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Friday, April 23, 2010

Rachel Cormany, Gettysburg, 1863

                                "If reconciled with God, all is well" (Rachel Cormany, Gettysburg, 1863)

Today I'm going to present a lesson based upon a statement I once heard spoken by a preacher at a funeral service. I thought it interesting at the time and jotted it down just for this purpose. Our lesson is also going to be based upon two words found in the Bible that I intend to use in conjunction with the phrase spoken at the funeral service. Hopefully, I can connect them in an understandable manner.

First, the statement made by the preacher. In his funeral discourse he said, "God has never done anything without a plan." I think that, with those eight little words we can run the gamut of the Bible. From the very beginning to this exact moment. Keep the preacher's words in mind as we proceed through this lesson.

Our two words from the Bible are "Reconciliation" and "Redemption." Let me lay just a few words on you regarding the meaning of those two words. When you see the letters "RE" at the beginning of a word, in most all cases it means "again," as in the word "reorder." And this is the case here today with our two words.

A little more definition is needed here and we'll take "reconciliation" first. If one is being "reconciled" then one must first have been "conciliated," wouldn't you agree? The word "conciliation" simply means "to be united" or "to be in accord." Perhaps another of looking at it is from the opposite direction. The opposite of "conciliation" is "to be alienated."

The word "redemption" requires us to look at the word "deem" which has a meaning of "to hold." The word "redeemed" means "to be bought back, as of something sold." Thus, "redemption" is simply the state of being "redeemed" or of having been repurchased (there's another "re" again). Now, let's see if we can put all of this together.

I said earlier that this lesson would start at the beginning and run to the present moment, so let's go back to the Garden of Eden. Clear back here we'll see that God had a plan for mankind. He said, "Let us make man in our image..." (Gen. 1:26) You can read in John 1:1-2 that Jesus was there, thus the "us" and "our."

Why was man made in the image of God, you might ask? So as to be different from all other creatures of God. Man was given an intellect and therefore does not operate by instinct, as do the other creatures. Man can think and reason, thus has a free, moral agency. That simply means that man can act according to what, and how, he thinks. And God wants man to worship Him of his own accord. Not as a robot, so to speak.

And, because of this intellect, and his freedom to act on that intellect, God knew from the very beginning that man, by his sins, would alienate himself from God, thus a "plan" was needed that would provide a way for man to get himself back into "unity" or "accord" with Him.

Very simply stated, that "plan" was Jesus Christ. Everything from the very beginning and throughout the whole Bible points to one thing - The Messiah, The Savior, who would come and set THE PLAN into motion.

Now, lest you think that it's just me saying this, read the words of the Apostle Paul here: "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Eph. 3:9-11)

From the beginning, God knew that His prize creation, man, would go away from Him. Would sell his soul to Satan, as it were, for the "pleasures of sin" during this brief life, rather than follow after righteousness. For this reason, He set in place a "plan" whereby man could know how to return to God. Here's an additional thought about "the plan:" it has never changed from its inception. Never, ever!

So, man, by the misuse of his God-given intellect and free-will, has to have a way of being "reconciled" to God. Or, as earlier defined, being brought back into "unity and accord" with God. That was the exact purpose of "the plan" so that, by following it, man could spend eternity with God.

Remember the other word "Redemption?" Using this word, here is "The Plan" in all of its simplicity: what Adam lost in the Garden of Eden, Jesus Christ bought back on Calvary. That's "The Plan." That's why Christ said, "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) That's just another way of saying: I am the plan and no one can be reconciled to God, except they "be in Me" (2 Cor. 5:17-21) and thereby "redeemed."

Let me bring this to a close by leaving you with some words penned in her diary by Rachel Cormany of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on June 26th,1863. The battle of Gettysburg is in full swing and the town is completely surrounded by the Confederate Army. There is just her and her baby in the house and they have no hope of escape. Her words were so true to the moment then, and are so true today. She wrote that she and the baby would just have to "take our chance with the rest - trusting in God as our Savior - then, come life, come death, if reconciled with God, all is well."

Ron Covey

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