The Reality of God's Reconciliation

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Reconciliation simply means a change in status, and it is a major issue recognizing reconciliation. Reconciliation from God’s advantage point is an accomplished fact, and God is reconciled where the totality of the sin debt of all men is concerned. None of us measure up to the perfection of God, and the only reason God could say through Paul, “Grace and Peace be unto you” is because his son fully paid the price. How many of us have grown up with the idea that God has to make a decision at some point in our life whether or not to forgive us for our sins? God forgiving us is not something he must decided to do.

The truth Paul has proclaimed in all of his epistles is we could not get right with God in a million life times of trial and error. We could never make ourselves right with God, and he had to do what we could not do for ourselves. God had to make us right with him, and he did so through the finished work of his perfectly righteous son. How many of our sins were future when Christ died for our sins? All of them were future, and God placed them all on his perfectly righteous son. Christ’s test score is written on our paper, it is an amazing transfer.

The issue of sin was settled as a result of Christ’s death upon the tree of crucifixion, it is a son issue today, not a sin issue. Will we accept what Jesus Christ accomplished as a result of his death upon the tree of crucifixion or will we reject it, the son is the issue with God today. God’s attitude of love forces no one to take him at his word. God gives all the choice to accept what Christ accomplished on their behalf today, or to reject it. God purchased men out of sins dominion, never to be returned to the market place of sin again. By removing the sin issue from the table of God’s justice, God effectively canceled Satan’s ownership of all mankind.

Reconciliation has to do with God’s justice being satisfied for sins, reconciliation is a sin issue. Many teachers will tell us that we can be reconciled, but that is not true, reconciliation was accomplished as a result of Christ’s death upon the tree of crucifixion, where Christ became sin for the entire human race. Our sins were not stored on Christ to be brought back later; our sins were paid for by him, and he satisfied totally the justice of God for those sins.

Justification, on the other hand, is something entirely different; it has to do with a judicial decree of the very righteousness of God himself freely attributed to our account. To be justified (the gift declaration of the very righteousness of God) means to receive that gift that came to all men. No one can receive that unless that person is placed into Christ. Being placed into Christ, joined to Christ is the method whereby God justifies us; or righteousifies us. We must believe that Christ put our sins (past, present and future) away forever as a result of his death, in order to be placed into Christ to have righteousness freely attributed to our account.