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Grace and peace

There is good news! I have peace with God through the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. I was estranged from God. I did not know Him and was separated from Him. I was an enemy of God. I need Jesus. Jesus brings peace and reconciliation.

How can a holy God ever be reconciled with sinful man? Can God lower His standards, close His eyes to sin, and compromise with man? If He did, the universe would fall to pieces! God must be consistent with Himself and maintain His own holy Law.

Perhaps man could somehow please God. But by nature, man is separated from God; and by his deeds, he is alienated from God. The sinner is “dead in trespasses and sins”, and therefore is unable to do anything to save himself or to please God.

If there is to be reconciliation between man and God, the initiative and action must come from God. It is in the Messiah Jesus that God was reconciled to man. But it was not the incarnation of Jesus that accomplished this reconciliation, nor was it His example as He lived among men. It was through His death that peace was made between God and man. He “made peace through the blood of His cross”.

  • Colossians 1:19–20 (NASB) —For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
  • Isaiah 53:5 —But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
  • Matthew 26:26–28 —While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
  • Galatians 6:14–16 —But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Master Jesus the Messiah, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
  • Ephesians 2:13–17 —But now in the Messiah Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;

Source:

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 118). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.