Forever Reconciled

 

If you were with us last week, you may remember my message focused in verses 12-14 of chapter one in which Paul tells us the Father “has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

 

Let’s now move further into the chapter, beginning with verse 15: “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”

 

In the verses immediately preceding our text for today, Paul wrote of the Christian’s redemption and forgiveness of sins – IN JESUS, which is the critical key phrase. It is Jesus, who, as Paul writes in verse 15, who is not only the fullness of God incarnate, but He is also the image of God.

 

The Greek word for ‘image’ carries the idea not merely a reflection of God but an EXACT representation of His actual Being itself, fully expressing the Father’s character and essence.

 

That’s why the Lord Jesus said “I and the Father are one [essence’]. That’s why the writer to the Hebrews reiterated: “And He [Jesus] is the radiance of [the Father’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power.”

 

In other words, Jesus is God incarnate.

 

Why is it important that we believe Jesus is God incarnate? It’s only because Jesus IS God that anyone can be qualified through faith in Him for eternal life. It’s because Jesus IS God that anyone can be reconciled through faith in Him to the Father. It’s because Jesus IS God that anyone can through Him have forgiveness of sins.

 

And why is that? Because all sins – little sins, big sins, in-between sins – ALL sins are ultimately against God’s laws, and only the offended can forgive the offender. That point is yet another reason we know Jesus is God because He forgives sins which only God can forgive.

 

Listen to this vignette in Mark’s gospel when a paralytic was brought to Jesus for healing: “Jesus . . . said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” (Mark 2:5-11)

 

No wonder the religious leaders so often tried to kill Jesus – because time and again He claimed to be the Son of Man – a Biblical reference to Daniel’s prophecy of the Divine Messiah in chapter seven of that book.

 

Furthermore, and equally as important as Christ’s divine prerogative to forgive sins, by willfully breaking His laws and remaining in sin, we make ourselves enemies of God.  

 

James tells us: “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:1-4)

 

Listen also to the apostle Paul, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans 5:8-10

 

Enemies of God. That’s a disquieting and yes, an offensive truth for many even in the pews, but a truth that must be believed if we are to ever understand WHY we desperately need Christ’s atoning death.

 

John tells us (1 John 5:19) “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one; Paul writes “The whole is guilty before God” for breaking His commandments (see Romans 3:19).

 

Listen, please. Until a person kneels before Christ in repentance, they remain guilty before God of their sins and under the direct influence of the Evil One. That makes them God’s enemy. It’s not that God makes Himself their enemy, but rather because of our sins, we make ourselves His enemy.

 

And it is only because He loves us, each of us – no one excluded – it is only because He loves us so much, despite our sins, that He chases after us, offering us to be reconciled with Him.

 

St Paul tells us: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ . . . namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them . . . Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:17–19

 

The Biblical definition of ‘reconciliation’ encompasses the idea of a change from one of hostility to peace. Our sins alienated us from the Holy God. but God provided the means – the ONLY means – for sinners to be brought into peace with Him through the cross and the empty tomb. As Paul tells us a few verses later in this first chapter of Colossians: “You were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”

 

And please note this: WE did not initiate reconciliation. God initiated it.

We did not chase after Him. He chased after us.

 

Some of you may be familiar with the Poem, “Hound of Heaven.” Here is a small portion of it: “I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the mist of tears I hid from Him . . . from those strong Feet that followed, followed after. But with unhurrying chase, and unperturbèd pace, deliberate speed, majestic instancy, they beat—and a Voice beat – more instant than the Feet.”

 

It was about this poem that Fr. John Francis Xavier (d. 1920) wrote: "As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying and unperturbed pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. . . Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit."

 

God pursues us for the same reason a parent chases after his child who dashes into traffic. God chases after us, He pursues us, because He loves us. He wants to protect us. It doesn’t get any more complicated than that.

 

But – and this also is important – and contrary to what some deceptive teachers and pastors tell their congregations – for those who persist in their rebellion against God’s laws, there DOES come a point that God no longer pursues them. And THAT is a dreadful place to be.

 

Yes – THAT is a dreadful place to be when God stops pursing us and lets us go our own way along that wide road that leads to destruction and eternal damnation. Scripture is clear about that in passages such as the last half of Romans chapter one and the last several verses of Proverbs chapter one. I encourage you to read those texts for yourself.

 

What I have said thus far about forgiveness and reconciliation is, we should know, immutably predicated on the deity and humanity of Jesus. That truth cannot be stated too often, especially considering how many voices contradict this unambiguous truth. The very destiny of our eternal souls depends on what we believe about Jesus. No wonder Satan has birthed so many false ideas and doctrines about Jesus the Christ which have survived and thrived even to this day.

 

Listen, Satan and his demons know that Jesus is Almighty God incarnate. They know there is absolutely no salvation outside of Jesus the Christ, that there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.

 

They know all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. That’s why, for example, demons cried out as He was about to cast them from the demoniac: “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” Matthew 8:29

One of the more prevailing heresies that continue to this day in 2026 was started in the 4^th century by a Church bishop by the name of Arius. Bishop Arius taught a huge swath of Christendom that Jesus was a created being. If you are familiar with modern Jehovah’s Witnesses, Judaism, Islam, and Joseph Smith’s Mormonism, you will recognize the Arian heresy continues in various forms to this very day.

 

This is not a minor and insignificant point. As I hope I have already demonstrated from Scripture, our eternal salvation rests squarely on that point. If a person has heard the truth about Christ and rejects the truth about Jesus the Christ, that person cannot be saved.

 

Listen to what Jesus said of Himself in John 8:24, “Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” We find later in that chapter the Lord told His inquisitors, “I tell you the truth . . . before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:49-58).

 

The ‘I Am’ in these texts drew on the memories of His Jewish listeners to Exodus chapter three and the burning bush when God introduced Himself to Moses as, “I Am.” And if you know your Bible you remember it was for such proclamations that the religious leaders tried to stone Jesus for blasphemy. “For a good work” they said, “we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” (John 10:33) 

 

In his book, ‘Mere Christianity’, CS Lewis said it as well as anyone: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.”

That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

 

Okay, application time. Do you believe that Jesus is who He said He is, that He is God incarnate? Do you believe that He alone is the door to eternal life, that His blood alone cleanses us of sin?

 

As the hymnwriter reminds us: “He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away; And now I sing a brand new song, “Amazing Grace,” Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.”

 

And as another hymnwriter asks: Have you been to Jesus for His cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

 

It is only because Jesus is our Emmanuel, Jesus is Almighty God incarnate that our confessed sins can be washed away. And so, as I close this message, I will once again remind us to be CERTAIN of our washing.

 

And HOW can KNOW for certain that we are washed, cleansed, justified, forgiven, reconciled to the Holy Father in heaven? As Paul and Silas told their jailer in Philippi: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)

 

My brothers and sisters, please, choose to remain fixated on what Scripture tells us about WHO Christ is and what He did for you on Calvary when He died to pay the divine punishment for your sins – for our sins – punishment we all rightly deserve to pay.  

 

But also, please hear this: Saving faith is not simply ‘intellectual’ faith. After all, as I said a moment ago, Satan and his demons believe who Jesus is – but they rebelled against Him. They still do.

 

Saving faith is OBEDIENT faith – obeying Christ’s commandments, living lives of holiness, and being quick to repent and turn from sin when the Holy Spirit brings our sins to our attention.

 

I close with this final word: The Holy Spirit tells us through St Paul: “It was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

 

Be reconciled to God. Stay reconciled to God and thereby remain at peace with Him by living a holy lifestyle, repenting when you stumble into sin. Then, and only then, “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)