Mutual
Conciliation
by Wim Janse.
Let's suppose you have a friend; a good friend--a very good friend. You work with him and share what you have. Then suddenly, something happens that separates the both of you; your friend has stolen from you! It even comes before a court of law! You haven't seen each other since the incident, but when you see your friend there, the love you harbor in your heart for your friend emerges again. You tell the court to stop the proceeding and forget the whole case, all evidence is to be destroyed. In your heart you cannot remain angry with your good old friend. So what if he has taken some money from you? Isn't your friend and his friendship worth so much more to you? At that very moment, you become conciliated with your friend, only...., your friend doesn't want to have anything to do with it, and walks away! But you remain at peace with him and your hand will be held out towards your friend. It is a one-sided conciliation. Let's say that, much later, your friend recognizes that your offer is a real one, approaches you and accepts it. Then, from that moment on, there is a mutual conciliation, there is "reconciliation".
"Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation," (2Cor. 5:18 Conc.Version)
There is something similar going on between God and mankind. When God had created man and placed him in a magnificent garden, man did something that caused estrangement between him and God. Man changed from friend to foe. He became sinner and with people like that, God cannot have fellowship. The estrangement resulted in man not being able to approach God anymore, because God is holy and cannot and will not have anything approaching Him that is sinful, or less than perfect. God kept mankind at a distance. But the situation could not stay that way. However bad man behaved, God went on loving His creation and creatures, and presented measures so that mankind could get in touch with Him again. But..., that contact was never as direct and intimate as it was in the Garden of Eden; there was always that distance. It is man who may approach, but God will always keep that distance. Israël is a good example of that. The people were allowed to come close to the Tabernacle and the Temple, but they weren't allowed to enter. Only on rare occasions, the high priest could enter and come close to God, but even then there is no direct contact. God stayed shrouded. God's living with Israël was a lonesome affair for Him, He lived in separation. And so it is for all mankind. We should never forget that the normal, natural and intended way is for the Creator and His creatures to live in mutual love, peace and harmony!
To bring matters back on track, we needed two things: settlement for what happened, and conciliation. Settlement alone isn't enough though; settlement wouldn't take the estrangement, i.e., the enmity, away. God had to be conciliated with man again.
What exactly happened when Adam and Eve ate from that fruit of "the tree of knowledge of good an evil"? To be precise, four things happened:
1. Adam transgressed the only command there was.
2. Adam became a sinner, he became mortal, the penalty for his transgression.
3. Adam offended God.
4. He stepped on God's heart. Estrangement came between God and man, something that a man cannot remove.
Jesus died on the cross. He was the ultimate Lamb, the One all those sacrifices in the Temple were only shadows of. With His sacrifice, He brought the world back to God. Four things happened on that cross:
1. Our transgressions were done away with.
2. Our sins were justified.
3. Our offenses against God were forgiven. by this sacrifice.
4. God became conciliated with the world.
God became conciliated with the world and He changed His attitude.This is a major miracle!
God changed His attitude towards us, not because the sinner paid for his sins or said his prayers. No, in Christ's sacrifice, God’s justice was revealed (Rom.3:21-24), and by that, the way to conciliation was opened.Christ isn't only the Sin Bearer, He is also the Peacemaker! Through His suffering, death and resurrection, He paved the way that lead to the conciliation. He took the obstacles away.
A.E.Knoch wrote in his commentary on the New Testament about 2Cor.5:18
"The keynote is conciliation. Not the sinner conciliating God by penance or prayers, but God conciliating the sinner. The sinner may be most offensive and insulting, but God doesn't reckon these offenses against him. Let this be clear. God is not charging men with their sins, for Christ died for sins. He is not pressing their offenses, for He is bent for conciliation. The evangel is not concerned with the sinner at all, but with God's attitude towards him and with the sufferings of Christ He has placed in us not the message of judgment, but the word of conciliation. "
In the Greek we find two words for conciliation:
Katallassoo - DOWN CHANGE Apokatallasoo - FROM DOWN CHANGE.
The first word is used to indicate the conciliation of God with the world, the second is used to express our being reconciled with God, mutually conciliated, just like you and your friend at the end of the story above.
Apokatallassoo is only found three times in the NT:
1. "and should be reconciling both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in it."
(Eph 2:16;)CV2. "and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens." (Col. 1:20;)CV
3. "And you, being once estranged and enemies in comprehension, by wicked acts, yet now He reconciles" (Col. 1:21;)CV
The fact that God changed towards us, doesn't mean that we at the same time were changed to Him too. God is conciliated with us, He is longing for us with great expectation, but not all are conciliated with Him! To God there is no need for anything more; He looks at us through the sacrifice of Christ. But for mankind it is a different case, mankind has to receive the being conciliated from Him too. We just cannot do it on our own. It happens when we come to faith. The moment God puts faith in our heart (Eph. 2:8; Joh. 3:27), that attitude of being conciliated with God automatically enters us (and builds there), we then are mutually reconciled with God.
"how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them, and placing in us the word of the conciliation." (2Cor. 5:19;)CV
So someone who believes is reconciled with God, or enjoys the mutual conciliation there is between him and God. Paul calls us to be that; to do something with it; to BE conciliated! Don't keep standing at a distance, come closer. There is nothing anymore that separates you from God!! When Christ died on the cross, God--through that sacrifice--conciliated Himself with the world. God doesn't have a problem with mankind anymore! His attitude of turning people away is over. Through Christ's sacrifice at the cross, God once and for all settled all of what mankind, in enmity, had done to Him.
But this is a one-sided conciliation, the world itself is not yet conciliated with God!
This good news of the conciliation is presently being spread by the members of the Body of Christ, on earth. In the future, this Body will take the gospel of the mutual conciliation to heaven and spread it among the celestials.
Praise be to God and to His Son, Christ Jesus!