A Reconciled World

A Reconciled World

II Corinthians 5:18-19

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given unto 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

This World is created in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10) who is the Head Stone of the corner, the Foundation Stone upon which this world is built (Psalm 118:22; Luke 6:48). To the Majority of the Jews in former days this Sure Foundation Stone was a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offense (Romans 9:33) but to the citizens of this world Christ Jesus is elect and precious (I Peter 2:7; Isaiah 28:16). This is that world whose sins the Lamb of God has taken away (John 1:29; Revelation 1:5; Romans 8:32) this is the world that God so loved that whosoever believeth on His Son should not perish (John 3:16). This world hangs upon the arm of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53:1) the government of which world is upon His shoulder (Isaiah 9:6). In this world all things are made new, its citizens have new eyes, ears, and hearts, for the apprehension of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (revelation 21:5: II Corinthians 4:6). In this world sin is not imputed (Romans 4:6-8; II Corinthians 5:19) for this world is reconciled to God by the death of His own well beloved Son, who is the Sun of righteousness in this world (Malachi 4:2), who shines on all the citizens of this world, and enlightens them in the knowledge of God their Savior (I Timothy 1:1; Titus 3:4) whom to know is life eternal (John 17:3; I John 5:20). This world is established in Blood, it is the Blood of the everlasting covenant of grace (Hebrews 13:20), the Blood of the New Testament (Matthew 26:28), the Blood of God (Acts 20:28).

And all things are of God: God has created this new world for Himself: “This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.” (Isaiah 43:21). It was the good pleasure of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to create this world, that the objects of His eternal and immutable love might rejoice in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:3) in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). It is according to the good pleasure of His goodness (II Thessalonians 1:11; Exodus 33:19) that He has purposed to make His dear children (Ephesians 5:2) rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory (I Peter 1:8) in Christ Jesus. For He saith: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2) Christ Jesus will have His spouse comforted in this world, while she endures the assaults of her own Adam nature (Romans 7:24), the afflictions of the gospel (II Timothy 1:8), and the hatred of the world of the ungodly, and more especially the world of the religious lost. (John 17:14, 20; II Peter 2:5; I John 3:1)

Who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; First it should be noted, who it is, that is reconciled: it is God who is reconciled; and He is reconciled to those to whom the ministry of reconciliation is given, that is, the church of God. It is not the world of all men, without exception or distinction to whom God is reconciled, God is not at peace with all the worlds but only that world for whom the blood of Christ was shed, which is the world of God’s elect. The word, reconcile, means: “To restore peace, friendly relationships, to settle a quarrel (Oxford English Dictionary). God had a quarrel with His people for they had sinned in Adam, and had sinned actually in themselves. Christ Jesus came in their nature, sin accepted, and made peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20), He settled the quarrel by putting away the sin of His people through His death (Hebrews 9:26). Now it is the mission of the church of God to inform all who, are taught of the Spirit, that Jesus is Lord, that they are the children of God, heirs of the promise of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and are of the household of God: (I Corinthians 12:3; I John 5:1; Romans 8:17; Ephesians 2:19).

The Holy Ghost is the great teacher of the everlasting covenant of grace, as it is written: “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) This teaching of the Holy Ghost is a revelation from God through the preached word (I Peter 1:23), which is made effectual by the power of God the Spirit. It is by the preaching of the gospel in the church of God that the children of promise are taught of their inheritance (Galatians 4:28). “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6) These are sons by the election of the Father, children of God from everlasting, who must be taught of their inheritance. As it is written: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:” (Matthew 25:34).

To wit, that God was in Christ, for the human nature of Jesus Christ is “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” (Hebrews 8:2; 9:11) “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9) Christ Jesus is God manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16) and God purchased His church by His blood in the Person of Jesus Christ (Acts 20:28). Those who worship God, worship God in Christ Jesus. Our Lord Jesus said to Phillip “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Phillip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John 14:9)

Reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Almighty God, sent all His billows of wrath over His own Dear Son, because of the love He bore toward the children who He had chosen in covenant and given to Christ Jesus before the world was made, for, Christ Jesus is Surety of the children of the covenant (Hebrews 7:22). “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.” (Psalm 42:7) The prophet Jonah, as typical of Christ Jesus said: “For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. (Jonah 2:3) Gods billows of wrath swept over Jesus Christ until the ocean of His indignation against the sin of His people was at a perfect calm: God at rest, because of the satisfaction of His justice, the insult offered to His glorious righteousness had been drown in the blood of His own Dear Son. The sharp sword of His justice had tasted the blood of the Holy One of God; and found satisfaction. Therefore God’s report is: “Fury is not in me” (Isaiah 27:4; 53:1) toward His church, for His wrath is, in righteousness, exhausted in the bosom of Christ. God is reconciled in the sufferings, and blood of Jesus Christ, the sins of the church of God are not imputed to them for those sins were laid on Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God; and therefore in justice they cannot be imputed to His people.  In this new creation, created in Christ Jesus there is no imputation of sin to the children of this world, for the Surety of the New Testament, Jesus Christ: “his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (I Peter 2:24).  

Now that this work of reconciliation is accomplished for the citizens of this new creation, God, “will rest in His love” to His dear children. As it is written: “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17) This is the good news, the gospel: That God is reconciled through the finished work of Jesus Christ. And has committed the word of reconciliation to the church of God. It is the object of the church to tell all the brethren of Christ, that God their Father is reconciled, in the blood of their Redeemer. Therefore God is reconciled to all who the Holy Ghost, teaches of their adoption in Christ: by teaching them that “Jesus is Lord” for, “no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost.” And “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” (I Corinthians 12:3: Matthew 11:27)  Reader do these things carry a message to you? Are you confident that Jesus is Christ? If you truly believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, from the heart, then you are of the household of faith, a child of God in Jesus Christ.    

AJ Ison

See the Writers blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com Hear the true gospel of the free and sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ preached at www.13thstbaptist.org  webcasting live at listed service times.

Whosoever rests on this Sure Foundation Stone has ceased from his works, for righteousness and simply expects all things from Rock of salvation. This is the New and Second creation is created in Christ Jesus unto the glory of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Ephesians 1:6: 2:7)