When I Survey
H. Hoeksema
Book 4, Chapter 3
Reconciled by His Death

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." (Rom. 5:10)

O, adorable wisdom of God, wiser than, and bringing to nought all the wisdom of men!

O, blessed power of divine love, that many waters could not quench, that all the floods of our iniquity were not able to drown, whose weakness is stronger than men, and that puts all the power of men to shame!

We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, and that, too, while we were enemies!

Was ever such a thing heard among men? Was it ever observed anywhere that men were reconciled to each other at the very moment that the offending party hated him whom he offended, insulted and abused him, slandered him and raved against him with hateful and bitter mockery and blasphemy, plotted to kill him and to obliterate his very name and memory from the face of the earth? Or, to accentuate the paradox, would it be considered possible with men that the offended party turn the blasphemy and abuse, the hatred and murderous assault of the offender into the very means and basis of reconciliation?

Yet, such is the power of the word of the cross!

For listen to this word of God, and let every phrase of it, in all its amazing significance, sink deeply into your soul, and stand clearly before your consciousness: "when we were enemies ... by the death of His Son ... God reconciled us unto Himself!"

Connect this evaluation of ourselves that "we were enemies" with the phrase "by the death of his Son", and what is the result? This, that we played our part in that death of the Son of God, and that we revealed, in the most horrible and shameless way, our enmity against God, when we nailed the Son of God in the flesh to the accursed tree! We hated God, and when He sent His Son into the world to dwell among us in our flesh and blood, we revealed all our enmity against Him. We conspired to kill Him, we erected the cross on Calvary, we nailed Him to the accursed tree. We expressed all our contempt upon Him, and filled Him with reproach, spit upon Him, buffeted Him, scourged Him, mocked Him, and cast Him out as one that was not worthy to have a name in human society, as the lowest of criminals. And then, at that very moment, God reconciled us unto Himself. Yea, what is more, through that very cross which we had erected, and by which we revealed our enmity against God, He accomplished our reconciliation. God was in Christ, there in that bleeding and emaciated human form on the tree, in that cross, in those cruel spikes, in that dripping blood, in that dreadful darkness, and in that agonizing outcry of utter astonishment: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" When we were yet enemies, He reconciled us, by the death of His Son, that same death which we inflicted upon Him! When we hated Him He loved us, and He bore the expression of our hatred in love, to atone for it. The blood that we caused to flow from His hands and feet, He voluntarily shed, that He might offer the sacrifice of love that could satisfy the justice of God against our sin. And our jeers and mockery He changed into a prayer for the forgiveness of our sins.

When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death of His Son!

That is the power of the cross!

What does it mean?

First of all, and above all, it means that He loved us, with a sovereign love, that is, with a love that has its fountain in Him only, and that, for that very reason, is a fire that could not be quenched, not even by all the floods of our hatred and iniquity. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10) For that cross, the death of His Son, is not the cause but the expression and revelation of the love of God. Reconciliation presupposes the love relation. Thus it is among men. One does not speak of reconciliation of two perfect strangers. On the contrary, to be reconciled to each other there must exist a certain relation between two parties, whether it be that of man and wife, of king and subject, of a friend to his friend. And when we read in Scripture that God reconciled us unto Himself, the implication is that, on God's part, there exists such a love-relation, the eternal covenant of friendship, between Him and His people. Herein is love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us. And in that eternal love alone must be found the explanation of the very possibility of reconciliation.

For, secondly, reconciliation also implies that the relation between the parties, such as it may be, has been transgressed, violated by one or by both of the parties. The husband or wife committed fornication, thus violating the marriage relation; the friendship is restrained, because one of the friends committed an act of perfidy; the servant is in disgrace with his lord, because he dishonored his name. Thus it is with respect to our relation to God. On our part we are covenant breakers, we violated the covenant relation through sin. In the covenant of friendship with his God, man was created. God revealed Himself to man, opened His heart to him, spoke to him as a friend to his friend, caused him to taste His favor and lovingkindness, which is better than life. And man was God's friend-servant, whose calling it was to glorify the name of his Creator, to consecrate himself and all things to Him, and to serve Him in love. But man violated the covenant of God. He transgressed the holy commandment. Wilfully, he turned himself away from God, rejected himself to the slavery of the devil. He fell in disgrace. He became an object of the just wrath of God. He became an exile from God's house. The covenant relation of friendship ceased to function. As far as we were concerned, we had severed the connection, broken the covenant: we were enemies of God.

Reconciliation, however, means further that, on God's part, the relation was never severed. If it had, reconciliation could never have been accomplished. Itself is an act of love, such an act of love whereby the cause of the alienation, namely sin, is removed, so that the covenant relation of friendship can function once more.

On this truth all emphasis must be placed.

If the fellowship between God and His fallen and sinful covenant people is to be restored, sin must be taken out of the way. With respect to reconciliation between men, this is neither necessary nor possible: repentance on the part of the guilty party, and forgiveness on the part of him that was offended, are all that is required to restore the right relationship, and to bring the estranged parties together again. But with respect to our relation to God this is different. God is righteous and just. He cannot deny Himself. His mercy can never be in conflict with His righteousness. The sinner is under the wrath of God, and must suffer the punishment of death. In his guilt and condemnation, he can never be the object of God's favor. If we are to be reconciled to God, sin must be removed, the cause of our alienation from God must be taken out of the way.

But how can sin that has once been committed be undone? How is it possible that the guilt of sin be expunged? How can the guilty sinner ever be made righteous before God, so that the Most High declares him free from sin and worthy of His favor and life?

The sole answer to this question is: only in the way of satisfaction.

But again, what is satisfaction? What is capable of satisfying the justice of God against sin? Can the sinner bring anything to God, an offering of gold or silver, or of bulls or goats, whereby he may blot out his sin, and be restored to God's favor? Indeed not; for he has nothing to bring, even if such external gifts could have the value of atonement for his sin: the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. What then? Shall he, perhaps, perform some good deeds, and, on the basis of these, plead for a favorable verdict? This possibility, too, is excluded. For, first of all, he is dead through trespasses and sins, and cannot perform one deed that can obtain the approval of the Judge of heaven and earth. He is an enemy of God. And, secondly, even if he could perform that which is good before God, no good work could possibly expunge the handwriting of sin that is against him. If I trade with a grocer, and for a long time run up a bill with him, until I cannot possibly pay my debt, but now begin to pay cash for every item I buy, do I thereby pay off one cent of my debt? How, then, could the sinner pay for the guilt of his sin, and expunge his debt with God, by henceforth living in accord with the will of God, say this were possible? We are obligated to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our mind, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, every moment of our life. If we fail, we become guilty, worthy of death and damnation. And no amount of good works can obliterate the guilt of our sin.

What then can satisfy the justice of God against sin, and restore us to His favor?

Suppose that we suffer the punishment of our sin in death. Can we, by this suffering of death, ourselves atone for our sin, satisfy the justice of God, and become worthy of the resurrection and eternal life? Indeed not. If this were the case, man would be able to suffer his way out of hell, which is impossible. Mere passive suffering of death does not blot out sin.

Only a sacrifice, that is, a giving up of our life in death, as an act of obedience and love of God, a perfect sacrifice, can blot out the guilt of our sin.

Let us remember that the demand of God's law is that we shall love Him. This demand never changes. Even when man falls into sin, and the sentence of death is pronounced upon him, and the wrath of God oppresses him, and curses him into death and hell, God still demands that man love Him. For even in His wrath God is good, holy and righteous, and worthy to be loved and praised. To blot out sin, therefore, requires of man a sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice, an act of love whereby man voluntarily assumes the burden of the wrath of God, voluntarily descends into the depth of death and hell, in the conscious acknowledgement that God is righteous in His judgment; and he must be able thus to bear the whole burden of God's wrath to the end, in the perfect obedience of love. In opposition to the wanton No of sin, he must express the perfect Yes of obedience to God!

But man, the sinner, the enemy of God, dead through trespasses and sin, can never do this. He is not able to bear the infinite burden of God's holy displeasure against sin, voluntarily, in love, and deliver himself. As far as man is concerned, there is no way out. He is lost.

But what is impossible with man is possible with God! God is the Reconciler! He alone! For He was in Christ reconciling us unto Himself. When we were enemies, and when, on our part, all reconciliation was absolutely impossible, God reconciled us unto Himself by the death of His Son! He is the Reconciler! Let us be careful, lest we distort this truth. God was not reconciled; He reconciles. He did not have to be reconciled to us. If this had been the case, reconciliation would have been forever impossible, for where would be the reconciler that was capable of reconciling Him to us? No, but He loved us, when we were enemies. On His part the eternal covenant relation between Him and His people was never broken. He loved us, His own, with a sovereign love, eternal, unchangeable. Nor dare we present this holy mystery as if Christ were the Reconciler, that intervenes between God and us, to bring us together, so that He reconciles God to us and us to Him. For Christ is of God! He is the Son of God, very God Himself. And He is the revelation of the reconciling love of God. He does not reconcile God to us, nor us to Him, but Himself, the offended God, bore the burden of our sins and iniquities on His mighty shoulders, and thus reconciled us to Himself!

That is the mystery of reconciliation!

All things are of God. (II Cor. 5:18)

God is the Reconciler!

That is the word of the cross.

Survey the wondrous cross of Calvary. Consider its profound mystery. Contemplate its paradox. That Man there, hanging on the tree of shame, between two malefactors, is the Son of God. He is very God, the only begotten Son, Who, even at this moment when, in the flesh, He is dying on the accursed tree, is, according to Godhead, in the bosom of the Father! In the flesh, God's Son is dying! There, on Calvary, you behold God the Reconciler, the God of our salvation. If this is not your confession, if you do not begin all you have to say about this crucified One with the confession that He is the only begotten Son, our Lord, if you do not prostrate yourself in utter amazement before that profound mystery, and confess that, in that bleeding form, pining away under the oppressing wrath of God, you behold very God, Light of Light, the crucified Christ means nothing to you. For were we not reconciled to God by the death of His Son? Only because He is the Son of God, who came from above, could He voluntarily assume the burden of our sins, and enter into our death. Only because He came from above, and voluntarily took upon Himself our flesh and blood, from the virgin Mary, and through the conception by the Holy Ghost, could He be righteous and holy, without guilt and without defilement, and offer to God the perfect sacrifice of love. Only because He is the mighty Son of God could He bear the full burden of the wrath of God even unto the end, and finish the work of satisfaction. Only because in His cross we behold the death of the Son of God does His perfect sacrifice have that infinite value that can be imputed to millions upon millions unto their everlasting justification.

God of God, in human nature, bearing God's wrath, dying our death, obliterating forever the guilt of sin, reconciling us unto Himself!

That is the paradox, yes, but that is the power of the cross!

And so, reconciliation is an accomplished fact. It is finished. The judgment is past. The debt is paid. Sin is blotted out. Our state of alienation and estrangement from God is changed into that of reconciliation. The covenant of friendship is established firmly and forever in the blood of Christ, in the death of His Son. Nineteen hundred years ago, when we were enemies, and when we revealed our hatred of God by nailing His Son to the cross of Calvary, yea, through that very act, God reconciled us unto Himself. We were not reconciled because we sought reconciliation, asked for it, implored Him for it, but in spite of the fact that we were enemies. And we are not reconciled now, because we believe in Him, or seek Him, even though by faith we enter into the state of reconciliation; reconciled we are solely by that act of God accomplished on the cross. And that means that sovereign love and sovereign election are the basis of this sovereign act of reconciliation. God is the Reconciler of all His own, given to Christ from before the foundation of the world, and they are reconciled. For God was in Christ, not opening a way of reconciliation merely but reconciling us by the death of His Son unto Himself. He gave His life for His sheep, given Him by the Father, and not one of them may perish. Long before they repent and believe, independent from their faith and repentance, while they were enemies, God reconciled them all unto Himself. And their sins can never be imputed to them anymore!

Reconciliation is an accomplished fact.

That is the power of the cross!

And that power of the cross is conveyed to us through the Word of the cross, the gospel of reconciliation.

For the Word of the cross is revealed unto us.

Never could we, in our own wisdom, have discerned the divine meaning, the idea, and the power of that cross of Calvary. Nor can human wisdom be trusted to interpret that cross of the Son of God. To us that cross is foolishness. Always we require a sign, a sign of human power, and the cross is the ultimate in human weakness: it has no sign for a wicked and adulterous generation. Always we seek after wisdom, the wisdom of this world; but the cross is the ultimate of human foolishness: it humbles all our pride. But God speaks His own Word, and He interprets His own cross. The Word of the cross, as a word of reconciliation, He spoke, by His Spirit, to the apostles. To them He revealed that He was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. And by virtue of this revelation they become witnesses of the cross, and of the resurrection. They preached the word of the cross. And the Church heard and believed, through the same Spirit of Christ, preserved that word of the cross, and, in turn, proclaimed it in all the world. And thus the preaching of the gospel is the ministry of reconciliation. It proclaims that God is the Reconciler, loving us with an eternal love. It preaches that reconciliation is an accomplished fact: God was in Christ, reconciling us by the death of His Son. And it sends forth the prayer, as if God did beseech us: "Be ye reconciled to God!"

O, wonder of divine grace!

Glorious light of mercy, shining from the face of God in the cross of Jesus, radiating into the darkness of sin and death that envelops all our present existence in its gloomy shadow!

And, as we hear this word of the cross, the Word of God, the Reconciler, we confess our sins, bemoan our alienation from Him, humble ourselves in dust and ashes because of our enmity against Him, and turn to Him for refuge. Through the power of His Word, of His mighty Word of reconciliation, we enter into the state of reconciliation, cast ourselves upon Him in the confidence of faith, believe that He loves us, receive the forgiveness of sins and everlasting righteousness and life, and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ!

The power of the cross has been realized in us!