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w of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the plea of the sinner and the praise of the saint. In heaven we shall sing: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Rev. 5:9). If you are reading these lines, and you are yet in your sins, Christ has removed the enmity between God and you by His propitiatory sacrifice at Calvary. You have only to acknowledge that your sin nailed Him there, and then receive Him as your Substitute and Saviour. You need not remain afar off, for even “now” you can be made nigh, as near to God as Christ Himself, but trusting in His blood. In our approach to a new chapter of any book in the Bible we need to take care lest we lose the thought in the preceding chapter. There is some times the danger of missing the con tinuity of some particular idea or even a doctrine when we break up our reading and study periods by chapters. If we keep in mind that the first three chapters in Ephesians have to do with the creation and design of the Church, we can look for the progress of thought in that connection as we begin our study of chapter. three. 1. Paul’s share in the Mystery (3:1- 13). Chapter -one describes the Church under the imagery of “His body” (1: 23). In chapter two, the Church is seen as “the building” (2:21). The body is possessed of His life; the build ing is inhabited by His very Presence. Under the Old Covenant, God met with man in a temporary temple specially designed for such a meeting; under the
S trauss declares , “Before we con clude our meditation on these verses we would do well to ponder the meth od whereby our awful past has been blotted out and our present position made possible. In Christ alone we find the basis of reconciliation to God and man. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (2:13). Re conciliation could be accomplished only by the finished work of God’s.Son on the cross. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the un just, that He might bring us to God . . .” (I Peter 3:18). Aaron made an atonement once a year with blood which he offered to God for the peo ple. Even so Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemp tion for us (Heb. 9:11, 12). “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. . . . Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10: 19, 22). “In His flesh” He made peace, through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20). Christ Himself is our peace, and he who has the Son of God enjoys peace with God and with all them that are in Christ Let us thank God for accomplishing redemption and making our peace through the blood of His cross, for apart from His substitution ary death we would still be at enmity with God and man. It was at the cross where Jew and Gentile were con demned as sinners and united to God through faith in the blood of His Son. At the cross every enmity was slain and every provision made for redemp tion and reconciliation. The shedding 32
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