Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 5:14-21; 6:11-13
Ⅰ
We may experience and enjoy Christ as the means of reconciliation to God—Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:14-21.
Ⅱ
Two steps are required for us to be fully reconciled to God—vv. 19-20:
A
The first step of reconciliation is to reconcile sinners to God from sin—v. 19:
１
For this purpose Christ died for our sins that they might be forgiven by God—1 Cor. 15:3; Luke 24:46-47; 1 John 2:12.
２
This is the objective aspect of Christ's death; in this aspect He bore our sins on the cross that they might be judged by God upon Him for us—1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:11-12; Heb. 9:28; Col. 1:22; Rom. 8:3.
B
The second step of reconciliation is to reconcile believers living in the natural life to God from the flesh—2 Cor. 5:20:
１
For this purpose Christ died for us—the persons—that we might live to Him in the resurrection life—vv. 14-15.
２
This is the subjective aspect of Christ's death; in this aspect He was made sin for us to be judged and done away with by God that we might become the righteousness of God in Him—v. 21.
３
Because we are still separated from God and because we are not fully one with God or altogether in harmony with Him, we need the second step of reconciliation—v. 20.
C
The two steps of reconciliation are portrayed by the two veils of the tabernacle, both of which signify the unique Christ—Exo. 26:31-35, 37; Heb. 9:3:
１
The first veil is called "the screen"—Exo. 26:37:
ａ
A sinner who was brought to God through the reconciliation of the propitiating blood entered into the Holy Place by passing through this screen.
ｂ
This typifies the first step of reconciliation.
２
The second veil still separated the sinner from God, who was in the Holy of Holies—vv. 31-35; Heb. 9:3:
ａ
This veil needed to be rent so that the sinner might be brought to God in the Holy of Holies—Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:19-20.
ｂ
This typifies the second step of reconciliation.
３
The goal of 2 Corinthians is to bring the believers into the Holy of Holies to live with God in their spirit so that they may be persons in the spirit— 1 Cor. 6:17:
ａ
Although the Corinthians had been saved and reconciled to God halfway, they still lived in the flesh; that is, they lived in the soul, the outward man, the natural being; the veil of the flesh, of the natural man, still separated them from God—2:14-15; Heb. 10:19-20.
ｂ
Only when we pass through the second veil are we thoroughly reconciled to God and able to enjoy Him in full—2 Cor. 5:20.
Ⅲ
Christ died for our sins so that we may be forgiven, and He died for us so that we may live to Him—1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:14-15:
A
Christ's death not only saves us from death so that we do not need to die, but also causes us, through His resurrection, to live no longer to ourselves but to Him:
１
To live to ourselves means that we are under our own control and direction and that we care for our own aims and goals.
２
To live to the Lord means that we are under the Lord's control and direction and that we want to satisfy Him and fulfill His purpose—v. 15.
B
Living to the Lord is deeper in significance than living for the Lord—Rom. 14:7-8:
１
Living for the Lord implies that I and the Lord are still two.
２
Living to the Lord indicates that I am one with the Lord, as the wife is one with the husband in married life.
Ⅳ
To be fully reconciled to God will cause us to be enlarged in our hearts— 2 Cor. 5:20; 6:11-13:
A
How large our heart is depends on the degree of our reconciliation to God.
B
Narrowness of heart is a strong indication that we have been reconciled to God only partially and that the percentage of our salvation is quite low—v. 12.
Ⅴ
Through the ministry of reconciliation, we become, in Christ, an enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation—John 14:2, 20, 23:
A
As a result, we become God's sanctuary, His dwelling place, His Holy of Holies— the New Jerusalem—Rev. 21:2, 10, 16.
B
In Song of Songs we see two aspects of the cross's dealing—the breaking of the self and the dealing with the flesh in a deeper sense; through these two aspects of the cross's dealing, we become God's sanctuary—6:4:
１
This sanctuary is the Holiest of all, which is God Himself.
２
When we enter into the Holy of Holies, we enter into God, and then we become the sanctuary; in this sense we become God.
３
It is the love in God that gives Him the yearning to unite, mingle, and incorporate with us, and it is the same love in us that gives us the yearning to unite, mingle, and incorporate with Him; by loving the Lord with the best love, we are incorporated into the Triune God to become His dwelling place—2 Cor. 5:14; 1 John 4:19, 8, 16; Rev. 2:4; John 14:21, 23; Eph. 3:17.