David Bahn – Reflections

Ephesians 2:11-22

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ Forhe himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. ¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We’re headed to Israel tomorrow. It should be a wonderful trip. Fifteen of us will see the sites of the Holy Land – the places were Jesus walked, taught, lived, died, and rose from the dead. We’ll see the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Jordan River, the Wailing Wall, Dome of the Rock, the Place of the Skull – all the sites that tourists and pilgrims visit. We’ll also see the people of that land to whom Jesus came, and from whom we had been estranged until Christ came.

Now we who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. We who had no claim on God now claim him as our own. We who were strangers to the promises of the covenant live in the new covenant. We are now fellow citizens with all of God’s household where Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, and where God the Father dwells by the Spirit.

We take all this so for granted these days. We almost presume that we have a place in the Kingdom of God. Sometimes we act as though we are doing God a favor by believing in him, as though access to the throne of grace is a given, and somehow we bless God by turning to him. Truth is being part of God’s kingdom is a great privilege. We had no rights before him. We were not sons of the covenant. But we now have equal access to God the Father through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I suspect that there will be people in Israel who deny our legitimacy as sons and daughters of Abraham. But I pray that we will rejoice in the common hope we have with all who call on Jesus as Lord, and that we will experience and express the truth of these words: “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”