but now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made near by the Blood of Christ. For He is our peace, Who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us (Eph. 2:13–14). When Paul speaks of “the Gospel,” “the Word,” “the Blood,” “Redemption,” “Salvation,” “The Faith,” etc., he is actually referring to the Cross, which stands for all of these things, and even many things we have not named here. The Cross, typified in Verse 13 by “the Blood of Christ,” paid the price for man’s Redemption, and we speak of the entirety of mankind (Jn. 3:16), and, in so doing, made both Jews and Gentiles one. The difference between Jews and Gentiles, at least in physical form, was probably evidenced more than anything else by “the middle wall of partition” that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the Court of Women, which stood before the Temple. This wall, which was approximately four feet high, represented the whole Mosaic economy, which separated Jew and Gentile. As far as the Lord was concerned, the Jews were near because of the Abrahamic Covenant, and the Gentiles were far off. The Gentiles were not included in the Abrahamic Covenant, at least not during the time of the Law. They could be saved, but only by becoming a proselyte Jew. When Jesus died on the Cross, thereby shedding His Precious Blood, which referred to the pouring out of His Life, which served as the great Sacrifice for sin, which God accepted, this satisfied the Law and all its requirements, which, thereby, made it possible for both Jews and Gentiles to come even closer. As a result of what the Lord did at the Cross, He established “Peace,” which eliminates all condemnation and guilt. To “make peace” means, therefore, “to join together that which is separated.” Jews and Gentiles, by God’s act of selecting the Jewish nation to be the channel through which He would bring Salvation to the lost, had been separated. Now, in the Blood of Christ, they, in the Church, had been joined. This is the peace spoken of here. The word chosen by the Holy Spirit to emphasize “peace” actually means, “He, and no other.” This suggests that not only “He Alone,” but “He, in His Own Person,” made peace. It is not only that peace was made by Christ and ranks as His achievement, but that it is so identified with Him that, were He away, it also would fail—so dependent upon Him that, apart from Him, we cannot have it. All of this was achieved by the Cross. For us to receive all that was achieved, because it was all done for us, we only have to express Faith in Christ and His Finished Work (Rom. 6:11). Swaggart, Jimmy: The Expositors Word For Every Day. Baton Rouge, LA : World Evangelism Press.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:29:20 +0000
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