2Co 5:18-21 “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Our earthy tabernacle, our eternal dwelling place, the earnest of the Spirit, our confidence in the Lord, the constraining love of Christ, the power of His death and resurrection, and the newness of life are all of God. There is no other source we may turn to, and no other power that deserves to be honored for any of this. The earth and the fullness of it belong to God, as do the heavens (Psa 89:11).
The God of heaven and earth has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. God did not offer us reconciliation. He did not invite us to partake in reconciliation. God has reconciled us to Himself. He brought this about when He sent His only begotten Son into the world (1Jn 4:9). This was a deliberate action on the part of God, our Father.
We should be rejoicing that God did not do this in secret. He has not only reconciled us, but He has bestowed upon us (given) the grace to serve (minister) His children in His divine favor (reconciliation). The origin of our peace with, and hope in, God our Savior is firmly anchored in Him. We have the ministry of it, but we are not its source.
While Jesus lived here in a body of flesh, one of His disciples (Philip) asked Him to “show us the Father (Joh 14:8).” Jesus answered Him with a question: “Have I been with you all this time and yet you have not known me (Joh 14:9)?” It was to this truth that Paul was pointing when he said that our ministry of reconciliation comes in this manner. God was in Christ actively reconciling us unto Him, which He (God) brought about by not counting (imputing) our sins (trespasses) against us.
The reason God did not count our sins against us is not simply a matter of Him saying that our sins did not matter. God’s just and holy law forbade man to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told man that if he ate of it in disobedience to His word, he would certainly die. God’s just and holy law had to be satisfied, and if the penalty had been counted against us we would truly be lost.
God has called us to speak the truth as though it were coming from Christ Himself. The reason God did not count our sins against us is because Christ came to be held accountable for all our sins. Although Jesus lived a sinless life personally, He became the only one of God’s children to be judged by the Father for sin. At the same time, He covered us with His righteousness that we might appear justified before God.
This is all of God. Man can claim no glory for it. But what a wonder that we are allowed to proclaim it! We, who are in ourselves sinners, are in Christ the righteousness of God. We find ourselves in His divine favor because of the unbounded love given us from Him through Jesus and revealed in us by the Holy Spirit.
May we be blessed to declare from the mountain tops and in the valleys that our God reigns!
