The Berlin Wall once stood in the city of Berlin, Germany as a symbol of the Cold War—the struggle between Communism and the West. On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood near that wall and made a dramatic plea to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gesturing to the guarded wall of concrete and barbed wire that had divided Berlin and all of Germany since 1961, Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Two years later, the wall did come down. The barrier that had separated the East from the West was now gone.
When Jesus came into this world two thousand years ago, another wall was standing—not a wall made of wood or stone, but one built with prejudice and misunderstanding. For many centuries it divided two groups of people: Jews and Gentiles. But that wall no longer stands. It has been torn down by Christ. Today Jews and Gentiles may become one in Him.
Ephesians 2:14 declares that Christ "hath broken down the middle wall of partition between [Jews and Gentiles]."
Ephesians 2:11-22
I. THE GENTILES WERE ONCE FAR AWAY FROM GOD.
A. They were uncircumcised.
"Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands" (v. 11).
Circumcision was instituted by God in Genesis 17 as a symbol of the covenant between Him and Abraham (v. 11). God had promised to Abraham, "I will make of thee a great nation" (Genesis 12:2). That nation, of course, would become known as Israel.
Circumcision was the mark that distinguished Jews from Gentiles. Every Jewish male was circumcised eight days after birth; the Gentiles were not. The Jews came to despise the Gentiles because of this difference. They saw themselves as better than the Gentiles.
People have a way of turning differences into barriers. We do the same thing today: There are barriers between French and English; there are barrier between natives and non-natives; there are barriers between black and white; the list goes on and on.
The more the pride of the Jews swelled, the worse their hatred for the Gentiles grew:
• If a young Jewish man or woman married a Gentile, his or her family would have a funeral service, symbolizing the death of their child as far as religion, race, and family were concerned.
• Some Jewish women refused to help a Gentile woman give birth, because to do so would make them responsible for bringing another despised Gentile into the world.
• When a Jew entered Palestine he would often shake the dust off his sandals and clothing in order not to contaminate the Holy Land with Gentile dust.
• Some Jews believed that God created the Gentiles to use as fuel for hell. Many believed that God loved Israel and hated every other nation.
The prophet Jonah typified the common Jewish attitude toward Gentiles. Through Jonah’s preaching God produced history’s greatest revival, but Jonah was not happy. He was angry that the city of Ninevah had repented and been spared from God’s judgment. Why? Because these people were his nation’s enemies—they were Gentiles. In Jonah 4:2 we read that the unhappy prophet "prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. . . ." The real reason why Jonah didn’t want to preach in Ninevah was that he didn’t want them to repent. He wanted them judged, not forgiven.
The Jews failed to realize that circumcision did not make them superior. It was only a physical mark. We see in Ephesians that circumcision is "in the flesh"; it is "made by hands." It is really not much different than a haircut. (Of course a haircut is less painful!) If God told me that I was to have a special haircut, would that make me better than everyone else? No!
"You are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit" (Romans 2:28-29, NLT).
Circumcision was to be an outward symbol of an inward reality. It’s similar to baptism in that way.
It was God’s plan that there should be Jews and Gentiles. There was a real difference between them. The Jews were circumcised and the Gentiles were not. But that was not to be a barrier.
B. They were without the blessings of the Jews.
"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (v. 12).
1. They were without Christ.
Paul is talking about the Gentiles in Old Testament days. But Christ didn’t come until after those days. Wouldn’t the Jews also have been without Christ?
"Without Christ" means without the expectation of the Messiah. Everything in the Old Testament looks forward to Christ.
a. Because they were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
b. Because they were strangers from the covenants of promise.
The Gentiles didn’t know that Christ was coming; many people today—Jews and Gentiles—don’t know much or anything about Christ.
A Christian woman walked into a jewelry store looking for a necklace. "I’d like a gold cross," she said.
The man behind the counter looked over the items in the display case and asked, "Do you want a plain one, or one with a little man on it?" (Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching, 242).
2. They were without hope.
A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing—we’re behind."
"Boy," said the spectator, "I’ll bet you’re discouraged."
"Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!" (Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, 451).
That boy was not without hope, but once the Gentiles were. Without Christ, there is no hope. And without hope, life is meaningless.
3. They were without God.
II. THE GENTILES HAVE BEEN BROUGHT NEAR TO GOD.
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made night by the blood of Christ" (v. 13).
Imagine that you are on vacation, and you have an apartment overlooking the sand and surf. Sitting on the table in your room is a fish bowl, and inside the bowl is a small goldfish. Each day you swim and sunbathe and enjoy soaking up the delights of vacationing. Before long, however, you begin to feel sorry for little Goldie who is all alone in his bowl while you go out having fun in the sun. To make up for this injustice, you promise Goldie a little of the action. "Tomorrow," you tell the goldfish, "you will begin to enjoy life, too."
The next day you take a washcloth, lift the fish from the bowl, place it in the cloth, wrap it up, and put the living bundle into your pocket before leaving for the beach.
As you reach the spot where you are accustomed to spending your day, you can feel the sun’s heat beating down upon your back. Excitedly you take your grilled companion from your pocket, lay out the washcloth on the sand, place the fish on the cloth, stand back, and say, "Now this is the life, Goldie; live it up!"
Can anything be more ridiculous or more foolish? Being in the sun on the hot beach is no environment for a goldfish—or any fish! It will die there, not live. It was never intended to be in that environment. And God never intended people to live a life without Him as their Father, without Christ as their Savior, and with hope to give them meaning (Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching, 132).
The Gentiles were once without Christ, without hope, and without God, but Paul writes that his Gentile readers now have all three. They are "now in Christ Jesus."
All of us are either "in Christ" or "without Christ."
Paul may have been thinking about the temple in Jerusalem. It was divided into different places and courts. The most important place was the holy of holies—the innermost sanctuary where the glorious presence of God was revealed. Into the holy of holies, into the very presence of God, only one man was allowed to go. That was the high priest, and he only went in once a year. The outermost place was called the "Court of the Gentiles." The Gentiles were the furthest away from God! They were not even allowed into the "Court of the People," the Court of the Jews. The ordinary Jews were not allowed to go where the priests were allowed, and even the priests could not go where the high priest went. But the furthest away were the Gentiles, the outsiders.
But those who were the furthest away have been brought near; the Gentiles have been brought into the holy of holies, into the very presence of God.
Verse 18 says, "Through [Christ] we both [Jews and Gentiles] have access by one Spirit unto the Father." How did we gain this access to the Father? It was not through Christ’s teaching; it was not through His miracles; it was not through His example. It was by His blood. "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST."
Hebrews 10:19 says that we have "boldness to enter into the holiest BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS."
A. The blood of Christ reconciles sinners to God.
There was a little girly whose parents’ miserable marriage had ended in divorce. The two shared nothing in common except their affection for the child. One day as the girl was playing in the street she was knocked down by a bus and seriously injured. Taken to the hospital, she was examined by the doctors but was found to be beyond human aid. Quickly summoned to the hospital, her parents heard the sad news and stood silently, one on either side of the bed, looking down helplessly at the little girl. As they stood there, the child’s eyes suddenly opened and seeing her parents she tried to smile. Then drawing one arm from under the sheet, she held it out in the direction of her father.
"Daddy," she said, "give me your hand." Turning to her mother, she stretched out her other arm. "Mommy," she said, "give me your hand." Then with a final effort of her failing strength she drew them close together. This is a picture of what Christ did on the cross. The Savior took the hand of sinful humanity and placed it in the loving hand of the Father (Illustrations Unlimited, 38-39).
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that "GOD WAS IN CHRIST, RECONCILING THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF."
When a person puts his trust in Jesus, the wall of sin between him and God is torn down, and reconciliation is achieved; a new relationship begins.
B. The blood of Christ reconciles Jews and Gentiles to each other.
In 1963, George C. Wallace, governor of Alabama, literally stood in the door of the University of Alabama, preventing Vivian Malone Jones, a young African-American woman, from enrolling as a student. Thirty-three years later, Wallace awarded Jones the first Lurleen B. Wallace Award of Courage. (The award, named in honor of Wallace’s wife, recognizes women who have made outstanding contributions to that state of Alabama.) Wallace publicly apologized to Jones for the 1963 controversy; Jones in turn forgave Wallace.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on hand for the event, said, "This event really is a moment of reconciliation. . . ." (Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching, 170).
However, the greatest moment of reconciliation was when the blood flowed from Christ’s dying body. When that Roman soldier pierced the side of Jesus, blood flowed out and formed into a mighty, rushing river that knocked down the wall that stood for so long between Jews and Gentiles.
The blood of Christ is RECONCILING BLOOD.
CONCLUSION
Did you know that blood speaks? God’s Word says that it does. The first reference to blood in the Bible is found in Genesis 4. In that chapter we read that Cain, filled with jealousy, murdered his brother Abel. In verse 10 God confronted Cain and said, "What hast thou done? THE VOICE OF THY BROTHER’S BLOOD CRIETH UNTO ME FROM THE GROUND."
In Hebrews 12:24 we find that Christ’s blood also speaks. That verse tells us that the blood of Jesus "SPEAKETH BETTER THINGS THAN THAT OF ABEL" Abel’s blood cried for vengeance; Christ’s blood offers forgiveness. Abel’s blood demanded judgment; Christ’s blood declares His love.
Jason Tuskes was a 17-year-old high school honor student. He was close to his mother, his wheelchair-bound father, and his younger brother, Christian. Jason was an expert swimmer who loved to scuba dive.
He left home on a Tuesday morning to explore a spring and underwater cave near his home in west central Florida. His plan was to be home in time to celebrate his mother’s birthday by going out to dinner with his family that night.
Jason became lost in the cave. Then, in his panic, he apparently got wedged into a narrow passageway. When he realized he was trapped, he shed his yellow metal air tank and unsheathed his diver’s knife. With the tank as a tablet and the knife as a pen, he wrote one last message to his family: I LOVE YOU MOM, DAD, AND CHRISTIAN. Then he ran out of air and drowned.
A dying message—something communicated in the last few seconds of life—is something we can’t ignore. God’s final words to us are etched on a Roman cross. They are blood red. They scream to be heard. They, too, say, "I LOVE YOU" (Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching, 140).0000
