Christ… The Key to Our Reconciliation
– Scripture References –
John 4:24 – –
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
— John 4:24 WEB
A main thing that Jesus Christ taught while on Earth was about the relationship between man and God the Father. What Jesus is saying in this passage is that: 1) True worship with God the Father involves a communion between the spirit of the worshiper with the spirit of God the Father. For our worship to be fully acceptable to God the Father, holiness must also be provided in the spirit of the worshiper; since God is holy.
2) True worship involves acknowledgment, in truth, by the believer of his state vs. the holy state of God the Father.
Genesis 1:2 – –
The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
— Genesis 1:2 WEB
Even before the creation of the universe, God the Holy Spirit was. The Holy Spirit is in and through everything there is through all creation.
John 1:14 – –
The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
— John 1:14 WEB
Luke 1:30 – 35 – –
The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and shall name him ‘Jesus.’ He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?”
The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.
— Luke 1:30 – 35 WEB
Prior to taking on humanity, God the Son was spirit (like God the Father and God the Holy Spirit). With Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary, God the Son is now body, soul and spirit; like us!
Genesis 1:27 – –
God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
— Genesis 1:27 WEB
Man is body, soul and spirit.
Man’s spiritual make-up is created in the image of God’s spiritual make-up:
Conscience – The conscience discerns right from wrong. The conscience was activated to a greater degree when Adam & Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Since that was done outside of God’s will, it was sin. Mankind then fell from a state of holiness, held when created, into a state of spiritual death.
Communion – Our communion involves our recognition of God. Aspects of communion involve prayer, meditation, fasting, community worship and holy communion. With the Fall, mankind’s communion with God was broken.
Will – Because of the Fall, those in mankind seek to carry out their own will. Jesus teaches that we should seek to understand and carry out the will that God the Father has for us.
Jesus Christ took on humanity to give us an opportunity to share in His divinity —
1 Peter 1:16 – –
… because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”
— 1 Peter 1:16 WEB
God is holy and he has established that holiness will be the basis of our relationship with Him.
Hebrews 2:17 – –
Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
— Hebrews 2:17 WEB
With Jesus being like us (body, soul and spirit), he is able to allow us to share in His holiness. This is provided to all who believe in him.
Hebrews 12:10 – –
For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good for them; but he disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness.
— Hebrews 12:10 AMP
Our lives (the good and the bad that happens to us) are arranged with the hope that we come to recognize the need for God in our lives. For all those who put their faith in Christ, he shares a portion of the holiness from his spirit to our spirit. We then become spiritually alive, God the Holy Spirit now lives in us, we become reconciled with God the Father.
2 Corinthians 5:16 – 21 – –
Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
— 2 Corinthians 5:16 – 21 WEB
God is working to get humanity back to the holy state that it was in before the Fall; …he is a new creation.
Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of the plan for man’s reconciliation with God. We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ…
Hebrews 10:19 – –
Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue] in the blood of Jesus.
— Hebrews 10:19 AMP
The holiness provided, in our spirits, by Jesus Christ is complete to the point that it allows us to enter into the most Holy Place. We can now truly worship God in spirit and truth.