The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
Reconciliation is the restoration of our broken relationship with God. When he sinned in the Garden of Eden, Adam broke the relationship of fellowship with God, not only for himself, but also for every human to be born afterwards. God gave Israel the Tabernacle, the priests, the rituals, and the sacrifices for temporary remission of sins. Until the cross of Christ, however, only a few people under the Old Covenant (the Old Testament) had the privilege of actual fellowship and conversations with God – Abraham, Jacob, King David, to name a few. With the New Covenant (the New Testament) of salvation came the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit for all who believe and our placement in God’s very presence.
Romans 5:10 explains the correlation of reconciliation with our Lord Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross: “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.” The legal charges brought against us by Satan were set aside, nailed to the cross, as cited in Colossians 2:13-14: “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”
Reconciliation and regeneration go hand in hand. God’s righteousness and justice requires a penalty for sin which Jesus, the only one righteous enough to do so, paid for on the cross. Changed hearts and changed natures are the result of salvation and the only way for us to have fellowship with God.
Having achieved the means of judgment for sin and salvation by faith for each of us, the way was clear to set aside the millennia of separation between us and God. As 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 says: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, God was, in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” To know Jesus Christ as Savior means we have the very great privilege of walking in fellowship with God in this world. He has promised to never leave nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).
