The Sweetness of Reconciliation: “For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” John 16:27. Many of God’s children, though resting in Christ alone for salvation, still carry fearful thoughts of God in their hearts. By grace they believe that the Lord has forgiven them, justified them, and will keep them unto glory, yet inwardly imagine His disposition toward them to be far more distant and restrained than Scripture reveals it to be, as though He merely endures them for Christ’s sake rather than truly delighting in them as those brought near in His Son. We often think, and rightly so, in terms of justification, reconciliation, and peace with God, yet sometimes forget what reconciliation actually means: fellowship restored. Communion. Nearness. Not merely acquitted sinners standing at a distance, but those loved of the Father in His beloved Son. Ephesians 1:6.
There is something deeply comforting in the way Scripture itself speaks of the Lord’s people in Christ. The language is not merely judicial, but tender and near. The Lord speaks of dwelling among His people, receiving them, supping with them, calling them friends, and making His abode with them. John 14:23. These are not the cold expressions of mere tolerance, but the language of fellowship and communion flowing from the love of God toward those accepted in His Son.
And none of this lessens the majesty of God but rather magnifies the greatness of His grace. That the high and lofty ONE should bring sinners near unto Himself through Christ is itself part of the wonder of redemption. Isaiah 57:15. And this delight is not because the Lord is ignorant of what we are. He knows His people fully and yet receives them fully in His Son. The believer’s standing before God is not one of reluctant toleration, but of gracious acceptance in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:6. “For the Father himself loveth you.” John 16:27. What a tender and blessed reality for our trembling and fearful hearts to rest in. MPJ