#17.

The Lord's Supper Proclaims Fallen Mankind's War with God

Colossians 1:1922 For it was the Fathers good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of
His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And although you
were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now
reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and
blameless and beyond reproach
Another message that is proclaimed to us loud and clear through the Lord's Supper is the
hostility that exists between God and fallen mankind. The passage above is far from the only
one that teaches this, and in so doing, it uses many words and phrases to underline this for us:
"Reconcile", "He has now reconciled you". This means to reestablish proper friendly
interpersonal relations after these have been disrupted or broken. It was our sins that brought
about a disruption of peaceful relations with God.
"Having made peace". This is the action taken that brings about reconciliation (see point (3)
above). There was no peace between God and man following Adam's rebellion in the garden of
Eden. Rather, as we shall see, Adam and all those descended from him became God's
implacable enemies, hating Him and wanting nothing to do with Him.
"You were formerly alienated". Our sinful behavior brought about a separation from God. His
eyes are too pure to look on sin, so when we became filled with corruption and wickedness, our
relationship with Him was completely severed.
"Hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds". Here is the nub of the issue. We were hostile to God,
pursuing evil deeds and provoking God's wrath against us. There could be no peace between us,
no restoration of relationship, while our hearts and minds were at enmity with Him, bent on
disobedience and rebellion to His reign over us.
How is it that the Lord's Supper proclaims the alienation of man from God, the enmity between
us, the lack of peace and the need for reconciliation? It is simply that there would have been no
need for the cross, no need even for a Savior, unless mankind had fallen so completely away
from God, and unless God had planned from eternity to send Jesus to the cross to remove the
root cause of the hostility from His people - their sin.
What is also clear in this passage (thank God!) is that God has a way to change the hearts of His
people so that the enmity may be spoken of in the past tense. The source of that change clearly
lies in what took place on the cross ("having made peace through the blood of His cross", "He
has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death"). So the cross (and thus the Supper)
proclaims reconciliation - but they must therefore also proclaim the hostility that made
reconciliation necessary.
We will want to look at the Supper's message of reconciliation in more detail next time. For

now, though, let's meditate on the depth of the enmity that existed between God and ourselves, enmity so deep that Jesus Himself had to die on the cross to bring about reconciliation!
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