JESUS, THE GREAT ACCOMPLISHER -- Tomorrow:
"And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled, in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight." (Colossians 1:20-22)
Devotion 5 of 32
"And, having made peace . . . "
Now, the One through whom the peace was made, Himself becomes our peace, so that if we have Jesus, we have peace with God. Thus, in its very essence, the peace is not found in what men do, but in their possession of the Christ who made the peace. True peace – peace with God – is not the result of a procedure required from men, but in the Person of Christ and the things which He has accomplished in the behalf of men.
Notice the complexity of the situation brought on by sin, and the thoroughness of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
1. PEACE INVOLVED THE UNITING OF JEW AND GENTILE. The peace has united Jew and Gentile in one body: "For He is our peace, who hath made both one . . . And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby" (Eph 2:14,16). Sin alienated all men – Jew and Gentile – from God. The Law, or Old Covenant drove a wedge between Jew and Gentile, raising a wall between them. Jesus "made peace" by addressing both situations.
2. PEACE REQUIRED THE REMOVAL OF WALL BETWEEN JEW AND GENTILE. The Law, which was the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, has been broken down. Christ has ended it as a means to righteousness: "For Christ is the end of the law FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS to every one that believeth" (Rom 10:4). And again, "and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Eph 2:14). That is, the Law as a covenant separated Jew and Gentile, for it was an agreement made solely with Israel.
3. FOR PEACE TO BE REALIZED, THE ENMITY CREATED BY THE LAW AND BY HUMAN NATURE HAD TO BE REMOVED. There could be no peace with God while the larger segment of humanity was without a covenant, having no access to God or promise from Him: "having abolished in His flesh the enmity . . . having slain the enmity thereby" (Eph 2:16).
4. THE PEACE THAT WAS MADE HAD TO BE PUBLISHED. Having made the peace, the Lord Jesus had to come and preach it, else we would never have known about it: "and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh" (Eph 2:17).
5. THE ENMITY HAD TO BE VIOLENTLY REMOVED. Twice in this Ephesian text, the condition of men is described as "enmity:" "Having abolished in His flesh THE ENMITY. . . having slain THE ENMITY thereby." In the first instance, the "enmity" is identified as "the law of commandments contained in ordinances." In the second, the enmity itself that was resident in fallen humanity was "put to death" (NASB).
6. FREE ACCESS TO GOD HAD TO BE THE RESULT OF PEACE. This "peace" resulted in men, through Christ, having access to the Father "by one Spirit." "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Eph 2:18).
7. THOSE ONCE ALIENATED HAD TO BE BROUGHT NEAR BY THIS PEACE. This marvelous peace is described in these words: "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (Eph 2:13).
The making of peace, therefore, involved the death of Christ. It also involved the removal of the hostility created by sin. There was also the removal, or abolishment, of the Law as a covenant, or the means to righteousness. Peace must allow for righteousness to come by some other means that keeping a law.
The "peace" of reference involves deliverance from sin by which men had become God's enemies. It also involves the freedom of the conscience which, when defiled, forbids us to come to God. It causes God to welcome those upon whom His wrath once abode. The ground of it all is found in what occurred on the cross of Jesus Christ.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for resolving all of the issues created by sin – issues that were beyond the boundary of human wisdom and strength.