“And through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross’ (Colossians 1:20 NLT).
Things fell apart in God’s universe when sin entered it. The Message Bible’s rendering of our text paints a clear picture of reality as the aftermath of sin: “Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross” (Colossians 1:20). Notice that it speaks of the “broken and dislocated pieces of the universe,” this could not have been the way God created them. Something catastrophic happened that changed the state of creation. That could not have been anything but the introduction of sin when our first parents disobeyed God and obeyed the voice of Satan. Sin introduced disorder into God’s ordered universe and things indeed fell apart. In a way, we can actually say that sin engendered a cosmic mutation that affected “people and things, animals and atoms” and forced them out of harmony with God. Paul affirmed that the entire creation is now groaning in anticipation of their eventual deliverance from corruption. “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8: 20-22 NLT). The broken and the dislocated pieces of the universe are waiting in eager anticipation when they “will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” The clear implication of the above statement is that all God’s children by faith in Christ do now enjoy “glorious freedom from death and decay” by virtue of the redemption Christ purchased with His Blood. The children of God, by understanding this truth and walking in its reality, will bring about the liberation of the entire creation (Romans 8:19).
God reconciled everything to himself through Christ’s blood on the cross. He made peace with everything in heaven and earth
God capitalized on the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross to accomplish so much for His creation. First, through it, He reconciled everything to Himself. Paul affirmed that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself not imputing their trespasses to them” (2 Corinthians 5:19 NKJV). This could not have happened if Christ did not die on the Cross. In this, His pre-eminence is most eloquently demonstrated. Through Jesus, God restored His stolen creation to Himself and exposed Satan for who he is –a thief who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. This identity and work of Satan was not very obvious in the Old Testament, consequently his works are all attributed to God. Remember the famous declaration of Job when he heard of the death of all his children and the loss of all his wealth: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21, NKJV). Those of us reading the narrative today know what Job did not know. We know that it was not God that took Job’s children and wealth but Satan. The Life and the ministry of Jesus reveal the true identity of the Father as well as that of the devil. God, our Father, is good and longs for us to enjoy His peace and bounty by virtue of the sacrifice of Jesus. By His Blood God “made peace with everything in heaven and on earth” and without His Blood none of such would have been possible. Jesus Christ is indeed the pre-eminent One!
The Father also took advantage of the Blood of Christ to unite His family who were once separated in two irreconcilable groups –Jews and Gentiles. “For Christ Himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in Himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death” (Ephesians 2:14-16 NLT). God desires peace and unity in His family. All the divisions based on denominationalism and interpretations of scripture do not make sense to Him. He has one family, the Body of Christ, whom Paul described as “the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3 NKJV). To this family God has committed the ministry of reconciliation based on what Christ has accomplished for the whole world (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). “We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is using us to speak to you: we beg you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, receive the love he offers you—be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20, Living Bible). Are you one of Christ’s ambassadors? If so, are you helping people to receive His love and join His family? May God depend on you in Jesus name.
There are no comments