Monday, May 21, 2012

Not Guilty - Part 2

If you haven't already read part 1, I invite you to do so as it is the frame that holds the picture for this verse today. 

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him... Colossians 1:21-22 ESV

Now, if you remember, we were looking at Zechariah 3 and a vision that the Lord gave to Zechariah of a scene taking place in the throne room of heaven.  At first glance, it might look like the frame and the picture are an odd pair or mismatched, but let me show you what the Lord showed me.

The words "above reproach before Him" made me think of standing before the Lord, in His courtroom.  But what does above reproach really mean anyway?  "Above reproach" or as the King James Version puts it "unreprovable" is Greek # 410 in Strong's Concordance of the Bible.  It means unaccusable!  It comes from G #1458 which means to call in for charges or debt, to lay accusation. 

I couldn't believe what the Lord was showing me!  The enemy tries to make me believe that it's about works, that if I just do this or don't do that... He knows that I'm going to provide ample failures for ammunition and then he seems to haul me before the Lord and throw accusation after accusation in my face - charges that I cannot deny - a debt that I could never repay!  And before I know it, I'm feeling like I'm standing condemned.  Do you remember how Zechariah 3 showed us that the Lord doesn't even let satan talk?  He declares him wrong before he even opens his mouth and so should we!  This verse is like our legal paper that we can wave in satan's face to shut him up!  Because of what Christ did in "His body of flesh by His death", I am unaccusable when I am called in for charges or debt!  No one can lay accusations upon me!  God says!

What about the word "blameless"?  How awesome!  I am without blame, faultless before God because of Christ!  Zero, nada, zilch... NO blame, NO fault!  Praise God!

There was one more word that the Lord brought to my attention.  "Reconciled."  Strong's Greek #604, puts it as reconciled fully.  I like that!  It comes from the Greek words #575 meaning separation, cessation or reversal and #2644 which means to change mutually (a difference), like exchanging currency or as in persons changing from enmity with God to friends with God. 

So let's put this all together... Once I was alienated from God, separated from Him.  When I listen to satan's accusations, he makes me feel that way all over again.  But when I tell myself the Truth and listen to the words of the Judge of all mankind - the highest authority in heaven and earth - I can "behold" (remember that word from Part 1?) that I have been reconciled fully.  A mutual exchange took (and takes) place.  I relinquish the debt of my sin.  That debt that I could never pay and receive Christ's righteousness!  What an exchange!  I now stand without blame, completely faultless before God because of Christ!  And God has declared my case closed!  He will not stand for any more accusations from my enemy.  I am forevermore unaccusable before God!  Wahoo!  And just for our sake, a few verses down He says it again!  Behold...

When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins. He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross. God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.  Colossians 2:13-15


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