Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Colossians 1:21-22 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight ...
ADVENT ACTIONS: RESCUED BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Many movies have pictured the constant danger and threat when someone is caught "behind enemy lines." Recently, I was discussing with someone the seriousness of that fact that all people by nature are enemies of God. The Apostle Paul wrote the Christians in Colossi reminding them of this traumatic truth! "We were once alienated and enemies [of God] in our minds."
How can that be? How could we be God's enemies? Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, the disobedience and sinful nature of that first sin has been passed on from generation to generation. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that "flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit." In other words, you're not going to find anything but God's enemies among mankind unless some kind of treaty can be made. Apart from that, "God's wrath is upon the sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 5:6). God's just judgment would catch us in all our sinfulness and execute His anger upon us for our sinful warfare against Him.
Hence, God's awesome Advent actions! It was the love and mercy of God that promised a treaty to be made, and that by His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ. As Paul recounted the bad news to Colossian Christians that they were aliens and strangers when it came to God's kingdom, he went on to show them the goodness and undeserved pardon of God's grace. "Yet now, He [Jesus Christ] has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death." Reconciled, that is, brought us back into a pleasant and peaceful standing or relationship with God.
What great joy that Jesus took on our flesh in becoming a man -- so that He could take on the full force of God's wrath for our sinful espionage against Him. Christ now presents the faithful believers, you and me, before His Father in heaven as Paul says, "holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight." Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior has rescued us from behind enemy lines and given us the gift of eternal life! Thanks be to God! Amen.
