JESUS, THE GREAT ACCOMPLISHER -- Tomorrow:
"And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled, in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight." (Colossians 1:20-22)
Devotion 25 of 32
" . . . in the body of His flesh . . ."
Other versions read, "in His fleshly body" (NASB), "by Christ's physical body" (NIV), and "His own human body" (NLT).
The language is most precise. A specific part of Christ's nature is defined: "the body." In distinction from His glorified body, it is said to be the body "of His flesh."
The reconciliation was accomplished "IN" the body of Christ's flesh – not without it, but by means of that body.
1. This is the "body" to which Jesus referred when He said, "Take, eat, this is My body" (Matt 26:26).
2. This is the body that is to be discerned, or comprehended at His table. "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body" (1 Cor 11:29).
3. It is the body by which we become dead to the Law. "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ" (Rom 7:4).
4. It is the body with which we have communion. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (1 Cor 10:16).
5. This is the body that was offered as a sacrifice to God. "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb 10:10).
6. It is the body in which the Lord bore our sins. "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Pet 2:24).
It is no wonder that the remembrance of Christ involves the communion, recollection, and discernment of His body! This is where the reconciliation was accomplished, and without it there could be no reconciliation with God!
THROUGH DEATH
" . . . through death . . . "
The Spirit is even more specific in identifying the place and means whereby our reconciliation to God was effected.
Our reconciliation was not through the body that was laid in a manger (Lk 2:7). It was not by the twelve year old body that reasoned with the doctors of the Law (Lk 2:46). Reconciliation was not realized through the body of Jesus when He was baptized (Matt 3:16-18), or when He was tempted in the wilderness (Lk 4:2). It did not take place in the body that "went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed of the devil" (Acts 10:38).
As great as Christ's miracles were, we were not reconciled to God by them! As noble and above reproach as His young life was, we were not reconciled by it. His sayings abounded with matchless wisdom and unparalleled insights, but we were not reconciled by them. Our reconciliation required more than a noble example of how to live. If men were to be reconciled to God, it would take more than words even "words of eternal life" (John 6:68).
Our reconciliation to God required death – not just "A" death, but the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were reconciled to God in the fleshly body of Christ WHEN He died. That is precisely why we are "baptized into His death" (Rom 6:4), and are being "made conformable to His death" (Phil 3:10). We are, in every sense of the word, "reconciled to God by the death of His Son" (Rom 5:10). It is why, in the Lord's table, we "show the Lord's death till He come" (1 Cor 11:26).
This is the ultimate revelation of Christ's humility. For Him to enter the world as a "Babe" required profound humility. In order for Him be "subject" to Mary and Joseph required humility (Lk 2:51). What marvelous humility was displayed in our Lord being in a state where He "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man" (Lk 2:52). In order to be tempted, He had to be humble (Heb 2:18; 4:15).
However, all of that was not the ultimate humility. It was death on the cross that most thoroughly exhibited the humility of Jesus. Thus it is written, "And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil 2:8).
That is what it took to bring God and man together – to reconcile us to God. If Christ's death had not taken place, we would have forever been cut off from the "Father of spirits" (Heb 12:9).
If we sin, we do have an Advocate the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One (1 John 2:1). However, His advocacy is effective BECAUSE He died, bearing our sins in His body on the tree (1 Pet 2:24). When we confess our sins, it is good – even necessary – to remember those sins required to death of the Lord Jesus. That recollection will help us to take transgression seriously.
PRAYER POINT; Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You that the effects of Christ's death extended beyond the regions of Galilee, even into heaven itself.