Chapter 10. God Begins the Work of Reconciliation with Man
peace—that we should be without spot and blameless—then we are lost, for who can be found without spot and blameless before God?"
Yet you see, this is the word of God, and it is truth. It stands as a certain truth: whoever is to be found in peace with God at His glorious appearing must be without spot and blameless. If God finds even one blemish upon you, He will proceed against you as an enemy.
But you ask, how can this be? First, in Christ, the soul stands before the Lord without spot, clear in the matter of justification. Likewise, from an evangelical perspective, it may be considered so in God's eyes, for God refers to the uprightness of a person's heart as perfection in other scriptures: "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect," and "Let us perfect holiness in the fear of God." God views it this way because He pardons all in Christ and accepts believers in Christ, presenting them before Him spotless and blameless.
Moreover, He grants them a heart that strives to cleanse away their imperfections and walk blamelessly before Him and others.
This is the way to make peace with God. Oh, that the reading of this book might serve to reconcile some soul to God who was once His enemy. Oh, that this scripture might find fulfilment in the hearts of some souls! Thus, although I have addressed this matter of reconciliation only briefly, I have endeavoured to open up its meaning, its excellencies, and its blessed fruits.
Chapter 10.
God Begins the Work of Reconciliation with Man Now, the thing which I thought to have finished in this chapter (but shall not until the following chapter) is this: that God is beforehand with His people in reconciling Himself; He begins the work. "To wit," saith the text, "that God was in Christ reconciling the world," etc. It is
God who begins the work of reconciliation, and if God did not begin it, certainly we would never be reconciled to Him. It is God who first has any thoughts about reconciliation, and if He had not done so, we would never have thought of it ourselves but would have continued as desperate enemies to Him all our lives.
Secondly, it is God who finds the way of reconciliation. We could never have conceived of a way, or if we had, we could never have discovered it.
Thirdly, it is God who begins to offer terms of reconciliation; we would never approach God unless He came to us, such is the stubbornness of our hearts.
Fourthly, it is God who must not only come once but again and again; after we have refused, God must begin again. Indeed, among men, when an inferior has offended one who is above him, the superior will say, "Let him come to me, if he will." But God does not stand on such terms. God does not say, "Let man come to me first."
No, says God, "I will go to him." A man, if he be the superior, will say, "I will never trouble my thoughts about it; it must come from him first." But God does not say so. His thoughts have been towards us from eternity; the Lord from eternity has had thoughts of peace towards us, and He has found ways for it, and He comes first to offer it.