Alienation

Alienation from God because of sin

Sin causes separation from God

Those seeking to justify themselves cut themselves off from Jesus Christ’s saving work;

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Seen in discomfort in God’s presence

Genesis 3:8–10 HCSB

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

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Seen in defeat in battle

Deuteronomy 1:42 HCSB

“But the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them: Don’t go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from being defeated by your enemies.’

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Seen in unanswered prayer

Isaiah 59:1–2 HCSB

Indeed, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save, and His ear is not too deaf to hear. But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you so that He does not listen.

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Seen in unaccepted worship

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Seen in lost closeness with God

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A sense of alienation from God

Feelings of alienation

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See also ; ; ; ; ; ; Jesus Christ’s alienation from God as he bore the consequences of human sin was felt and actual.

The reassurance of God’s concern

Isaiah 49:15–16 HCSB

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you. Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.

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Alienation from others

Alienation caused by a third party

Proverbs 16:28 HCSB

A contrary man spreads conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.

See also ; False teachers in Galatia tried to drive a wedge between Paul and the church.

Examples of alienation

Man and woman; Cain and Abel; Jacob and Esau; Saul and David; Job and his family and friends; the psalmist and his family; Jeremiah and his family; Paul and Barnabas; Jew and Gentile

Overcoming alienation

Being reconciled to God

Colossians 1:22 HCSB

But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him —

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Reconciliation with others

Colossians 3:13 HCSB

accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.

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Examples of reconciliation

Jacob and Esau; Joseph and his brothers; Jew and Gentile

God’s people are aliens in the world

John 15:18–19 HCSB

“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

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Responsibility to the alien

God’s concern for the outsider

Psalm 146:9 HCSB

The Lord protects foreigners and helps the fatherless and the widow, but He frustrates the ways of the wicked.

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The example of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ welcomed those who had been alienated by the rest of society.

See also Jesus Christ touched the “untouchable” man with leprosy;

Equal treatment for the alien

Leviticus 19:34 HCSB

You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.

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Ensuring justice for the alien

The weaker members of Israelite society are of special concern.

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Special provision for the alien

God makes special provision for the poor so that they will have a share in the blessings of the land.

See also ; ; The third year’s tithe is shared with those without inheritance in the land.