I had been on one coast preparing to move my family across the country. We were separated from each other. Separation brings feelings of loneliness and a sense of absence. I felt remote from them and in some ways alienated from their lives. These feelings came from within a family that is loving and wants to be together. How about people who live in complete opposition to one another? Animosity, loneliness, exile invades those relationships. People who live in opposition do not long to see each other, they are fine being apart. It would be difficult to bring those people together.
Paul uses the rest of chapter 2 to describe how God makes one new man (nation) out of two opposing nations/peoples. In this section he describes the “before” of the separation and the “after” of unity in Christ.
The Gentiles were separated from God by lack of circumcision, just as the Jews were near God due to circumcision. This circumcision was a symbolic identifying act of unity and submission to God by of the children of Abraham. Paul shows the Ephesians that this symbol was also a picture of the Gentile separation from Christ, as the world would be blessed through the seed of Abraham. So also, they are not part of the commonwealth of Israel. To be part of the Commonwealth of Israel was to have access to the Covenants of promise, hope, and the nearness of God. So far from being simple words, they were declarations of the reality of what awaits those who follow Jesus. The Gentiles were without these things, but Christ's blood changes the situation for the Gentiles and the Jews.
Do you need hope? Do you need to know that there is more than the mechanical workings of the mundane activities we do repetitively each day? Some people find temporary hope in the tasks of everyday life, but others need to know that God is close, real, and active in their lives. Every human will need this at some point in their lives.
For the Christian, the blood of Christ has brought you near, the fleshly sign has been made void by Christ. He has superseded the fleshly outer signs with an inward life giving act of sacrifice that is applied to the heart of every believer. His blood brought the two groups together by giving both what they need. We are “in Christ,” that is how we enjoy the benefits of His blood. We become, as Paul has already mentioned, His family.
Paul writes of the things they did not have, then in one sentence he declares that they have all those things and more in Christ. His statement, “brought near” means that all the things they did not have, they now enjoy through Christ, by God's grace and provision.
God's plan brings everyone together under Christ. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. God moves us from no hope to having hope.
Humans need hope to live. We must have hope to survive. Hope is the essence of the future. We hope for a bright tomorrow, better days, and championships. We hope for change. God gives us hope by providing a better future with Christ in eternity. He provides what we need for a certain eternal future.
Why do we worship Jesus? His blood saves us and brings us near to God. His nearness means we have access to Him always. He is not far away, he is next to, beside, around us always. These facts give us hope everyday even in the darkest of times.
