Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ep 2:1-2 and following. Indeed, the first verses depict our tragic condition of yesteryear. Children of anger, we walked both according to the world, according to its prince and according to our guilty lusts. But God intervened. “His great love” rose above such misery. He invigorated these deaths. He resurrected them. More than that, He made them sit in His own heaven, the very place where Christ sits (Eph 1:15-23). Being dead in his sins or sitting in the heavenly places, so there is no intermediate position and it is up to everyone to know what his own is.
Then the apostle testifies to the uselessness of our works for salvation and the full value of God’s: “we are his work.” But does sitting in heavenly places exempt us from all activity on earth? Quite the contrary! Saved by grace, we have been created again, as a tool is fashioned for a specific use: for the good works that this God of goodness has arranged in advance on our way (Ps 100:1-5; Ps 119:73). Not that He needs our work, but He wants our dedication. So let us never fail to ask Him every morning: Lord, show me what you yourself have prepared today for me. And grant me to do it with your help (He 13:20-21).
Compared to the Jewish people, the fate of the nations was particularly miserable. They had no right to the promises made by Jehovah to Abraham and his descendants (Rom 9:1-5). And we were one of those strangers. Yes, let us remember that sad time when we were without Christ, therefore without hope and without God in the world. So all that we now possess in Him will be all the more important to us. We have more than a covenant with God: a free peace (Rom 5:1-5), guaranteed by the presence of the Lord Jesus in heaven. “For it is He who is our peace (Eph 2:14). It was also He who made it and paid the full price. It was finally he who announced it (Eph 2:17). He did not want to leave it to anyone to share it with his dear disciples on the evening of his resurrection: “Peace be with you,” He said to them (John 20:19-23; Isa 52:7-8). And He adds: “I too am sending you…”. We who have heard and believed this good news of the gospel, we in turn are responsible for making it known to others. At the end of the chapter, the apostle shows the Assembly of God as a building under construction (Acts 2:42-47), resting on Christ the stone mistress of the corner, to be his dwelling here on earth by the Spirit.
Thus, the church is not yet complete, and the saints are here on earth in weakness, but our Leader is exalted far above all by the excellent greatness of divine power, and this shows how great is the power that operates towards us with an energy that gives life. That is why chapter 2 opens simply with these words: “and you, when you died in your faults and in your sins”. This power “operated in Christ … and [in] you” (Eph 1:20; Eph 2:1). She operated in Christ when He died because of our faults and sins. It operated in us when we were dead in our faults and sins. His life-giving power is according to this supreme unfolding that took place with regard to Christ.
The march of the Gentiles is said to have been particularly characterized by the world and the devil, since they followed false gods behind whom lies the power of the demons. The march of the Jews was more particularly characterized by the lusts of the flesh according to verse 3. They did not worship demons, but they were by nature children of anger, just like others. These are the same accusations that can be made today on the one hand against those who are openly irreligious and it is enough to meditate a little on these wonderful things to realize with certainty that none of them have been accomplished according to our needs, but according to the thoughts, the heart and the purpose of God. Therefore, when all is realized in the centuries to come, the wonderful goodness shown to us in Christ Jesus will manifest the immense riches of God’s grace. God is indeed the God of all grace.
But this necessarily excludes works, that is, works done to obtain life and blessing. The only works we were capable of were those detailed in verses 2 and 3, in which we were spiritually dead. The one who operates is God Himself, and “we are His work,” which is very different. This brings us back to our starting point. The excellent greatness of God’s power, which operated in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, was necessary to do such a powerful work in us. “In the flesh” it was our state, characterized by the fallen Adamic nature, which therefore ruled us. This alone explains the gross evil that fills the world of nations. We were then “without Christ”, that is, without the One who could bring salvation and save us from our state of perdition.
How are we approached? Israel had a certain closeness under the old covenant. Are we going to start having the same share as them again? No, for according to Eph 2:14, of the two He made one. The expression ‘of the two’ indicates Jewish believers on the one hand and believers of nations on the other. Their meeting was made by Christ. He destroyed the wall that divided them, and he made peace between the warring factions. He abolished their enmity in His flesh: that is, by delivering His body to death.
Having thus abolished the enmity of the two [Jews and nations], Christ made him one man in Himself. It is not that now the nations are one with the Jews, but that the Jews in Christ are now absolutely one with the Gentiles in Christ. Reconciliation was necessary because both were in a state of enmity against God and among themselves. Let us then note that the death of Christ is introduced, this time by the expression “the cross”. Through it, He killed the enmity (that against God), which was in the hearts of both, and not just the enmity they had maintained between them. Having accomplished His death, and thus having made the great basis of reconciliation, He Himself acted as Messenger of peace both to the nations and to the Jews.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
From death to life:
- Attachment to the dangerous world
-Destroys the influence of the truth Mt 13:22 He who has received the seed among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but in whom the worries of the century and the seduction of riches stifle this word, and make it fruitless.
Deceive men by placing them in a state of false security Mt 24:38-39 For in the days before the flood men ate and drank, married and married their children, until the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing, until the flood saw and carried them all away: it will be the same at the advent of the Son of man.
-Puts earthly worries in first place 1 Co 7.32-33 Now, I would like you to be without worry. He who is not married worries about the things of the Lord, about the means of pleasing the Lord; 33 and the one who is married worries about the things of the world, about the ways to please his wife.
-Shapes the activities and plans of life Eph 2:2 in which you once walked, according to the train of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now acts in the sons of rebellion.
-Led to apostasy 2 Tim 4:10 for Demas forsaken me, out of love for the present century, and he left for Thessaloniki; Crescens went to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
- Love of God
Dt 7:8 But because Jehovah loves you, because He wanted to keep the oath He had made to your fathers, Jehovah brought you out by His mighty hand, delivered you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Ps 146:8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord straightens out those who are bent; Jehovah loves the righteous. Jer 31:3 From afar the Lord shows himself to me: I love you with eternal love; That is why I keep my goodness to you. Jn 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him may not perish, but have eternal life. Jn 16:27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me, and you have believed that I have come out of God. Rom 5:8 But God proves His love for us, in that when we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Eph 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love of which He loved us, 5 of us who had died by our trespasses, brought us back to life with Christ (it is by grace that you are saved);1 Jn 3:1 See what love the Father has shown us, that we may be called children of God! And we are. If the world does not know us, it is because it has not known him. 1 Jn 4:9:16 God’s love has been manifested to us in that God has sent His Only Begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. 16 And we have known and believed in god’s love for us. God is love; and he who dwells in love dwells in God, and God dwells in him.
- The believer as a new man
Ps 40:4 He put in my mouth a new hymn, A Praise to Our God; Many saw it, and had fear, and they entrusted themselves in the Lord. Ez 11:19 I will give them one heart, and I will put in you a new spirit; I will remove from their bodies the heart of stone, and I will give them a heart of flesh; Rom 6:4 So we were buried with him by baptism in his death, so that as Christ rose from the dead by the glory of the Father, so too we would walk in newness of life. Rom 7:6 But now we have been freed from the law, having died to that law under which we were held, so that we serve in a new spirit, and not according to the letter that has aged. 2 Co 5:17 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed; behold, all things have become new. Gal 6:15 For it is nothing but to be circumcised or uncircumcised; what is something is to be a new creature. Eph 2:15 having annihilated by his flesh the law of ordinances in his prescriptions, in order to create in himself with the two one new man, establishing peace; Eph 4:24 and to put on the new man, created according to God in the righteousness and holiness that the truth produces. Col 3:10 and having put on the new man, who renews himself, in knowledge, according to the image of the one who created him.
- Christ the Way
Jn 14:6 Jesus said to him: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Hb 10:20 by the new and living road that he inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, through his flesh,
-Through difficulties: Ex 14:16 And Pharaoh harnessed his chariot, and he took his people with him. Jos 3:17 The priests who carried the ark of jehovah’s covenant stopped firmly on the dry, in the middle of the Jordan River, while all of Israel passed dry, until the whole nation had finished passing the Jordan. Pr 15:19 The path of the sloth is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of straight men is flattened. Isa 30:21 Your ears will hear behind you the voice that will say: This is the way, walk in it! Because you would go to the right, or you would go to the left. Isa 42:16 I will make the blind walk on a path they do not know, I will lead them by paths they do not know; I will change before them the darkness into light, and the tortuous places on the plain: This is what I will do, and I will not abandon them. Isa 43:16 Thus speaks the Lord, Who made a way in the sea, and in the mighty waters a path; Is 49:11 I will change all my mountains into paths, and my roads will be frayed.
-Obstacles removed from the path: Isaiah 40:4 Let every valley be raised, Let every mountain and hill be lowered! Let the hillsides turn into plains, And the narrow parades into valleys! Isa 45:2 Let him hold hands, To defeat the nations before him, And to release the belt of kings, To open the doors to him, That they may no longer be closed; I will walk before you, I will flatten the mountainous paths, I will break the brass doors, and I will break the iron locks. Is 49:11 I will change all my mountains into paths, and my roads will be frayed. Za 4.7 Who are you, great mountain, before Zerubbabel? You will be flattened. He will lay the main stone in the midst of the cheers: Grace, grace for her! Mt 21:21 Jesus answered them: I tell you in truth, if you had faith and did not doubt, not only would you do what was done to this fig tree, but when you said to this mountain: Ote from there and throw yourself into the sea, it would be done. Jn 11:41 So they removed the stone. And Jesus looked up, and said, Father, I thank you for what you have answered to me.
-A spiritual way: Ps 16:11 Thou shat will make me know the path of life; There are abundant joys before your face, Eternal delights to your right. Isa 35:8 There shall be a path made out, a road, which shall be called the holy way; No impure will pass through it; it will be for them alone; Those who follow it, even the foolish, will not be able to go astray. Is 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing, about to happen: Will you not know it? I will put a path in the desert, and rivers in solitude. Is 62:10 Walk through, walk through the doors! Prepare a path for the people! Spawn, spawn the road, remove the stones! Raise a banner to the people! Jer 31:21 Draw signs, place poles, beware of the road, of the path you have followed… Come back, virgin of Israel, Come back to these cities that are yours!
From all of the above, we note that we are fellow citizens of the saints. Rather, it is a general thought. God has prepared a heavenly city for Old Testament believers, who must enjoy a heavenly portion. This is affirmed in He 11:16. Today’s believers will have their share of this entire celestial portion. His privileges are ours, for our names were written in heaven (Luke 10:20); registered on the registers of the city, we can say that our citizenship is there. A house, or foyer, is a place of greater intimacy than a city. The Mayor of a capital appears in all his splendor when he acts as head of the City, but he is known in a more intimate light when, taking off his ceremonial clothes proper to his function, he acts as a simple head of his house. For when we consider the blessings into which we are introduced as individuals, we have seen that all of us are ours in Christ. Everything is in Christ. The church is built together in Christ, and God dwells in it in Spirit. All these things are not mere ideas, but rather great realities. If they may seem strange to us, isn’t it because we are used to seeing what men have done to the church, largely perverting it according to their own ideas, more than to seeing what the church really is according to God? And let us remember that all human perversions and adaptations will pass, but God’s work will remain. We would then do better to hasten to learn what God has in mind for the church and what He has done to make it so, otherwise we run the risk that much of our service will be lost, and that we ourselves will sadly not be prepared for what will be revealed at the Lord’s coming, and in the wink where the church will go, entirely according to the divine work, and not at all according to the organization of man. Our prayers support you all in your efforts alongside the Lord Jesus.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow on “the mystery of the body of Christ.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.