DIVINE RECONCILIATION.
Scripture 2 Cor.5:14-21
“Justification by faith is to many a mystery. A sinner is justified by God when he repents of his sins.
He sees Jesus upon the cross of Calvary. Why all this suffering?” MR 8, p.355
Many are confused, within and without Adventism. A number of books have been written about different views of the gospel, and pluralism is active. Many people have a low degree of salvation surety.
“To the death of Christ we owe even this earthly life. The bread we eat
is the purchase of His broken body. The water we drink is bought by His
spilled blood. Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourished
by the body and the blood of Christ. The cross of Calvary is stamped on every
loaf. It is reflected in every water spring. All this Christ has taught in appointing
the emblems of His great sacrifice.”DA660
Does this mean all are justified? Standing before God in complete harmony?
Our scripture deals with: a. The death of Christ and it’s extend.
b. Divine reconciliation.
c. Purpose of reconciliation.
d. Message of reconciliation.
“We all need to search the scriptures, that we may become acquainted with the
conditions by which reconciliation may be brought about between man and
God.” ST July 7, 1890, p396
.
THIS IS NEEDED IN ORDER TO PREACH CORRECTLY THE ETERNAL GOSPEL OF THE THREE ANGELS MESSAGE OF REV.14:6
TWO MAJOR FACTORS OF EDEN’s FALL.
1. Universal tragedy.
a. Introduction of sin, change in human nature and environment.
b .Sin brought death:
i Spiritual death, separation from God,Isa.59:1,2.
ii Natural death, sleep-death, Hebr.9:27; Rom.5:12.
iii Eternal death ,penalty for sin, Rom.6:23.
2. Universal blessing through Christ our substitute, second Adam.
a. In Christ all have life on a temporary basis.
b. In Christ all have a second chance, probation. (Second faith-test)
c. Because of Christ all share in natural blessings.
d. All have equal opportunity towards eternal life.
1 Cor.15:21, 22 All do live and will live because of Christ.
“In all the fullness of His divinity in all the glory of His spotless humanity, Christ
gave Himself for us as a full and free sacrifice, and each one who comes to Him
should accept Him as if he were the only one for whom the price had been paid.
As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive, for the obedient will be raised
to immortality, and the transgressors will rise from the dead to suffer death, the penalty
of the law which he has broken.” TDG, 148
Q. Does universal grace, second chance/probation mean that God declared all
righteous, reconciled and justified on a temporary basis? see vs.20 “be ye…”
This means they are not yet.
2Cor.5:18, 19 reconciled to Himself
vs.19 reconciling the world, that means for all
breaking down the wall of separation, clearing the way to come
and have forgiveness, justification by faith.Eph.2:14
Rom.5:10 Reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
It’s for all, placed within reach.
a. Universal death for all was introduced because of sin.
b. Universal grace, justification is introduced within reach for all.
“As the sinner beholds the Lamb of God he sees more clearly what provision God has made
to take away the sins of the world. He sees the sufficiency and adaptation of the Spirit of grace
for every conflict. The mysterious provision for the taking away of sin is Jesus Christ…..He is the
propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”(1John2:2)
TMK62
Gal.1:4 “….gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from the present
evil world, according to the will of God our Father”.
This means it is objective. Deliverance is God’s purpose, His aim.
Q. Does this mean completed atonement at the cross?
“It was through infinite sacrifice and inexpressible suffering that our Redeemer placed
redemption within our reach.” 1SM322
It is extended to all, universal, but not all do reach for it.
Because of Eden’s transgression.
All suffer loss of innocence..
All suffer from guilt.
All suffer from fear.
All suffer separation.
All subject to Satan, they surrender by choice.
All suffer death
Man by himself cannot:
Reverse his state of not being innocent.
Become free from guilt
Get rid of fear. Bridge the gap of separation.
Buy back freedom.
God in Christ:
Reconciled us to Himself.
Paid the price for redemption.
Bridged the gap.
Puts freedom from guilt and fear within reach.
Promise that in future the status of innocence, as in Eden, will be restored
This plan is so unique that any attempt to take a human model for comparison will fail.
“The atonement of Christ is not a mere skillful way to have our sins pardoned; it is a divine
remedy for the cure of transgression and the restoration of spiritual health. It is the
heaven-ordained means by which the righteousness of Christ may be not only upon us but
in our hearts and characters.” 6BC1074
“This wonderful problem – how God could be just and yet be the justifier of sinners – is
beyond human ken. As we attempt to fathom it, it broadens and deepens our
comprehension.” TMK, 3
“It was the Son of God alone Who could present an acceptable sacrifice. God Himself
became man and bore all the wrath that sin had provoked. This problem – how could God
be just and yet be the justifier of men? – baffled all finite intelligence. A divine person alone
could mediate between God and men.” ib.204
“Hear His cry:’ My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me’ Mark.15:34. He was treated
as a sinner, that we might be treated as righteous, that God might be just, and yet be the
justifier of sinners.” HP15
CONCLUSION.
The sin problem could not be solved by anything human.
The sinner is under pain of divine and eternal penalty of death.
In a human court a substitute may be found and accepted. but it would not clear
the transgressor’s guilt.
God takes the penalty, clears the way for full restoration and healing.
God could not justify the sinner and bypassing His own law and its demand.
The reason was not seeking satisfaction for divine anger, but divine love.
John 3:16 God gave
Lev.17:11 God gave
Rom.5:6, 8 &10 He loved us before, we had no strength, were yet sinners,
. and enemies.
2Cor.5:21 Christ was made a sinner, to take sinner’s place, penalty substitute
It was a demonstration, but not for demonstration’s sake
He was a martyr but not for martyr’s sake.
God does practice justice not at the expense of His love.
He practice love not at the expense of His justice
He is not one time love and the other time justice.
He is both all the time.
“As the sinner looks upon the Saviour dying on Calvary, and realizes that the
Sufferer is divine, he asks,’ why this great sacrifice was made’, and the cross
points to the holy law of God which has been transgressed.” 1SM323
“The law has no power to pardon the evildoer. Its office is to point out his defects,
that he may realize his need of One Who is mighty to save, his need of One Who will
become his substitute, his surety ,his righteousness. Jesus meets the need of the sinner;
He has taken upon Him the sins of the transgressor.” ibid.
See Isa.53:5 wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.
“Guiltless He bore the punishment of the guilty. Innocent yet offering Himself
as a substitute for the transgressor.” ib.322
“No man of Earth or angel of heaven could have paid the penalty for sin” ib.
PURPOSE OF RECONCILIATION.
We have shown the death of Christ and divine reconciliation.
What is the PURPOSE? What is the divine OBJECT?
Sin severs a relationship. Isa.59:1, 2
Satan was aiming to sever that relationship.
Sin destroys.
Satan aimed at man’s destruction.
Sin causes execution of the death penalty.
Satan aimed at the execution of the death penalty.
God creates relationships.
God aims at restoring relationships
God heals.2Cor.5:17 new creation.
God aims at healing the rift caused by sin.
God is interested in life.
God seeks a way to save man from the death penalty.
Read 2 Cor.5:19;
God in Christ creating reconciliation to Himself.
Not imputing their trespasses to them
What does this mean?
The gap is bridged.
A door is opened to restore relationship
While man is still guilty, charges are not yet laid.
“Not charging men’s transgression to their account”. Wey.Tr.
This does not mean that man is free of debt, but redemption is now within reach.
”It was through infinite sacrifice and inexpressible suffering that our Redeemer placed
redemption within our reach” 1SM322
“God so loved the world that He gave Himself in Christ to the world to bear the penalty
of man’s transgression. God suffered with His son, as the divine being alone could suffer,
in order that the world might become reconciled to Him” AG161
This confirms Gal.1:4 “…. that He might deliver us…”
THE MESSAGE IS NOT: “COME, YOU ARE RECONCILED, ATONEMENT IS COMPLETED, YOU ARE JUSTIFIED, YOU ARE PUT IN THE CLEAR, NO, NO!
The message from 2 Cor.5:20 is: Come,” we pray you in Christ’s
stead, be ye reconciled to God”.
“…that we may become acquainted with the conditions of salvation, by which reconciliation may
be brought about between man and God.” ST July 7,1890.
THE MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION IS, COME!
Isa.1:18………Come and let us reason together, let’s talk it over.
Hebr.4; 16……Come with boldness.
Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all ye…
Rev.22:17…….Spirit and bride say, Come
Let him who thirst, come.
The stone is rolled away, the gap is bridged, the sacrifice is made, and the price is paid, COME.
“And the Father demonstrates His infinite love for Christ, who paid
our ransom with His blood ,by receiving and welcoming Christ’s friends
as His friends.” AG68
“We need not come as condemned animals, for Christ has paid the
penalty for our transgressions”. HP71
THIS IS THE MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION WE HAVE TO BEAR IN
THE ETERNAL GOSPEL OF THE THREE ANGELS MESSAGE OF REV.14:6
THREE DIMENSIONAL ASPECT OF DIVINE RECONCILIATION
1. In God’s mind before the fall. Eph.1:4 Chosen us before the foundation of the world. Rev.13:8 Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
2. In the present time: 2Cor.5; 19, 20 The word of reconciliation now, today.
Rev.14:6 Eternal gospel now.
3. Final reconciliation/restoration: Eph.1:9, 10 “…gather together in one all things…”
“…to unite all things in Him….”RSV
“The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe
is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him
who created all , flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable
space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate,
in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy declare that God is love.” GC678
RECONCILIATION RESPONSIBILITY.
2Cor.5:14, 15.
It is not without human responsibility.
There is human responsibility, but it bears no salvation merit.
vs.14:
Love of Christ John 3;16 God loved
Matth.20:28 Christ also loved
We thus judge We conclude from what took place
If One died for all Christ our Substitute,Isa.53
Then were all dead Death of Christ was needed because all dead
in sin.Eph.2:1;5:14;Col.2:13;1Tim.5:6
John.6:53.
Adam Clarke:
“..for if all had not been guilty and consigned to eternal death because of their sin,
there could have been no need of His death. Therefore, as He most certainly died for all, then
all were dead, and needed His sacrifice, and quickening power of His Spirit.”
Matthew Poole, AD1685.
“They were all dead, which is to be understood of a spiritual death as Eph.2:1 and the
apostle’s argument dependeth upon this, that if all, for whom Christ died, had not been
dead in sin, there then had been no need of His dying for to expiate their sin, and to
redeem them from guilt and pain of it; but be they what they would for whom Christ
died, whether all individual, or all elect only His dying for them was a manifest evidence
that they were all dead.”
Matthew Henry:
“What we were before, and must have continued to be, had not Christ died for us: We were dead,
vs.14. If one died for all, then all were dead; dead in law, under sentence of death; dead in sins
and trespasses, spiritual dead .Note, this was the deplorable condition of all those for whom Christ
died: they were all lost and undone, dead and ruined, and must have remained thus miserable
for ever if Christ had not died for them.”
“Thus the apostle’s statement in 2 Cor.5:14 may be understood in this manner:” For the love of
Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all therefore (we infer) all died (stood
condemned to die)”NASB. The apostle seems simply to say that we may infer from the fact of
Christ’s substitutionary death for the race (John.3:16) that all humanity stood under condemnation
as sinner and were doomed to die. Since His amazing love prompted His vicarious, sacrificial death,
it should constrain us to live for Him.”(The Atoning Priesthood of Jesus Christ, p.85) Dr.F.Holbrook
vs.15:
He died for all For all those dead in sin, under law.
They which live The living ones, that is all who have come to
recognize that they owe their life to Christ.
Not live unto themselves They have a second chance/probation, but not
for selfish motives.
But unto Him which died for them, Living unto Christ in readiness for His .
coming.Gal.2:20
Justification followed by sanctification.
2Cor.5:17:
A new creation
Old things passed away
All have become new
“The faith that justifies always produces first true conversion and then good works
which are the fruit of that faith There is no saving faith that does not produce
good fruit.” MR 8-357
“So the same cross of Christ which frees us from the law’s condemnation, commits us to the law’s obedience.” Dr.Stott in “The Cross of Christ” p.281
This is reconciliation responsibility we are all subject to.
WHAT WE LOST MUST BE RESTORED:
a.We lost our relationship.
b.We lost the image of God.
“Christ died that the moral image of God might be restored in humanity, that men and women
might be partakers of the divine nature ,having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust. We are to use no power of our being for selfish gratification; for all our powers
belong to Him, and are to be used to His glory”. RC165
“Jesus gave Himself for us. What condescension! Let us deny
self and bless others. Glorify God by choosing His way, His will.
He will be your wise Counselor and your fast, unchanging
friend.” TDG367
Pastor Jan.T.Knopper
August 2007; edited August 2010
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