‘He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ…’ Colossians 1:22 NLT
Observe: () You have been reconciled to God. God wants unbroken, intimate friendship with us, as with Adam and Eve in Eden. But sin made us enemies of God. ‘You who were once far away from God…enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions.’ (v21 NLT) Yet He never stopped pursuing that relationship, sending Jesus to restore it. He ‘made peace by means of Christ’s blood on the cross’ (v20), resulting in your reconciliation to God. The Greek word for ‘reconciliation’ means to be friends as we once were. Now you can walk and talk with God as Adam did. Now God sees you as ‘holy and blameless…without a single fault!’ (v22 NLT) (2) You are the Lord’s redeemed. At the Jordan River John saw Jesus and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1:29 NIV) It is in Jesus that ‘…we have redemption through His blood…’ (Colossians 1:14 KJV) The word ‘redemption’ means liberation from captivity by a ransom paid. Not only are you purchased at the cost of Christ’s life, you are also adopted by blood into God’s family. (3) You are forgiven of all sins. ‘In whom (Jesus) we have…the forgiveness of sins.’ How did He accomplish the total removal of all our sins? ‘Having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us…He took it away, nailing it to the cross.’ (Colossians 2:14 NIV) He wrote in His blood ‘paid in full’ across your outstanding bill of indebtedness to God, nailing your ‘cancelled debt notice’ to His cross. You are forgiven. You owe nothing!
SoulFood: Ex 12:1-14, Matt 27:57-66, Ps 69:7-21, Deut 21:22-23 (Passover)
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2012
