In order for us to be fully reconciled to God, we need to go through two steps, first to be reconciled to God from sin, and then to be fully reconciled to God from the flesh.
The apostle Paul had the ministry of reconciliation, and he beseeches the believers in Corinth to be fully reconciled to God. The apostles were ambassadors of Christ, having a definite ministry to represent Christ to accomplish God’s purpose.
We were sinners, enemies of God, and so we needed to be reconciled to God. First, as sinners, we are reconciled to God from sin by believing into Christ who died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3). Christ bore our sins on the cross so that they may be judged by God for us.
As long as we believe into the Lord Jesus and accept His redeeming death, we are reconciled to God and have peace toward God, and we have boldness to contact God and come forward to God in Jesus Christ.
But we need a further reconciliation as believers in Christ – we need a more subjective reconciliation to be fully reconciled to God.
The second step of reconciliation is to be reconciled to God from the flesh, from living in the natural man. For this purpose Christ died for us, the persons, so that we may live to Him in His resurrection life (2 Cor. 5:14-15).
Christ didn’t only bear our sins on the cross to reconcile us from sin to God, but He was also made sin on our behalf so that we may be judged and done away with by God in order that we may become the righteousness of God in Him.
By these two aspects of the death of Christ we are being fully reconciled to God both from sin and from living in the flesh.
Paul beseeches us to be reconciled to God. He doesn’t command us and he doesn’t insist – he as an ambassador of Christ represented and expressed God, and so He beseeches the believers to be reconciled to God.
Paul had not authority in himself, but he was a representative of the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth, so on behalf of Christ, he beseeches the believers to be reconciled to God.
This is our need today – to be fully reconciled to God, that is, not only to be initially and objectively reconciled to God from sin, but to be subjectively and fully reconciled to God from the flesh.
Today we want to see the two steps of reconciliation and how we can and should be fully reconciled to God as believers in Christ.
We are Fully Reconciled to God by the two Steps of Reconciliation: being Reconciled to God from Sin and from the Flesh
According to 2 Cor. 5:19-20, there are two steps required for us to be fully reconciled to God, and these two steps actually correspond to the two veils or screens in the tabernacle.
First, the world is reconciled to God from sin, and second, the believers in Christ are reconciled to God from the flesh. We are reconciled to God from sin through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross to bear our sins. This is the first step of reconciliation.
We were enemies of God, for all men are born in sin, constituted sinners, thus being under God’s judgment. So Christ came and died for our sins that they may be forgiven by God (1 Cor. 15:3; Luke 24:46-47; 1 John 2:12).
First of all, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and now when we repent and confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This aspect of the Lord’s death is objective, for He bore our sins upon Himself on the cross so that they may be judged by God for us (1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:11-12; Heb. 9:28; Col. 1:22; Rom. 8:3).
Now because our sins were judged by God in Jesus Christ on the cross, we have peace toward God, and we can come into God’s presence to enjoy Him in love.
This first aspect of reconciliation corresponds to the first veil in the tabernacle, also called the screen, through which a sinner can be brought to God through the reconciliation of the atoning blood to enter into the Holy Place.
God wants us to come forward to Him, and He has prepared a way for us to be reconciled to Him, which is firstly through the blood of Jesus Christ, which gives us entrance into God.
But this is not the end. Many believers are satisfied to be washed and cleansed by the blood of Christ, and they are happy to be reconciled to God from sin, no longer having the burden of sin.
But God wants us to advance and come forward to Him, come forward to the Holy of Holies to pass through the second veil.
We have been reconciled to God and now we are in the Holy Place where we can eat the Lord (typified by the bread of the presence), we can enjoy Him in the light (typified by the lampstand), and we can pray (typified by the incense altar).
For this purpose Christ died for us – the persons – that we might live to Him in the resurrection life (2 Cor. 5:14-15). The Son of God didn’t just die for the world to take away its sin and sins, but for ME and YOU – He died for each one of us, for He loved us; therefore, we should no longer live to ourselves but to Him.
When we take Christ as our person and live Him by walking according to the mingled spirit, we can express Him and represent Him. We will be one with Him, the person. To live to the Lord doesn’t mean merely to do something for Him, but to let Him set the direction, for our whole being is to Him.
We need to be further reconciled to God from the flesh. This corresponds to the second veil in the tabernacle, through which the redeemed sinners can enter into God by the rending of their flesh.
Lord Jesus, we want to be fully reconciled to God! Thank You for reconciling us to God from sin by dying for our sins to bear our sins and remove them on the cross. Thank You, Lord, we now have peace toward God, and we can enjoy Christ as our life supply and the light of life in prayer. Lord, bring us further with You. Reconcile us further with God until we are fully reconciled to God not only from our sins but also from the flesh. We want to no longer live to ourselves but to Him who died and has been raised!
We are Fully Reconciled to God by having the Cross Applied Subjectively to our Flesh
Because we as believers in Christ are still separated from God, and because we are not yet fully one with God and altogether in harmony with Him, we need to be further reconciled to God – we need the second step of reconciliation.
The first step of reconciliation is once for all – we were once for all reconciled to God through the death of Christ on the cross. The second step, however, is continual and ongoing.
In our fellowship with the Lord we realize that we are separated from Him in many things, we are not fully one with Him, and we are not in harmony with Him regarding many matters. He shines on us, He shows us how off we are, how much we’re different from Him, and as we open in fellowship with Him, He exposes our natural life.
The subjective aspect of the death of Christ needs to be applied to our situation and to our natural life (see Rom. 6:6; 8:13; Gal. 5:24; Matt. 16:24).
For us to be fully reconciled to God, the Father exposes our natural life and unveils our real situation to us under His light (1 John 1:5, 7), and as a result, we condemn our natural being and apply the cross subjectively.
This application of the death of Christ to our natural being under the Lord’s light crucifies our natural life. No one can do this for us: we need to have such a time under the Lord’s light ourselves.
As our natural man is crossed out, we experience the second step of reconciliation; in this step the “veil” of our natural man is rent so that we may live in God’s presence.
Our need today is to go on with the Lord and be further reconciled to Him by the application of the death of Christ to our natural man under His shining light.
Many times in the churches the veil of the flesh of the leading brothers has not been rent, broken, and torn, and as a result, their very being is the barrier to the saints advancing to live in the Holy of Holies. As a result, in some churches the saints are “crowded in the Holy Place”, not going forward to enter into the Holy of Holies.
There’s a great need for those whose flesh has been broken so that they would help others to enter into the Holy of Holies to be fully reconciled to God. We need to be reconciled to God beyond where we are right now.
The shell of many grains has to be broken so that the life element within may be released to be blended into one loaf.
For the sake of the church as the Body of Christ, the one new man, the bride, and the kingdom, we all must be fully reconciled to God, especially be reconciled with God from the flesh. Without being subjective in ourselves or introspective, we can turn to the Lord and say,
Lord, give us the experiences we need to be fully reconciled to God for the church! Reconcile us further to God from the flesh for the reality of the Body of Christ, the bringing forth of the new man, and the preparation of the bride! Oh Lord, for the sake of the church as the Body of Christ, the new man, the bride, and the kingdom, reconcile us to God fully! Give us the experiences we need that will work out in us the ministry of reconciliation and the death of Christ will be applied subjectively to our natural life and our flesh!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 14, 46 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking Christ as our Person and Living Him in and for the Church Life (2018 spring ITERO), week 7, Being Fully Reconciled to God and Enlarged in Heart to Represent God Rightly in His Economy.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Thru Thy blood shed on the cross, / We are reconciled to God, / That the way to contact Him / May in peace by us be trod. / By partaking of Thy blood, / We have Thine eternal life; / In Thy blood and life received, / We have rest, free from all strife. (Hymns #224)
# By the cross discern the spirit, / Put the soul to death alway; / Bear the cross, deny the self-life, / Walk in spirit day by day. (Hymns #748)
# Lord, teach us to discern the spirit / That subtle self exposed might be, / That by the cross to it applying / We’ll live not by ourselves but Thee. (Hymns #746)
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