For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:19–20
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18–19
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:14–22
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:26–28
On a helicopter, holding the rotor blades to the main body is “the Jesus nut”. The phrase is also used for other engineering components that hold everything in a machine together, with dire consequences should the part fail.
The Jesus nut is also what holds the whole of creation together (see our study on Jesus’ relationship with creation on p. 210). As our passage from Colossians 1 says, “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,” and, as our passage from 2 Corinthians 5 says (here KJV), “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.”
The cross of Jesus sits at the heart of creation, holding all things together in a living harmony. From his cross, healing flows through the whole web of all that is made. Through his cross death and life are reconciled to each other in one living entity, brought into harmony, so that death is no longer the end of life but part of life, no more than a horizon of sight. In passing from life to death and from death to life, Jesus opened a path, created a unity. He who was with the Father in the making of creation from the very beginning, with everything that was made being created through him, therefore had a right by this creative connection to redeem and reconcile the whole cosmos by surrendering himself, its Lord, to its depths.
For us the cross of Jesus is our ultimate safety, the part that holds firm and keeps us aloft, the eye of any storm, the promise that will not fail, the certain hope of salvation.
Jesus, our rock, our strength, and our redeemer, we put our trust in you. Carry us through, Lord Jesus, any times of trouble that may be besetting us now; give us the insight we need into what you have done for us, that we may have confidence in you and trust you to the uttermost. Teach us to lean on your love, move in your power, and walk in your light. So may we become for others a rock that does not shift, a waymarker that will help them find the sure path to life and the refuge of your eternal name; Amen.
