And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled. Colossians 1:21
What does the word ‘reconciled’ mean? One common area where we encounter reconciliation is in marriage counselling. These counsellors – the good ones at least – strive for reconciliation. They often have to deal with situations where couples have built up feelings of frustration and animosity toward each other. The counsellors must break through those hard feelings and bring the two people into an appreciation of each other and a desire to be with and enjoy each other. Often, marriage counsellors fail in their efforts to reconcile. One or both of the couple will refuse to compromise and accept the other. So it’s not an easy task, although it becomes somewhat easier if one or the other of the couple is totally committed to the reconciliation. But even then, stubbornness on the part of the other blocks the entire process. It’s the same in our case, where God is totally committed to reconciliation with sinners, but only a few of the sinners respond favourably to His efforts. Those who refuse miss out on some wonderful blessings that our reconciliation brings.
God has a purpose in reconciling us to Himself. Consider Romans 5:10: For 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. So it is our salvation – past, present, and future – that results from reconciliation. The first of our great blessings in reconciliation is peace with God. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). We have the same thought in Ephesians 2:16-17: And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. As aliens and strangers, we were once at enmity with God, despite His love for us and His desire to be reconciled. We experience and see that enmity against God all around us in the world today, an enmity that we once shared. But we now have peace with God.
We also have access to God. For through Him (the Lord Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father (Ephesians 2:18). Before we were saved, the Bible was a closed book to our minds, which were blocked from being able to grasp the wealth of knowledge and blessings contained in it. As well, prayer was but a ritual, with no promise or power to actually intercede with God. But reconciliation changed all that. Now, the Holy Spirit is able to open up the Scriptures to our redeemed minds. And prayer provides perpetual access to the heart of our loving Father.
Yet a third blessing from reconciliation with God is reconciliation with other believers. Consider verse 20, the verse just prior to our text: 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. Before Christ, there was alienation between Jew and Gentile. That has changed. For He is our peace, Who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us (Ephesians 2:14). It is the devil that has sought to create divisions among the Lord’s people, because it is always God’s desire that we should be reconciled to each other.
What blessings do we appreciate today that result from our reconciliation with God? -Jim MacIntosh