“and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.”

Here is the crux of the matter. Peace with God comes at the most costly price – the death of the Lord Jesus in the midst of such suffering as He bore the penalty for our personal sin. His blood was spilt so we would never have to suffer the guilt, blame and eternal punishment for our crimes. The shed blood satisfied the demands of the law of God, that sinful people could be free to be righteous and perfect before God. The perfect Saviour, Jesus, pays the ultimate price for our failure and loss. Such is the love of the holy God. Jesus died and made the peace between the holy God and our sinful selves. He paid the price that the law of God required for the penalty of our sin. There is no peace with God apart from this.

We are alienated from God and dead in trespasses and sins, yet we can be made alive again and we can be reconciled to God through what Jesus did for us. This is the greatest deed anyone has ever done for anyone else! We can never really take it in, because it is just too great and too amazing. The fact that Jesus did what He did is beyond our human comprehension and we can only try to think of it and remember Him and be so thankful. It is indeed, love poured out and the greatest expression of love there has ever been or will be.

God the Father has sent the Son to be a reconciliation for us and to redeem us from sin. We can enjoy the peace of God because of this and soon we will enjoy that peace continually and deeply in the kingdom.

But more. Jesus reconciled all things to God, in heaven and on earth. The whole creation is groaning, waiting for the final consummation of the kingdom of God so that it will also be delivered from the bondage of death. The whole of the created order waits to be released from the bonds of sin and be at peace. The end of the striving for existence and significance, is the beginning of a kingdom where justice and peace reign.

“That the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.”

Romans 8:21-22

Jesus brings peace to us on earth and also brings peace in heaven. Bringing peace in heaven involves the keeping of the holy angels beyond the possibility of falling or failing and being free totally for the cloying power and effect of sin. Some of the angels fell and became evil, and those who remain are now made righteous and cannot fall. They do not need forgiveness, since they never rebelled, but the death of Jesus also reconciled their situation to God and secured their eternal state before God.

God becomes our Father rather than our judge and we rejoice in him and His provision for us.