Reconciliation and Propitiation: October 2011
Table of Contents
Propitiation and Reconciliation
The cross is the crown jewel of God’s ways with man. By it He has glorified His own nature of light and love and by it He has laid the foundation for man’s blessing in spite of his sinful rebellion. It is such a great work with a multitude of results that many different terms are used by God to help us to understand and appreciate our God and His work through our Lord Jesus Christ. Such terms include atonement, justification, redemption, forgiveness of sins, substitution, propitiation and reconciliation. Many of the sacrifices and services of the priests in Israel were done as types and shadows of the different aspects of the mighty work of God in Christ. Now we see in them the display of God’s nature and how God has been able to maintain His glory and yet bless those who had sinned against Him. In this issue we look at two aspects of His work: propitiation and reconciliation. We see in them how God’s holy nature is satisfied, and in doing so, He provides the foundation for bringing us back into fellowship and harmony with Himself. In it all we see that one and only one, our Lord Jesus Christ, could accomplish this work and say, “I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.”
He Is the Propitiation for Our Sins
It is a striking feature of the writing of the Apostle John that whatever God is shown to have provided, in His love, for His own glory and the need of man, is also shown to be closely bound up in and with the Person of Christ.
We may see that propitiation is, by John, associated with the Lord’s Person. He does not present it as the work of the Lord; this we have elsewhere. But in the first epistle of the apostle of love we read, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2), and, again, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Jesus Christ, then, is Himself the propitiation for our sins. This is as infinitely blessed as it is simple, for if I, as a poor sinner, needed a propitiation for my sins and I am told that Christ is that propitiation (however little I may be able to explain the meaning of the term), I can rest assured in the fact that, Christ being it, it will be more than adequate for my guilt.
But we may gather more than this from the manner of the usage of this truth in John’s epistle. The fact is first introduced in connection with the breach of a believer’s communion by a sin. “If any man sin [or, shall have sinned], we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins.” John had been showing the intimate place into which the child of God is brought into fellowship with the Father and the Son! But when we walk thus in the light, it gives us to see as nowhere else the fearful hideousness of sin. We are not to sin, but if anyone does and is then overwhelmed by the sense of the terrible nature of sin in the presence of the holy God, a provision has been made. Jesus Christ, as Advocate, undertakes our case with the Father, duly representing the confession of our sins on our behalf; moreover, He is the propitiation for our sins.
Thus, whatever satisfaction the righteous and holy nature of God demanded because of those sins, Jesus Christ is that satisfaction. And the value and worth of propitiation is, therefore, in effect, declared to be commensurate only with His Person. If, therefore, we wish to estimate rightly the basis of our restoration to communion, we must think of the eternal excellency of the Son. However we may magnify the awfulness of sin (and we shall never exceed the truth in this respect), we may be sure that it is more than covered by the propitiation of the Son of God, for He did, and He alone could, offer what our sins needed and the glory of God demanded.
But we gather even more from these words in John; we see what a character of holiness is stamped upon propitiation. We are not left to invest it with whatever degree of sanctity we please. The Spirit of God has hallowed the truth in the highest possible way, and in a way that the youngest babe in Christ can but recognize. The Son of God is the propitiation for our sins. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The work of propitiation is associated with all the Godhead glory of the Son. Can we attach too great importance to a doctrine that is set before us in such terms as these? In the mind of the Spirit, as expressed by John, the work is merged in the Person, and the value of the work is to be measured according to the intrinsic worth of the Son.
It is important for us to remember this, because the human mind is so apt to belittle the things of God. And how terrible to detract from the Person of the Son, whom no one knows (Matt. 11:27). Israel in the wilderness sinned by limiting the Holy One in what He would do for them (Psa. 78:41). Shall the Christian with impunity set the bounds of time and space to the Son of God, who is the propitiation for our sins, and especially by imposing human limitations upon Him in the performance of that particular work? If any would speak or think slightingly of propitiation, let them remember that He is “the propitiation for our sins.”
W. J. Hocking
Propitiation
Christ stood in our stead, in a certain sense, in propitiation. On the great day of atonement Aaron slew the bullock and the goat, which was called the Lord’s lot, and sprinkled the blood on and before the mercy-seat and on the altar. The blood was presented to God, whose holy presence had been dishonored and offended by sin. So Christ has perfectly glorified God in the place of sin, by His perfect obedience and love to His Father in His being made sin who knew no sin. God’s majesty, righteousness, love, truth — all that He is — was glorified in the work wrought by Christ, and of this the blood was witness in the holy place itself. Our sins gave occasion to it, but God Himself was glorified in it. Hence the testimony can go out to all the world that God is more than satisfied, glorified; whoever comes by that blood is freely and fully received of God and to God. But there was no confession of sins on the head of this goat; it was about sin by reason of Israel’s sinfulness, but it was simply blood offered to God. Sin had been dealt with in judgment according to God’s glory, yea, to the full glorifying of God, for never was His majesty, love and hatred of sin so seen. God could shine out in favor to the returning sinner according to what He was; yea, in the infiniteness of His love beseech men to return.
Also, on the great day of atonement, the high priest confessed the people’s sins on the second goat, the scapegoat, laying both his hands on its head: The personal sins were transferred to the goat by one who represented all the people, and they were gone forever, never found again.
The two goats are but one Christ, but there is the double aspect of His sacrifice, first Godward (propitiation), and then bearing our sins (substitution). The blood is the witness of the accomplishment of all, and He is entered in not without blood. He is the propitiation for our sins. But in this aspect the world comes in too. He is a propitiation for the whole world. All has been done that is needed. His blood is available for the vilest, whoever he may be. Hence the gospel to the world says, “Whosoever will, let him come.” In this aspect we may say Christ died for all, gave Himself a ransom for all, an adequate and available sacrifice for sin, for whoever would come — tasted death for every man.
J. N. Darby, adapted
Propitiation: What Is It and Where Made?
In the Old Testament propitiation was made on the mercy-seat in the holy of holies, and if we turn to the details of what took place on the great day of atonement, as described in Leviticus 16, we shall be able to understand its import. In the rites of that solemn day we find the manner of Aaron’s entrance into the sanctuary prescribed, but we need only concern ourselves for the present purpose with the blood of the sin offering, whether that of the bullock, which was for himself and his house, or that of the goat, which was the sin offering for the people. It should be noted, however, that before the blood of these offerings was dealt with, Aaron was directed to “take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not” (Lev. 16:12-13). This burning incense, with the sweet odors which it emitted when brought into contact with the holy fire, is a figure of the fragrant perfections and graces of Christ Himself to God, and it is therefore a precious reminder that the person and the work of Christ can never be separated. His perfect work derives all its worth from what He was in Himself, for all the value and preciousness of His person, before God, enter into His work.
The Blood on the Mercy-Seat
First, the blood was sprinkled upon the mercy-seat, and it was this sprinkling that constituted propitiation, for the mercy-seat was God’s throne in the midst of Israel. Jehovah was holy, and as such it claimed holiness from His people; the law was given as the standard of His requirements. But no sooner was the law given than it was transgressed, and its righteous penalty of death must have been exacted, unless some way were found to satisfy the claims of a holy God upon a nation of sinners. God Himself promulgated the righteous foundation on which atonement could be made for their sins and on which He could still dwell in their midst and maintain towards them relationships of grace; this foundation was found in the blood of the sin offering which was annually sprinkled on the great day of atonement upon the mercy-seat. The fire which consumed the body of the sin offering outside the camp told of holy judgment against sin; the fat burned upon the altar spoke of the inward perfection and acceptability of the victim, that is, of Christ as typified by it, while the blood sprinkled on the mercy-seat met, on behalf of the people, all the holy claims of Jehovah which He had against them because of their sins (Lev. 17:11). When therefore the eye of God rested on the sprinkled blood, He was satisfied, and He could righteously pass over the sins of His people from year to year; He could still dwell in their midst and maintain the relationships which He had established.
But this yearly ceremony was typical, foreshadowing as it did the one perfect sacrifice of Christ (Heb. 9-10; 13:11-13). The Apostle John therefore tells us that Jesus Christ, the righteous, is the propitiation for our sins and also for the whole world (1 John 2:2; 4:10). From this we learn that the blood of Christ has done once and for all what the blood of the sin offering accomplished in type for the year on the day of atonement; that is, it has made propitiation. It is true that John says that Christ Himself is the propitiation, but we also read that God has set Him forth a propitiatory (or mercy-seat) through faith, in His blood (Rom. 3:25), whence we understand that the blood of Christ, deriving, as we have before seen, all its tremendous value from what He was in Himself, has answered all the claims of God on sinful men and has glorified Him in all that He is concerning the question of sin and sins. Hence God can now righteously justify everyone who believes in Jesus (Rom. 3:26) and can send forth the gospel of His grace to the whole world.
The Blood Sprinkled Seven Times
Second, the blood was sprinkled seven times before the mercy-seat. This was the place of the high priest’s approach and which, in this way, represented his standing before God. The blood was sprinkled there in testimony that propitiation had been made, and seven times that it might be a perfect testimony. Once was enough for the eye of God, in token that all His claims had been met, but God gave to man a perfect assurance that propitiation had been accomplished, and accordingly it was sprinkled before the mercy-seat seven times. Whoever, therefore, receives the testimony of God in the gospel and thus approaches the mercy-seat (Christ), “through faith in His blood,” finds in the very presence of God the perfect witness that propitiation has been made for his sins, as well as that they have been borne by another, and borne away forever (Lev. 16:21-22).
Where Was Propitiation Made?
In the old economy propitiation was clearly made in the holiest, for it was “into the holy place” that “the high priest entereth ... every year with blood of others” (Heb. 9:25). However, when giving that which corresponds to this in the work of our Lord — that is, the propitiatory part of His work — the Holy Spirit says, “Once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26). That this is propitiation all are agreed; thus, while the high priest of Israel made propitiation in the earthly sanctuary, it was on the cross that Christ made propitiation. The work of propitiation was made and completed on the cross; the entrance of Christ “once for all into the holy of holies” was on the ground of “having found an eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12 JND). There on Calvary His work of expiation was finished — finished by the sacrifice of Himself, when He, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself there without spot to God.
The Effects of Propitiation
Propitiation is the ground on which God sends out the entreating message of the gospel to the whole world. Having been fully glorified concerning sin and sins, He can satisfy His own heart by causing the mighty streams of His grace to flow out to every creature under heaven and by issuing the proclamation, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). He can thus be just and the justifier of everyone who believes in Jesus. Lastly, on this same ground, the sin of the world (not the sins, but the sin) will be entirely taken away (John 1:29; Heb. 9:26), and God has been pleased to disclose to us the scene in which this has been accomplished — in the new heaven and new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. Hence it is that then “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4). These heavens and this earth will be displaced by a scene wherein God will be all in all.
E. Dennett, adapted
Reconciliation
“God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. ... 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 Cor. 5:19-20).
Man has departed from God and become His enemy. He needs reconciliation. Satan seeks to lead the sinner to believe that God is against him and that He needs to be propitiated by good works — hence the vast amount of religious doings in the flesh. Thousands seek to reconcile God by their fleshly efforts to be good and religious. But the Word of God shows clearly that it is man, the sinner, who needs reconciling to God, and not God to the sinner. There is a vast difference between the two.
Man’s Enmity
The full enmity of man against God, in the person of Christ, came out at the cross. Put to the proof in various ways for some four thousand years or so, the cross fully manifested the sinner’s condition as an enemy of God. While God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, we find the world at large refused the goodness of God and crucified His Son. And while the cross of Christ, on the one hand, seals the world’s condemnation, on the other, it is the expression of the wondrous love of God to man. It is the basis upon which God in righteousness now sends forth the word of reconciliation. Paul and others declared it in the early days of Christianity, and it is the privilege of God’s servants now to announce the same blessed tidings to all, according to the ability given.
Hence God in grace has now taken the attitude of beseeching sinners to be reconciled to Him. The Apostle, coupling his companions with himself, says, “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 Cor. 5:20). The sinner must be reconciled in the day of His grace or come before God in judgment in the future in his sins. It will be too late to be reconciled then. “Behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
God Glorified
God, having been glorified in the finished work of the cross, raised His Son from the dead. Grace now reigns, and all who come to Him in self-judgment, by faith in the name of His Son, are justified and reconciled. When on earth, our Lord gave us a striking illustration of the manner of our reconciliation to God, in the story of the prodigal son. In this dissatisfied, ungodly worldling, Jesus illustrated the moral condition of the publicans and sinners of that day, but it also sets forth the state of the unconverted world without God at the present time. Reduced to beggary and misery through his own sin and having failed in his own efforts to remedy his condition, he made up his mind to return to his father and confess his sin. “He arose, and came. ... But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). Lovely picture of the sinner’s reconciliation to God! Take your place before Him, like the prodigal son, in self-judgment and confession, if you have never done so before, and you will be reconciled in like manner. If you seek to justify yourself, you are like the Pharisees and scribes who are illustrated in the elder son, and you will be found outside the place of blessing. But if you come to God, like the prodigal arose and came to his father, you will find yourself the object of His love and His Spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. And, henceforth, “Abba, Father” will be your cry.
The Manner of Reconciliation
Let us dwell a little upon the manner of this reconciliation. Five things may be especially noted. The father saw, was compassionate towards, ran to meet, embraced, and kissed his son. “When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him.” Occupied with his long lost one, he was on the lookout for his return. His eye lighted on him in the distance. Recognizing the well-known form, the heart followed the eye and was filled with compassion toward his son. Love immediately sped the feet, and he ran to meet him. And there, just as he was in all his wretchedness, love satisfied itself by folding the lost one in its fond embrace. His eyes saw, his heart was compassionate, his feet sped, his arms embraced, and his lips covered him with kisses.
The son confesses his sin, but he is interrupted by the father before he can talk about being a hired servant (Luke 15:18-23). He was welcomed and treated as a son. Not a word of reproach escaped the lips of his loving parent. His return and his confession were a witness to his repentance, and immediately a heart of love lavishes its all upon the object of its affection. This is the way of love.
Blessed triumph of grace! Lovely picture of the grace of our God! What do you know of all this? Have you judged and confessed the past? Do you know what it is to be reconciled to God, folded in His everlasting arms? Have the kisses of peace and reconciliation been imprinted upon your cheek? “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom. 4:7-8). Do you know, too, the blessedness of being included in that precious verse, “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” (Rom. 5:10)? If so, you too can join with all His own in adding, “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Rom. 5:11 JND).
And the father said to the servants, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry” (Luke 15:22-23). Grace abounds. Only the best of everything for the reconciled one will satisfy a father’s heart. It was not a question of his merits, but a heart of love finding its gratification in the blessing of its object. Wondrous grace! And this is the way of our God! All that love can devise and grace bestow is lavished upon every sinner who returns to Him. Clad with heaven’s best robe, sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption, fitted to walk before Him, it is now the joy and privilege of every child of God to feast with a loving Father upon the exceeding riches of His grace. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20-21).
This is the manner of the sinner’s reconciliation to God. Are you reconciled? “If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” (Psalm 130:3).
E. H. Chater
On Reconciliation
Reconciliation is, to use familiar language, making all straight, and even, primarily, I believe, used in money-changing as that which makes the sum even, so that there is satisfaction of the parties in the matter, and thence passing into the more ordinary sense of making all smooth between alienated parties and reconciling one who is alienated or at enmity. But it is not simply the change of mind from the enmity, though that is included. Nor is it justification; it is the bringing back to unity, peace and fellowship what was divided and alienated. So it is between us and God, but the alienation was on our part. It was not alienation on God’s part, but righteous judgment against sin in His creature, and that righteousness must be met in order to bring back the alienated creature into relationship with God. Only now it is much more than bringing back, because of the purposes of God in Christ and the infinite value of the work by which we are brought back to God. Still it is an establishing of a blessed and peaceful relationship with God, and us in it.
It Is Not God Reconciled to Us
Reconciling God to us is quite unscriptural in expression and thought. No act or dealing could change God’s mind, either in nature or in purpose, but He acts freely in what is before Him according to that nature and in bringing about that purpose, and though His mind is not changed, yet the meeting, satisfying and glorifying His righteousness, according to that mind and the imperious claim of His nature and authority, is necessary in the highest sense, that is, according to that nature. His holiness too is involved in reconciliation. Reconciliation is the full establishment in relationship with God according to His nature and according to the nature of that which is reconciled. It now acts in redemption and a new nature and, as regards all around us, a new state of things, so that it is more than reestablishment. It is reestablished inasmuch as the old relationship was broken and forfeited, but it is not the returning to that. Rather, it is the establishing of a new one which has the stability of redemption and is the accomplishment of the purpose of God. Still it is a bringing back into the enjoyment of divine favor that which had lost it. This reconciliation is twofold in Scripture — of the state of things and of sinners. Thus in Colossians 1 all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him, “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.” The force of the word is evident from the first case. Then there is no question of changing the disposition of the reconciled things, because the purposed reconciliation spoken of in verse 20 refers to all created things as to the vast majority of which no such change can take place. It is the bringing of the whole created scene of heaven and earth into its true order and right relationship with God and to its right standing and condition in that relationship.
God Reconciling
the World to Himself
The first passage which suggests itself, when we come to inquire into the use of the word in Scripture, is 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, particularly verse 19: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” It is not God is in Christ reconciling. The passage states that the apostolic ministry had taken the place of Christ’s personal ministry, founded on the blessed Lord having been made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. It is the aspect of Christ’s ministry down here. God was in Him reconciling the world. Man would not have Him, but this was the service and aspect of His ministry. He was proposing to the world a return to God in order and blessing, not imputing their trespasses to them. If man had received Him, it would have proved that man in the flesh was recoverable, though he had sinned; though such indeed was not God’s thought, the result proved he was not, and the Lord had to be made sin for us. Man had to be redeemed out of the state he was in and justified on a new footing, not recovered from his ruin as man in the flesh still. Lawlessness and ease had both proved men sinners in fact. God was in Christ saying, I am not come to judge; return, and I will forgive; return to order and to God and nothing will be imputed. But the mind of the flesh was enmity against God, and the true state of man was brought out. The sin of the world was demonstrated by their not believing in Christ; righteousness, in their seeing Him no more and His going to His Father. No doubt a change in us is needed to our being in order and peace before God, but reconciling is more than a state of feeling; it is a being brought back to the condition of right relationship with God. In Colossians 1 already quoted, we find it the purpose of God to bring all things in heaven and earth into this order and condition. All things were created by the Son and for Him, and all the fullness of the Godhead which dwelt in Him will bring all created by and for Him into its due condition and order, into a normal state of relationship with itself.
We Are Reconciled
But we, the Apostle adds, are reconciled, Christ being our righteousness and we the righteousness of God in Him. We are, as regards the very nature of God, in our normal place with God, according to the efficacy of Christ’s work. Being moral beings, a new mind was needed for this, and Christ is our life, perfect according to what He was for God, that we may have it. The believer is reconciled in the body of Christ’s flesh through death. We are before God with the entire putting away in His sight of our old rebellious nature, by a work and obedience which has perfectly glorified God Himself, so that we are the righteousness of God in Him. Nothing is wanting to our place and standing in Christ, our old state being gone, quickened together with Him; dead, and the old man put off; risen, and the new man put on, we are in Christ before God according to the worth of His propitiation and work. We are so consciously by faith and the presence of the Holy Spirit by which we are sealed, for our being presented “holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight.”
Christ’s Death
Hence in Romans 5:10, reconciliation is attributed to Christ’s death, not to a change of mind in us. “If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” And, “We have received the [reconciliation]” (vs. 11). Note here that the Christian is spoken of as being reconciled. Now it is quite true this does not and cannot take place without a work in man by which the peace Christ has made is appropriated; it cannot take place without faith. The Spirit of Christ works in quickening power in us, makes us know our state, gives new desires, makes us judge our old state, and finally shows us the value of Christ’s death and our standing in Him, but peace was made, God glorified perfectly when Christ was made sin, so that His love can seek us and grace reign through righteousness. It is not that God is changed, but He can freely work in love according to righteousness for His own glory in virtue of that which has been presented to Him. Propitiation has been made, and hence, according to righteousness and abounding in love, He can bring back the sinner to Himself according to these, and, faith being there, has brought back—has reconciled. That which is the foundation of reconciliation has been offered to God, but it is not God who is reconciled or brought back into a normal place with man, but who reconciles in virtue of that which has been wrought by Christ and presented to Him.
Propitiation is the foundation of reconciliation, the reconciliation of the sinner, and in due time that of the universe. Thereupon the gospel beseeches men (the words “you” and “ye” should be left out of 2 Corinthians 5:20) to be reconciled to God, to return to Him in true relationship in Christ, who has been made sin for us. It is not then propitiation, it is not at all reconciling God, nor is it merely a change in man or his feelings, but it is the standing of man (when applied to him) in peace with God according to the truth of God’s character in virtue of redemption, man being brought morally back in a new nature which by the Holy Spirit appreciates that redemption and enjoys the peace — joys in God as well as has peace with Him. It is important to note that the Christian is always treated as being reconciled. It is more than being justified — this is being authoritatively pronounced righteous by God, whether from sins or now actually in Christ. It is more than the restoring of the heart to God, though both have place in order to reconciliation, for to be with God fully revealed in joyful and settled relationship with Himself, all in order between us, it must be as justified according to His righteousness and the objects of His love as those who have tasted it. We have been brought into both by Christ’s work, but with hearts livingly renewed and tasting that love, or we should not as moral beings be in it. It is thus a word of great power and blessing. Nor is there an expression more full or more complete connected with our restoration than that of our reconciliation with God. It supposes God revealed, in all that He is, and man in a perfect place and standing with Him according to this revelation — reconciled to God.
J. N. Darby
Reconciliation: What Is It?
The testimony of Scripture is as distinct as possible on this great question. It never speaks of God being reconciled to us, but rather, “If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:10). The death of Christ was essential to the reconciliation, but man was the enemy of God and needed to be reconciled. So we read in Colossians 1:21, “You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled.” The ground of this is stated in the previous verse to be “the blood of His cross.” So also in 2 Corinthians 5:19, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” It does not say, “Reconciling Himself to the world.”
Thus, to anyone who bows to Scripture, as everyone ought, the truth is as clear as a sunbeam. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” God not only gave Him, but bruised Him on the cross. “It pleased the Lord [Jehovah] to bruise Him.” It is of the utmost importance to maintain the true aspect of God’s nature and character in the presentation of the gospel. To say that Christ died to reconcile the Father to us is to falsify the divine character, as seen in the mission and death of His Son. God was not man’s enemy, but his friend. True, sin had to be condemned; God’s truth, holiness and majesty had to be vindicated. All this was done, in a divine way, in the cross, where we read of God’s hatred of sin and His love to the sinner.
Atonement is the necessary basis of reconciliation, but it is of the very greatest importance to see that it is God who reconciles us to Himself. This He does, blessed forever be His holy name, at no less a cost than “the death of His Son.” Such was His love to man — His kindness — His goodness — His deep compassion — that, when there was no other possible way in which man, the guilty enemy and rebel, could be reconciled to God, He gave His Son from His bosom, “made Him to be sin for us,” and bruised Him for our iniquities on Calvary’s cursed tree. Eternal and universal homage to His name!
Oh! beloved reader, should not all this magnificent display of love and grace draw and bind our hearts to our ever-gracious God in sweetest confidence, banish all our fears and forebodings, and fill our souls with a liberty and peace that not all the power of earth and hell, men and devils, can disturb?
C. H. Mackintosh
Are You Reconciled?
You “hath He reconciled” (Col. 1:21). This is a thing to give thanks for now. If I am to return in heart and mind to God, I must be reconciled. God saw the need, and from the fullness and perfectness of His own love He did it all. “We have known and believed” it. Such is the condition of the Christian, and if you ask a proof of it, this is the answer: He laid down His life. “You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled.” Not only have we a wicked nature in us (“children of wrath”), but more than this, we have done wrong, thought wrong, spoken wrong, and then, besides that, our hearts are alienated, the sure consequence of sin. Did you ever see a servant or a child do wrong and be glad to meet his master or parent afterward? Does not the sense of having done wrong keep them away from those against whom they have sinned? Yes, there is alienation of heart, because we do not want God to come and say to us, as to Adam, “Where art thou?” There is, first, lust, then the commission of sin, and then the mind turned away and at enmity. Then, in this condition, God comes to bring it back. How can He do it? Ruined, unhappy, wretched as I am, if God is for me, I can come to Him. Grace can come and make me happy. God comes in grace to win me back when thus alienated and tells me He has taken care of my sins. This will bring me back. Law convicts, but never wins back — never. It is as though we said to God, My conscience makes me dislike you, makes me unhappy with you; take away my sins, and I will come back. This certainly is in substance what the gospel of God says to us, both about our sin and about His grace.
Reconciliation Complete
And will He half reconcile? No, He has completely done it: “In the body of His flesh through death.” There you were under your sins. Christ came as a real, true man about these sins that are distressing you and keeping you away from God. I see Him made sin, bearing the dreadful cup of God’s wrath, all the sins laid upon Him like the scapegoat. Jesus Christ coming in a body, not with a message that it shall be done. No, the thing is done. God has visited sinners in love. I meet God by faith there where He had met me, and I see in the body of Christ’s flesh, through death, He has put sin entirely away. I have nothing to do with it. Who could do anything to add to such a work? Men may wag their heads at it in derision, but the work is done fully and completely. Christ is gone up, and He is gone to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight. He has made me so, and when He finished the work, He sat down.
“After He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God.” Well, then, may it be said, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet.”
If I have peace with God, there is nothing between Him and me. The peace is made; it is a thing accomplished. Now, are you reconciled to God? Grace and glory and love, then, are brought before your soul by the Holy Spirit, and you will be changed into the same image from glory to glory. If I know I am to be like Him at the day of His appearing, I shall be purifying myself, “even as He is pure” now. May the Lord work in our hearts by His own Spirit, conforming us who believe into the image of Jesus, soon to be conformed to the Firstborn in glory.
J. N. Darby
Looking for Love
It has been estimated that at any given time in the world, there are approximately one billion people connected to the Internet. Of this number, some are either conducting business or simply sharing information with friends. It is shocking to realize, however, that fully one-half are involved with various websites, chat rooms, and individuals, seeking the love and companionship that they do not have. Such is the state of this world, that at any given time five hundred million people are seeking relief from the loneliness and heartache that envelopes them. Technology has revolutionized communication in the past few years; jet travel has made it possible for people to visit one another as never before; increased wealth has enabled some parts of the world to have a lifestyle unparalleled in world history; yet the problem of unsatisfied affections remains larger than ever.
The search for love is nothing new; the American musician and songwriter Stephen Foster expressed it nearly 150 years ago in his song, “No One to Love”:
“Dark is the soul that has nothing to
dwell on!
How sad must its brightest hours
prove!
Lonely the dull brooding spirit must
be
That has no one to cherish and love.”
Although it is extremely doubtful that Stephen Foster ever turned to the Lord for salvation (he died before he was forty), the song expresses a fundamental human need — the need for a relationship. The song is entitled “No One to Love,” but in the world of today, the search has perhaps degenerated even farther, for many today are wanting someone to show love to them, rather than searching for someone to whom they might show love. While most would probably say that they are more than willing to show love, the fact remains that the natural human heart more frequently responds to love rather than initiates it. Even when love is shown, it may not be true love, for underlying motives and secret agendas frequently complicate what passes for love.
When God created man, He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). Because of his likeness to his Creator, man has both the capacity and the need for love and a relationship. What a privilege this is, and how thankful we should be that God has given this dimension to our being! In innocence in the Garden of Eden, man had a relationship with God, but then God in His goodness saw that “it is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18). He then created the woman, who was to complement him, and thus man had the companionship of his Creator and the woman whom God had given him.
The fall of man caused him to hide among the trees of the garden, for his happy fellowship with God had been spoiled. More than this, the entry of sin into this world has seriously affected relationships among the human race, and particularly the marriage relationship. As another has aptly remarked,
“We must never be naive enough to think of marriage as a safe harbor from the fall. ... The deepest struggles of life will occur in the most primary relationship affected by the fall — marriage.”
One of the most serious consequences of the fall has been to make fallen man self-centered, and thus primarily a taker, instead of a giver, like his Creator. While there are doubtless happy friendships and marriages even among unregenerate people, the fact remains that relationships and friendships in this world are often unpredictable and disappointing. The result of all this is a continual (but usually fruitless) seeking after that elusive person who will ultimately answer all our needs and make us happy.
What Is the Answer?
We read in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “Also He [God] hath set the world in their heart.” The word here translated “world” could be translated “the infinite” or “the eternal,” showing us that man was created for eternity, and not merely for time. For this reason only God can fill the human heart. Ecclesiastes is the ultimate reflection of a man (Solomon) who had tried everything and who had to conclude that it was all vanity and pursuit of the wind. He found that neither material things nor human relationships offered any lasting peace.
However, the God who made man can fill the heart, for He created it so that only He could fill it. God wants a relationship with His creature and has made a way so that fellowship can be restored, in spite of the fall. Through Christ and His work on the cross, God has made propitiation for sin, so that “mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psa. 85:10). Man can now be reconciled to God and have, not merely the relationship that was present in the Garden of Eden, but a much closer and more intimate one.
“Though our nature’s fall in Adam
Seemed to shut us out from God,
Thus it was His counsel brought us
Nearer still, through Jesus’ blood.”
The heart that is continually disappointed and unfulfilled by material things and human relationships can now be filled with God Himself; the heart made for eternity can be satisfied by the One who inhabits eternity.
New Relationship
This new relationship with God Himself has its effect on human relationships too, for we read, “We love because He has first loved us” (1 John 4:19 JND). Man in Christ now has the capacity for divine love — you have a love that can keep on loving, even if the object of that love does not respond in the right way. For this reason human relationships among those in Christ can now take on new dimensions and have a deeper and more fulfilling character, because they are now viewed in the light of God’s character and God’s love.
We all recognize that even believers still possess a sinful fallen nature—what Scripture refers to as “the flesh.” Since it never improves, it can cause even a true believer to do all those things characteristic of an unbeliever, if it is allowed to act. It is a sad commentary on the Christian testimony that relationships among believers are all too often characterized by the activity of the flesh, instead of the new life we have in Christ. However, the best of human relationships, even within the framework of Christianity, will never be perfect down here and will always disappoint in some way. The believer who recognizes this will continually draw near to the Lord, to walk in fellowship and intimacy with Him, while seeking by grace to bring the spirit of Christ into every human relationship, whether with believers or in his contact with the world. His heart, fully satisfied with Christ, can reach out to others, while waiting for that eternal day when every relationship will be perfect.
W. J. Prost
A Hymn of Adoration
My God, my Father, when I first beheld
Thy holy Lamb uplifted on the tree,
My heart at Thy great grace was
overwhelmed,
That Thou shouldst bruise Thy only Son for
me:
How sinful looked my sin in that pure light
Of righteous grace and sin-condemning
love!
Oh, how Thy grace shone forth in glory
bright,
Abounding, all-abounding, sin above!
But now, while resting on that work of
grace,
And glorying only in His cross, and
name —
His opened side my soul’s abiding-place —
And sure my hope will ne’er be put to
shame;
In my deep peace I oft myself forget,
And gaze upon His face to find out Thee;
And deeper, richer, holier joys I get,
As Thou Thyself art more revealed to me.
His death reveals Thy name, as well as
saves;
Thy very Being, Life — and Light is Love;
When my rapt spirit in this ocean bathes,
Or in this heaven wings her flight above;
And when Thy attributes my mind possess,
Thy wisdom, glory, might, all powers above,
And I am lost in my own nothingness —
Here I can rest that God Himself is Love.
J. G. Deck, 1870