But now in Christ

Ephesians 2:11-13

If you were not born a Jew, then you fall into a very large group called Gentiles and to be a Jew meant that Jacob/Israel was your father and you were called the circumcised and all others were called the Uncircumcised.  Most of us do not think of ourselves in that way, today, many are circumcised not because they are Jewish, but because it is a good medical practice.  We tend to think more of being White or Black, French or English, and the list can be very long on how we see ourselves, but few would see themselves as Gentiles.

It is clear that God sees the Jewish people as His chosen people, and people of promise, and He has made covenants with them and Jesus Christ came as their Messiah.  But there was a problem, Jesus did not fit in the box that many, including the religious folks had for the Messiah; in their box the Messiah was to come as a mighty Warrior, not a teacher who often seemed more like a gentle lamb.  The Messiah in their box would come and free them from the Romans; He would have an army of angels, and yet in all of God’s wisdom Jesus was introduced to this world, as a baby in a manger.

We Gentiles were not invited to the party, “we were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the World.”  (Ephesians 2:12)  Because Jesus did not fit into the box of many of the Jews, Romans 11 tells us that all but the elect were hardened, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day,” (Romans 11:8) We the Gentiles were Grafted into where some of the Jews were broken off, but never forget that what God has broken off He can replace, and it was Christ who has by His blood made you in right standing with the Father.  This is how the apostle Paul states that true in verse 13, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice