Gooding, David: 4 - The Person and Work of the Redeemer–Reconciler

Let us begin, shall we, by reading once more the words from Colossians chapter one that we began, we we read at the beginning of our studies. Colossians chapter one, verse twelve: Giving thanks unto the Father who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Who delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. Who is the image of the invisible God. The firstborn of all creation, for in him were all things created in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things have been created through him and unto him. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell, and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Through him, I say, whether things upon the earth or things in the heavens. And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind, in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him. If so be that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven, whereof I, Paul, was made a minister. We come now to what must, on any accounting, be one of the most exalted parts of the whole of Holy Scripture. And I feel a little like the ancient Israelite who saw the Ark of God approaching. Pray for us that we may say nothing or think and think nothing unworthy of the divine majesty. To help us grasp afresh this much loved and much honored part of Holy Scripture, I would like us to consider the person and the work of the Redeemer and the great reconciler of the universe under five heads. I would like us to think in the first place of the magnitude of the ruin, which called forth his great work of redemption and reconciliation. Magnitude of the ruin. And then I should like to us to think about the immensity of the task that was his, when by divine decree he was appointed to the work of redemption and reconciliation. And thirdly, I would like us to think about what lies central to this passage, the majesty of God's agent, the one through whom we are told God has done these great things. And in the fourth place, we should consider together the marvel of the methods that God decreed should be used. And finally, let us consider and rejoice in the consideration of the magnificence of his achievements. So then, what was the ruin that our blessed Lord was called upon by the Godhead to deal with. It was nothing less, so we are given to understand, than a whole universe in disorder, and disorder at the highest possible level. We think not only of the physical creation, though our own planet is evidence enough of great and dark disturbances. It is well that we dwell on the beauties of creation, and rightly so. We should be unrealists if we did not observe that even in the dimensions of our own planet, there are some dark and disordered things. But we think not only of a creation subjected to vanity, as Paul would put it in the eighth chapter of Romans, groaning within ourselves as we do likewise, even though we have received the first fruits of the Spirit. Twice over, this epistle directs our attention to the highest possible levels of creation, and talks to us about principalities and powers, mights, thrones, and dominions. Beings whose very name and description brings before us high intelligentsia, entrusted by the creation with enormous realms of responsibilities. Put in the words, principalities, powers, mights, dominions, and authorities. Though scripture indicates clearly that not all such exalted beings have revolted against their creator, yet this passage faces us with a stark and dark reality, that at the very highest levels of the created universe, there has been, and long been, a terrible revolt against the person of God. That revolt has led to who knows what disturbances in the universe as a whole. But this we do know, that our little planet and we on it have been caught up in the vast ruin and disorder introduced here by those aforesaid rebellious spirits. And if that were not enough to make our minds all gloomy, then listen to the further indictment. And you. And you. Oh, what a problem you and I put before God Almighty. Alienated and enemies in our minds through wicked works. Alienated from God, you and I and all the rest of mankind, apart from the Savior, at a distance. Estranged from God. Perhaps it's not the worst thing that you could think of saying of anybody in their unconverted state. But when down- when you sit down and ponder it, it is enough to break your heart, is it not? That creatures endowed with God- by God with all kinds of gifts should actually live estranged from their creator. Take this bright thing over the way here. It is not only beautiful to look at, she's a brilliant musician. Listen to her playing. She enchants you with her melodies. The very concept of the music she plays, the extraordinary skill with which she executes it and interprets it, are a magnificent delight. Speak to the young lady and talk to her of Christ, and she doesn't want to know. Speak to her of God, and she'll tells you, tell you she has no time for God and all those things, not interested. She's too busy with her music. It would break your heart, wouldn't it? For who gave her the brains to create the music, and who gave her the ear? And who invented the music anyway? By some strange, who would doubt it is devilish, specious argumentation, she has been brought to believe that you couldn't, she couldn't have time for God because the God who made her music somehow would spoil her music and spoil her enjoyment of it. Estranged from God. And haven't we all known the feeling in the days when we considered God, if nothing worse, an intolerable bore. Not only estranged, but positively hostile. Hostile in our minds. Why? Because sin has induced a guilty conscience, which we cannot completely shake off even if we wanted to. Because we are, after all, creatures of God, endowed by him willy-nilly with a conscience that will, like the enemy's flag in an outpost, witness to us that our deeds are wrong. And therefore it gives us the impression that God is against us, and God is our enemy, therefore, hanging over us with dire threats of punishment, and that induces in us rebellion and hostility. And you. Part of the universal problem. Consider next, if you will, the immensity of the task that faced the Savior and faced the Godhead. In considering this ruin and how it could be put right, and what would have to be done to put it right. The immensity of the task. It was the Father's good pleasure, it says, that he should reco- reconcile the whole, that is the universe. It was the Father's good pleasure that in him should all the fullness dwell, and through him to reconcile all things, through him I say, whether things upon earth or things in the heavens. We'll say if this world, this universe became disordered through the sin and rebellion of great spirit beings that eventually infected our world. Surely it was an easy task for His Divine Majesty to put it right. What need he do but issue some lightning stroke, some divine laser beam that fizzled our little planet out of existence, and us with it, and all the created host of heaven. Why did he not do it and start afresh? God isn't hard up for ideas. Having invented you, he wasn't sort of be bankrupt to think of something else he could do. A few uncounted millions of galaxies don't exhaust his creative ingenuity. Why didn't he just destroy the rebellious universe and start again? But to talk like that is to show that we haven't understood the problem. None that I know of with any sense has questioned the almighty power of God. That is not the issue at stake. Why, even Satan, when he approached God incarnate here upon earth, being a creature, inevitably and unavoidably and unwillingly maybe confessed that he was but a creature and God Almighty. For he said to the Lord Jesus, so we are told, bow down and worship me, and I will give you all these kingdoms, for they have been, listen to him, they have been given to me. There speaks a creature who willy-nilly cannot escape the fact that he is a mere creature. And unknowingly what he did and being sane would question the absolute power of the Godhead. That isn't the issue. The issue is rather the character of God. Whether God is or is not a tyrant. Whether it is the fact that having created beings with high intelligence and many gifts, he has deliberately tortured them by holding back his best and keeping them in some kind of servitude and cramping their personalities. So that the only way to develop the potential that God originally gave is to do as Satan said and attempt to be as God, live independently of God. That is the problem. It is what creation thinks of God. You say, you're not telling me, are you, that God Almighty minds what I think about him? Oh friend, yes he does. What you think of God in your heart of hearts is more important to God than ten million galaxies of mere brainless matter. How well the enemy's tactics have succeeded, haven't they? From those early days in our planet when he persuaded our forefathers that God was some kind of a sadist, torturing his creatures, planting trees, and then forbidding people to eat their fruit. Check it out on your friends and see whether it is true still. Man's instinctive notion over centuries that somehow God is against them. God is their enemy. What if God had used his alm- almighty power to obliterate the universe? Who would have won? The question of the character of God would have remained at stake. The immensity of the task, then. To reconcile the whole of creation. That doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is going to get converted. But that all things be brought to own, be they saints or rebels, the justice, the magnificence, the holiness, and the love of the Creator. And you, how this too. One time enemies and alienated and estranged from God. The task was to reconcile you. Change what you think of God. From believing the lie instinctive ever since Satan implanted it in the human race, and bring you to think of God as that magnificent, wonderful God he is. How can you live in a universe permanently unless you're brought to think that and to believe it? Not only to reconcile you now, but out of earth's ruin to present you one day holy and without blemish and without charge before him. If that be the immensity of the task, pray consider the majesty of the agent that God chose. Agent in the sense that through him it was decreed that these great operations should be achieved. In relation to God, we are told that he is the image of the invisible God, the one who perfectly expresses, so that creation can see it, what the invisible God is really like. And of course, the list starts here, sensibly enough, because this is, after all, what the issue is that remains to be fought out. What is God like? Who shall solve the problem of reconciling man to God, unless he is able to tell us absolutely fully and beyond question what God is like? What's the good of asking Michael the Archangel? He can tell you lots of things. We would receive him immensely, I think, if he came, and be grateful for anything he had to tell us. But the high mysteries of the Godhead escape Michael. Pray, consider him who is the exact image of the invisible God, the agent eventually to reconcile all things to the Godhead. In relation to creation, it is said that he is the firstborn of all things created in the heavens and among the earth. Firstborn, not in the sense, of course, that he was the first creature to be created, but in the sense that the verse itself explains, firstborn in this sense, that in him were all things created. And here we are given to understand something of his glory by the careful use of these small prepositions, in him all things created, through him all things created, unto him all things created. He is before them, and in him they stand together. In him created. Ah. Imagine me one of these days going down, uh, shall we say, to Ballymena, or with more courage, further north still, and going as far as Ballymoney. And here I come upon some brand new vast factory. And the managing director is kind enough to come out and show me round, and here are complicated machines under the control of wonderful robots that go whizz and produce all sorts of things, whether we needed them or not. And as I stand there open-mouthed at the vast complexity and the five or six thousand people that run it, and the wizardry of the science and the precision of the engineering, I say to the managing director, um, where where did this all begin? What would you expect him to answer? Oh, when they laid the first bricks. No, no, of course not. Oh, when the sand and cement were created. Well, no, I'm not thinking in those terms at all. He'll know I'm not, and I say, where did this all begin? He'll say, well, would you know, I was with the wife, uh, lying on Port Stewart Beach, on the strand there, and got tired after a while of, uh, throwing stones into the sea, you know, skimming them and things like that. And as I lay there, thinking about nothing in particular, all of a sudden I had an idea. I thought about it, and the more I thought, the more pleased I was, and one thing added another, and this great factory you see is the result of that idea that happened in my brain. That's where it all started. You want to know where this universe started, it's no good analyzing the chemistry of it, nor the physics. That can tell you one or two things. It can't tell you where it all started. In him, says Holy Scripture. He is, as other scriptures say, the beginning. In the beginning God created. That is to say, he was the great beginning in which the whole thing was conceived of. It was his idea. In him were all things created. What a mind has this great agent of deity. And among the marvels that were his idea, madam, is you. You are Christ's idea, you know. That's where you started as well. It was not only made in him, it was made through him. Whatever processes have gone on in the formation and development of the universe. They only went on because he engineered them and sustained them and sustains them still. They were made through him. And what's it all for? I wonder, have you ever stood watching the stars some night, burdened maybe with the cares of your business, burdened with your family problems, finding life exceedingly complicated and perplexing, and you said to yourself, what is it all about? And turned to watching the stars go by, and said to yourself, where is it all going to? You do a lot of traveling in your life, don't you? Backwards and forwards to the grocers, once a week at least. Down to Bangor for your holiday, yeah? And the whole revolution of the planet once every year. That's some distance there. And then not only going that way, not content with that way, you insist on going around the sun the other way. Isn't that marvelous of you? You measure the distance you travel every year. And dear old Sol up in the sky, he isn't still either. He's a going too, isn't it? So that if you would step off the planet for a minute and watch us, we're corkscrewing in space, and we follow the sun. And where on earth is the sun going? Some of us say, some of them tell us he's going to the middle of the galaxy, and pray, where's the galaxy going? Because it isn't standing still either. Where is it all going? Where are you going anyway? Were you designed to go anywhere in particular? Well, the answer comes back from the measureless past. When it was made, it was made for him. And if there'd been any genuine progress in the history of our planet, he in the end shall be the heir of all things and inherit it. Made for him? For it's obvious I haven't always lived for him. No, and that's part of the great disorder, isn't it? A universe of men and women made for him, and all we like sheep have gone astray, turned everyone to his own way. That's cardinal sin number one in the logic of creation. Not only made for him, but it is said here that he is before all things. He was, of course, in the sense that he was there before anything was created. He was before all things in that sense. He still is before all things, in a way that you and I are not. If you want to know what's going on in the sun, you have to wait, I forget now, it's eight minutes, isn't it, for the light from the sun to arrive here. And when it arrives, the thing, whatever it was, has already happened eight minutes ago. We're behind everything, aren't we? That comes in from outer space. So you are very often in daily life, aren't you? Here's a good wife, she's preparing the dinner. Waiting for husband and son to come home from their outing to the country. They're not coming home. They've had a crash. They've both been killed. She doesn't know it. She's behind events. But what a shock it will be when eventually the event catches up with her. And some would find it overwhelming if they hadn't already made friendship with the great Son of God. He never is behind anything. He always is before. And if a thing happens, it happens because he knew it was going to happen and allowed it to happen. Never taken by surprise. And in him the whole thing stands together, be it at the level of its atomic motions or the great universe Universe itself itself. hangs together as he upholds it. Yes, but it is not only fir- that he is firstborn in relation to creation, but the verses go on to explain that he is firstborn from the dead, head of the church, which is his body, the body which is the church. For since the death and resurrection and ascension of our Lord and the coming of the Holy Spirit, there has been something new in our universe that was never known before. The scientists suddenly discover a new star as they peer up or down, whichever way it is, their telescopes. Yes. If you would have the telescope of Holy Spirit, you would have seen on the day of Pentecost a new phenomenon in the universe that had never been there before. A new thing called the body of Christ, in which Christ is the head, and redeemed men and women are the body, sharing the same life, their personalities intact, but no longer completely independent, each personality a member of that greater thing, that is the living organism of the body of Christ. Of that too, he is the head. Oh, for a God that has such brilliant ideas, we should not get bored with eternity, shall we? But when everybody thought they'd seen the last of his inventiveness in creation, lo and behold, he comes up with this, a completely new concept in the universe. And the body of Christ is formed. Christ is the head of that as well, that in everything he might be first. And let us move to consider the marvel of God's methods in the accomplishment of the task. You would need the wisdom of Solomon to describe it, wouldn't you? Who shall tell it? That divine decree that all things should be reconciled, and it should be done like this. It pleased the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell. This was no little task that might be entrusted to some magnificent angel. The whole of the Godhead. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to dwell in Jesus of Nazareth. How will you tell it? Our age, so we are told in scripture, will see finally such an exhibition of man's folly. Stirred on by that old dragon, the devil, man shall attempt to equal God and sit himself in the temple of God, opposing himself to all that is called God, trying to exalt himself above all divinity. And God's answer to that rebellion of his creatures has been what? That God should come down and become man. Oh, for our crazy world, where man in his folly tries to be above God. Oh, for the magnificence of a God whose answer to that is to become man. Yes, but not only so, but to reconcile all things to himself by the blood of his cross. Notice the term. The cross was a cruel instrument of execution. The scattering of blood bar emphasizes the carnage of the opposition and what it did. Our planet has this dubious but singular honor. It has been staked by a cross upon which man impaled his creator. And the wisdom of God is seen in it, the very vehicle of man's hatred and destructiv- destructiveness and rebellion against God should be turned by God to the reconciliation of all things. Not that all should be saved, but Revelation five helps us to understand what shall yet happen. When the blessed Lamb of God takes the book from him that sits upon the throne and proceeds with judgment to bring back the world and the universe to God's obedience. The cry shall go out, not merely who is able. I nearly said any fool could press the button that would destroy our planet. It's not the question of who has the power, but who has the moral worth to do it? How should God deluge the universe with his judgments of destruction and retrieve his name? Satan, with his dying gasp, would say that he had been proved right, that the creator was a tyrant, and God himself would be left with an empty world. Now the question is, who is morally right? And when the Lamb takes the book, then it is said not merely those in heaven and on the earth, but those under the earth, if you please, shall confess that Jesus Christ is worthy to take the book. How worthy? For he was slain. And not from the caverns of the lost shall anybody be able to say otherwise. And in the name of Jesus, who was man slain, God given, every knee shall bow and confess to the glory of God the Father, and the whole universe pacified and glorified, and God's honor proved to the remotest bound. And you? You say, does it matter what I think? Oh, sir, madam, it matters to God what you think about God. It mattered so much to him that the divine decree was this, that all the fullness should dwell in the Lord Jesus. He would reconcile you to God in the body of his flesh through death. Ah, see him, friend, the God you thought was against you. If he can't convince you otherwise, then he'll do it this way. He'll become an innocent babe in the womb and arms of a virgin. Oh, the magnificence of God. To win you. To remove your fear. And to show you what the infinite God is really like, the body of his flesh. Not only so, but in the giving of that body to death, that the guilt of your sins that has made you fear God might be removed, and you be reconciled to God. And it's done it, hasn't it? You has he reconciled, says Paul, in the body of his flesh through death, and ever and again, though life be difficult, you find yourself saying, if that's God on Calvary and he's there for me, what a God God is. And not only so, but eventually to present you holy and without blemish and without charge before. Marvel at the method. I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me. But from that we turn finally to the magnificence of the achievement. And we speak not merely empty promises or schemes, but a great purpose of God that has already achieved such magnificent things as Paul lists here. He has made us adequate for the inheritance of the saints in light, says Paul. He has done it. Ah. Did I tell you last year, it's a thing that exercises me in odd moments, that I don't make a habit of going to Buckingham Palace, nor Windsor for that matter, to dine with the Queen? Well, there's just the little consideration that she doesn't invite me, uh, as you'll see, but that's another thing. I do contribute to a fund for keeping her racehorses. It's called Department of Inland Revenue, but she doesn't normally invite me to dinner, and I have to confess I'm, I'm grateful for that, you know, because you'll see, ah, Paris nice, and she's a delightful and charming woman, of course, but the likes of me with mud on my boots and to arrive at the table and all those knives and forks, and you don't know which one to use first, and all that kind of thing, it sort of spoils the taste, doesn't it, you'll see? And I find it much easier to eat bread and cheese anyway. And then all the talk you've got, you know, and the dressing and Lord this and Lord the other and His Excellency the ambassador from Timbuktu and and all that kind of thing, and she's such a knowledgeable as well as a gracious lady, and you feel such a fool when you can't know what to say or respond to this, so I don't go. But uh... Are you too keen on going to heaven? Do you know what the inheritance of the saints will be like? Imagine being stuck by the side of Abram for a half an eternity. God. You know, but I'm looking forward to it. Yeah? I don't know what forks they use up there, but all the magnificent of the earth, the saints of the earth are going to be there. It is said of the lost that they shall see Abram and Isaac and Jacob coming and sitting down. They'll be outside. Oh, thank God I'm going to be inside. What an eternity to be able to mix with the excellent of the earth and talk to them. He has made us adequate to enjoy the inheritance of the saints, and already done it, hasn't he? Goodness me, Twenty years ago, some of you didn't know what Christians were talking about. It was gobbledygook to you. You have felt embarrassed to be in their company, and now you're adequate for it, aren't you? How did you become adequate? Well, you know the redeemer, and you know what it's all about, and anybody that knows the Redeemer, he'll be a friends with anybody else that knows the Redeemer. Yeah? And not only that, but inheritance of the saints in light. All the magnificence of it, he's made us adequate. It says, we say, don't we, with Bini, oh, how shall I, whose native sphere is dark, whose mind is dim, before the ineffable appear, and on my naked spirit bear the uncreated beam? There is a way for man to rise to that sublime abode, an offering and a sacrifice, a Holy Spirit's energies, an advocate with God. He has made us adequate to face the very light of the divine presence. It's no longer a threat to us, is it? And we know the God from whom the light issues. And he's delivered us from the power of darkness, broken the fascination of the lies that Satan wove, and shown us what the truth is. Brought us redemption, that is the forgiveness of sins, the breaking of the chain of guilt that held us to the past. He has reconciled us. One day shall present us before his presence with exceeding joy. Oh, consider the magnificence of the achievement of the re-mighty Redeemer and Lord.