Monday, January 7, 2019

PT-3 "Peace with God and With His People" Eph. 2:14-17


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/7/2019 10:17 AM



My Worship Time                                       Focus:  PT-3 “Peace With God and With His People”



Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 2:14-17



            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near.”



            In today’s SD we will begin by talking about how at one time God had separated Jews from Gentiles.  “1 Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 2 He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. 3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. 4 “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? 5 “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. 6 “I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it." 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress (Isa. 5:1-7).”  Jesus uses a similar story, or maybe the same story in a parable found in Matthew 21:33.



            We have spoken at great lengths about why the Lord, through a miracle founded the nation of Israel with a 100 year old man and also with his 90 year old wife.  Why He did this was that the nation might receive His Law, and to bring into the world the Messiah through this nation.  They wrote all of the pages of Scripture that we read, and yet they failed in that they did not become a witness to the Gentile nations.  Now that the Messiah had come they were to accept His coming and be saved, thus becoming one with those Gentiles who were in the churches.  We have spoken about the “court of the Gentiles” that was in the temple, and it was there so that the Gentiles could be witnessed to, but this too was mostly unsuccessful.  If Israel would have accepted their Messiah when He came then things would have been much different, but I believe that it was in the plan of God that they did not accept their Messiah, although many Jews have, but not the entire nation as a whole.  This saddens me as that they were so blind and continue to be today, that they could not understand the very words that their prophets had foretold about their own Messiah.  One more though about the court of the Gentiles as John MacArthur states that it was this court that the Jews used as “a robbers den,” found in Mark 11:17, and not a place of witness.



            When we look at the words “broke down” they are in the Greek aorist tense which signifies completed action, so every dividing wall “by abolishing in His flesh, the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances.”   In Jesus death on the cross He abolished each and every barrier between man and God, and also between man and his fellow man.  Now the greatest wall that was broken down had to do with the ceremonial law, “the Law of commandments contained in ordinances.”  This speaks of the feasts, sacrifices, offerings, laws of cleanliness and also purification, along with all other such distinctive outward commandments for the unique separation of Israel from the nations were abolished.”  When the Lord first brought Israel into becoming a nation, and that actually happened when the family of 70 went to Israel and then came out of Egypt as a nation, He then gave them all of His laws and one reason was to make the unique and different from the nations around them.  The clothes they word and also the foods that they ate were different so that Gentiles could see this difference and then asks questions as to why they were different and the answer should be because of their God.  Now since the Messiah came there was no need in doing all of these ceremonial laws, but even the saved Jews had a great problem with understanding this.  Bottom line “We are all One In Christ.”



            Now when Paul writes about the ceremonial laws not being in effect he was not talking about the moral laws not being in effect.  We know this because it is clear from the phrase contained “in ceremonies.”  We also know this from the fact that nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament.  God’s moral law reflects His own holy nature and therefore will never be changed for after all God never changes as seen in one of His attributes.  17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:17-19).”  John MacArthur writes about these verses “That is the law which for the Jews was summarized in the Ten Commandments and which for all men is written on their hearts (Rom. 2:15) and still commanded of them (Matt. 22:37-40; Rom. 13:8-10).  Jesus summarized God’s moral law still further by declaring, ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you’ (John 13:34).  The Ten Commandments, like all of God’s moral laws, are the structured and particularized love that God still requires (James 2:8).” 



            We will continue looking at this theme in our next SD.



            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I realize that I am to keep the moral law of God, as it is written on my heart.  "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jeremiah 31:33b).”



My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to better understand Romans 12:3, and to remember that the truth is better than emotions.



Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Mary’s” (Acts 12:11-12).



Today’s Bible question:  “Which queen of the Persian Empire was able to save her people?”



Answer in our next SD.



1/7/2019 11:05 AM   



           

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