Reconciliation by the cross, Pt1
Scripture: Eph 2:14-17.
Stream or download The Unsearchable Riches of Christ Pt30
This is a chapter of change and contrasts. Having depicted the misery in which the Ephesians dwelt before conversion to Christ, Paul also detailed their happy estate in Christ. They are no longer “far off” but have been made nigh and it is all because of the blood shed by Christ,v 13.
I CHRIST HAS RECONCILED THE GENTILE CONVERTS TO THE TRUE ISRAEL
1. Ceremonially, the gentile had been cut off from Israel. “That at that time ye were . . . aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise” verse 12.
a. Middle wall broken down. The Church of God in the TO had been as a garden, walled off, from which the Gentiles were excluded.“A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed,” Song of Solomon 4:12.
b. Enmity abolished. The Gentiles were the enemies of God against whom a war of opposition must be fought to stop them polluting the house of God. The Gentiles hated the distinctives, Esther 3:8.
Christ abolished this enmity by abolishing (render idle, of no further use) its cause, verse 15. Note just what was abolished. It was the “ordinanaces” — the ceremonies of the Old Testament. Not the whole Law or the whole Commandments but that section called the ordinances, Col 2:14. But these ordinances were at enmity with the Jewish worshipper also. Every sacrifice he made, condemned him as one guilty of death.
2. The Jew and the Gentiles are now one. “To make in himself of twain one new man,” verse 15. Gal 3:26-29; 7-9. We shall partake of Abraham’s blessing, Gen 12:2-3; 7. Matt 5:5.