Podcast: Play in new window | Download (17.1MB)
Gentiles, Who Were Far From God And Salvation, Have Been Brought Near; One New Humanity Of Jews And Gentiles; Gentile Christians Are Fellow Citizens With The Messianic Jewish Remnant; Together, We Are A Dwelling Place For God!
Humanity is broken, fractured, divided. Deeply divided. Humanity has been divided since the tower of Babel. We are fractured along many lines – language, geography, race, skin color, religion, ideology, politics, economic status. For thousands of years, humanity has been plagued by people hating people; nation hating nation; racism, wars, genocides; holocausts.
Many have longed for humanity to be reunited, but that lofty goal has been impossible to attain. The Word of God tells us that in the Last Days, the world will come together. There will be a one-world government, religion and economy – but it will be perverse and under the control of the anti-Messiah. That unification of humanity will end very badly.
God has a better way to unite humanity. Out of broken humanity, God created the Chosen People. This special nation was to be a united nation; a nation under God; a nation the Lord could rule according to His wise principles. His plan was to use this special nation to teach the other nations of the world His wise principles, and then bring the Messiah into the world, who would live a perfect life, die an atoning death, rise from the dead, ascend to Heaven, give His Spirit to Jews and Gentiles – reconciling them to God, and to each. In that way, a new, united, redeemed humanity, founded on truth and salvation, would come into being.
Rabbi Paul, the Lord’s divinely inspired representative to the Gentiles, wanted everyone, but especially the non-Jewish Christians in Ephesus to understand that they were full members, along with the remnant of the Chosen People, in this new humanity. Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands) – remember that at that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Messiah Yeshua you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.
Since the time of Abraham, circumcision has been the sign of being in a covenant with God. But, being physically circumcised is not enough for an individual’s salvation. Moses told the Jewish people: “Circumcise your hearts”. When the innermost being of a person is tender to God, so that he is receptive to Him and what He has to say, particularly about Yeshua being the Messiah who lived a perfect life, died and rose from the dead to reconcile us to God – that person enters into the New Covenant. He develops a relationship with the Living and Eternal God that will last forever!
Gentiles who become loyal to the Three-In-One God of Israel experience this circumcision of the heart. They are spiritually circumcised. Their innermost being are cut, tender, receptive to God. This spiritual circumcision is a better circumcision, because ordinary circumcision is done to the physical body by human hands, and does not automatically include salvation. Just as many are called but few are chosen, many are circumcised, but not are saved.
But the circumcision that Gentile Christians experience that brings them into Messiah’s New Covenant is not done to the physical body and it’s not done by human hands. It’s done to the human heart. And it is done by God Himself. And it always includes salvation and eternal life.
Paul contrasts the terrible condition of the Gentiles before they were spiritually circumcised, with their glorious condition after transferred their loyalties to Messiah. Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands) – remember that at that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Messiah Yeshua you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.
Before they were spiritually circumcised, the Gentiles were separate from the Messiah. They had no relationship to the ultimate prophet, priest, king and Savior. They had no connection to the ultimate prophet, who most clearly reveals God and speaks the truths of God. They had no connection to the final priest, who brings human beings close to God and brings God close to human beings. They had no connection to the ultimate king, who will rule humanity for eternal, golden ages. They had no relationship to the Savior. They were separate from Messiah.
Before they knew the Messiah, the Gentiles were separate from Israel, the Chosen People of God. They were not part of God’s holy and blessed nation.
Before they knew the Messiah, the Gentiles were foreigners to the covenants of the promise. They had the covenant made with Noah, which the vast majority of humanity ignored; but they were not participants the other great covenants which contained wonderful promises, like the covenants made with Abraham and Moses.
Before they knew the Messiah the Gentiles, had no hope, absolutely no basis to expect to live forever with God in the World To Come. What a frightening thought – without hope, no salvation, no Heaven, no eternal life in the World To Come,
Before they knew they Messiah, the nations of the world had no relationship with the Living God. They did not have a connection to the Creator. They were in rebellion against Him; alienated from Him, estranged from Him who is the Source of Life and Goodness and Blessing. What scary words – without God.
Before the coming of the Messiah, the peoples of the nations of the world were separate from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel, foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God.
But now, in Messiah, united to the Son of God by knowing who Yeshua is and becoming loyal to Him, all these terrible things are reversed! Gentile Christians are no longer separate from Messiah. They are joined to the Son of God! They are very close to Messiah. They are part of Him, and He is part of them.
He is bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. Messiah, by means of His Spirit, lives in them, empowers them, teaches them, directs them!
Because they are united to Messiah, they can expect to enjoy all of the good things that come from Him and His eternal life and ministry – and He’s a lot and what He gives is a lot!
Now, connected to the King of the Jews, Gentile Christians are no longer excluded from citizenship in Israel. They have a deep connection to Israel’s king and His Chosen People. They are grafted into Israel.
They have citizenship in Israel. They are fellow citizens with the Messianic Jewish saints in the Kingdom of God. They will live forever with us in the New Jerusalem. They are full and equal citizens of that glorious city and will enjoy all the amazing benefits of citizenship that we will.
Gentile Christians are no longer foreigners to the covenants of the promise, they are participants in the covenants of the promise, especially the Abrahamic Covenant and the New Covenant. The wonderful promise made to Abraham as part of the covenant: “In you, all the families of the Earth will be blessed” applies to them. Gentile Christians are blessed- very blessed. All the promises of blessing and salvation that are part of Messiah’s New Covenant are now theirs.
Gentile Christians are no longer without hope. They have a sure hope that all of the promises made to them by God will be fulfilled – that they will be saved with a great salvation; that the damage done in the Garden of Eden will be fixed; that they will overcome evil; that they will be righteous; that they will live forever in unending happiness in the New Heavens and New Earth and the New Jerusalem with the God who loves them, and with the holy ones of all the ages, and with the good angels and the cherubeem and serafeem and the living beings and the other creatures that will be there.
Gentile Christians are no longer without God. What a truly horrible and frightening thing – to be without God; to have no connection to the wonderful and wise and loving Creator, who is the Source of life and blessedness; to not be in a right relationship with the Living and Eternal God. But now Messianic Gentiles have been reconciled to God and will live forever with the eternal God, who has life within Himself, who is without beginning and without end, who is all-present, all-powerful, all-knowing, infinitely wise, perfect, and complete; the God who is loving and gracious and good and merciful; holy, righteous and just; faithful and true, the God who never changes! He will be their God and they will be His people – now and forever and ever!
Remember that at that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Messiah Yeshua you who once were far away have been brought near – by the blood of Messiah.
What a contrast – uncircumcised, separate, excluded, foreigners, without, far away – but now – brought near!
What was true of the Gentiles of 2,000 years ago is still true of the peoples of the world today. They too are uncircumcised – without a covenant with God that will save them, excluded from citizenship in the people of God, foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God.
Atheists. Agnostics. Muslims. Buddhists, New Agers, . They are separate from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God.
However, united to the Jewish Messiah, Gentiles are citizens in the true Israel and participants in the covenants of the promise, with great hope and with God! Baruch HaShem! Praise the Lord! It is Risen Messiah who unites the Messianic Jewish remnant and the Gentile Christians to God, and to each other, and creates a new, united and greatly blessed humanity.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. Paul uses the barrier of the dividing wall to illustrate the separation between Jews and Gentiles. In Israel, in Jerusalem, in the Temple area, there was an outer wall beyond which Gentiles could not pass.
The Jewish people could go beyond the barrier into the Temple courtyard, where the bronze altar of atonement was. But Gentiles had to remain outside of the Temple courtyard. This wall divided Jews and Gentiles. They did not have the same access to worship in the Temple of God.
Before the Messiah came, Jews and Gentiles were profoundly divided. But now, because of the Messiah, the barrier of the dividing wall is gone! Spiritually speaking, Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians can not only go together into Temple courtyard, but into the Temple itself, and then into the Most Holy Place, into the welcoming presence of a holy God!
Messiah alone makes this unity and this peace, this state of well-being between Jews and Gentiles and God possible. How? By means of His life and the death of Messiah’s flesh, His body, on the cross. Messiah is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility – by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. The Torah contains laws that were designed to keep Israel separate from the nations – circumcision; dietary laws; laws for distinct clothing; marriage laws; laws for worship that separated the nations from us. Often those God-ordained laws that separated Israel from the darkness of the nations provoked misunderstanding and jealousy and hatred. Jews sometimes disliked Gentiles and often Gentiles disliked the Jews.
But under the New Covenant, it’s God’s will to unite the Messianic Jewish Remnant and the Gentile Christian Remnant. It’s not that Messianic Jews need to assimilate; stop practicing circumcision or the kosher laws, or begin wearing clothing made of mixed materials or not wear fringes. We can still practice those laws. But a new purpose exists with the New Covenant – that Jew and Gentile come together and form a new united humanity. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.
One of the purposes for Messiah coming and dying was to end the broken relationships among humanity – especially the deep division between the Chosen People and the other nations of the world. By dying on the cross, Jews are reconciled to God; and Gentiles are reconciled to God; and Jews and Gentiles are reconciled to each other. Messiah’s death on the cross creates a new, united humanity filled with true and lasting peace.
In Messiah’s New Covenant Community of Jews and Gentiles, there is no place for hostility between Jew and Gentile, division, disunity, suspicion, exclusion, jealously, hatred, expressions of anti-Semitism or anti-Gentilism.
Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians are united into a new humanity – but not so that Israel is absorbed into the nations, or that Messianic Jews assimilate and lose our God-given, set-apart identity, or that Gentiles are excluded from our fellowships, or converted into so-called Messianic Jews, like some heretical leaders in the Messianic Jewish movement are doing. No, we are united in a way that Jews remain Jews and Gentiles remain Gentiles. The division and hostility ends and is replaced by peace and love and unity and a precious and eternal fellowship.
Only Messiah can end humanity’s separation from God and humanity’s divisions from each other. Politicians and lawyers can’t. Educators and academics can’t. Media elites can’t. Musicians, film and sports stars can’t. Only Messiah can end the brokenness and hostility and replace it with peace. And He did! The Son of God came into this world with the goal of bringing peace, restoring well-being to a broken world. He came and preached peace to you who were far away (the Gentiles) and peace to those who were near (the Jewish people).
The Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace came to the Jewish people first. He traveled throughout Israel bringing peace by helping people and proclaiming the Good News that brings peace. Then, He died on the cross. Then He was raised from the dead. Then He appeared to His Jewish disciples and some of His first words to them were Shalom Aleichem – peace be to you. Then, using those special representatives, Messiah proclaimed the same Good News that brings peace to those who were far away, the Gentiles.
God the Son went on a great rescue mission to bring peace to a broken creation and a broken humanity. We must do the same. We must continue His work of bringing peace and proclaiming peace – to those who are near – the Jewish people, and those are far – the Gentiles.
How is broken humanity fixed? How does the division of Jew and Gentile end? How is peace between Jew and Gentile made possible? How are we united? By the work of the Three-In-One God. For through Him (the Son of God) we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Through Him, through Yeshua. Messiah’s death makes reconciliation to the Father possible. And not only Messiah’s death, but also Messiah’s resurrection unites us. Through our Risen Savior, our High Priest, who brings us closer to God, we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Having equal access to the Father unites us. Through Messiah we both have access to the Father. No longer just the High Priest of Israel on Yom Kippur has access to the welcoming presence of God, but now all Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians can, in a real and spiritual way, enter the Most Holy Place and have equal access to God the Father – and that unites us.
The Fatherhood of God unites us. Through Messiah we both have access to the Father. The Messianic Jewish remnant and the Gentile Christian remnant now have God as our Father; and that makes us all His beloved sons and daughters, and that unites us.
The Holy Spirit living in us unites us. Through Messiah we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. All of us, Jews and Gentiles, have the same Holy Spirit of God living in us. The presence of the Spirit of God, living in us, uniting us to the Father and the Son and to one another, unites us.
So, the work of the Trinity unites us. Through Him, the glorious Son of God, we both, Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians, have access to God the Father by means of the Holy Spirit. God the Father. Messiah the Son. God the Spirit. Jews. Gentiles. At peace. United.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Messiah Yeshua Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. Because of the work of the Three-In-One God, the uncircumcised Gentiles, who were far from Messiah, far from God, far from the Chosen People, without a covenant or promises that would save them, without any hope of living forever, are no longer foreigners and strangers, to be avoided and excluded, but fellow citizens with God’s people, the Messianic Jewish remnant. Full citizens and also members of God’s household. They are members of God’s family – just like us. They too are sons and daughters of the High King of Heaven.
Gentile Christians have the same sturdy, solid, reliable foundation that Messianic Jews have. They too are built on the foundation of the Jewish apostles, the Lord’s Representatives, and the Jewish prophets who preceded the Messiah and pointed to the Messiah, and the prophets who were part of the early New Covenant Community, with the Jewish Messiah as the chief cornerstone – the strongest and most important part of the foundation, who adds strength and stability and endurability to the rest of the structure.
Gentile Christians have the same great foundation as Messianic Jews do – holy Jewish prophets whom God sent to humanity to teach us, correct us and prepare us for the coming of the Messiah; and holy Jewish men who then brought the Good News about the Messiah to the nations of the world.
In Him, connected to the resurrected Messiah, this new humanity, is joined together and rises to become a holy temple, a place where God lives in human beings by means of by means of His Spirit.
What an great thing God is doing! A new humanity, a united humanity, a humanity that is like a temple made of men and women, Jews and Gentiles, in whom the Living God can dwell – forever. More and more individual Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians constantly being added until we are complete.
Doesn’t knowing this and participating in this make life so meaningful, so purposeful, so exciting? And, isn’t this information worth sharing to broken humanity all around us?
Father, You are amazing! Thank You for showing us the way to end the divisions of humanity – through the Messiah; uniting Jew and Gentile in the kingdom of God. We praise You for doing what we can’t – reconciling us to Yourself and ending humanity’s divisions.
Forgive us for our ignorance and for our anti-Semitism. Forgive those of us within the Messianic Jewish movement for our feelings and expressions of anti-Gentilism.
Unite us closer to Yourself, and to Your Son, and to the Holy Spirit and thereby unite us closer to one another. In Yeshua’s name. Amayn.