"Reconciled To God" - 2

There is one thing that we must know about our Reconciliation to God: God does not move, and He never did; it was man's position that changed. The word "reconciliation" is the Greek word 'Katallage', and it involves a change which is brought about through the death of Christ. The blood of Christ satisfied God's justice, and through Faith, this death of Christ changes man, making him a friend without any compromise of God's holiness. God does not change; His holiness does not make way for our sinfulness. It is us (man) that must be changed, which is what the death of Jesus Christ provide for us (man); to satisfied God's justice, so that, instead of God rightly demonstrating His wrath toward sinful man, He demonstrated His mercy. Jesus Christ is spoken of as The High Priest, who in the fashion of the Old Testament sacrifices, gave Himself, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people; which then causes God to be propitious or merciful toward sinful man. What Christ did in sacrificing Himself for our sins, showed Him to to be Merciful and Faithful; His sacrifice as the God-Man, is what satisfied God's justice. Christ is the High Priest who offers Himself, becoming at once, both victim and priest, thus satisfying the justice of God, and at the same time procuring forgiveness of sins, whereby reconciled man is offered access to and communion with God. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ as the High Priest, did not appease God in any way, but instead, to make possible the taking away of the sins of the people without violating God's holiness; which means that it is not the nature of God that changed from one of hatred to one of love toward man, but it is the nature of man that is changed. There is a close connection with this word "reconciliation" to the three Livitcal offerings which were intended to reconcile God and a sinning people. These offerings were closely connected to propitiation: the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; each of which were geared toward reconciliation. The burnt offering required the offerer to put his hand upon the offering's head; which indicated the identification between the offerer and the offering; then when the offering died, it did so as a substitute for the guilty offender, and accomplished atonement. The sin offering applied to those who sinned inadvertently, and as with the burnt offering, the offerer placed his hand upon the head of the sacrifice, and then the blood played the important part of the offering. The trespass offering differed from the sin offering, in that it stressed the harm done by the offerer, and required restitution be given; there is also no mention of placing the hand upon the head of the offering, as it is with the others. The point being, is that the propitiation offered by Christ is capable of dealing with every kind of sin barrier between God and man, not just with sins of ignorance and infirmity alone, but with His death, blood, and His being who He was, He abolished all, any, every kind to sin that could be committed against God; He was the Perfect Sacrifice, which perfects the imperfect, abolishes the typical, and lifts the whole significance of propitiation from the circle of legal and ceremonial ideas, into the realm of abiding ethical and spiritual realities. Therefore, Jesus, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God, becomes the author of eternal salvation; a salvation whose characteristic is finality! "But God commandeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 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. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement. " (Romans 5:8-11) (Disclosure: much of this post is quoted by Dr. Spiros Zodhiates)