Many people can point to a time in their life when they had a relationship with someone go bad. Perhaps it was with a spouse, maybe a friend, or a neighbor. Sometimes that relationship even completely broke up. The marriage ended in a divorce, or the friendship was completely severed. Sometimes this happens in the political world between two nations. When marriages, friendships, or other relationships start to go bad or even break apart, a third party is often needed to try and repair it, and bring the two back together. There is a relationship that everyone has had severed, and that is our relationship with God. Ever since the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, mankind’s relationship with God was broken. Who can repair that? Is there any hope for a reconciliation? As we look into our Scripture for today, we will find an answer.
Mankind’s close and loving relationship with God was severed and destroyed when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. From that time forward we have been alienated from God, following our own sinful path, further and further away from Him. Any attempts of our own to reconcile with God failed miserably, for we all have sinned, whether Jewish and worshiping Yahweh, the true God, or the Gentiles following their false pagan idols (Romans 3:23). We need a third party to bring about a reconciliation. God, Himself, gave us that Person in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the message that Paul spoke of in this epistle. We can be reconciled with God, and transformed through His Son, Jesus.
As our Scripture begins in verse 21, Paul points out our past condition with God. We were all alienated from Him . We weren’t just alienated, our sinful behavior was actually hostile to Him. Mankind without a relationship with God through Jesus, is not merely sick, but they are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). Paul wrote about this in his epistle to the Colossian Church. They used to be in a bad position before God. They were alienated before Him, and lived as His enemies. This was reinforced by wrong thinking and evil behavior. We were all like this.
However, God provided a solution through His Son, Jesus. Our reconciliation was made possible through His death on the cross for our sins (vs. 22). Those who put their faith and trust in Him are no longer enemies, but have been reconciled through His Blood. Jesus died to present us to God as holy and without blemish or accusation. Paul proceeded to instruct the believers that they need to continue in the faith (vs. 23). We can do that by remaining steadfast - loyal, dedicated, and unwavering. We also need to stay grounded in God’s Word, the Bible.
Paul continued by saying how he rejoiced in the suffering he was going through for the Lord Jesus and His Church (vs. 24-25). He valued eternal fruit over temporary earthly comfort. In verse 24 Paul was not saying that the redemption that Jesus provided was incomplete. He knew that the Church is the Body of Christ. When the Church suffers, Jesus also suffers. When Paul (called Saul at that time) persecuted the Church in his earlier days, Jesus said that Paul was persecuting Him (Acts 9:4). Now, as a believer, Paul’s suffering was part of the tribulation that must occur before the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. Paul shared in the sufferings of Jesus by enduring persecution for the sake of the Church.
As this Scripture continues, Paul spoke about a mystery which had now been revealed (vs. 26-27). That mystery which was revealed is “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. This mystery is not mystical knowledge, but the glorious truth that Gentiles are included in God’s redemptive plan (Ephesians 3:6). The hope of glory is that Christ indwelling the believer is the guarantee of future glorification. Because of the finished work of the cross, we are now one with Jesus and co-heirs of His glorious inheritance (Romans 8:16-17).
What a blessed truth, knowing that the Son of God dwells inside of us! The One who holds the authority over all of the power of the enemy lives inside of us. God’s presence is inside of us and so is His power to deliver us and set us free from every bondage.
Paul then stated the goal of his ministry (vs. 28-29). Paul sought to warn and teach everyone about the Lord Jesus and coming judgment. His goal was to present to God every believer mature in their faith in Jesus.
As we close let us remember that as believers, God abides in us (I John 4:15). No other religion or philosophy can make such a claim. No other movement implies the living presence of its founder in his followers. Muhammad does not indwell Muslims. Buddha does not inhabit Buddhists. However, genuine Christians have the Lord Jesus abiding within us. Let us rejoice in the fact that Jesus has reconciled us to God and now dwells in us, and then live our lives in accordance with that knowledge and truth, letting our lights shine so as to draw others to Him, as well.
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