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)

Once Enemies, Now Children

An enemy is someone who is antagonistic toward another, seeking to injure, overthrow, and treat with harm. Enemies are hostile forces fighting against one another. Nations go to war with their enemies. Civil war is when fellow citizens fight against their brothers. It is terrible to have an enemy but to have God as an enemy is the wrath of the Divine.

The consequences of having an enemy among men can be severe, but there is no comparison to what it means to be an enemy of God. Man was created in the image of God. The Lord created man for His glory. God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Finding oneself an enemy of a God who possesses these attributes is eternal. The worst that man can do to another is to kill him. What God can do is send an eternal spirit to perdition, outer darkness, a lake of fire and brimstone: Hell!

Man struggles to understand God’s demand for worship. The wisdom of man makes him think he is smarter than his Creator. He rebels against the commands of the Lord. There is no desire to seek the Lord. Man dies. God’s wrath is poured out with an eternal vengeance. There is nothing man can do. Eternity has no end, and there will be no mercy or grace allowing the damned soul to receive a reprieve from his eternal horror. God’s wrath does not last for a moment. The wrath of God is without end.

All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, facing God’s wrath. In the deepest darkness of man’s fallen state, God gave His only begotten Son to give man a chance to escape eternal wrath. Every child of God was once an enemy of God. Yet, through God’s love, the sinner can be reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ. Reconciliation is the ceasing of hostilities between two parties. It is not man that can make that peace – only God. When a man turns to Christ in obedience, having his sins washed away in the waters of baptism, the wrath of God is removed.

The enemy of God is now the child of God. As a child of God, eternal life is given. There is no more wrath or condemnation to those who are in Christ. Saul of Tarsus faced the wrath of God for the wickedness of his life and was an enemy of God. Through the grace of the Lord and Saul’s obedience to the command of God, Saul became a child of God. He would later call himself the worst of sinners, but he was not alone. All men are enemies of God. Through the grace of God, the enemy becomes the child.

To understand the grace of God, a man must remember where he came from. There was a time in every person’s life when they stood as an enemy of God. It is not a fearful thing to consider what a man can do to another; what is fearful is what God can do. That same wrath can be changed into mercy when a humble heart seeks the mercy of God and becomes a child of the Divine. The man who once was an enemy is now promised eternal life. There will be no horror or suffering for the one reconciled by the blood of Christ. Eternal life is a grace given by a wrathful God who has shown love and mercy. What a joy to know – I am saved.