Chapter. 15. What Christ Has Undertaken and Performed in Our Reconciliation
What a mediator we have to reconcile us to God! How is it that our sins create such a breach between God and us? It is because our sins were against such an infinite God in the first place; the enormity of the breach stems from the fact that the person against whom we have sinned is so infinitely great. Thus, the person who serves as our mediator, who acts and suffers on our behalf, possesses such a unique nature that whatever He does and suffers is wholly sufficient to satisfy the Father to the utmost extent.
All these things together—namely, that Christ is the Second Person, who is both God and man, who fully knows the mind of the Father, who understands the wrong our sins have inflicted upon Him, who knows what will satisfy the Father, who has never offended the Father, and who is infinitely beloved by the Father—mean that whatever He does possesses an infinite efficacy to satisfy justice itself. And in this regard, He is a truly fit mediator.
I emphasize these points to encourage the hearts of poor sinners to come to Him, for it is God in Christ who reconciles us to Himself.
Chapter. 15.
What Christ Has Undertaken and Performed in Our Reconciliation:
1. To Satisfy God's Justice; 2. To Bring Our Hearts and Subdue Them to God.
You may ask: you have shown us these two things—that it is not God alone and us, but God in Christ and us, who are reconciled. And you
have shown us what a reconciler Christ is, and how fitting. But concerning the third matter proposed in the 12th Chapter, what has
Christ undertaken in this work of reconciliation? Surely, this is a great task, to come and reconcile sinful humanity to God. Christ must indeed have undertaken much in this regard. I will now explain what Christ has undertaken.
1. This agreement exists between Christ and the Father: He has undertaken that He will satisfy whatever His Father's justice shall require. As an example, if one were to come and make peace between two parties, where one has severely wronged the other, the mediator does not merely say, "Sir, I beseech you, for my sake, pass by the wrong and be reconciled to him," though this may achieve much, but it will not entirely accomplish the reconciliation. This is not the way to reconcile God and us. For Christ—although He is dear to the Father—does not merely plead and say, "O Father, these poor creatures have offended
You, I beseech You, O Father, be reconciled to them." No, this is not all.
But, the offended party might ask, "Will you undertake to satisfy the wrong that has been done to me?" "Yes," says the mediator, "I will undertake it all; you shall set it all upon my account." And surely, you will all agree that if the mediator, who is dear to the offended party, not only pleads but undertakes to meet all that the offended party requires, and if he is capable of fulfilling his promise, this will surely bring about peace.
This is the transaction between God the Father and the Son. God looks upon humanity as being in enmity with Him, and Christ comes to mediate. "Yes," says the Father, "but what will you do to make peace? Will you undertake this on behalf of humankind? Will you
engage to satisfy the wrong they have done to Me?" "Yes, O Father," says Christ, "I will do it; I will stand between You and them, and undertake to satisfy all that Your justice demands."
In this respect, Christ is not only called a mediator, as in Hebrews 8:6 and onward, but He is also called a surety because He has undertaken to satisfy what God the Father required for the sins of humankind. And as He has undertaken it, so He has now accomplished it. The fathers who lived in former times could view
God as reconciling Himself to the world in Christ, as Christ had undertaken the task, but had not yet fully discharged it. However, we can now view Christ not only as the one who undertook it but also as the one who has fully discharged and paid it all.
2. But that is not all; Christ has not only undertaken this. In the next place, as He has undertaken to satisfy God on His part, the Father might ask, "What shall become of these poor creatures? They have hearts opposed to Me, and they are enemies to Me, and whatever
You do, they will still continue in ways of enmity towards Me."
"No," says Christ, "I will do more than this. I will undertake to bring them to You and subdue their hearts to You. Whereas they are now
Your enemies, they shall come and submit themselves, and that wicked nature of theirs, I will take away through My Spirit. I will bring them into a peaceable disposition towards You so that they shall love You as a friend and love all that belongs to You. They shall love all Your ways, love Your people, and love Your holiness. I will undertake to bring them to You, as well as to satisfy You for what they have done."
This is evident, for in the Scriptures, wherever there is any mention of reconciliation, there is reference to our being reconciled to God, as well as God being reconciled to us. Indeed, the Scripture makes more
mention of our being reconciled, having been enemies to God, than of anything about God's work of reconciliation for us. That passage I quoted earlier in Colossians is exceedingly clear on this point, namely that Christ has undertaken our reconciliation. You heard before in Colossians 1:20 that He made peace through the blood of His cross; He undertook to satisfy, and that undertaking cost Him
His blood. Our reconciliation cost Christ's death.
But then in verse 21, he says further: "You that were once alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works," as it is in your Bibles.
But in the original text, it is "enemies in your minds [in] wicked works," not that you became enemies through your actions. This is where our adversaries gain an advantage, claiming it is not a sinful nature within us but that we acquire wicked habits through actions.
However, it means that you were enemies in your minds, and you laid out all the enmity of your minds against God, displaying this enmity through your wicked works.
But he continues, "You who were thus alienated and enemies in your minds in wicked works, He has reconciled, to present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight." There are two ways by which Christ reconciles us to God: first, through the blood of His cross, and secondly, through the body of His flesh in death, to present us holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. He has undertaken this latter task as well as the former. He has undertaken that we shall not remain enemies of God eternally, but that there shall be a time when we shall be brought to God and have gracious dispositions placed within us, so that we shall become friends of God and friends with all who belong to God.
Many speak much of Christ regarding His satisfaction and the transaction between God and Him. They think that because Christ
has undertaken to satisfy God's wrath, what need do we have to care about anything? What does it matter, they say, whether we live as we please, whether we do good or ill, for Christ has done all in the work of reconciliation.
But, my brethren, see the mistake: Christ has not only undertaken to satisfy and reconcile God to us, but He has also undertaken with God the Father to reconcile us to Him. Not only has He satisfied God, but He has also undertaken to bring us into a gracious frame and disposition of heart. Therefore, unless Christ accomplishes both, He does neither. It is true that one may have been completed from eternity—Christ may have undertaken one and promised to fulfil the other—but until Christ has actually accomplished the latter, you cannot conclude that He has done the former.
The man who convinces himself that Jesus Christ has accomplished the former without the latter deceives himself. Therefore, to believe in Christ as a reconciler is to believe in Christ as having undertaken these two things. First, He undertakes with God the Father to make satisfaction to Him. Secondly, He undertakes to bring us to the Father as well. As Christ must fulfil both, He will be as faithful in performing the second as He was in undertaking and discharging the first.
Few people consider this; they think much of Christ's undertaking to satisfy God's justice and to reconcile them to God but rarely consider that Christ has also undertaken to change their hearts and make them friends with God.
However, you who continue in wicked works, being enemies to God in your minds through wicked deeds, might think that God will be reconciled to you through Christ and that when you die, you shall be saved through Him. Remember this point: Christ, the Reconciler, has