And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2: 17-18 (RSV)
Paul taught us that Jesus’ message was of peace. Through this peace, we have access to the Heavenly Father. This devotion looks at how Jesus brought peace to give us access to the Trinity.
Nuggets
- Jesus preached and lived His message of peace.
- His message is for those who are searching for Him and for those who aren’t.
- Jesus came to be our Redeemer, not to fix society’s ills.
- We gain salvation by the Holy Spirit taking us to the Father using the Son as the way.
- God chose a part of Himself to come to earth to live, die, and rise again to fix all the broken things.
- He sends another part of Himself to be with us 24/7.
As we slide toward the end of Ephesians 2, Paul started to tie up some of his themes. Then he slipped in the Trinity. That really can be a head-scratcher for some. First, let’s finish up the discussion on peace.
Let's Put It into Context
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace …” (Eph. 2: 13-14 RSV).
Oh, man. Since I started at verse 17, I have a dangling pronoun. We have to go back a couple of verses to hook it up.
Ephesians 2: 13 tells us the “He” refers back to Jesus. Paul started the peace theme in verse 14.
We talked about Jesus bringing peace to unite those who were divided. In His day, it was the Jews and the Gentiles. These two verses show us how He brings us that peace.
To read
What Does “in Christ” Mean?
How Does Peace Help Us Tear Down Walls?,
and
How Can We Find Peace?
click on the appropriate button below.
Jesus, the Preacher Man
“And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” (Eph. 2: 17 RSV).
Wow! God the Son is the One Who is giving the message! His whole message is peace. He not only preached it, but He also lived it.
Jesus came to preach to those “… who were far off …” (Eph. 2: 17 RSV). Paul put it another way: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5: 8 NKJV).
A lot of times, we may think we need to start with the “low-hanging fruit” — the “… peace to those who were near” people (Eph. 2: 17 RSV). You know, those people that are already searching for God.
I see that. If they are already searching — yet having trouble finding — we don’t want them to get discouraged. We want to be there to help shepherd them to God and answer any questions they might have.
But what about those who are not searching? Maybe they don’t even know they need to be searching.
Ooo, baby. They are going to take more work! They will have a ton of questions — some to which we don’t know the answers!!! It will take building a relationship.
Yeah, so???
Wherever they are at in their journey in searching for God, we need to build a relationship with them. Wherever they are at, they will probably have questions. We need to answer them.
No, not just Pastor Chad [insert your pastor’s name]. You and me. By the time we get them to Pastor Chad, haven’t we already developed the relationship?
Yep, Pastor Chad is a good guy. He will give us moral support. He will be there to answer our questions.
You know Who else will be here? God. It is going to be Him doing the talking through our mouths.
Let’s go back to the high-hanging fruit. Someone who isn’t searching may need more time in their search. We will first have to show the need for the search. Then we will have to show the benefits of being a child of God.
Remember where Paul said his readers had been. “… in the flesh … uncircumcision … separated from Christ, alienated … strangers … having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2: 11-12 RSV).
We can’t shy away just because we think it will be more difficult to pick the high-hanging fruit than the low-hanging fruit.
All people need to hear Christ’s message. If we don’t tell them, they may not hear.
Message of Peace
Bible Verse
No, Jesus didn’t come to fix the rampant poverty of the time. No, He didn’t come to give women equal rights. No, He didn’t come to rewrite the laws and commandments so that all of our pet sins like homosexuality, lust, and pride [insert your favorite] would get whitewashed so we could keep on sinning.
Jesus came to be our Redeemer. He was born of a virgin, making Him 100% God and 100% man; gave His life on the cross for us so that His blood could pay the price for our sins; and because of God’s great might and power, rose from the grave, conquering death to pay that price.
Because of God’s infinite grace, He devised the plan of salvation that made Jesus our Redeemer in order to forgive us of our sins. Redemption allows us to receive forgiveness for our sins. We accept the pardon by letting go of the guilt and remorse that we feel because we have done something wrong. It is a conscious decision to accept His forgiveness.
Jesus substituted Himself — became the propitiation — for us to make peace between God and man. As we discussed in the last devotion, Jesus makes pace between mankind.
Access to the Spirit
“for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 2: 18 RSV).
I know. The Trinity is a hard concept to understand — Father, Son, Spirit — yet They are One. They work together for our salvation.
What just popped into my head was a journey. Let’s put it in terms of the mission trip Adam and I took this summer.
We had a destination where we were heading — the greater Toronto area. That is the Father.
We got there by the roads we took. Some of them were interstate; some were two-lane highways; one or two were backroad “oh, this is so wrong” adventures. That is the Son.
We got there in our trusty car. Thirty-five hundred miles — trust me, we wouldn’t have gotten there walking. That is the Spirit.
It was all one trip, but it has different aspects. You make us walk – we wouldn’t have gotten there. You take out the roads, we wouldn’t have gotten there. You take out the place we are going, there would be no reason to go.
We gain salvation by the Holy Spirit taking us to the Father using the Son as the way. We can’t get to the Father any other way. “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn 14: 6 HCSB).
Think about it a second. Our relationship with God was so broken. We got kicked out of the Garden. No more nightly walks. No more face-to-face encounters.
That manifested itself in several different ways. We see broken lives. We see broken relationships. We see mankind kicking back at the Creator.
But that wasn’t acceptable. God said that wasn’t the way the story was going to end.
So, God chose a part of Himself to come to earth to live, die, and rise again to fix all the broken things. He sends another part of Himself to be with us 24/7. The separation is over.
We have access to God by His Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1: 1 ESV). The Spirit comes into play when we pray to God. “In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don’t know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words” (Rom. 8: 26 CEV).
We gain access to Sovereign God by the reconciliation He devised. We access the peace provided by our Lord and Savior. We do this through following the promptings of our Guide.
It didn’t matter how high the price was that has to be paid for this restoration. God set the price and paid it. We were worth that much to Him.
Making the Connections
Think about the Ephesians and the idols they worshipped. The pull of idols is no less strong today. Yes, it may not be the Goddess Diana. It is money and self.
I saw a video of Candace Owens giving a talk somewhere. She stated that people are narcissistic — they don’t believe in anyone or anything but themselves.
We’ve made ourselves our idols — our abilities that get us good jobs — our jobs because we are the ones earning the money — our intelligence because we are smart enough to get that high-salary position.
Jesus preached to everyone. At that time, the world was divided into two — the Jews and everyone else. The King of kings wanted everyone to hear. He loves us all that much.
How Do We Apply This?
We’ve got to reach out and accept that peace. We have to choose God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
We have to reach out and grab peace. We have to hang on to it.
Is Satan going to try to steal our peace? Oh, big time!
When we feel that happening, we need to up our communication time with God. Put the Holy Spirit to work. We have to claim what Jesus did for us is binding.
We have to take advantage of the access that we have to the Sovereign God. We have to accept the peace.
Dear God. There our so many times on this journey here on earth that Satan tries to steal our peace. When we feel Him trying, we will access Your throne room and claim the peace that You’ll us have for us. Help us to withstand. Amen.
What do you think?
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