SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/28/2017 8:13 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Plan of Reconciliation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Colossians
1:20-21
Message of the verses: “20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds (NASB95).” “20 Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross. 21 You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got (Message).” “20 and through him God planned to reconcile to his own person everything on earth and everything in Heaven, making peace by virtue of Christ’s death on the cross. 21 And you yourselves, who were strangers to God, and, in fact, through the evil things you had done, his spiritual enemies, he has now reconciled (Philips).”
We have talked about animals and the universe being changed during the Millennial kingdom because of what we see in verse 20 that is reconciling all things to Himself.” Now we can look at some verses that speak of the tremendous, dramatic changes that will mark the reconciliation of the world to God. First we will look at Romans 8:21 “that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” God and the creation will be reconciled to God from the curse that He made when Adam and Eve sinned, but during the Millennial Kingdom it will be removed. Peter writes about the universe being made new during the Millennial Kingdom: “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” After the earth is burned with fire along with the entire universe God will make a new heaven and a new earth, and perhaps that is what Peter had in mind, but during the Millennial Kingdom things on earth will surely be changed too. Revelation 21:1 states “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.”
The Lord will make everything new as we have seen.
Paul is taking aim at the false philosophical dualism
which is a part of the Colossian heretics in these verses as they were teaching
that all matter was evil and the spirit was good. They did not think that God created the
physical universe, I guessed they must have missed reading the first chapter of
the Old Testament. Some people at that
time as today like to pick and choose what they want to believe from the pages
of Scripture, and some choose to believe none of it. Paul is stating that God will reconcile the
material world to Himself which shoots a whole in what these heretics believed. God is going to do this reconciliation and
will do it through His Son, Jesus Christ as He is the agent through which God
will accomplish the reconciliation of the universe. John MacArthur quotes the German theologian
Erich Sauer who comments,
“The offering on Golgotha extends its influence into
universal history. The salvation of
mankind is only one part of the
world-embracing counsels of God…The ‘heavenly things’ also will be cleansed
through Christ’s sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:23). A ‘cleansing’ of the heavenly places is
required if on no other ground than that they have been the dwelling of fallen
spirits (Eph. 6:12; 2:2), and because Satan, their chief, has for ages had
access to the highest regions of the heavenly world…the other side becomes this
side; eternity transfigures time and this earth, the chief scene of the
redemption, becomes the Residence of the universal kingdom of God. (The Triumph of the Crucified)”
Now I have to say that some have mistakenly imagined ‘all
things’ to include fallen men and fallen angels. John MacArthur writes that this “they
overlook a fundamental rule of interpretation, the analogia Scriptura. That
principle teaches that no passage of Scripture, properly interpreted, will
contradict any other passage. When
Scripture interpret Scripture, it is clear that by all things Paul means all
things for whom reconciliation is possible.
That fallen angels and unregenerate mean will spend eternity in hell is
the emphatic teaching of Scripture.” Jesus said in Matthew 42, 46 “41 “Then He
will also say to those on His left, ’Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the
eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 46 “These
will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”
We will end this SD with a quote from the apostle John
where he writes the following in Revelation 20:10-15,
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
1/28/2017 8:49 PM
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