II Corinthians 5: 14-21
Theme: Reconciliation
RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH CHRIST
A childhood accident caused poet Elizabeth Barrett to live life as a semi-invalid before she married Robert Browning in 1846. But there is even more tragedy to her story.
In her youth, Elizabeth had been watched over by her tyrannical father. When she and Robert were married, their wedding was held in secret because of her father’s disapproval. After the wedding the Brownings sailed for Italy, where they lived for the rest of their lives. But even though her parents had disowned her, Elizabeth never gave up on the relationship. Almost weekly she wrote them letters. Not once did they reply.
After 10 years, she received a large box in the mail. Inside, Elizabeth found all of her letters; not one had been opened! Today those letters are among the most beautiful in classical English literature. Had her parents only read a few of them, their relationship with Elizabeth might have been restored. (Daily Walk, May 30, 1992)
I think we all know what it means to be alienated from someone. Our relationships with friends, children, spouses, and church members can become broken and destroyed by mishaps, wrongly expressed feelings, and stupid, sinful behavior. Sometimes the repair of that relationship can be made by saying I am sorry. Other times, it takes a miracle and sometimes the miracle does not come.
The most important relationship we have is the one with God. It is important that every sinner realize that our sin has broken our relationship with him. When our relationship with God is broken, nothing short of a miracle can fix it. And only God can perform the miracle. Only God can reconcile us unto himself.
Paul said that "if any person is in Christ he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come." It is the work of Christ that makes it possible. Christ died and was buried and on the third day rose from the grave. The tomb is empty. He rose again. In that act of death, burial and resurrection, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. He made him who knew no sin, that is, Jesus, to become sin. He took our sin and became our substitute. God declared those in Christ to be cleansed, reconciled, and made new.
The word reconciled implies that there are parties who are estranged and have enmity between them. It implies that one or both parties are wrong in a matter and that there is hostility between them. The fact is that our sin alienated us from God. We were rebellious to God. Rebellion is the central problem that has caused our alienation. Man rebelled against God. God is the injured party.
This matter of rebellion is serious business. It does not mean that God is a little angry at us or that somehow we have a right to be angry at God. Our rebellion against God is a capital offense. The book of Romans indicates that we are not only separated from God but that God himself is hostile toward us. We are the subjects of God's divine wrath. Our sin has placed an uncrossable barrier between us and God and the barrier is God's wrath.
However, the most uncomprehensible aspect of it all is that God still loves us. God chose to do something about the barrier between us. God is not only the Lawgiver, he is our Creator, our Great Lover and our Savior. God did not leave us to die in our sin. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The act of Christ on the cross changes the man or woman who comes to him by faith. It is the person who is in Christ that is reconciled. From the moment of the fall, God had been about the business of bringing salvation to mankind. But it takes shape when Moses met God on the mountain to receive the Law. On the holy Mountain, Moses saw something that was absolutely dazzling. According to the Book of Hebrews, He saw heaven. He saw the heavenly temple and the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice. God told him to build a copy on earth, called the tabernacle which later was replaced by the temple. This tabernacle was to be a drama of what would one day take place. It was to provide a history and meaning for the cross.
God told Moses that once a year, on the day of Atonement, the high priest was to make an offering for the sins of the people. Imagine if you will, a solemn day, a day of high expectation and ritual. A day when God would come down and met man and deal with Israel's sin. The people would gather outside the Tabernacle and the High priest would make a sacrifice for his own sins. Then two goats would be brought to him.
The first goat is sacrificed on the altar and the priest catches some of the blood in a basin. The priest then takes the blood to the Holy of Holies, that area of the Tabernacle and Temple that was separated by a thick curtain. It was the holiest of places. Here the Ark of the Covenant sat and on top was the Mercy Seat, the judgement seat of God. The Priest would go in and burn incense to form a cloud of smoke and God would meet him there under the cover of the smoke. It was judgement day in some respects and the High Priest was the mediator and the representative of the people. Then, the priest would pour the blood on the mercy seat, the blood of another for the sins of many. God's wrath would be turned away. Our sins are covered. And God's people would be declared justified.
On the second goat, the high priest would lay his hands on its head and confess the sins of the people over that goat and that goat would then we released into the wilderness to die. He is called the scapegoat and he symbolizes the fact that God separates our sins from us as far as the east is from the west and remembers them no more.
The book of Hebrews said that this was just a shadow of the real thing. They were symbols of something to come. Jesus was our perfect priest and our perfect sacrifice. And when Jesus died on the cross, His perfect sacrifice was our substitute, He died for us and his death covered all of our sins for all times. His sacrifice is to never be repeated. The blood of Christ covers our sins forever. And God separates our sins from us as far as the east is from the west and remembers them no more.
The results of reconciliation are we have peace with God, we have access to God's presence. In place of estrangement there is fellowship with the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit. Joy in God replaces dread of wrath and we have the assurance that God is for us and not against us.
Jesus died for us. His death means that the most innocent child who responds to God is unquestionably saved. It means that the foulest scum of the earth who comes to Christ, is also unquestionably saved and declared a child of God.
I don't care what you have done or where you have been. God can and will erase the darkness of your heart and make you a new creature in Christ. At the end of your days, there will not be a box of unread letters. Heaven will not be filled with unheard pleas to save. God was in Christ reconciling you unto himself. Therefore, be reconciled to God.