A REDEEMED & RECONCILED (NOT FALLEN) WORLD
INTENTION:
Let’s stop blaming
Adam and Eve; let’s celebrate even more, what God has done through Christ
Jesus.
No longer are we
under a curse. Nor are we subject to the Devil. Christ Jesus, as a human being,
took back what Satan stole—restoring humanity’s God-given authority over the
works of the Devil.
I.
TOPIC:
We want to look at Reconciliation and Redemption.
How we perceive the world in which we live, can affect how
we also view ourselves. Too often, when we view this world as still being a
“Fallen World” (stemming from Adam’s sin), we can easily propagate a victimhood
mentality—i.e., having to still fight under Adam’s transgression and resultant
evils in the world. However, we become victors when we realise Christ Jesus
overcame Adam’s sin—having eliminated Adam’s curses [it wasn’t God’s curse]
and the Devil’s authority in our lives. I don’t have to fight to claim
something that already has been given me. Thus, it becomes about defending your
status as a victor versus fighting to get it as the underdog.
For me, this realisation came about when I was writing a
social media post about living in a “Fallen World” when the Holy Spirit
abruptly stopped me in my tracks as He spoke to me “Redeemed World”. Before I
even had a chance to write “Fallen World”, He corrected me. And it really
changed how I perceived this world and all that the Lord accomplished for all
of humanity. Wow! How beautiful it is that this world I live in is no longer
under Adam’s curse, but redeemed under Christ’s Blood! And that, with this, all
of humanity (all the world) is already reconciled with God.
How does it change your perspective of life if we are
actually living in a Redeemed World (not Fallen World)?
Now, I want to be clear here… when I speak of being redeemed
and/or reconciled, I am not speaking about being Saved, Holy, or Righteous.
These latter three are only credited you when you believe on Him to be
Born-Again.
What is
Reconciliation and Redemption then? Simply put, it is a mutual exchange: in
that Christ Jesus (as human) exchanged Himself (as payment or ransom) for the
world:
Reconcile – G604: apokatallassō
1.
to
reconcile completely
2.
to
reconcile back again
3.
bring
back a former state of harmony
Reconciliation
– G2643: katallagē
1.
exchange
a.
of
the business of money changers, exchanging equivalent values
2.
adjustment
of a difference, reconciliation, restoration to favour
a.
in
the NT of the restoration of the favour of God to sinners that repent and put
their trust in the expiatory death of Christ
Reconcile – G2644: katallassō
1.
to
change, exchange, as coins for others of equivalent value
a.
to
reconcile (those who are at variance)
b. return to
favour with, be reconciled to one
c.
to
receive one into favour
Reconcile – G1259: diallassō
1.
to
change
2.
to
change the mind of anyone, to reconcile
3.
to
be reconciled, to renew friendship with one
Redeem – G629: apolytrōsis
1.
a
releasing effected by payment of ransom
a.
redemption,
deliverance
b.
liberation
procured by the payment of a ransom
Redeem – G3084: lytroō
1. to
release on receipt of ransom
2. to
redeem, liberate by payment of ransom
a. to
liberate
b. to
cause to be released to one's self by payment of a ransom
c. to
redeem
d. to
deliver: from evils of every kind, internal and external
Knowing we are redeemed and reconciled eliminates an “us and
them” mindset when looking at ourselves or others. God, through Christ,
equalized the playing-field for humanity; allowing any and all to come to
believe in Him. “While we were sinners, He reconciled us”. So, let’s not look
at others in their fleshly behaviour, but through the eyes of Christ who
unconditionally loves each and every person on this earth!
Furthermore, we need to look at the world around us as also
being redeemed from Adam’s curse. And that, though we still see after-effects
of that curse, we do not have to accept them as the truth—it is our choice
to accept what Christ has done as the real Truth.
II.
READINGS: Reconciled / Redeemed
2
Corinthians 5:14-21 (MEV) {PoG}
For the love of Christ
constrains us, because we thus judge: that if one died for all, then all have
died. 15 And He died for all, that those who live should not from now on live
for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 So from
now on we do not regard anyone according to the flesh. Yes, though we have
known Christ according to the flesh, yet we do not regard Him as such from now
on. 17 Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things
have passed away. Look, all things have become new. 18 All this is from God,
who has reconciled {G2644}
us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of
reconciliation {G2643},
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling {G2644}
the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them, and has entrusted
to us the message of reconciliation {G2643}.
20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We
implore you in Christ’s stead: {You are reconciled (G2644)}
to God. 21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him.
Romans
5:6-11 (MEV) {PoG}
While we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. 7 Rarely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man
some would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 How much more then, being now justified by His blood,
shall we be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies, we
were reconciled {G2644}
to God by the death of His Son, how much more, being reconciled {G2644},
shall we be saved by His life. 11 Furthermore, we also rejoice in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation {G2643}.
Colossians
1:13-21 (MEV) {PoG}
He has delivered us from
the power of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son,
14 in whom we have redemption {G629}
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the
invisible God and the firstborn of every creature. 16 For by Him all things
were created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they are thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers. All things
were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all
things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church. He is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in all things He may have the
pre-eminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should
dwell, 20 and to reconcile {G604}
all things to Himself by Him, having made peace through the blood of His cross,
by Him, I say—whether they are things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And
you, who were formerly alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now He has reconciled {G604}.
1
Peter 1:18-21 (MEV) {PoG}
For you know that you were not redeemed {G3084}
from your vain way of life inherited from your fathers with perishable things,
like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. 20 He was foreordained before the creation of
the world, but was revealed in these last times for you. 21 Through Him you
believe in God who raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your
faith and hope might be in God.
III.
RELATED VERSES AND QUESTIONS:
A. As
a reminder, our sins (and those of the whole world) are atoned for, and we have
peace with God. Jesus Christ took upon Himself a double-portion of justice from
the Lord to pardon our sins—one for the Jews (ours), another for the Gentiles
(the whole world).
Isaiah
40:1-3 (MEV) {PoG}
Comfort, O comfort, My
people, says your God. 2 Speak kindly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her
warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been pardoned, that she has received
of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him who
cries out, “Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness, make straight in the
desert a highway for our God.” {referring to John the Baptist}.
1
John 2:2 (MEV)
He is the atoning
sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world.
Luke
2:13-14 (MEV)
Suddenly there was with
the angel a company of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will toward men.”
Question: Do you struggle with knowing that your
sins are already forgiven you? Do you struggle with knowing that other people’s
sins are forgiven? Do you feel you have peace with God (that He is at peace
with you)? Do you feel everyone is at peace with God?
B.
Christ removed the curse of the Law. Though the
Law was only given to the Israelites, it created animosity between them and the
Gentiles (an “us and them” mentality):
Galatians
3:10-14 (MEV)
For all who rely on the
works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone
who does not continue in all things which are written in the Book of the Law,
to do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no man is justified by the law in the
sight of God, for “The just shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of
faith, for “The man who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us—as it is written,
“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— 14 so that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith.
Ephesians
2:11-18 (MEV)
Therefore remember that
formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called the “uncircumcision” by
the so-called “circumcision” in the flesh by human hands, 12 were at that time
apart from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to
the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now
in Christ Jesus you who were formerly far away have been brought near by the
blood of Christ.
14 For He is our peace, who has made both groups one and has broken down
the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity,
that is, the law of the commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself
He might make the two into one new man, thus making peace, 16 and that He might
reconcile both to God into one body through the cross, thereby slaying the
enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to
those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to
the Father.
Question: Have you ever tried to obey the Law? Did you feel guilty after failing to live up to it?
C. Christ removed Adam’s curse of thorns and thistles. It was not God that cursed the ground, but that it was the result of what Adam did that the ground was cursed—i.e., it was Adam’s disobedience that cursed the ground.
Genesis 3:17b-18 (MEV)
Cursed is the ground on account of you; in hard labour you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Thorns and thistles it will bring forth for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Matthew 27:27-31 (MEV)
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole detachment of soldiers before Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, 29 and when they wove a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and put a staff in His right hand. They knelt before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spit on Him, and took the staff and hit Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own garments on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
Question: Adam’s curse created the thorns to hurt and mock Jesus with; but Jesus’s blood from those thorns redeemed that curse (1 Peter 1:18-21). What are ways we can acknowledge that Adam’s curse was removed?
D. Christ demonstrated equality for all (going against all human-based, curse-based, or religious-based patriarchy and discrimination/racism). Even from the start, the Lord created male and female equally (both in the image of the Lord); from which all races stemmed equally from. The “Fall” created the divide from what has always been equal in the eyes of the Lord—this is why He refers to both male and female as “sons” (equal).
The only reason we see men “rule” over women in the Bible, is not because God made it that way (or wants / wills it that way); servitude to males was because of the curse that Eve brought upon women. Servitude (patriarchy) is a curse—and this curse is broken! Marriage is an equality, not a hierarchy—men (husbands) do not have “rule” or “authority” over women. The Holy Spirit (not the male) is the head of the household.
Genesis
1:27 (MEV) {PoG}
So God created man {H120:
human beings} in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them.
Genesis
3:16 (MEV) {PoG}
To the woman He said, “{I
will greatly will your pain in childbirth multiply}, and in pain you
will bring forth children; your desire will be for your husband, and he will
rule over you.”
Galatians
3:26-28 (MEV)
You are all sons of God by
faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave
nor free, and there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus.
Romans
16:7 (MEV) {PoG}
Greet Andronicus and Junia
{G2458:
a female apostle}, my kinsmen and fellow prisoners, who are noteworthy among
the apostles, who also came to Christ before me.
Question: Do you feel discriminated by others or
by religion? Do you discriminate against others because of it?
E.
Christ took away Eve’s curse of childbirth pains
/ hardships. It was not God that cursed Eve, but that it was the result of what
Eve did that she was cursed—i.e., it was her disobedience that she became
cursed. Not only is her subservience to men a curse (“he will rule over you”)
as now discussed above, but the pains of childbirth are a curse too.
Genesis
3:16 (MEV) {PoG}
To the woman He said, “{I
will greatly will your pain, labour, hardship, sorrow, toil multiply in
childbirth}, and in pain you will bring forth children; your desire will be for
your husband, and he will rule over you.”
1
Timothy 2:13-15 (MEV) {PoG}
For Adam was formed first,
then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, fell
into sin. 15 {Moreover} she will be saved {through, during} childbearing {childbirth}
if {she continues} in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control {soundness
of mind}.
Question: Did Jesus really take away that curse
of Eve and pain in childbirth? Is it possible that God wants a woman to experience
a joyous time of childbirth (and even a trouble-free pregnancy)?
·
Refer also: https://aheavenlywelcome.com/what-is-gods-heart-for-your-birth/
IV.
FURTHER THOUGHT:
A. Matthew 5:23-24 (MEV) {PoG}
“Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and
there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift
there before the altar and go on your way. First be reconciled {G1259}
to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Thoughts: God fulfilled His own requirement of
reconciliation in the manner He instructs us to do it—God will not instruct us
to do something He Himself doesn’t do. Thus, in this verse, God demonstrates
this process for us.
Jesus was the gift (G1435,
sacrifice) that God was bringing to the alter. But knew that His brother
(humanity) had something against Him—this is an important part, because it is
not saying that God had something against humanity, but that humanity had
something against God (in our imaginations… Colossians 1:21). So, before Jesus was sacrificed for us, He went about through Jesus,
demonstrating that He was not against humanity. He showed us His true character
and nature to overcome those imaginations; and only then, did He proceed with
sacrificing His Son for us.
A thank you to Kelly and Joshua who are inspirational in this life-journey. And to all the family, friends, sponsors, and donors who have fed into this ministry and outreach.
If you would like to support this ministry and outreach, you may do so via our website or at:
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