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Reconcile: “cause to coexist in harmony” – “to restore a broken relationship” –
Example – “she wanted to be reconciled with her father
So, what has alienated us from God that caused this broken relationship?
We get the clear answer from the Book of Romans 1:18 - 32
God’s Anger at Sin
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.[i] 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 So God abandoned themto do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
God made a way for us to be RECONCILED to Him
Romans 5:10 – “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.”
Reconciliation is the only we can restore that broken relationship with God.
God made it possible to be reconciled to Him because Jesus gave His life on a cross of shame and suffering…for all who learn that accepting Him as our Lord & Savior is the only way to restore that broken relationship with God the Father.
“being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” – “Saved” by the life that Jesus willingly gave up – for us.
THEREFORE, without reconciliation…there is no salvation.
Saved? - Saved from what?
Saved FROM spending eternity in the Lake of Fire that is located 1800 miles beneath the surface of the earth and that burns at 6,000 degrees (Google - is there a lake of fire in the middle of the earth?)
There is a story recorded by Matthew in Chapter 19 about a rich young man who asked Jesus the same question everyone on the planet asks. Matthew 19:16 - A rich young ruler came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what GOOD DEED must I do to have eternal life?
Jesus said, in Matthew 19:17 - “If you follow and keep all of the ten Commandments, you will have eternal life?”
The man answered that statement that Jesus made better than anyone on this earth can do today…..He said, in Matthew 19:20 – “I have kept all of the Ten Commandments – all of my life, so what else must I do?”
The Apostle Paul told us that SALVATION comes through RECONCILING our broken relationship with God by believing that Jesus died on the cross for our sins…He paid the ultimate price for our sins in order for us to reconcile with God…and Paul assures us that it is NOTHING that WE DO (GOOD WORKS OR DEEDS) that reconciles us with God.
Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”
So….CAN YOU KEEP ALL OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS? If so, you can enter into eternal life in heaven! But, Jesus knew that this rich young ruler (and YOU) can never keep and do the Ten Commandments.
Jesus said to the rich young ruler, in Matthew 19:21 - “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
The rich man walked away saying he could not give up his wealth.
That meant that he put his wealth (or anything else) before God….breaking the first of Ten Commandments!
“Thou shalt have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.” Exodus 20:3
Another Commandment is: “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea…or bow to them or worship them in any way.”
Yet…there are statues of Mary..some apostles like Peter….or others in a myriad of “religions” that have broken that one!
“You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”
How many of US have broken that Commandment?
Oh, there are plenty more….like – “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”
To the Jew, the Sabbath is Saturday. To the Gentile, the Sabbath is Sunday. How many of us don’t bother assembling ourself in church anymore on Sunday? How many of us are faithful to watch the football games all Sunday afternoon, or go shopping or do work?
Well, God continues in Exodus 20 to explain what He meant. – “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.”
“Honor your father and mother…..Do not commit murder (meaning even to wish some people dead)..don’t commit adultery…don’t steal or lie about anyone (which is bearing false witness), and don’t covet what they have including wanting their spouse for yourself…..”
And Jesus makes it quite clear……”If you have committed even one of these violations…you are guilty of all of them!”
James 2:10 says, “The person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.”
This is why WE are all not reconciled to God and are, in fact His enemy.
But, because God knew before Adam was created that man would sin, He had a plan for reconciling mankind with Himself, and that plan was for Jesus to die on the cross for our sins…and HIS BLOOD was our atonement for our sins that God knew we would commit….and why the Ten Commandments were drafted by Him and given to Moses….and why the rich young ruler could not keep even the first one!
HOW THEN DID ADAM THROUGH THE PROPHET MALACHAI BECOME RECONCILED TO GOD?
Many believe (incorrectly) that Moses or King David or Abraham are all in heaven today enjoying salvation…but you would be wrong in that assumption!
Nobody who lived before the death on the cross by Jesus is in heaven…yet.
No, there is a resting place where the souls of those before Jesus shed His blood for the remission (forgiveness) of sins, and because He shed His blood for OUR SINS and the sins of ALL MANKIND…and He exchanged His righteousness for OUR SINS….and that place is called “Abraham’s Bosom”.
“John, you are so off the wall believing that Moses or King David or Abraham are not in heaven yet.”
My motto is “prove the Bible with the Bible”, so let’s learn something that you didn’t know before today!
Genesis 15:6 – “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
Lest you think that this promise of God to all who came to Him by faith in the Old Testament was isolated to just Abraham….let’s read what Paul the apostle had to say about it in Galatians 3:17 – “This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise.”
So, we learn that all who came to have faith in God…prior to Jesus death on the cross….was in full force.
All during the Old Testament days it was BLOOD that reconciled man to God, and it was a temporary situation and BLOOD SACRIFICES were often made for the atonement of sins of mankind…prior to the cross.
In Exodus 12:7 – we find that BLOOD is what saved Israelites from the great plague of death that God swept over Egypt. “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses.”
That blood was taken from a lamb without any blemishes….Exodus 12:5 - Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep.”
Further, in Exodus 30:10, we find that the BLOOD was the only sacrifice that God would accept for the atonement of man’s sins…. “And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord.”
So, mankind’s sins BEFORE the final BLOOD SACRIFICE of the “lamb of God – Jesus) was performed annually – throughout all the generations of the Jews…because the BLOOD is MOST HOLY to the Lord.
Hebrews 9:22 – (my favorite book now)….”In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.”
John 1:29 – “The next day John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming to him, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
1 John 1:7 – “…The blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
So, the BLOOD of Jesus is what cleanses believers from all of their sins and restores or RECONCILES the believer to God.
1 John 2:2 – “Jesus himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”
Hebrews 10:4 – “For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
THEREFORE…..all of those Old Testaments BLOOD SACRIFICES could not take away sins…they could only atone or cover over for one year at a time…the sins of the Old Testament people.
Now, we hear from Jesus Himself as to why all of the Old Testament people’s sins were covered over for a year, but that was not God’s Plan to enact forever.
Hebrews 10: 1-14 – “So,For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. - 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. - 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. -4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when Jesus cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering You , oh God, would not, but a body hast thou prepared me: -6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you hast had no pleasure. - Then said I, I come to do thy will, O God.
9 Then said Jesus to God the Father, I come to do thy will, Oh God. God took away the first (the atonement or covering over of sins by the blood of animals), that He may establish the second. -10 which is that we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; -14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
For by this ONE BLOOD SACRIFICE< Jesus has made perfect (righteous) – forever….those who were (Old Testament) and are (New Testament) set apart.”…those who trusted God in the Old Testament and those who now trust Christ that what He did for them on that cross has sealed them forever as those who are going to heaven when they die.
NOW- let’s get to the Old Testament people who died (before Jesus’ BLOOD SACRIFICE on the cross…..and those believers in Christs’ teachings who died (or are still alive)…..WHERE ARE THEY?
1 Kings 2:10 – “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.”
1 Kings 11:43 – “And Solomon slept with his fathers.”
Over 35 times in the Old Testament do we read about those who “SLEPT WITH THEIR FATHERS”…meaning all who came before them.
Daniel 12:2 – “ Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”
Even as far back as Daniel the prophet of God in the Old testament – we learn that those who “SLEEP” in the ground will awake to everlasting life (eternal life).
But, even our New Testament writer John the beloved said this in John 5:28-29 – “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”
Now…we can finally understand the Bible when Jesus said, “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.”
Matthew 20 tells us the story of a vineyard and laborers… For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.”
The vineyard owner sent laborers out to his vineyard and agreed to pay them a penny for the day (big money back then!)
Three hours later, the Master sent others out and agreed to pay them the same penny for their day….Same thing with those whom he sent out during the 6th hour…the 9th hour and even the eleventh hour.
All of them got the penny.
Verse 8 – “So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.”
Many murmured saying, :It’s not fair or right that we were first in the vineyard but got paid only the same penny as those who came last – at the eleventh hour into the vineyard.”
Jesus responded that ALL had agreed to the penny wage for their time and effort, and concluded, in verse 16 - “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
The Old Testament Jews – were FIRST to be faithful to God and it was counted as their righteousness…..but they must wait to be LAST into the kingdom of heaven (God’s vineyard) because it is only the BLOOD of JESUS that gets people into heaven. Those who came LAST – after the cross…get to go to heaven FIRST upon their death…because of Jesus’s BLOOD SACRIFICE that saves forever.
Now comes the unfolding of the mystery of the rapture that is coming very soon!
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17: - “13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (meaning the “dead in Christ”
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (Those who sleep – “The FIRST)shall NOW be coming to heaven in the rapture of the saints,. And they will do so before those who see the Son of Man coming in the clouds).
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
THEREFORE, we should now realize that the “dead in Christ – those who have been asleep and waiting for the resurrection of the saints - them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”…..will be included (finally) in the rapture of all those who believed in God in the Old testament days and those who have trusted Christ as Lord & Savior after the cross..including the one thief who was saved.
To end this revelation, I will let you read what King David said about the resurrection and his waiting for it.
In Psalms 69:28, David said this to God about his enemies, “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.”
So, the prophet – King David, acknowledged that there is a “Book of the Living…and let those who were his enemies and God’s enemies….be “blotted out of the “Book of Life” which is a Book containing the names of all of the ‘righteous’ believers.
I brought that up because if YOUR name is blotted out of the “Book of Life” by Jesus….it means that you have never been RECONCILED to God by accepting Christ as your Lord & Savior.
Revelation 3:5 – “The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.”
So, whoever has not been RECONCILED to God shall have their names blotted out of that Book of Life that David spoke about.
In the Book of Acts (written by Luke), we find some strange comments…..strange unless you know the truth!
Acts 2:34 – “For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand” – and in verse 29: - “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.”
THEREFORE, and in conclusion, we are ALL guilty of committing sins. Every human whoever lived on earth has committed sins.
It is our sin that has separated us from God.
Isaiah 59:2 – “But your sins have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
We ALL need to be RECONCILED to God and we have learned that the only way to be RECONCILED is to have out sins forgiven, and that can only be done through a BLOOD SACRIFICE.
We have learned that the blood of goats, rams or bulls or any other animal cannot save us and cannot forgive our sins…so we can never be RECONCILED to God – unless we accept the BLOOD SACRIFICE made on the cross by Jesus.
We can only receive SALVATION through RECONCILIATION by accepting Jesus as our Lord & Savior – realizing that He paid for our sins with His own life and blood, and He wants to exchange YOUR sins for HIS righteousness.
To do that, you must believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and you need to ask Him to forgive those sins and to come into your life and heart…and save your soul from the Lake of Fire spoken of as the only place that sinners end up.
A prayer like this will do it for you:
“Dear Jesus…I believe that you did die on the cross for my sins and I’m asking you for forgiveness of those sins and I’m asking you to come into my life and save my soul.”
For further assistance, visit my SALVATION PAGE on my website at
John Tyler, Author
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God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
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