08.04 The Ministry of Reconciliation
8 - Reconciliation; Section 4 THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION
Far too many Christians testify like this: "Thank God I’m saved, sanctified, and baptized in heaven’s sweet Holy Ghost - but it’s too bad for the rest of you people. Thank God He laid His hand on me, so I believed and am on my way to heaven - but it is going to be hell for the rest of you. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, and take me out of this sin cursed world and let it go to the devil." Few people, even if they had the authority, would condemn anyone, even their worst enemy, to a burning, scorching, tormenting, eternal hell. Yet they expect God to do it! Some, as we have spoken of the good consolation and everlasting hope we have for all men, have said, wistfully, "I wish it were true." But sadly they confessed that their own sense of hope and mercy obviously exceeded that of God’s. Other folk would never be satisfied for God to judge the world in a way that would bring the world back to Himself. Their attitude is, if men have spurned God’s love, if they have lived in sin, if they have done wickedly, if they have drawn their last breath blaspheming His name, then let them burn in hell - they deserve it! And these so-called followers of the Lamb of God who died to take away the SIN OF T-H-E W-O-R-L-D would personally join in shoveling the coal and seeing to it that they get everything they deserve - and perhaps a little bit more! I have no hesitation whatever in saying that people who hold that attitude are not Christians at all. They are devils. The most abusive and vindictive letters I have received through the years have come from people who claim to be in the sonship company through which God will set all creation free. Only this week I received a letter from one of these "creation-delivering-sons" bitterly denouncing me and the teaching of the "reconciliation of all things." He said it is "destructive" and "Satanic" and said that he was sick of it all. When people call these precious truths Satanic, they unwittingly blaspheme the Holy Spirit, for it was He and none other who inspired Paul to write these words: "And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him TO RECONCILE ALL THINGS UNTO HIMSELF." It was the Holy Spirit who said that "God was in Christ, RECONCILING THE WORLD unto Himself, NOT IMPUTING their trespasses unto them, and has committed unto us the WORD OF RECONCILIATION." And in the face of such wonderful and all-inclusive statements as these, these have the brazen audacity to write to me and make such Holy Spirit-defying statements as: "I don’t believe in the reconciliation of all things!" The simple truth is, my beloved brethren, that until we are able to embrace God’s immutable intention of reconciling all things unto Himself, we will never be able to clearly see God’s plan for this present age nor for other ages yet to come. And most certainly God will not entrust into our hands the blessed ministry of reconciliation as long as we remain hostile toward God’s gracious purpose and vindictive toward men for whom Christ died and the creation we are sent to rescue and redeem.
Some have asked what good it does to believe that God will save all men. You might as well ask what good it does to believe that God will save some men! If a man does not believe that Jesus Christ saves sinners he will not spend his time preaching to and pleading with sinners. If a man is convinced that God will not save any men in this age then he will not exert one ounce of energy to accomplish what he believes God will not do. Every evangelist believes that it is God’s will to save some men during this present time, or he would not be an evangelist! And if a man does not believe that God will save any men past this present age, is it not obvious then that he will not spend his time ministering to men in the ages to come? To what end, then, is such a man’s "sonship ministry"? Why strive and labor to be a Son, to set creation free, if what God is accomplishing in redemption during this present age is all there is! We may as well join a good Church, become the very best evangelist possible, and give ourselves to getting the few saved that can now be won for Christ. If there is no out-working of redemption in the ages to come, no extension nor expansion of the Kingdom of God beyond the formation of the body of Christ, then why not settle for the fundamentalist’s heaven and content ourselves with spending eternity shouting up and down the golden streets, waving palm branches and strumming harps? All who say out of one side of their mouth that they are called to sonship to bring deliverance to the whole creation, while out of the other side of their mouth they denounce as heresy the doctrine of the reconciliation of all, foolishly contradict themselves. You simply can’t have it both ways, my friend! In 2 Corinthians 5:18 the apostle Paul states the matter very clearly. He tells us that something wonderful has been given unto us. He tells us WHY God has given us this understanding of His plans and purposes. He admonishes us that we have work to do. He says that "God ... has reconciled US to Himself by Jesus Christ, AND has given to us THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION." Let us notice the logical sequence of this statement. Having first reconciled US to Himself by Christ, God then gave to US the ministry of reconciliation, having put in us the word of reconciliation. And this ministry of reconciliation is on behalf of whom? The Church? NO! "God was in Christ, reconciling THE WORLD unto Himself." God has reconciled the Church, so that He might give to the Church the ministry of reconciliation on behalf of the world that He has reconciled through Christ. The great God of the universe, He who is from everlasting to everlasting, from the ages to the ages, the Creator of all things, has invited us to be His associates in this great plan of reconciling T-H-E W-O-R-L-D! This grand project of reconciliation, in which it is our privilege to have a part, begins with the Church in this age, it carries over into the ministry of the Sons of God on behalf of the whole world of mankind, and ultimately to the whole vast creation of God in all realms. God will, in the ages to come, put on display in His Sons all His power, wisdom, love, mercy and righteousness which are even now specially operating on behalf of the "firstfruits" followers of the Lamb. But our part now in this great work of reconciliation, in this present age, is to preach the Kingdom of God and grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, being conformed to His image. The Kingdom is in the world, but how sorely the world needs the Kingdom! And God’s wonderful plan shall not end until all things have been subdued unto Him and delivered up INTO HIS KINGDOM.
Reconciliation brings harmony and peace. "And having made PEACE by the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself." The distinguishing characteristic of a Son of God is that he is a peacemaker above all things. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children (Greek: Sons) of God" (Matthew 5:9). How are we to be peacemakers? We are peacemakers, first of all, by being at peace with God. We cannot make peace; we cannot assist in ministering God’s peace, unless we are ourselves at peace. If I am to be an ambassador for God, I must surely be at peace with God. If the ministry of reconciliation is my ministry, then I must possess the peace of God. I must be reconciled to God. Christ has "made peace" by the blood of His cross. Therefore do I say unto you, "acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace." Many Christians are not at peace. They ought to be, but they are not. They talk about being justified by faith and having peace with God, and they have no such thing. Some are justified by faith but they are at controversy with God because they are not obedient. All within has not been stilled, reconciled. All within has not been subdued, reconciled. You may be God’s child and yet be at controversy with your Father. Some who now read these lines are children of God but they are at controversy with the Holy Spirit of truth over the doctrine of the reconciliation of all things! My message to you today is: BE RECONCILED TO GOD. Accept God’s beautiful plan and stop fighting against the truth and He will receive you and be a Father unto you and you will be His Son, a fit instrument to bear the word of reconciliation to the ends of the creation. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 the Holy Spirit has given us a direct word concerning the RECONCILIATION OF THE WORLD as well as the members of the body of Christ. Having said that we who trust His word have been (past tense) reconciled to God by means of Christ, we are told that we now have been given the "ministry of reconciliation." This is explained as a sharing with the world that THEY ALSO ARE RECONCILED. This "word of reconciliation" is committed to us. The Lord is trusting us with the job of seeing to it that the lost men and women of "the world" know that God has reconciled them unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Now, as representatives, as ambassadors of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, you and I are to minister this reconciliation to the world. The debt of sin has been paid in full. The books are balanced as far as God is concerned. Divine righteousness is theirs, also, when they will finally lay down their rebellion and surrender, believing God’s Word of Love and accepting the Life He offers them in exchange for their death. And what is the ultimate result of such a ministry? Hear it! "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" (Colossians 1:20). Amazing grace! Stupendous and glorious plan! What a ministry! As Ray Prinzing has so aptly written: "A ministry of reconciliation, of changing others so that they might be drawn into unification and harmony with God. This is a NEW ministry, based upon a new covenant, ’established upon better promises’ (Hebrews 8:6). ’Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life’ (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). Herein is a ministry of mercy and grace! ’To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM’ (2 Corinthians 5:19). Not charging them with guilt, to heap upon them loads of condemnation, but simply to give them the GOOD WORD, namely, that GOD LOVES THEM, forgives them, and is ready to receive them back to Himself. All is well, come home - forsake your wayward course, the Father waits to forgive and receive you. No word of condemnation, not imputing a list of sins against you, but a word of hope, of grace, of love.
" ’Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.’ This word ’for’ is the same word as used later ’in Christ’s stead.’ In behalf of Christ, as though God did beseech by us, ’we pray you in Christ’s stead, be reconciled to God.’ God is going to beseech the whole creation through the enchristed (anointed) company of which The Christ is the Head. The word ’beseech’ is a strong word, bespeaking of laying hold in earnestness. This company will be filled with divine compassion, ’for the love of Christ constrains us’ (2 Corinthians 5:14). And will this ministry be effective? Ah, yes, ’And I heard every created thing in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in it, crying out together, to Him Who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb be ascribed the blessing and the honor and the majesty (glory, splendor) and the Power (might and dominion) forever and ever’ (Revelation 5:13, Amplified).
"Yes, He purposes in His sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ. Everything that exists in heaven and earth shall find its perfection and fulfillment in Him. All things shall ’center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him’ (Romans 11:36, Amplified). Though the ages run their course, and the time seems long; though judgments are required and the discipline is severe; though there be many paths washed with tears, and the valley be deep; yet God has purposed that all shall be fully restored, and the great age of jubilee shall see a universe redeemed from the tyranny of change and decay, delivered into the glorious liberty which rightfully belongs to the children of God, and the whole purpose of the ages shall redound to the glory of God. We bow to worship HIM who truly ’does all things well’ " - end quote. And this glorious work of RECONCILIATION has now begun - IN US! I would quote once more from Brother Prinzing’s writings: "The law demands, ’the soul that sins, it shall die.’ Why? Because the only way to end the wayward course of self’s rebellion is to DIE OUT to that course of action, and be reconciled back into the will of God. But how can we ’die’ to that which has captivated us, especially when we are ’dead in trespasses and sins,’ and cut off from the LIFE of God, and His power which is needed for our overcoming? Death - which came as an enemy, and separated us from righteousness, and the life of God, must now be REVERSED, so that we DIE to this carnal realm, and are restored into fellowship and harmony with our God. THIS DEATH-ROUTE WAS BLAZED OUT FOR US BY CHRIST. ’That He by the grace of God should taste death for every man’ (Hebrews 2:9). And now He is able to indwell us by His Spirit, and give us the power to walk in His steps, and follow through the process of ’death to self’ that we might come alive to God, praise Him!
" ’What are we then to say to FACTS like these? If God is for us, who can be against us’ (Romans 8:31, Williams). This is not some weird figment of a vain man’s distorted imagination, dreams of the night, THESE ARE FACTS. God is working a THOROUGH CHANGE, and He has already begun with a firstfruits company, gathering a remnant out of each generation, until the appointed hour when He shall begin the greater scope of the restitution of ALL THINGS spoken of by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" - end quote. A THOROUGH CHANGE! THAT, my dear friend, is what we mean by ... RECONCILIATION! We have possessed "in part" the life of God, and we have thrilled to its surgings within us, and the transformations wrought, but we must have the WHOLE, being thoroughly changed into His same image. What a tremendous process, for man is not a noble ruin, but he is an utter ruin of what was once a noble nature. God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion ..." But, alas, how the glory has grown dim, how the fine gold has tarnished! The crown has fallen from man’s head. His kingly nature is deformed, and the image of God is destroyed. Thus we see that so little remains in the unregenerated man of that copious flow of love and life and light and righteousness and power which at first poured forth from man to the creation.
How can it be restored? "And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to RECONCILE (THOROUGHLY CHANGE) all things unto Himself." With the climax of the cross bringing final death to the carnal mind, mankind will emerge out of the barren tomb as a NEW CREATION. If man is to be restored to the image of the all-loving God, reconciled, thoroughly changed and unified INTO HIM, it will only be done by God Himself. A little child can take an egg in his hand and crush it. All of the skill of all of the men in all of the world, all of their wisdom and all of the power that can split the atom, and all of the technology that can place men on the moon, all these combined CANNOT RESTORE THAT EGG TO WHAT IT WAS BEFORE. How much less can man, by his own strength or wisdom, restore the destroyed image of God in his being unto that which God originally made him to be? Nothing will suffice but a thorough change, a new creation, a reconciliation wrought by God Himself. "Therefore if any man be in Christ He is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who HAS RECONCILED US to Himself" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).
If such be not the end of God’s great plan of the ages then Calvary is a failure and redemption a farce. Current so-called "orthodox" theology incorporates into its system belief in the superior power of Satan, the deathlessness of sin, the indestructibility of error, and the permanence of evil. The doctrines of the harlot church system teach that since sin and death have entered upon the scene in God’s universe, they have come never to go out again, unconquerable, ineradicable, endless. Charles Schmitt has asked the burning question: "Is God, who is sovereign Lord, destined to possess about 3% of all the billions who have sprung from His creative hand? Shall the absolute majority of all these created beings perpetuate hate and blasphemy against their blessed Creator throughout an endless eternity? Is Jesus, who died effecting the death blow to all sin and to all the works of Satan (1 John 3:8) destined to reign in a universe where sin shall exist in staggering proportions, and even as some purport, in increasing proportions throughout all eternity? The counsels of God, according to Sacred Scripture, have declared an emphatic NO! Through the consuming fires of God’s holy Love (Hebrews 12:29) God has deigned to cause all men everywhere eventually to drop the sword of proud rebellion and willingly acclaim the Lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that to the glory of God (Php 2:10-11)! Have we hereby done despite to the justice and holiness of God? No, unlike those who hold the opposing view, we have rather fully satisfied it against all sin and rebellion! Have we hereby maligned the sovereign love and the mercy of God? No, we have rather upheld it in its infinite scope! " - end quote. And what a wonderful effect the truth has upon those who see it with spiritual eyes, hear it with spiritual ears, and believe it with pure and reverent hearts! The witness of spiritual giants like Andrew Jukes, William Law, John Alexander Dowie, and Mrs. Pearsall Smith, not to speak of precious saints living today and known to the writer, men and women of holiness and deep spirituality, whose lives emit the fragrance of Christ, is no mean tribute to this beautiful truth. As for myself, I humbly bear witness to the blessed sense of the thrill of the Holy Spirit whenever I touch upon this subject. This blessed hope, in the words of A. E. Saxby, "gives a fuller vision of HIS glory; it arouses greater love to men; it inspires intenser hope over the fallen; it furnishes an argument to utmost patience with the worst; it leads to a deeper humbling of self; it divides aright the Word of God and meets the unanswerable problems of the otherwise dark mysteries of human destiny; it restores the character of God to its Scriptural poise; it brings the sob of pity even over the vilest offender; it stirs to service and sacrifice for God and men; and lastly it evokes such an admiration of, and affection to, the God who is Creator and Redeemer, that all the soul can do is to abandon afresh all life and ministry to Him, to bear for Him the stigma that must be suffered in advocacy of His thoughts and ways, which ever surpass ours as the heavens are above the earth" - end quote. To which my ransomed spirit shouts, Amen!
How we long for that day when ALL THINGS SHALL BE RECONCILED!
God shall grant it! God hasten it!