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The second
chapter of the great Rabbi’s letter to the
congregation at Ephesus is very important. It
contains some foundational doctrines: the doctrine
of the total depravity of man; the doctrine of
salvation by grace alone; and the third main teaching
of chapter 2, which is the new relationship between
Jews and Gentiles. With the coming of the Son
of God, and His death, burial, resurrection, ascension,
and the giving of the Spirit of the Messiah, something
new, something radical, has taken place, both
for Jews and Gentiles; and something new has happened
between Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles.
Gentiles,
who used to be far off - far from the God of Israel,
far from the Jewish Messiah, far from the Chosen
People with our many blessings, far from the covenants
that contained wonderful promises of salvation,
goodness and blessings, far from hope - because
of the love and mercy and grace of the God of
Israel, and because the Almighty has exerted His
divine energy and activity through His Son, the
Gentiles who believe have been brought near!
Believers
from the other nations have been brought near
to the Creator from whom the world is estranged;
near to the true God, who is the source of life
and blessing and happiness and meaning; near to
the only God, the living God, the God of Israel
- so near, that He is living in you, and you are
living in Him!
Non-Jews
have been brought near to our Messiah - Israel’s
anointed Prophet who speaks authoritatively for
God, Israel’s anointed Priest who is the
one and only mediator between humanity and God,
who brings God closer to us, and us closer to
God; and Israel’s anointed King who is God’s
designated Ruler over Israel and the nations.
Non-Jews have been brought near to our Messiah
so that Israel’s Messiah is also living
in you Gentile Christians, and you are living
in Him.
Gentiles
have been brought near to the promises contained
in the Lord’s covenants with Israel. The
Lord promised to meet all of our needs, our physical
needs, and our spiritual needs, like atonement.
The Lord promised to send the Messiah. The Lord
promised to bless us and all the families of the
Earth. The Lord promised to protect us and to
give us ultimate victory. He promised us life
in this world and life in the world to come. The
Lord committed Himself to be our God forever.
Now the Gentiles are entitled to these good promises
that are part of the covenants made with Israel.
The believers
from the other nations of the world had no hope,
but now have been brought near to real, genuine
hope. Now they will receive, and can expect, wonderful
future realities like participation in the resurrection
of the righteous; passing through the Day of Judgment
and not being condemned; everlasting rewards,
being welcomed in Heaven, experiencing eternal
life in the New Heavens and New Earth and the
New Jerusalem.
Non-Jews
who were far from the Chosen People have been
brought near to the nation of Israel - which means
that Gentile Christians need to know about, and
be sympathetic to, and love and support and stand
by as much as possible, and pray for and bless
the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. Gentile
Christians need to understand God’s covenant
with Abraham, which is still in effect, which
includes the promise of blessing and cursing found
in Genesis 12:1-3. Non-Jews need to understand
the promises of the Land of Israel that still
apply to the Jewish people, along with the promises
of dispersion from the Land and the restoration
to our Land.
Gentile,
you are now connected to the best parts of the
nation of Israel. You have Abraham as your spiritual
father, the Jewish saints as your fellow citizens
in the New Jerusalem. You share in the spiritual
blessings of Israel, all the wonderful life, atonement,
peace with God, salvation and hope. You are part
of God’s family. You have the Jewish saints
as your brothers, the God of Israel as your Father,
Israel’s Messiah as your elder brother,
the Spirit of the God of Israel as your Advocate,
Protector, and Rabbi, the Word of the Lord given
to the Jewish people as your instruction manual
and guide!
Among
Christians, there is absolutely no place for anti-Semitism,
hatred of the Jewish people, resentment toward
Israel or support for anti-Semites or those who
want to do us harm. Yes, the majority (but not
all) of the Jewish people have stumbled and fallen,
but your attitude, Gentile Christian, is to view
those of us who have fallen as a beloved fallen
older brother. You need to know that one day we
will be restored, fulfill our calling, and be
a source of blessing for the world. Your attitude
should be one of showing us love and sympathy
and mercy, and reaching out to us with the love
of God, and bringing us the Good News of God’s
grace and mercy and love and forgiveness.
Gentiles
who were far from the God of Israel, and far from
the wonderful promises and privileges of Israel,
and far from the people of Israel, if they welcome
Messiah, are no longer far, but near. How near?
Very near. So near that they actually become one
with the faithful remnant of Israel, the Messianic
Jews. The Christian Gentiles form a new entity
with us. We become a unified new humanity, a new
humanity that has been reconciled to God, and
reconciled to each other, full of peace and love
and unity, with the ancient division between Jew
and Gentile gone, a humanity that will live forever!
Messianic
Jews and Messianic Gentiles come together and
form a new unified community, with peace between
the faithful remnant of Messianic Jews who are
still Jews, and Christian Gentiles who still are
Gentiles, but both groups retaining their own
unique, God-given identity, loving each other
and working together to serve the same God who
loved us, and poured out His mercy and grace and
Spirit on us all.
What the
Lord did with the coming of the Messiah, uniting
Jew and Gentile into one new man headed by the
Messiah, was radical, different, unexpected, but
not totally unexpected. This is not an new teaching
that was invented by the greatest of Gamliel’s
students. The Torah-teacher from Tarsus reminds
us that this desire to bring near those who are
far away is something that the Lord had been concerned
about, even in the time of the prophet Isaiah.
Let’s start with verse 17, which is a quote
from Isaiah 57:19: And He came and preached
peace to you who were far away, and peace to those
who were near. The Lord wanted to bring healing
and peace to the kah-rov - those who are near,
but also to those who are rah-chok - far. This
originally was directed to the nation of Israel.
The Lord wanted to bring peace and well-being
and healing to the righteous within Israel, but
also to extend this gracious invitation to the
wicked among Israel who were willing to turn from
their ways and turn to God and embrace His good
ways.
But, the
apostle to the nations understands that in a similar
way, it was always the Lord’s desire to
bring peace and healing to not just to the Jewish
people, who were near to Him, but also to the
Gentiles, who were far from Him. In fact, it was
His plan to use those near to Him - Israel, to
reach those far from Him - the Gentiles.
I am so
thankful to the Almighty that our God is a Supreme
Being of great love and mercy and goodness, who
wants to those who are near, and those who are
far, to bless Jews and Gentiles, the righteous
and those who were wicked but are willing to turn
to Him, with wonderful healing and great peace.
Messiah’s death, and resurrection, and Messiah’s
on-going mediation enables both Jew and Gentile
to have peace with God, a genuine and real state
of well-being with the Creator. We are in a right
relationship with our God. Our alienation from
Him is over. Do you know that you have peace with
God? Do you sense that peace, even during life’s
difficult times? I pray you do - more and more.
Not only
do Jew and Gentile have peace with God, but because
of Messiah, both Jew and Gentile now have equal
access to God. For through Him (Messiah
Yeshua) we both have our access in one Spirit
to the Father. Before the coming of the Son
of God, Gentiles did not have the same closeness,
and enjoy the same access to God that Israel enjoyed.
Moses asked: “For what great nation is there
that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our
God whenever we call on Him?” The answer
is - no other nation. It was the true God, the
God of Israel, and the principles of atonement
through faith and sacrifice, and the Temple and
the God-ordained priesthood that provided a greater
measure of access to God for the Jewish people.
Jews simply had better access to God than Gentiles.
But now,
because of Messiah’s death and resurrection,
and as participants in the New Covenant, and recipients
of the Holy Spirit, Jewish Believers have a much
greater access to God - but now so do Gentile
Believers. Both have a new and superior access
to God the Father. Here is the new reality: Messiah,
because of who He is, and what He has done, enables
us to receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, living
in us, joins us to the Father and the Son.
The Holy
Spirit, living in us, connects us to God the Father.
The Spirit, living in us, joins us to the Son.
The Spirit joins Jews and Gentiles to each other.
We are united to the Spirit, united to the Father,
united to the Son, and united to one another.
So
then you (addressing Gentile Christians)
are no longer strangers and aliens (without
rights and privileges and the amazing blessings
and promises that the Jewish people had), but
you are fellow citizens with the saints (with
the same rights and privileges that the righteous
remnant of the Chosen People enjoy. Gentile Christian,
understand that you are not a second class citizen,
but a first class citizen, a full citizen, with
the rights and privileges thereof), and are
of God's household. Gentile Believer, you
are not an alien, not a stranger, not a foreigner,
but part of the mishpacha - the great family that
belongs to God. You are a beloved son or daughter,
with the great status and position and wealth
and power and rights and privileges and blessings
and rewards that go with being a child of the
King of the universe!
Messianic
Gentile, you enjoy the same firm foundation that
the Messianic Jews do. Having been built on
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah
Yeshua Himself being the corner stone, in whom
the whole building, being fitted together, is
growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom
you also are being built together into a dwelling
of God in the Spirit.
God is
using time, and eternity, matter and space, and
this entire universe, and all the galaxies, and
all the stars, moons, planets, and especially
this privileged planet; the Creator is using good
and wicked human beings, angels and demons, good
experiences and trials and difficulties, all to
create a community of beings that He will be close
to, live among, talk to, share with, be friends
with and enjoy forever!
This special
community made up of redeemed human beings - Jews
and Gentiles, men and women, who are connected
to the Three-In-One God is like a temple. The
Temple is where God’s presence is more specially
close to. The Temple is where God lived in a special
way. When you think Temple, think about drawing
closer to the presence of the living God.
To accomplish
this wonderful closeness, friendship, intimacy,
peace and love, the Lord used some key human beings
- but almost exclusively Jewish beings. Salvation
is of the Jews! The apostles, those special Jewish
men chosen by Messiah and sent to us to teach
us the way of Messiah and the New Covenant, are
from Israel and are part of the foundation. The
Lord also used the prophets, specially chosen
Jewish men that the Lord spoke to, and gave precious
truths to, as part of our firm foundation. The
Jewish apostles and prophets form the spiritual
foundation of this great spiritual Temple made
up of spiritual human beings, Jewish and Gentiles,
that have been brought so very close to God.
And, greater
and more important and more worthy and carrying
more weight is the Apostle sent to the apostles,
the supreme prophet of all the prophets, the foundation
for the rest of the foundation - the Son of God,
sent by God from Heaven to Earth - the Messiah,
full of the Holy Spirit and power; the prophet
who speaks authoritatively for God; Israel’s
anointed Priest, full of righteousness, zeal and
truth, who is the One and only mediator between
humanity and God, who brings God closer to us,
and us closer to God; and Israel’s anointed
King, full of the Spirit of wisdom and truth,
who is God’s designated Ruler over Israel
and the nations.
He is
like the cornerstone, the biggest, most important
part of the Temple’s foundation, the One
who holds the most weight, the part of the structure
that gives the most stability and strength to
all the rest of the building. And you Christian,
you Messianic Jew, are like some of the wood or
stones or gold used to build and adorn the Temple
that rested on these wonderful and strong and
true Jewish foundations.
Gentile
Christian, Messianic Jew, you and the saints of
old, holy men and women, prophets and apostles,
and the exalted and glorious Son of God, are all
joined together into a community of beings that
are close to the Father, so close that God is
among us, and in us, and will live, dwell, reside
in us through His Spirit, but also will be with
us in Person, so that the pure in heart see God
face to face!
Remember
Jewish Believer, Gentile Christian, you are part
of a city - God’s city, the New Jerusalem.
You are a full citizen with all the rights and
privileges of full citizenship.
Child
of God, no matter your ethnic background, you
are part of the family - God’s Family, a
full son or daughter of the King of kings!
Messianic
Jew, Messianic Gentile, you are part of the Temple
- God’s Temple, so very close to God now,
and so very near Him forever!
You are
part. You are part! You are part!
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