…now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Philippians 2:11-22
Conveying the greatness of salvation is one of Paul’s major themes in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul reminds his Gentile readers of the darkness of their life before Christ. Before Jesus’ earthly ministry, Gentiles were far away from God and strangers to the covenants of promise God made with Abraham and the Jews. 1st Century Gentiles lived without hope, as archaeological evidence confirms in countless epigraphs from the period in which Paul wrote Ephesians, and the vast majority of tombstone inscriptions testifying that ancient Greeks and Romans had no real hope of life after death. With Jesus’ earthly ministry, everything changed because “The blood of Christ” brought 1st Century Gentiles who trusted in the Savior into a right relationship with the one true God. Psalm 148 describes the Israelites as those “near” to the Creator. So, Paul uses the description, “near,” to say that Gentile Christians enjoy the same nearness to God as faithful old covenant Israelites did. This privilege belongs to all Christians throughout the ages who repent of their sins and trust in Christ alone. What can reconcile those of us who were once outside of the covenants of promise to the most holy God? Nothing less than the sacrifice of the Son of God Himself. God paid the highest price to secure a people for Himself, sending His one and only Son to live a perfect life and die a dishonorable death so that God’s wrath would be satisfied and His grace extended to sinners. Our Just God could have crushed us for that which unregenerate humans deserve. But, God showed great love in crushing His Son in our place so all who trust Jesus might be His friends, not His enemies. A 16th Century theologian writes, “The blood of Christ has taken away the enmity which existed between [us] and God, and from being enemies hath made [us] sons.” The longer we are Christians, the easier it can be to forget the greatness of our salvation and the incalculable price that God the Father paid to adopt us as His children. We must never consider the blood of Christ lightly, for it was the death of the perfectly righteous God-man that brought us near to God. Let us take a few moments this day to consider the grace and mercy of the Lord shown in the Christ’s atonement.
Source: S C Ball February 16, 2024
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