What Did God Really Say? (#2)

2 Corinthians 5:18 – Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

I’ve read the entire Bible multiple times and I’ve studied God’s word for twenty years. Even now after all this time I’m still blown away by God’s eloquence of speech. All believers have John 3:16 etched in their hearts. Psalm 23 is some of the greatest literature ever written and probably the most quoted. But for me personally, nothing speaks to me quite like 2 Corinthians 5:18. This concise Bible verse tells me everything I need to know as a human being trying to figure out who I am and what I need to do in this world. Let’s look at the three statements contained in this verse:

1. “Now all things are of God” –

The Bible states the truth of God as a matter of fact; as a given, with no need to defend the statement because the existence of God is so obvious by what has been made. God has confirmed this in the scriptures (Ps. 19:1). The Bible takes it for granted that there is only one God and he is the one mentioned in the Bible. This means Jehovah is the true God of creation and there is no other. Forget about the debunked theory of evolution that our humanist world crams down our throat. Don’t fall for all those fake religions and false gods sponsored by Satan throughout history because they are lies to keep man from finding the truth of God. The evidence for our God is overwhelming and indisputable. Anyone who wants to know the answer to the question, “where did I come from”, need look no further than the first six words of this verse because God makes it very clear if you’re paying attention. God made “all things” which means he made men, the angels, the earth and all the heavens too. I don’t know about you but knowing God made me and loves me for who I am is very comforting to my soul. I am at peace with God through his grace. It’s why I have the “peace” of God in my heart. When God starts off the verse with the word “now” it indicates God is teaching us his truth; otherwise it has no function or reason to be there in the sentence. God teaches, guides, and corrects those he loves. Count yourself lucky.

God does anything he wants to do and he doesn’t make mistakes so if he made me then I’m supposed to be here, warts and all. I have value to the Most High. I’m something special to God. I know I’m loved by God because he said so in the Bible (Jn. 3:16) and he proved it on the cross. That means every person made by God is very important to him and we should start acting like it no matter what we think or feel or what the world is telling us. We’re to live by faith and not by sight. God’s word says we are priceless in his eyes so accept it. Notice that God doesn’t say we were just made by God but that we are “of” God. That means God is a part of us. At conception God gives us all a part of himself, our eternal spirit, which makes us immortal beings. God is an eternal spirit being and anything from his essence given to us (i.e., our spirit) is also eternal like he is. This means we’ll live forever. The only question to be decided is whether we’ll live in heaven or hell for all eternity. Man has to make the free will choice to serve God or Satan during their life on earth. If you choose God you get eternal life in heaven. If you choose Satan or fail to make a choice you end up in hell forever. Choose well or you will burn forever in the lake of fire and brimstone!

2. “Who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ” –

This statement from 2 Corinthians 5:18 answers the second question all people want to know which is, “where am I going”, or put another way, where is it possible to go? The words “who” and “Himself” refer to God. The word reconcile has two primary meanings; first, to restore friendly relations and second, to make incompatible things exist together without problems or conflict. In the biblical sense both definitions apply here. The fact that God used the past tense of reconcile means that man was a friend of God at some time in the past, the friendship was broken and now that friendship has been renewed. When did all this take place? We know from the Genesis story that God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden where they walked together with God as friends until their fellowship was broken through the sin of disobedience when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. We know God cannot abide sin in his presence so Adam and Eve had to be expelled from the Garden of Eden. A just God had no other choice. A spiritual truth of heaven is, “the wages of sin is death.” Adam and Eve went from being immortal beings to fallen creatures that were destined to grow old and die. Adam’s fate was then passed on to all men who came after Adam because God’s fellowship with man had been broken. God had given the earth to Adam and by his sin against God Adam gave the earth to Satan, who became the god of this world. Jesus Christ came to earth to save man from hell, to defeat the works of Satan, and to reclaim the earth.

So how did God plan to renew his friendship with his creatures? Another spiritual truth of heaven is, “there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood.” The forgiveness of Adam’s original sin had to be accomplished by the shedding of human blood that was spotless; without sin. Since every human being bears the mark of Adam’s original sin in their body nobody on earth qualified as that perfect sacrifice without blemish. The only possible answer from a just God was for God himself to provide a sinless sacrifice. God had to step down from his throne and come to earth in the flesh as Jesus Christ so he could die on the cross in our place; so we wouldn’t have to suffer eternal death for our sins. Jesus Christ, the son of God, was fully human because he was born of a woman like we all are. Jesus was also fully God because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus Christ is perfect and without sin. This made Jesus Christ the God-man uniquely qualified to be the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of all men, past, present, and future. This dual nature of Jesus Christ is why he refers to himself as the, “Son of Man.”

Jesus always had the free will choice whether to die for us or not. God the Father didn’t make Jesus die for us. The fact that Jesus Christ, of his own volition, went ahead and died on the cross for us has allowed a loving and merciful God to forgive our sins and heal man’s broken relationship with our creator. This was the most important event in history. Shed blood by Jesus equals redemption for man. Without the shed blood of Jesus all men would still abide in their sins and end up in hell forever without any chance of escape because God doesn’t allow sin in heaven. Even though Jesus died for the sins of all men each person still has to personally accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior before God forgives their sin individually. Salvation is a two step process. Jesus took care of the first step and the second step is up to us. Only Jesus could have saved us from going to hell for all eternity and thankfully he did it. So yes; Jesus is my Savior and I love him for it. Jesus is my Lord and I worship him because of it. I’ll never be able to repay Jesus for saving me but I can worship, honor, and glorify the Lord by being obedient to his commandments and witnessing for Christ to nonbelievers so that others can also be saved to heaven. This is my testimony of God. Hear me! It’s a sin against God to reject the sacrificial death of Jesus to save your eternal soul. It’s like slapping God in the face. Woe to that person on the last day!

3. “And has given us the ministry of reconciliation” –

In the last statement of 2 Corinthians 5:18 it is God who is giving man “his work” to do. There’s a reason God put man on this earth and that is to do the “good works” that God has assigned to each one of us to do. It’s incumbent on each of us to find out what work God wants us to do and then go do it. That’s the only way we can please God and fulfill our destiny. It’s the only way we’ll receive honor, glory, and rewards in heaven. The dictionary defines the word ministry as, “the work of a religious person.” If you are saved believer you’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit so you are the righteousness of Christ which “qualifies” you as a religious person in the eyes of God. You are holy. If you’re serving God in whatever capacity you choose that is your ministry; your work. That’s why those who preach God’s word are called ministers. When you see the word ministry in the Bible you need to automatically think of the word “work” in its place to understand it better. I’ve already defined what the word “reconcile” means. Reconciliation is the act of or action of reconciling. So we can define the ministry of reconciliation as doing God’s work of witnessing for Christ in order to restore good relations between God and man. The ministry of reconciliation is the same thing as witnessing for Christ. If we were to change the statement above to, “And God commanded man to witness for Christ”, we would be saying the exact same thing. Notice that God didn’t say he was offering us this ministry. God is “giving” us this work to do so it’s a commandment to all believers. If we don’t witness for Christ, the thing God loves most, then we are sinning against God by our disobedience.

If God’s word was somehow taken away from me and I was only allowed to keep one verse from the Bible then 2 Corinthians 5:18 is the one verse I would keep. It tells me everything I need to know to live a successful life. 1) Jehovah is the only God and I was made by him for a purpose. 2) Jesus has washed away my sins against God so I can go to heaven if I accept his grace. 3) God has given me the work of sharing the gospel of Christ so that nonbelievers can also be saved to heaven through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 2 Corinthians 5:18 is one of the three verses I keep on my desk on 3″ X 5″ index cards so I can easily read them every morning as I drink my pot of coffee, usually between 3:00 AM and 4:00 AM. John 3:16 and Daniel 12:3 are the other two verses I keep on my desk. They keep me grounded and remind me every day what I must do to please the Lord.

Every day I walk humbly with my God (in obedience), acting justly, and loving his mercy (salvation). I am obeying the commandments of God to the best of my ability as it says in Micah 6:8. I’m trying my best to keep God’s commandments as it says in Ecclesiastes 12:13. I know I’m not perfect nor do I claim to be. I’m a sinner just like everyone else. But this I know: I’m trying my best to please God and I know that I am forgiven, and that’s all that matters to me. I also know that the number one commandment of God is to witness for Christ, which is why my mantra every day is to save, “one more for Jesus.” It’s the first thing on my mind in the morning and that last thing I think about before my eyes close at night. 2 Corinthians 5:18 is also one of my Bible affirmations that I speak to God in prayer once a week. This blog has caused me to update my Bible affirmation. Below is the current affirmation I speak to God immediately after I speak 2 Corinthians 5:18 in prayer to God:

MY AFFIRMATION:

Thank you God for creating the universe and making me who I am. Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins. I bless you Lord for calling me to salvation unto eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I’m grateful for the “good works” you have given me to do on earth. I’m blessed to have the privilege of working alongside my King in his harvest field to help save lost souls to heaven by my witness for Christ. With perseverance I will spread the gospel seed of Christ “passively” through my two Christian blog sites and my Christian tract ministry in order to save one more for Jesus every day on my walk with God. O Lord, use the gospel seed I have cast before you to save nonbelievers to heaven through your Holy Spirit.

Psalm 19:1 – The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.

Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Ecclesiastes 12:13 – Let us hear the conclusion to the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.

John 3:16 – (Jesus) – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.