The Word of Reconciliation

Reconciliation is one of the great “theological” words of the scriptures.  It is also the word that truly affects the sinner first.  The affect of the finished work of our Lord Jesus on the cross on God is that of propitiation, by which He is satisfied.  See the following prophecy from Isaiah regarding the propitiation:

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put [Him] to grief: when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see [His] seed, He shall prolong [His] days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. [Isa 53:10-11]

In the New Testament, John writes of the propitiation:

And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins] of the whole world. [1Jo 2:2]

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins. [1Jo 4:10]

God is in every way satisfied with the accomplishments of His beloved Son on the cross.  If no sinner was saved by the grace that is offered through faith in His blood, it would not lessen the effect of the satisfaction that He accomplished with God.  Yet God has made the accomplishments of the cross affect every sinner in a real way.  It is the word of reconciliation.

…God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ…God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Think of the weight of that statement!  God is not counting sins (imputing) against “them”.  I see no reason to think that “them” is anything but the world that He is reconciling to Himself, and that being all of the people in it.  Sin is no longer standing between the sinner and God, because God has reconciled us to Himself:

And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: [Col 1:20-22]

Now I do not say that this means that all are saved.  Sin is still against God, and still carries death with it.  There are still consequences to sin.  In fact, it is in the context of saved people sinning that the word of God says the wages of sin is death. (Rom 6:23) The natural consequence of sinful behavior will always be death, and the more that one sins against God, the more he makes himself an enemy of God by wicked works. But God is not counting sins against anyone right now.  This is the day of salvation, and not the day of wrath.  If we find ourselves wondering why God does not immediately judge sin and break through heaven to destroy sinners, this is why.  That is not what God is doing in the world today.  What He is doing is saving sinners, and by the cross offers salvation to all without exception or distinction. This is this wonderful word of reconciliation.  God has this message of peace to us.  The message of the heavenly army at our Savior’s birth was as message of peace:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. [Luk 2:14]

The usual introductory message of Paul’s epistles is grace to you and peace.  God is not acting toward the world in “wrath and war”, but in “grace and peace”.  The question is not now one of sins, for the vilest of us will find salvation by grace through faith at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This salvation is applied to those who are justified by faith:

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: [Rom 5:1]

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement [reconciliation]. [Rom 5:6-11]

The reconciliation is the current state of God’s attitude toward man.  This is the time when we preach the word of reconciliation, and

pray [you] in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him [to be] sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Receive not the grace of God in vain. Behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation. [2Co 5:20-6:2]

…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved… [Act 16:31]