Tuesday, January 8, 2019

PT-4 "Peace with God and His People" (Eph. 2:14-17)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/8/2019 8:57 AM



My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  PT-4 “Peace with God and His People”



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



            Message of the verses:  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 our last SD we were talking about what we called the ceremonial laws, and these laws distinguished and separated Jews from the Gentiles and were now since Christ died on the Cross were obliterated (to remove utterly from recognition or memory).  Now before Christ the two groups could not even eat together in the same place and this was because of the restricted foods, also the Jews had required washings to do, and they had ceremonial contamination.  After Christ came and died the Jews were able to eat anything.  One may wonder what all of these ceremonial laws came about in the first place.  God wanted the nation of Israel to be different so others would notice them as being different in a good way and come to them and ask why the difference, and then they could explain to them about the God they worshiped.  The nation of Israel needed to stay pure in order for the Messiah to come through their blood line.  As one studies the genealogy of Jesus Christ they will find things in His blood line that one wonders about.  There are four different women in His blood line and one of them is a Gentile.  Women were not usually recognized in the genealogies found in the Bible, mostly just men.  When one things of thinks of the people of the world, and as Paul says “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, then it is only sinners that God had to chose from in order to bring about the birth of His Son.  So now that Christ has come these ceremonial laws are not needed any more as all ceremonial distinctions and requirements were removed and we can see this in verses like Acts 10:9-16; Acts 11:17-18; and Col. 2:16-17.  One of our verses says “that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace.”    MacArthur adds “The emphasis is again on ‘in Himself,’ affirming that this new unity can occur only when men are united in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.



            Kainos (‘new’) does not refer to something recently completed, such as a new car rolling off the assembly line—one of many other cars just like it.  This new refers to a difference in kind and quality, to a completely new model, unlike anything that existed before.  The ‘new’ person in Christ is not simply a Jew or Gentile who now happens to be a Christian.  He is no longer a Jew or Gentile but only a Christian. Every other characteristic is ‘former’ (see v. 11).  Paul summed it up when he said, ‘For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved’’ (Rom. 10:12-13).”  This is wonderful news to all who have ever believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.



            I have another World War II story that helps illustrate this as told by John MacArthur in his commentary.  Another story from World War II is that a group of American soldiers who lost their buddy in battle.  The carried his body to the only cementer in the area, which happened to be Catholic.  When the pries was told that the dead man was not Catholic he said, ‘I am sorry, but he cannot be buried here.’  The disheartened and discouraged soldiers decided to do what they through was next best, and during the night they buried their comrade just outside the cemetery fence.  They returned the next morning to pay their last respects, but they could not find the grace outside the fence.  When they told the priest of their quandary, he said, ‘The first part of the night I stayed awake sorry for what I told you.  And the second part of the night I spent moving the fence.’”



               14 For Christ is our living peace. He has made us both one by breaking down the barrier and enmity which lay between us (Phillips).”  “14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us (NLT).” 



            I wanted to give us a number of translations of verse fourteen so we have a good idea of what this verse is saying.  When we look at this verse and compare it to the story that we just read what we can say is the Jesus moved the fence in order “that in Himself He might make the two into one new man.”  MacArthur adds “Now person who comes to Him will be excluded, and no person who is included will be spiritually distinct from any other.  In His flesh points specifically to Jesus’ death on the cross, through which He nullified, annulled, made of no effect, and invalidated (‘abolished,’ katargeo) the feud, discord, and alimentation (‘enmity,’echtra), ‘thus establishing peace,’ as already indicated in verse 14.”



            We will continue to look at this subject in our next SD.



            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for this study of what I believe could be called the unity of believers, and we have unity because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us.  It’s that old fallen nature that causes most of the problems in the life of the believer, and that can cause disunity where as Christ paid the price not only to save us but to bring us together.



My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will continue to give me insights into Romans 12:3.



Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ester.”



Today’s Bible question:  “On what day did God say ‘Let there be light’?”



Answer in our next SD.



1/8/2019 10:08 AM



Just a note that this is the first question of the last card that I have on Bible questions as there are seven to go.

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