Reconciliation, No. 6

Colossians 1:15-20

COL-152

Our subject is "Hymn in Honor of Christ," segment number 42 in Colossians 1:15-20.

Justification and Reconciliation

We are now rapidly coming down to the end of this hymn which we began so many weeks ago. We have found that Christians who form the body of Christ have been reconciled, or adjusted, to God's standard of absolute righteousness. This has been imputed to the Christian as justification. Justification is having God's righteousness posted to your account. Therefore, the standard of conduct for a Christian is the absolute integrity of God as recorded in the moral code of Scripture. If there is anything that you have learned about the doctrine of reconciliation, I hope you have grasped this. Reconciliation means that you have been adjusted to God's standard of doing right, and therefore, what you do must be compatible with that standard. If you do not know that standard because you have not been taught the Word of God, you're in deep trouble. But knowing the standard of God's moral code and God's expectation of us as individual believers, He will hold us accountable for it. And reconciliation means that you have been made compatible with God's righteousness to the degree that you can do it.

Now, all of us in some degree of our lives have played the fool. And some of us are playing it now, such that we do not act according to our reconciliation to the integrity of God. And the results of that is grief now, and eternal loss of rewards in heaven. Our standard of conduct is the absolute integrity of God. So, the Scriptures say to us that we should be holy as God is holy. We should not seek to be what is the standard of other people – what is acceptable to the general public. It isn't: be just as good as the next person; or, be a little better than the next person. It is: 'be as good in your performance and conduct as is Christ Himself: "Be holy as I am holy." Now, that, of course, is demanding a supernatural action on the part of all of us that would be impossible, were it not for the fact that we have two things going for us. One: we have the instruction in the principles of the Word of God – these doctrinal propositions that explain to us what holiness is. And secondly, we of the church age have the indwelling Holy Spirit that gives us the capacity to do the things that we know are the standard of integrity. This is what makes a really genuine person. And certainly this is not too much to expect of a member of the royal family of God.

Holiness

If there's any sorry sight in the human experience, it is people who are royalty, who act like dogs. And we Christians need to keep reminding ourselves that we are the royal family of God. Every one of you is a prince and a princess in God's family. Therefore, there is incumbent upon us to act up to what we are – to act befittingly to our royal station. And that is summed up in this word "holiness:" "I act the way God acts. I think the way God thinks. I do, the way God does. I go where God would go. My life is Christ in me, living through me.

Now, God Himself has initiated this wonderful relationship of reconciliation of lost sinners to himself. He did that by removing that terrible wall of evil which separated man from God. God justifies the believing sinner; that is; he gives him absolute righteousness. And he adjusts him, thereby, with the imputation of this righteousness to God's standard of holiness. Reconciliation is never the product of a sinner trying to adjust himself in some way to God. It is God's outreach to man.

People regularly think that the way to reconcile themselves to God's favor, and to come under God's blessing, is something that they have to do. But that is not the way acts. In Romans 3:11, we read, "There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God." People do not by nature seek after God, and those who seek after Him on their own will end up being led by Satan to seek Him in the wrong way. Reconciliation is never something that is the product of man's search for God. It is God's search for us.

Now, the principle of objective reconciliation of the world by Christ on the cross is made personal, subjective reconciliation at the point that we place our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. So, in Colossians 1:20, we have read: "And through Him (Jesus Christ) God the Father has reconciled all things to Himself." Now, here's an interesting expansion of the concept of reconciliation. We see how it applies to human beings. Now, he points out that this is expanded beyond that. It was the mission of Jesus Christ to reconcile lost people to the Father by removing the wall that separated them. God the Father initiated human reconciliation by having His justice against sin satisfied by the death of Christ on the cross. God then justifies the sinner who trusts in Christ for salvation by imputing to that person the standard of absolute righteousness.

The believer with that righteousness is now in sync with God. He is adjusted to God's standard. Therefore, he is fit to enter heaven. He is up to the glory of God. And that's what reconciliation is. Reconciliation is that now, as a royal person, there rests upon you the dignity of the glory of God.

In Colossians 1:27, Paul says, "To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery (the mystery about the church) among the gentiles, which is Christ in you, the Hope of glory." Can you imagine the day when you will look exactly like Jesus Christ looked on the Mount of Transfiguration? For a moment, He removed the shield of His humanity, and he let the glory of His deity shine through. That is how great God is going to make you someday. You will shine with His glory: "Christ in you, the Hope of glory."

You can see how pathetic it is that the people who think that by their sincere efforts they can somehow adjust themselves to God. No wonder that those same people are never sure that they're going to heaven or not. They're not sure whether they're going to make it, because it's all dependent on them. And man never does the job right.

In Colossians 3:4, we read, "When Christ, who is our life (because He's living in us now) is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." When Christ, Who is our life, comes back from heaven, in all of his glorious magnificence, then you too, because you will have been taken up there at the rapture – you will come back, reflecting His glory.

In Hebrews 2:10, we had this concept also touched upon: "For it was fitting for Him (Christ), for Whom are all things, and through Whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering." Jesus went through the human sufferings that many of us go through. He faced the temptations and the trials, but in it all, His glory was never diminished. And because of His suffering for us, we will share His glory.

The reconciliation of Christ, now, we see that Colossians points out, is extended to all things; that is, it is extended to the material universe. Reconciliation of Christ is cosmic significance. And that is no surprise because you know that when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, what they were sharing with God was a perfect environment, and a perfect situation. But when Adam sinned, he then lost control of the earth that God had given him. And instead of man being in control, Satan took over and became its god.

2 Corinthians 4:4 points that out: "In whose case, the god of this world." Verse 3 says that our gospel is veiled to those who are perishing. Satan blinds people to the truth of the gospel of the grace of God: "In whose case the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. If it weren't for the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, nobody would ever be saved. It takes that illuminating Word for people to be able to see the glory of God, and the fact that they don't share that kind of glory.

Ephesians 2:2 also says, "And you, in which you formerly walked this world, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the earth (Satan), the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." So, Satan is now in charge of this great creation of God. It needs to be reconciled back to where things were. Our creation was contaminated by sin, and it was disrupted from its original pristine condition. When God finished, Genesis 1:31 points out to us that what God had done was absolutely perfect: "And God saw all He had made, and behold, it was very good. There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day." But when they sinned (Genesis 3:17-19), God had to judge Adam. And when He judged Adam, as always, when you sin you and I sin, we not only contaminate ourselves, but there's a circle of injury. The circle of injury hits your relatives. It hits those close to you. It hits your associates. It hits your church members. You're sinning, but it slops over on them.

So, here was Adam. His sin rode over into contaminating all of creation, as God Himself pronounced the curse upon creation. So, the world was no longer the happy place in which Adam could live. Genesis 3:17-19: "Then to Adam He said, Behold, because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it,' cursed is the ground because of you. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles will grow for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground because from it you were taken. For you are dust. And to dust you shall return."

That very tragic description has a poignancy to it when you remember the background upon which it is spoken. They had had a life where you never had to work. You just had to do some gardening at your leisure. Everything you ever needed in life was provided for you on the physical level. You had human relationships that were totally satisfying. Best of all, at the close of each day, the preincarnate Lord Jesus Christ would come into the Garden of Eden, and conduct a Bible class to teach you what you could know no other way: the principles of God's thinking. What a lifestyle! It was absolute perfection. You just had to be one thing. You had to not be a rebel.

Therein lies our problem today. In the Christian community, what's wrong with us? We're filled with rebels. We're filled with people who are always rebelling against the authority and the Word of God: always rebelling against spiritual wisdom; and, always having their orientation to what they think, very often as a result of their feelings. So often this is characteristic of non-doctrinal groups. And I know that there is a phrase that has the thumb-print of Satan upon it. You should become acquainted with this, so immediately that you hear it, you know whose voice you are listening to. And that is the phrase: "something more."

How many times I've heard charismatics say, "Yes, the doctrine is good, and the things we do with church is good, and all the things you have, but we charismatics have something more. We have the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have the miracle gifts. We have the speaking in tongues. And we have something more." How did they arrive at that? Not from the Word of God. It was strictly on the basis of their feelings – how they felt about it. And what they desired became their reality.

I've had people who have once been associated with Berean Church. And I've had them give us back the message: "I don't want to be associated with Berean Church anymore. Everything you do with young people is good." And like one man said, "But you should have something more. You should have a social life, and some exciting party times for them." When I heard the words "something more," I knew whose thumb-print that was. And that "something more" is what? It is feeling and excitement.

Gravitas

This is a great tragedy that has come into the universe because of the sin of Satan, because Adam and Eve couldn't just obey God. They couldn't stay away from that one tree, and just do it God's way, and enjoy everything that He was giving them. Some of us who are right on-track with the mind of God on how to deal with young people. And one of the greatest things that young people do not have, and for which they hate us when we keep pressing it against them is (I'll give you the Latin word) "gravitas."

Worship

I read an article by a very prominent conservative writer. The article said that the problem with American politics today is that the politicians do not have "gravitas." What is gravitas? Dignity. I'll give you a little lesson in preparation for where we're headed. You tell me what worship is. You decide in your mind. Maybe write it down on paper. This is when I worship God. Are you going to be surprised? Where do I worship God? How do I worship God? And at the heart of that worship of God is gravitas (dignity). And I could see exactly what the writer meant. It was an excellent article. You look out into the political world, and you're ashamed. You're embarrassed. People in positions of influence are clowns. They have no gravitas. They have no dignity. This is one thing: it is our God-given duty, as a church and as parents, to protect our children from not having dignity. And do you know what keeps them out of dignity? The degeneration of emotions uncontrolled and unattached to Scripture – feelings.

And these programs for young people end up as a big pep-rally type of thing. And the Lord Jesus Christ is some kind of a rock-n-roll star in the whole thing. It is a lack of gravitas (dignity). And those very same kids that will carry on like that, because they have adult leadership that's leading them to do that, if suddenly, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who had gravitas pouring out from every from every cell of His body, came into their presence, they would collapse. They would not act like that in His presence, with all their wild carrying on. And what they would do is suddenly feel embarrassed and ashamed of themselves.

When the Lord Jesus Christ stood in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked the man, "What have you come for?" The man said, "We come for Jesus of Nazareth." He said, "I am He." They fell over backwards. Why? Because He exuded gravitas. He exuded a dignity. He had what we call in the military: "command presence." And it is only the Word of God that gives you dignity as a human being. It is when you have dignity that you are not corrupted by the things of the world. Whatever you have in the world, it will corrupt you. I can guarantee you that it will debase you, unless you have the dignity that only comes from knowledge of the Word of God, so that you can let God's thoughts be your thoughts.

Adam had it perfect. But he could not keep from being a rebel against the principles that God had enunciated relative to that tree. And we had the same problem. So, the result is that all of creation has been contaminated. And that's why it needs to be reconciled back to God's pristine original pattern.

In Romans 8:19-23, he spells this out. Paul says, "For the anxious longing of the creation of awaits eagerly for the revealing of the Sons of God, for the creation was subjected to a futility, not of its own will, but because of Him (God) Who subjected it in hope, that the creation itself also will be set free from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." What Adam did with his sin in the Garden of Eden was made the whole world a big cemetery. And there had been nothing but decay and death since.

Now, that isn't the way it was with God. That does not reflect the creative work of God. So, all of creation, heaven and earth, had to be brought back together into conformity with the pattern of God.

Verse 22: "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, awaiting eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen as not hope. Why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it. Our anticipation is for the day when all of creation will be reconciled.

The heavenly spheres, of course, are also under contamination. That's where Satan and his angels operate. And that sphere is going to be reconciled to God's perfection, as is the earth. The whole universe is going to be restored to harmony with God's righteousness, and released from decay and death.

There are many things that we suspect from scientific principles that existed in the earth before the Noahic flood. Some scientists believe that there was a kind of a pink aura that took over as the day closed, and subtle musical sounds were to be heard, so that the day ended on a very soothing note. The pinkness is a very soothing color. It causes a quietness of the spirit, and the melodious heavens resounded with the music of God as people went to sleep.

There was, before the flood, probably, the magnificence of a second pressures. Instead of 14.7 pounds for every square inch, it was double that. And the result is, as experiments have shown, that everything of an injury to the body would heal.

Sometimes people who are in scuba diving get in trouble, and they can't get the nitrogen out of the system. So, they go into one of these, I think they call them hyperbolic tanks. I think that's the word for it. But it's a huge pressure chamber. And they get into it to drive that nitrogen out of their system, and get the oxygen flowing in there again.

Well, if there is a double pressure system like that, and they have a wound (something that won't heal), hospitals will send people into one of these that simply won't heal. They send them into one of these double-pressure things, and all of a sudden, they begin healing. The whole world worked like that at one time. That's what we're talking about – being reconciled to the perfection that God actually made. And Jesus Christ is going to make that possible. We cannot imagine what the millennium is going to be like when these things are all brought back into line, the way they originally were.

However, out in space, the angelic conflict is working out there, and the whole universe has been contaminated by Satan. Since all things on earth and in heaven must be reconciled to God, it shows that these spheres are in rebellion against God's authority now.

Now, that rebellion is going to reach a climax in the tribulation (extreme rebellion). And the greatest rebellion that's going on today in creation is the environmental movement. The environmental movement has substituted for communism. When communism fell, there was no anchor point anymore for governments to control people. So, the environmental movement has come into the picture. The United States is going to Kyoto, Japan, and they're going to sign, under the present administration's decision, a treaty on energy. And you're going to kick up your gas 50 cents or more per gallon. They're going to start restricting enormous use of energy. You're going to find that your life is going to be so costly in so many ways because of the cost of energy which is underneath everything we do and everything we make. And all of this is because of the subtlety of false science that says, "There's an ozone hole up in space, and we're making it because all these women are spraying their hair (some of you boys do it too), so that you will look good. And that is putting all those fluorocarbons out there.

The only hole is in the whole of the people in government who don't have gravitas. They have no dignity. But they do love to control people. They do want to have government power over them. And unless somebody in Congress wakes up and says, "Wait a minute. You will not sign that treaty," the United States is going to be forced to conform itself to a restriction of the use of energy like you wouldn't believe.

They're going to except one country, though, Mexico – and I think Korea, and a couple of other deadbeat outfits. They're going to exempt them, because they couldn't possibly live up to the quality of life and environment that we have in this country now. And Americans are sitting there, drifting along, and totally oblivious that here is a world that is being defiled even more with this kind of action, so that the people of the world can be prepared to accept the antichrist as a world ruler. To do what? To solve more of their problems that are arising because of what government has done in the first place.

So, since the earth has to be reconciled, it means that these things are now in rebellion against God's authority. And in the tribulation, boy, are you going to have a world that's going to have to be reconciled, as the environment really is shredded by God Himself.

Out of this chaos caused by sin by everyone, everywhere, and everything, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to bring reconciliation to God the Father. Jesus Christ will restore the fallen universe because of His resurrection power. It's going to make all wrongs right. He's going to present a reconciled universe to the Father. And the millennium is going to be a stage to that reconciliation.

Just to give you an idea of what God is talking about here, the millennium will be the first stage of that reconciliation. The full reconciliation will come when the new heavens and the earth are created. Let's just take a look at what's going to happen in the millennium itself. Isaiah 11:6-9 gives us an insight into that. As soon as the millennium begins, here is part of how the earth is going to be reconciled: "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together. And a little boy will lead them."

Now those of you who like kitty cats, your children have a lot of fun with them. Well, the children of the millennium will be able to have a lion or a leopard or a cougar. They'll have these big cats which are going to be harmless. They will now be reconciled to God's original perfect creation, for the violence and the ferocity was not present.

Verse 7: "Also, the cow and the bear will graze, and their young will lie down together. And the lion will eat straw like the ox." The lion will not eat your children. It will not eat meat. It will be a vegetarian: "And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra."

I just saw a TV program on cobras. I can't imagine a child playing with a cobra – those beady eyes, and that that forked tongue that keeps flicking out to get the sense of the temperature around it: "And the weened child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. What makes the difference? Doctrine. As soon as people begin functioning on doctrine, the environment is right, and the environment is treated right, and when Christ's reconciliation work is applied to all of creation, this is going to be the first stage of making it as nice as it used to be. Now there is the fear, because Satan contaminated it and God judged it.

I have a boy in the academy who just doesn't want to go to summer camp. And we said, "Why not?" He has been there before. He said, "Well, they have tarantulas." Do we have those hairy little legged creatures? Yes. And do most kids pick them up and play with them? No. But most kids aren't that distressed over them. They look at them. They think it's fun. They chase after them. But this boy is just terrified of tarantulas. So, I told him, "Well, we bring our own up there every year. Maybe we won't bring so many, and you can come." I'm trying to reassure him. But this guy, I mean, he's a bug-eyed when he talks about those tarantulas.

Well, there's not going to be any kind of that disruption in nature, and nobody being afraid.

A little later, in Isaiah 65:25, we have a little more discussion of how things are going to be: "'The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpents' food. They shall do no evil or harm in all of My holy mountain,' says the Lord." So, there's a little preview. That's during the millennium.

Of course, once we get into the new heavens and the new earth, it'll all be the way it was originally. At the end of the millennium, all existing unreconciled rebels, living and dead, are going to be removed before the creation of the new heavens and the new earth, which will be totally patterned after God's righteousness. Revelation 20:11-15 describe that event – that all these people are going to be gathered together. The rebels, who are held in Hades, are going to be brought in to stand before the Great White Throne. They'll have nothing to say. They'll be judged on the basis of their good works, and they'll be thrown into the lake of fire. That's what's ahead for people who think that they can reconcile themselves to God by their efforts.

Now, there's one thing that you should be careful not to apply here, which is not what is said. And that is that universal reconciliation of heaven and earth will mean that unbelievers and fallen angels will also be reconciled to God. No, that is not true. This passage does not teach universal salvation, though there are some people who try to teach that from this passage. That would contradict other Scripture, for example, Matthew 7:13-14, which tell us that the road to hell is a very broad one, and many people are on it. It is easy to find. But the road to heaven goes through a small gate, and it's a narrow road, and few there be that find it. Now, that tells us that most people will not get to heaven, and those who do, do so by an act of God's enlightenment to them, so that they find the way.

However, all lost, rational beings, while they will not be saved, they're all going to bow down to Jesus Christ. They're all going to recognize Him as Lord of Lords. Philippians 2:10-11: "That in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth (in Hades), and that every time should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

A universal salvation would contradict a large number of verses. You may read them at your leisure: Psalm 1, Daniel 12:2, Matthew 25:46, John 5:28-29, 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10. Every one of those passages indicates that there are some who go to God; and, some who go Satan's way. Some go to heaven; and, some go to the lake of fire. And each one of those passages makes it clear that there's that division. Those who die without being reconciled to God are doomed forever to the lake of fire (John 3:18). There is no other second chance.

Along with this ultimate universal reconciliation, verse 20, closing this hymn to Christ, says, "And through him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross:" "Having made peace." This reference refers to the achievement of a peaceful condition. It is talking about removing the enmity toward God on the part of the sinner, and of the wrath of God against the sinner. It reconciles man, and it propitiates God. And the reconciliation of Christ produces peace in the soul. This word in the Greek language is in the Greek aorist tense, which means that this is something that's done once for all. Here's another evidence that you're saved, and Christ has make provision once for all. You can't be lost. He gives you peace. Once you have peace with God through faith in Christ, you can never lose the peace. You can live outside that peace, but potentially that peace is always there. And it's done by Jesus Christ.

How did He do that? Very explicitly, through His blood. And you notice that what it says is: "The blood of His cross." This is more specific than saying simply: "through His death." It is the blood of His cross, which now makes it clear to us that Jesus Christ was a sacrifice. And it reflected the Old Testament system of sacrifices. The death of Jesus Christ for the sin and guilt of mankind brought together a holy God and a sinful man. This is the peace that Jesus gives, and which no one else could give. It is the blood of Christ as the Lamb of God, sacrificed for the sins of the world.

"On the cross" indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ was under the wrath of God. He did not hang there because of His own sin, but He hung there because of our sins. And because of our sins, He bore the wrath of God against Him. Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us, for it is written: cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Here's the problem we all have. We all are faced with the fact that we are under the condemnation of the moral code of God as expressed in the Mosaic Law. As long as that Law was there, you were condemned. That's what's so amazing that people want to live under the principles of the Law. In the Old Testament, what God could do, before Christ came and paid, was only provide atonement. Every time a Jew sinned, he went to the priest at the temple. He brought the appropriate sacrifice of an animal which was killed, and the bloodshed. And what happened was here was the sin, and it was covered. It was not forgiven. The sin was covered. It was put on temporary hold. It was covered. Why wasn't it forgiven? Because the Mosaic Law was still there condemning. The Law kept beating away. And it said, "You're condemned. And you're condemned." And no sooner had he walked away with his sin covered, than he was into another one, and the Law was after him again.

So, what God had to do was remove the power and the authority of the Mosaic Law. The very thing that people wanted to live by to get to heaven is what God said, "I've got to get rid of. I have to satisfy the demands of the Mosaic Law." And that's what was done. This curse had to be removed. Then man could be reconciled to God, because what could God do? Once the Mosaic Law was satisfied, which was the death penalty by Jesus Christ, then God could give absolute righteousness. He could give man His own righteousness. First He gave them forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness came first. But if all you have is forgiveness of sins, you're not going to heaven. These sins were temporarily forgiven. It was a temporary forgiveness. It would be more accurate to say it that way. They were temporarily forgiven. But now you have forgiveness of sins. That won't take you to heaven. You also have to have absolute righteousness. So, you have to have God's justification. He has declared you righteous. And the result is now that you have reconciliation. Christ got rid of the Mosaic Law, and its condemnation upon you. Now, finally, God could give you permanent forgiveness of sins. He could impute to His righteousness. Now you're on your way to heaven.

Can you do that by yourself? The curse of the Mosaic Law had to be removed. Galatians 3:10: "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse. For it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them.'" Why does a Jew go to hell? He goes to hell on the one side because he refuses to accept Christ as the only way to heaven. But he also goes to hell because he's still trying to approach God by keeping the Ten Commandments, and by keeping the 613 rules of the Old Testament. And no matter how he lives under the Law, he's under the curse of God. And when Jesus Christ hung on the tree, which was referred to as "hanging on wood," the Old Testament says, "Anyone hanging on wood is under the curse of God." It's a sign of being under the curse. He bore the curse of the Mosaic Law. A Mosaic Law is out. It no longer has any authority.

The result is that now God can impute to us His righteousness, and give to us the permanent salvation through the forgiveness of sins achieved on the cross.

Also notice Philippians 2:8. Speaking of Jesus: "And being found in appearance as a man, He was more than a man. He was the God-Man. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on the cross. And when He hung on that cross, He was under the curse of God. But His death, under that curse removed the Mosaic Law judgment against us.

So, that's why Colossians says, "By the blood of His cross." It was a blood atonement that permanently covered the sin of man, and removed the barriers between us. The peace of reconciliation is based on the fact of doctrine which is revealed. It's not based upon how you feel, or by how you should do things by your human efforts. Peace with God, which is sought on the basis of one's feelings, instead will result in a delusion. The fact of doctrine required a blood sacrifice: the innocent dying for the guilty. When Adam and Eve tried to handle their guilt, they came up with what they felt they should do. Feeling and emotion guided them. So, they made fig leaves. God said, "That's not good enough. I'll have to atone for you in a different way. So, He flew an animal, and He made clothing out of skins for them. Therefore, He showed them that death would have to be paid for what they did. Either they would pay it, or God would pay for them through Christ.

The atonement covering of a forgiveness of Adam and Eve was eventually made permanent by the imputation of their guilt to Christ, and His righteousness to them, so that the Law was satisfied, and they were permanently reconciled to Christ.

People, as I said earlier, who don't have a principle in dealing with God, whether it be on salvation or how to live their lives, they don't have a principle of doctrine. All they have is an opinion. Are you ready to face God on the basis of human opinion, even your own: what you think; how you feel; how you conclude? All the times that you resist good advice of the Word of God, and of the agent of God because you have a better perspective? If you don't have a greater principle to guide you with wisdom from the Word of God, you're going to have nothing but the dumbness of man. Do you want the smarts of God; or, do you want the stupidity of man.

Our father, we thank You for Your revelation of truth to us, and the edification that that brings. We thank You for the piece that Jesus gives. And we thank You, through the blood of His cross, that we have that peace: peace because the Law has no claim on us; and, peace because our temporary covering of atonement has been made permanent forgiveness through Christ. And our imputation of Your righteousness to us now qualifies us for eternal life in heaven. We thank You, Father, for this doctrine of reconciliation.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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