RECONCILED TO GOD
There is no word sweeter to the soul than reconciled. It speaks of a broken friendship mended, of a guilty sinner brought home, of a heart once at war now at peace. When Paul writes of our salvation, he does not begin with what man must do, but with what Christ has done. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Man could never climb to God. Two barriers stand in the way. The first is that sin has made us powerless. We are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). The second is that there is no need for man to “climb” at all—for Christ has already descended to us. He has done what we could never do. He has reconciled us to God by His own death. “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).
This work was not done within us, but outside of us, upon a hill, beneath a darkened sky, when the Son of God died upon a cross. There the distance was closed, the wrath was satisfied, and peace was made. Before you ever heard the name of Jesus, before you ever lifted a prayer, before faith ever stirred in your heart, He had already finished the work. That is why Paul could say, “You trusted in Christ after you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation. Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). You were included in Him when you believed. Included in what? In His victory. In His death and resurrection. In what He already accomplished.
The gospel is not good advice about how to be saved. It is good news that salvation has been accomplished. “We declare to you glad tidings,” Paul said, “that the promise which was made to our fathers, God has fulfilled” (Acts 13:32). The gospel does not merely offer possibility. It proclaims reality. It does not whisper, “try harder.” It shouts, “it is finished.” At the cross, Christ reconciled us to God. At the empty tomb, He brought life and immortality to light. The gospel is not just a call to make peace with God. It is the announcement that peace has already been made through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20) and that is what we must decide to believe.
Have you ever heard it that way? Has it struck you that salvation is not a process you begin, but a work Christ has already completed? Whoever believes in Him is made right in the sight of God—something the law of Moses could never do (Acts 13:38–39). The good news does not tell you to save yourself. It tells you to believe that you have been saved by another. You were not standing beside Christ on the cross. You offered no strength, no wisdom, no worth. He bore the nails alone. He entered the judgment alone. He made peace alone. Yet all that He did there, He did for you.
And now, what remains is faith. “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Faith does not create the truth, it receives it. It does not earn reconciliation, it embraces it. Faith looks at the cross and says, “That is for me.” It looks at the empty tomb and says, “He lives, and because He lives, I shall live also.” Faith stretches its hand toward the finished work of Christ and finds that grace has already reached out first.
This is the heart of it all: “We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” That is not poetry. That is fact. The war is over for those who believe. The wall that sin built has been torn down. The heart that once trembled under wrath now rests in peace. This is not the achievement of the saint, it is the gift of the Savior.
You can have that peace. You can know that reconciliation. It is but one step of faith away. Turn to Him who already turned toward you. Lay down your striving, your guilt, your delay. Christ has already done what you could never do. Hear His voice saying, “It is finished.” Come home, for you have been reconciled to God.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
