The Price of Peace – Part 1 - Reconciliation

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

This week Michael writes that there are five things to be excited about walking with God:  Forgiveness, Purpose, building Character in our lives, Peace, and Security. You can’t have peace until you have the Prince of Peace. Peace is the result of reconciliation. To reconcile is to bring back together that which has been separated. We were reconciled to God because of the sacrifice Jesus made when he offered himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God. What was the price Jesus paid to reconcile the scale of God’s righteous justice? He was beaten with rods and whipped with a scourge; a cat-o-nine tails that ripped his flesh from his body. He bore his cross. He was nailed to the torture stake. For he who knew no sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him – 2 Corinthians 5:21. 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “If there be any other way, let this cup (of suffering, humiliation, and death) pass from me.  Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done” – Matthew 26:39.To realize the worth of our reconciliation to God, we must realize the value that God placed on our atonement … the price of the innocent sinless blood of his only begotten Son. We have peace with God because we have been reconciled to God. When we were born the first time, the sin nature that we inherited from Adam separated us from God. The scale of God’s righteous justice was reconciled because Jesus Christ shed his innocent blood as full payment for our sin. At the crucifixion, the Roman soldiers did not take his life. Rather, Jesus willingly laid down his life … according to Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.  (For) where sin abounded grace abounded much more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord – Romans 5:20.  

We'll pick up right here tomorrow on Michael's message on the price of peace.

In Christ, Brian