Be reconciled to and have peace with God

Before we accept Jesus’ sacrifice, we’re God’s “enemies”. We’re not just alienated; the Bible says that we’re actively hostile towards God. Romans 8:7 says, “The mind of sinful man is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so”. Our best efforts are bad. Sometimes we tell ourselves that “I’m a good person”, but outside of Christ, God isn’t pleased with our best. Our behaviour outside of Christ is evil. Bad thoughts often lead to bad behaviour. What’s inside will come out.

One pastor expressed this biblical doctrine this way, “Man, by nature, is destitute of all holy principles and desires; there is nothing in his character which is pleasing in the sight of God … all the actions that he performs, even those which are in themselves excellent and lovely, are still the service of an alien and a rebel, and consequently an abomination in the sight of heaven. Every imagination of the thought of his heart is only evil continually.”

Despite these negative traits, God took the initiative and extended grace. “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation”. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus was both God and man. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you are healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 (NIV).

The fullness of God dwells in Jesus, so it was God who died for the sins of the world. God the Father is perfectly holy and so is God the Son. So, the perfect one, God the Son, stood in our place and took the punishment that we deserve so that our evil behaviour can be forgiven, and we can be reconciled to and have peace with God.

False teachers in Colossae were teaching people that they could get closer to God by observing certain rules and regulations, but salvation is found in Jesus alone. Reconciliation means, ‘the restoration of friendship and fellowship after estrangement – to change thoroughly from one position to another’. When we’re reconciled to God, we have friendship with God. All the dividing walls are broken down and we have free access and nothing hindering our relationship with God. All our guilt and shame are cancelled under the blood of Jesus.

The results of our reconciliation are: first, we’re “set apart” and declared holy by God. The word holy means pure, clean, ceremonially and morally clean. Second, we are “without blemish”. This means free from any faults or blotches. When God looks at us, He sees us through Jesus, so He sees no blemishes in us since Jesus has none. Finally, we’re “free from accusation”. No charge of condemnation or sentence of eternal death can ever be brought against believers in the court of divine justice. Romans 8:33-34 says, “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

The emphasis on our holy standing before God is a direct attack on the two types of false teachings. One that promises a kind of ‘perfection’ for those who have secret and mystical knowledge. The other which says perfection will be achieved by observing the law. We have a perfect standing in Christ when we truly accept Him as Saviour and Lord, are holy in His sight without any blemish and are free from any accusation. Why seek for it anywhere else?