zeal that can never be broken for all humanity. And it’s the full centeredness of the Holy Bible.

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! all this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:17–19)

This is an invitation.

To be reconciled to God and to come into a loving, personal relationship with him, you must repent, turn away from your sins, and ask God to forgive you. Secondly, you must trust in Jesus to be your personal Savior, believing that his death on the cross paid the full punishment for your sins.

As soon as you place your faith in Jesus as Savior, all your sins—past, present and future—are accounted to him, and his perfect righteousness and right standing with God are freely given to you. It is a ransom, a trading of places, and it is appropriated.

God still loves us immensely and desires each one of us to enjoy a loving, personal relationship with him. For that reason, God made the way for us to be reconciled to himself. As we apply Jesus’s sacrifice to our lives, we are set free from bondage of the charges of our sins that could be leveled against us.

This is what prompted, and we must understand our enemy, the devil, hurls accusations at each of us to discredit us before God. Jesus’s redemptive sacrifice puts us out of reach of those allegations.

His Word, the Holy Bible, gives us insight of reconciliation, justification, sanctification, salvation, redemption, forgiveness, adoption, freedom, a personal, intimate relationship with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, running to be continuing sanctification through the atonement sacrifice Jesus endured on the cross.

He made us holy before God for the purpose of loving and serving God and made us without blemish. When God looks at us in Christ, he sees us through the lens of Jesus’s ample sacrifice.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help every man and woman to open their eyes and, tearing their blindfolds away, unveil their eyes that each one of them is bound to make their own private confession, declaring his or her repentance to the offense of their sins to you, Lord God. It is my prayer, O Lord, that you grant pardon to the sins we have committed upon which we have left forsaken so that we find infinite mercy and eternal grace that is abounding upon those who seek to be reconciled to him, and in taking hold of the Savior who is there to be received with love.

Lord God, lord and master, the Son of the living Holy God, thank you that your holy, precious blood shed on the cross captured all the sin of the world. Thank you that your infinite mercy and eternal grace and the new covenant of your precious blood was shed on the cross. We are no longer slaves to sin. We are slaves to righteousness in front of a righteous, holy God. Thank you, loving Father. We are sons and daughters of a King, who is enthroned. No longer can the accuser condemn us to live in shambles through life.

Thank you, Lord, you have given us power, authority, strength through your Holy Spirit that lives within each one of us. Thank you for your impartial spiritual gifts to be equipped in us to confront anything and anyone in this earthly, temporary place. Thank you that you have empowered us to live a victorious life, blameless in your sight, in the righteousness, powerful, authority, and strength of our Lord Jesus Christ,

For God Be All Glory, Forever, Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. By Elda Sullins.

Elda Personal Note:

I strongly advise you not to copy this reconciliation message, as it appears in a chapter of my book entitled: “The Birth of Jesus”, This work is protected by copyright law and any unauthorized duplication, distribution, or use without my express permission is strictly prohibited. Any violation of this notice could result in legal action. If you wish to use this material, please contact me for permission. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

I’ve been given all of the blog posts that are featured on this blog during my quiet time of prayer with God. Anyone can use any of them, but ask God first, since what God hasn’t given, you compromise your heart and your relationship with him. Therefore, I encourage you to seek divine guidance before utilizing any of the blog posts featured here. This approach ensures that your actions, remain in alignment with God’s will and fosters a stronger relationship with Him.

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