Daily Bible Verses for 5/8/2017

Daily Verse(s)
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Reading Notes
As Gentiles we were far off from God, both from a Jewish perspective, because of our nationality, and in reality because of our fallen sin-nature. Before the incarnation of Christ, only Judaism, which is the Jewish religion, had access to the true and living God of the universe. Through their sacrifices, which pointed forward to Jesus to come, their sins were covered. The Mosaic Law, which was given to them by God, was meant to point forward to the Lamb of God, who would come and take away the sins of the world. Therefore, only Abraham and his descendants, through Isaac and Jacob, were God’s chosen people. They were called to carry our a unique destiny on the earth, one that led to the coming of the Messiah who is Christ Jesus our Lord. Only they had the everlasting covenant with God, made directly between God and their descendants, which the Bible calls the Abrahamic covenant. The Gentiles only had false gods, worshiping demons and spirits posing as gods, in order to drive people away from the true and the living God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore, the Gentiles were far off from God and we had no way to reconcile our sin with a Holy God.

Because of the fall of humanity, our sin and our sin-nature placed us at enmity with God, creating a barrier or wall of separation between us and a Holy God. Like the veil in the Temple, which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the world, we too were forever separated from a Holy God. What the Apostle Paul is pointing out here, is that because of our sins and our nationality, we who are the Gentiles were far off from God. However, Jesus reversed that, through His death and our faith in Him, He brought us near to God. Jesus because of His immense love for us, did for us what humanity was unable to accomplish on its own! And that was to reconcile fallen humanity back to God. Jesus the eternal God of Heaven, stepped out of eternity and took on humanity in order to die for us. At the Cross of Calvary, Jesus bridged the gap between fallen humanity and a holy God. Jesus by His voluntary death for our sins on the Cross, where He willingly shed His blood for us, reconciled us back to God. We who were far off from God, were healed and brought near to God, by the blood of Christ. That through our faith in Him, we can now become children of God, adopted into the family of God and joint-heirs with Him in the kingdom of God. And that is why salvation is through faith alone, in Christ alone and not by any works we can perform. Jesus who is fully God and fully man, in one body, through the cross, forever put to death the enmity between us and a holy God.