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“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Romans 5:10
Father Matta El-Meskeen (Matthew the Poor)
FATHER ADAM left us an inheritance of enmity with God due to his
disobedience, and we were banished without an intercessor. Humankind
matured and aged in hostility no prophet or saint being of any succor. All had
angered God and hostility became fixed over generations. Till God took mercy on us
due to the abundant love He kept in His heart sending in the end of days the greatest
conciliator, His Only Holy Son, to redeem humankind by the offering of Himself on
the cross. He accepted the original curse in His flesh on the tree for us.1 The Son
died on the cross shedding all His blood. His offering was counted a redeeming
sacrifice, to remove sin from Adam thus fulfilling a reconciliation with the Father
through redemption. Christ’s death was the only mediator between God and man as
sinner. On the cross He annulled all the deeds of slavery the devil and His aides held
1 Note Gal 3:13; 1Pet 2:24.
against sinners, prisoners and slaves to his tyrannical power2. Through Christ’s
resurrection from among the dead and from the abyss of the curse we came out
victorious with Him. The devil and sin are trampled under our feet through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead. The great reconciliation with God
was fulfilled, and He consequently accepted us as His children, nay His loved ones,
after hostility and the curse3, and He made us heirs with His Son risen from among
the dead bearing us with Him to His eternal kingdom.
If as enemies Christ through His death on the cross reconciled us, how much
better is our situation with God His Father, being seated at His right hand in glory
interceding for us through His blood! The Apostle Paul, the scented lips, says that
Christ thus inevitably fulfilled our salvation with His life, because He entered the
Most Holy Place with His blood, finding for us, as God’s Heavenly High Priest,
eternal redemption4 and a blessed life with God, His Father, bearing on His golden
breastplate our names, name after name.
Sure, if Christ’s death on the cross made us heirs of the reconciliation with God,
then through the life He is living in glory with His Father He offers us all a sacrifice
to God, a pleasing scent to God, a witness to His wealth in glory, a new heavenly
creation after having been a creation of dust trampled under feet. If Christ’s death on
the cross is counted for us redemption and conciliation then the Son following His
resurrection seated at the right of His Father, is as one keeping us a heavenly seat at
the right of the Father, with the redemption of our bodies fulfilled, as we become a
spiritual creation trusted to sit at the right of the Father in Jesus Christ.5 Thus
through his death He saved us, and through His resurrection and entry into the
Heavenly Holies He gave us our new life in the fellowship of Christ’s glory. Christ
through his death and life became the Head of our new breed in Him.
Yet we must inevitably repeat and draw attention that a sinner’s share in Christ’s
death and resurrection is the lion’s share i.e. the biggest reward preserved in glory,
an example and testimony to the Father’s compassionate fatherhood and the Son’s
precious sacrifice. The sinner is the primary receiver of the procession of salvation,
2 Note Col 2:14, 15.
3 Note 2Cor 5:18, 19.
4 Note Heb 9:12.
5 Note Eph 2:6.
the extent of the depth of Christ’s love in death.
After Christ put on sin wearing it on the cross the sinner has become the
bridegroom of heaven donning the glory of Christ, the Father placing the wedding
ring on his finger. 6
Prayer
I, the sinner, have come to you, today, O God, asking for the first garment,
Asking for the ring of salvation You prepared me through Your love,
I have left the glories of the world, and chosen to become a slave to Jesus Christ
Your Son,
For me You removed the bondage of sin, so don me with the freedom of Your
children’s glory,
I succumbed to the old serpent that made me inherit enmity and today have
crushed it with my feet,
For I am greater than a conqueror, as I carried Your cross and inherited Your
testimonies,
Include me today among Your chosen, because I chose You and have not been a
slave to anyone else,
Today I am a member of Your household, as Your promise, and one of Your
own.
7 July, 2005
6 Cf Lk 15:11-32 (The parable of the prodigal son).
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