The Presentation of Christ.

Colossians 1:20 (KJV 1900)

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:21–23 (KJV 1900)

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

5 terms we use to summarize salvation.

Justification, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation and adoption.

In justification the sinner stands before God as the accused and is declared righteous.

In forgiveness, the sinner stands before God as a debtor and the debt, having been paid, is forgotten.

In redemption, the sinner stands before God as a slave and is granted freedom by a ransom.

In reconciliation the sinner stands before God as an enemy and becomes a friend. Peace with God is made.

In adoption, the sinner stands before God as a stranger and is made a son.

Forgiveness deals with the fruit, the sin in our lives.

Redemption goes deeper into our lives and deals with the root, the condition of our nature.

Reconciliation deals with our condition as sinners and enemies with God.

Adoption deals with our position, made sons of God.

When you add all this together, you get Justification, you have been declared righteous.

Today, I want us to really zoom in and focus on this doctrinal teaching of reconciliation.

After Paul has disputed the heresies of the people at Colassi, Jesus is sufficient!

We can not add works or knowledge to what God accomplished through Jesus Christ.

However, because of what God has done, we do need to pray for a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:9 (KJV 1900)

9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Remember,

Wisdom = turning all of the knowledge, information, into a principle that can be applied to life.

Spiritual Understanding = taking that principle and make application.

in order that we might walk approving to the new position

Colossians 1:10 (KJV 1900)

10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Colossians 1:11 (KJV 1900)

11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

So, to really appreciate and appropriate our prayer and thanksgiving, we need to understand what God has actually done for us through His son, Jesus Christ.

We need to understand the Plan of Reconciliation.

What was the Plan of Reconciliation?

Colossians 1:20–21 (KJV 1900)

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him [Christ] to reconcile all things unto himself; by him [by Christ to God], I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

God reconciles all things to Himself by Christ.

“all things” refer only to those things which can be reconciled.

Let’s quickly go back to the beginning.

Genesis 1:31 (KJV 1900)

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Life was good. There was fellowship. Adam and Eve and God, all fellowshipping and enjoying God’s creation.

But, something happened.

Genesis 3:6–7 (KJV 1900)

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Now, something is going on.

Notice scripture, God saw everything he made and it was very good.

but Even saw the tree. What tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Knowledge is a good thing. As a matter of fact, the tree of knowledge was considered very good when God created it. Knowledge had its place.

However, Knowledge can never replace Faith, trust in God!

Knowledge produces wisdom and begins with a fear of God.

Proverbs 1:7 (KJV 1900)

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

God wants to impart His knowledge to us as we trust and grow with Him.

Remember, we are to pray for knowledge,

Colossians 1:9 (KJV 1900)

9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

However, Eve was impatient and when she saw the easy way,

She took it.

She ate it.

and her eyes were opened.

She knew she was naked.

Who convinced her that this was a wise decision?

Genesis 3:1 (KJV 1900)

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

The serpent is none other than Satan, the devil. A created angel that led a rebellion against God for the throne of God.

The serpent convinced Eve, a created being bearing the image of God, Himself, to rebel against her Creator.

We see rebellion in heaven and on earth. Everything is messed up.

But God makes a promise.

Really an act of Grace.

Genesis 3:15 (KJV 1900)

15 And I [God] will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman [Eve], and between thy seed Satan’s Offspring] and her seed [Eve’s Offspring]; it [Eve’s Offspring] shall bruise thy [Satan’s] head, and thou [Satan] shalt bruise his [Christ’s] heel.

Now, where did Christ come into this? Women are incapable of producing seed.

Her seed is referring to a virgin who will be impregnated by God.

Luke 1:30–31 (KJV 1900)

30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour [GRACE] with God.

31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

Matthew 1:20–21 (KJV 1900)

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now, let’s go back to our text.

Colossians 1:20–21 (KJV 1900)

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his [Jesus Christ] cross, by him [Christ] to reconcile all things unto himself; by him [by Christ to God], I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

That is God’s plan. He is going to make friends and bring peace with everything again.

Everything in heaven and every thing in earth.

That is reconciliation in a very brief explanation this morning.

Now, this is rebutting the heretics in Colosse and Laodicea and Hierapolis the cities around that area, the Lycus Valley, those heretics were saying that the true analysis of the universe is dualistic, that spirit is good and matter is evil, and Paul is saying, forget it. Jesus Christ is not only going to reconcile man but He is going to reconcile the material universe to God, all things will be made at peace and friends.

Romans 8 would be a great read this week to understand how the all of creation groans and waits for this reconciliation, but it will be accomplished.

Notice,

Ephesians 1:10 (KJV 1900)

10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

2 Peter 3:13 (KJV 1900)

13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

This will happen after the Tribulation period and the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 21:1 (KJV 1900)

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Let me quickly address the “all things” before we go on and hopefully it we be made clearer by the time we finish. But “all things” that will be reconciled are “things” that want to be reconciled.

Fallen angels and unbelievers will not be reconciled. They will be cast into the Lake of Fire, separated from God and His new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:19 (KJV 1900)

19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

God wants to reconcile everything but everything doesn’t want to be reconciled.

John 3:16 (KJV 1900)

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Colossians 1:21 (KJV 1900)

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

Who is the You?

Colossians 1:2 (KJV 1900)

2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So now that we understand the Plan of Reconciliation the next question becomes

How did God Reconcile Us?

Colossians 1:20 (KJV 1900)

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

The Blood of His Cross: Sacrifice

Blood is a metaphor for sacrifice.

1 Peter 1:18–19 (KJV 1900)

18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

The blood of Christ connects Christ’s death with the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament and says He is the final sacrifice.

You see? He died a violent death, and blood speaks of violent death as a Hebrew metaphor.

But even more than that it speaks of the death of a sacrifice. The blood was put on the doorpost and the lintel, the blood was sprinkled.

But it was the death that was the atonement, the blood was the symbol of the violence of it. And all of those sacrifices were saying when the final sacrifice comes He will die a violent death, and it wasn’t the violent death like an animal where He bled to death. An animal just bled to death, Jesus did not bleed to death, But it was the violent death of sin-bearing. That’s important.

In Hebrews 13:11-12:

Hebrews 13:11–12 (KJV 1900)

11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.

12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

The violence of His death and the sacrificial comparison as the sacrifices were shedding blood so shall Christ come and shed blood, not that the shed blood is the literal saving thing, but that it connects His death with the Old Testament sacrifices.

Now all Old Testament sin offerings were bloodshed, that’s how the killing was done—violently. And the animals were pictures of the coming final sacrifice of Christ, who would die a violent death for sin. That was God’s plan. Sin was to be paid for by death. The price of ransom was to be blood—sacrificial death.

And the reason, and I just want to make it clear—the reason it speaks so often in the New Testament of Christ’s blood shed is not telling us that Jesus bled to death. He did not bleed to death.

You know how He died? He willed Himself dead. Don’t ever forget that. He said,

John 10:17–18 (KJV 1900)

17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

And listen to me. When that soldier came over and pierced the side of Jesus, what came out? Blood and water. The blood was still in His body long after He was dead. He did not bleed to death, And the point that I think the Bible is making there is Jesus was never bled to death as a victim, He died because He willed Himself dead.

Luke 23:46 (KJV 1900)

46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

He died as the fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrifice, and that’s why it talks about His blood.

So, the blood connected His sacrifice with the Old Testament sacrifice and so when we come down to verse 22 we read this,

Colossians 1:22 (KJV 1900)

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

The Body of His Flesh: Substitution.

His death as a man, His death incarnate in human flesh, is the thing that reconciled us to God,

Romans 8:3 (KJV 1900)

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Christ died not just as a sacrifice but a perfect substitution.

He didn’t die as an animal, nope.

He didn’t die as a spirit.

He died as a man for men.

You see, that’s what 22 means.

He died as a sacrifice in verse 20.

He died as a substitution in verse 22.

He paid the penalty as a substitute. A perfect substitute. And so you know what happened? God said, that takes care of my wrath. That substitutionary death takes care of my wrath. And then Jesus Christ came flying out of the tomb three days later and moved into the lives of His people so that they might be transformed and that takes care of that side of it.

And I can say with Paul, “For to me to live is (what?) Christ.” God has been appeased and I have been transformed. All because of the Cross.

Our salvation is possible only through the death of Christ,

God had a plan for Reconciliation.

And that plan was accomplished in the death of Jesus Christ as a sacrifice to be the substitution for what we could not accomplish ourself.

This brings us to the 3rd question.

Why did God Reconcile Us?

Colossians 1:22 (KJV 1900)

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Presentation = Position.

but notice, this position is now in his sight.

“In His sight” = God sees you in Christ,

so in God’s sight you are

Holy = separated, set apart, and consecrated to God.

Romans 8:1 (KJV 1900)

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

We must live lives that are set apart to Christ, to the belief that He died for our reconciliation and that His death covers us.

We must live lives that are separated from worldliness and selfishness and from the flesh and its sins.

We must live lives that are set apart and consecrated to God and His service, lives that live for His cause.

Unblameable = without blemish, without spot, faultless, without any defect whatsoever.

Romans 8:33 (KJV 1900)

33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

and Unreproveable = beyond reproach, blameless, unchargeable.

Romans 8:38–39 (KJV 1900)

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Imagine standing before God holy, unblameable, and beyond reproach.

Imagine how pleased God would be! How He would joy and rejoice in us—that we had honored Christ, His only Son, by trusting Him so much! As we are presented to God, what would He say? What would His first words be to us? We would be speechless, no doubt.

That is what his reconciliation has done for you, is doing for you, and will do for you, because one day, Our Position will become a Reality in Practice.

On the day of coronation, of glory, of greatness—I will stand face to face with my Father, the God of all glory, the Sovereign Majesty of the whole universe.

This is what Reconciliation is all about. The Presentation of God presenting sinners, enemies, alien, as saints, friends, and sons back to Himself through the blood and death on the cross of Calvary.

We now know the plan of reconciliation, How God Reconciled Us, Why God Reconciled Us, and lastly, I want you to know you have been reconciled.

How do you Know you have been reconciled?

Colossians 1:23 (KJV 1900)

23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

The word continue (epimenete) means to continue and then some (A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. 4, p. 483); to persist ever moving on; to stay with moving forward more and more.

In order to continue, there has to be a starting point.

John 3:16 (KJV 1900)

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:17 (KJV 1900)

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

John 3:18 (KJV 1900)

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Continue in that faith.

Faith - Trusting God and Obeying God.

The Faith that started this walk continue in that faith.

Colossians 1:23 (KJV 1900)

23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

The word grounded (tethemeliomenoi) means to be grounded in Christ like the firm, solid foundation of a building. This is the word that pictures the foundation of a building, the solid foundation that gives the greatest stability possible to a building. The believer must be so grounded in Christ that he can withstand the severest storms of life.

The word settled (hedraioi) means steadfast. The believer must actually stand firm and continue on in being steadfast if he wishes to be presented perfect before God.

Make up your mind the Christ is Sufficient to Reconcile you to God.

Ground yourself in this truth.

Settle you mind in this truth.

And connects the continue in the faith with be not moved away from hope.

Not any hope but the hope in the Gospel.

Jesus Christ can take everything evil and return it to very good if we believe.

This morning, you have heard the gospel, I have preached the gospel and you can be reconciled. God wants nothing more in this world then to present you back to Himself holy, unblameable, and unreproveable.

The question becomes,

Are you Reconcilable?

You are if you believe in the sacrifice and substitution of Jesus Christ.

Paul was reminded and encouraging the saints and faithful at Colosse that Jesus Christ came and found them, and drew them to God. They were living proof of the power that Christ has to reconcile and if He can reconcile them and if He can reconcile me, then He can reconcile you and do what He said some day and reconcile the universe.

The Colossians, who were living and breathing matter, were evidence enough that Jesus Christ was sufficient to reconcile men to God.

What does the term 'reconciliation' refer to in the context of Colossians 1:20?

How does the concept of reconciliation in Colossians contrast with the dualistic beliefs of the heretics in Colosse?

In what ways can understanding our position as reconciled individuals influence our daily lives?

What practical steps can we take to 'continue in the faith' as mentioned in Colossians 1:23?

Can you explain the significance of the blood of Christ in the process of reconciliation?

What does it mean to be 'alienated and enemies' before reconciled with God according to Colossians 1:21?

Why is Jesus described as 'the final sacrifice' in relation to Old Testament sacrifices?

How can we apply the concept of being adopted as sons of God in our relationship with others?

What does it look like to walk 'worthy of the Lord' in our daily actions and decisions?

What is the meaning of being presented 'holy and unblameable' in God's sight?