Since a speech by the future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1946 people have talked about the ‘special relationship’ between the UK and USA. Their military cooperation, intelligence sharing and trade have been described as ‘unparalleled’. The two countries have been allies in a number of conflicts. But recent pronouncements by President Trump suggest that this relationship is in jeopardy. King Charles III and Queen Camilla are to visit the USA, and many hope that this will help to heal the breach.
We do not know whether it will, and there is nothing we can do about it.
There is, however, a far more serious breach that affects us all: a massive breach between us and God.
When God made Adam and Eve they had a special relationship with Him in the Garden of Eden. But they broke their one commandment, and this caused a massive breach. Sin created a chasm, a deep divide, between a holy God and sinful humanity. And this has affected everybody since.
A Hebrew prophet summed it up:
‘Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear’ (Isaiah 59:2).
This dreadful breach is one which we cannot heal on our own. In our natural state we are the enemies of God, far from being ‘allies’.
In His supreme love, compassion and mercy God provided the divine solution: ‘For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation’ (Romans 5:10-11).
The solution was the death of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul describes people who have been ‘reconciled’ to God. Reconciled by their very special king, Jesus Christ.
However, this reconciliation is not automatic: we have to do something.
As the apostle Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” (Acts 2:38).
None of us likes to have enemies, and surely we would all like to have a ‘special relationship’ with God. Those who have Jesus as their king can, with certainty like Paul, say:
‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ (Romans 8:31).
We cannot predict or influence the effect of King Charles visiting the USA. But we can avail ourselves of the awesome breach healing offered by King Jesus.
Anna Hart