It's a buzz word in Christian circles these days. Christian leaders talk about it. Christian magazines report on it. Intercessors pray for it. Even the secular media tries to describe it, but what is reconciliation really all about? And why is it important? According to Scripture, reconciliation comes in two forms--being reconciled to God and with other peoples--and it results in revival and the subjection of demonic principalities to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Greek, the word for reconciliation means "to change from enmity to friendship," and that is exactly what the Lord does for us through the blood of Jesus. The power of His blood is so great, however, that the ministry of reconciliation only gets started there. When we become reconciled to God, Christ then commissions us, Paul says, as ambassadors of this powerful reconciliation.
Our military assignment is first to introduce lost people to Christ's Blood-bought reconciliation, ending their enmity with God. Second, we are to seek the demolition of racism so that the Great Commission may be more quickly accomplished. Breaking down hard feelings between peoples ruins Satan's strategy to prevent advancement of Christ's Kingdom. Here's what I mean.
How do we get out of this predicament? Paul dealt with an insidious racism in the early church between Jews and Gentiles, and his answer in Ephesians 2 to this hostility was Christ "himself...our peace" (v.14). Christ's reconciling act on the cross provides the torque needed to "destroy the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility" (v. 14). His sacrifice was so powerful that it "put to death their hostility" (v. 16). It is time the body of Christ put away its shameful, adversarial racism, and instead "create in [Christ] one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross" (v. 16 NIV). We must bring healing to these relationships through the blood of Jesus, or the enemy will continue to pummel our nation. Most would agree that our country needs a Great Awakening, but God's visitations are marked by unity in the Body--not division.
There have been no more Great Awakenings since the iniquities of Northern war atrocities, Southern bitterness, Reconstruction-bred racism, and Western Indian massacres. Even the earth-shaking Azusa Street Revival was not able to affect all the strata of American society like earlier awakenings.
What happened? Could it be that unforgiveness is holding back the blessing of God? Could roots of bitterness have grown up in our nation and defiled many? Are reconciliation issues involving racism, slavery, Native Americans, North and South, and denominational bigotries holding back a deep work of national renewal and corporate return to the Lord? Could it be that the Lord is now calling us as ambassadors of reconciliation to remove these obstacles to the next Great Awakening in our nation?
Before being reconciled to God individually, each of us was without hope and stood under God's wrath and judgement. But in our reconciliation to God, we experienced a divine visitation and an awakening to God's love. Similarly, as a nation, we can refuse reconciliation and incur God's wrath or welcome it and expect His visitation. The bottom line becomes judgement or revival, our downfall or our future, and it is all based on our reconciliation to Him and each other.
Why does it all come down to reconciliation? The answer lies in Colossians 1:20. Paul says that Christ "reconcile[d] to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (NIV). Christ's blood ends the warfare and makes peace with both earthly and heavenly things. We know our battle is not with flesh, but with demonic powers in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12). According to Colossians, reconciliation leads to the unwilling subjection of demonic principalities to the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood ends the battle, and peace reigns. When the Church is being reconciled and our nation is corporately turning to God, it is obvious that the enemy will have difficulty holding back the advance of the Christ's Kingdom .
We find ourselves, therefore, at a gateway of opportunity. The last revival our whole nation experienced ended during the War Between the States. Since then, the legacy of war atrocities, Southern bitterness, unheard-of strains of racism, Indian massacres, segregation, violence, sexual perversion, and abortion have given the enemy every right to hold back national revival and spiritual awakening.
Will our generation rise up and throw off the tyranny of the evil one? Will we servants of the Living God no longer consent to live in an enemy-occupied nation which is rapidly approaching judgement? Will we walk the land in repentance, seek reconciliation of our peoples, restoration of our beloved land, reassignment of the desolate inheritances, and freedom for our captives? (Isa 49:8-9). We must do it, for this is perhaps the greatest opportunity and most pressing need for our nation's future.
