Through the cross God is propitiated and man is reconciled.
This reconciliation takes place in
two distinct phases, with God Himself taking the initiative.
The two phases of reconciliation:
1. God has reconciled Himself to the world through
Christ.
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18,19).
“In Christ God Was Reconciling the World To Himself”
The message of the Gospel is what God has done for the entire world. This reconciliation is not something we did or
agreed to. God in one act of grace unilaterally reconciled the entire world to Himself. This reconciliation took place
solely through Jesus Christ. For God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.
God did not simply ignore our sins or like a benevolent grandfather say that our sins are all right because we are His
grandchildren. The Lord God is a holy and just God. Every sin under the law has to be punished. God did something
greater because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. We are controlled and changed by the love of
Christ. We are convinced by the Gospel that one died for all. Jesus, God’s holy Son, became man so that He could
take the place of every person who lived and died under the law. Jesus perfectly kept the law of God in the place of
every person. Jesus then died to bear the punishment of hell deserved by every person. These are the facts: Jesus
died for all and was raised again in triumph.
Think back to that familiar Gospel passage of John 3:16, “God so loved the world (universal reconciliation) that He
gave His only Son that whoever believe in Him (individual reconciliation) should not perish but have everlasting life.”
This is the glory of the Gospel ministry of reconciliation which has been entrusted to us as we plead to people
everywhere “Be reconciled unto God who has reconciled the world unto Himself through Christ Jesus.”
2. Man is now to reconcile himself to God through
Christ.
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians
5:20).
Reconciliation is the restoration of a relationship to a harmonious state after a dispute; it is the bringing of accord out
of discord between two parties. Christian reconciliation is the work of God through Christ by which He restores
mankind to a favorable relationship with Himself.
Christian reconciliation can be illustrated by two erstwhile friends who are now feuding. The good relationship they
once enjoyed is strained to the breaking point. They cease speaking to each other, and the two gradually become
strangers. They may even be actively hostile toward one another. But then one day something happens. The two
estranged friends begin to talk; pride and resentment are set aside; apologies are extended and accepted; trust is
rebuilt. When peace is finally restored and the friends embrace, reconciliation has been achieved. Now, imagine that,
between the two friends, only one was at fault. And the other friend, totally innocent, is the one who initiated the
conciliatory process—that is what Christian reconciliation is like, as God has reached out to sinners.
Reconciliation necessarily involves change. In Christian reconciliation, God does not change. He remains perfect. But
He changes us. As a result, our relationship with Him changes.
The means God used to reconcile us to Himself was His own Son, Jesus Christ: “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 5:18–19). In fact, it was “while we were God’s enemies
[that] we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). Jesus’ death makes all the difference.
When Christ died, He was “making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:20).
The fact that we needed reconciliation means that our relationship with God was broken. And the fact that God is
holy means that we were the ones to blame. Our sin alienated us from Him. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the
basis of our forgiveness and justification. By grace through faith in His Son, God thoroughly remakes us into the
image of Christ. God and man are brought together: the formerly dead in sin are raised to new life. “We are no longer
enemies, ungodly, sinners, or powerless. Instead, the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy
Spirit whom he has given to us (Romans 5:5).
It could be said that the entire Bible is the story of Christian reconciliation. We started off in the Garden of Eden as
friends of God, unashamed and living in fellowship with God and each other. But then sin entered the world, and all
our relationships were broken. We became enemies of God, seeking our own ways and living in open hostility to Him.
The whole of Scripture, then, is a record of God’s reconciling us to Himself. We ran away, and He pursued us. We were
scattered as sheep, and He sent the Good Shepherd. We hid in darkness, and He sent the True Light.
