Reconciled!

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. … But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation…

Colossians 1:19-22

Reconciliation often means things other than reconciliation with God. Paul uses it of the healing of hostility between Jew and Gentile. He says that husbands and wives are to be reconciled to one another. Parents and children need reconciling at times. Friends often need it. The basic meaning of this word is to remove all impediments to peace so that harmony prevails.

What does it mean, then, that Jesus shall reconcile to himself all things? It means a day is coming when the hostility of evil against righteousness will be brought to a sudden halt. Evil men and angels will find themselves unable to function in their enmity against God. They will be subdued and will cease their rebellion. It does not mean their punishment ends; it is their active hostility that will cease. Then, at last, the terrible question will be answered that every one of us has asked at times: Why does God permit evil? There is coming a day when all will be explained to us: Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does injustice reign triumphant at times? Why do innocent children suffer? Why were six million Jews gassed to death in Germany? Why were millions of others elsewhere shot, speared, drowned, burned or hanged by the tyrants of history? Why?

At last this question is to be answered. At last we will learn why it was necessary to allow evil. Then we will see it was part of the working out of God's program. Every hurt will be resolved, every tear will be wiped away, every pain will be relieved. At last the whole universe will live in peace and harmony with one another. Surely this is what Paul is describing in that great passage in Philippians, where he says an hour is coming when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11). That is where history is headed.

The marvelous thing about this is that it flows out of the death of Jesus on the cross. It is the cross that has brought this to pass. That is why it has been the central symbol of Christian faith since the beginning. We put crosses up in our sanctuaries, not to make us think that the cross was a beautiful piece of wood, for it was a dirty, bloody, rugged means of death. But out of that death has flowed life to all the universe. We find it described very clearly in chapter two of this letter, in the words, And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (2:15). The cross is at the center of all life.

Thank you for the cross, Lord Jesus. Thank you that through the cross I am no longer under condemnation, but free to participate with you in reconciling all things to yourself. Amen.