One Heart - Father Let Them Be OneУзорак

RECONCILED AND UNITED BY THE CROSS

“For Christ Himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body He broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with Himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross He united both races into one body and brought them back to God.” Ephesians 2:14-16 GNB

There was no natural affinity between Jew and Gentile. The source of contention between Jew and Gentile was the fact that the Gentiles did not keep the law. The enmity of which the apostle speaks was mutual among the Jews and Gentiles. The former detested the Gentiles and could hardly allow them to be called human; the latter viewed the Jews with contempt, because their religious rites and ceremonies were different from those of all the other nations of the earth. The separation was intensified by the law that was designed to set Israel apart from the world. But since Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf, and since He bore the penalty for our failure to keep the law, we are reconciled through His work on the cross - putting to death the source of enmity. The law as a source of righteousness was no longer an issue.

Before Christ's death, the Gentiles were in a desperate place. They were strangers to the covenants of God, having no hope of forgiveness of sins and being without God. They also did not have the access to God that the Jews enjoyed. The cross of Christ changed it all. Now, both Gentiles and Jews had only one access to God, Christ. Both had to be born again to become children of God. Forgiveness was only by the blood of Christ, not by the blood of any other sacrifice. In the acceptance of Christ, both Jews and Gentiles became one with Christ, one new creation, one new body, having one God, one Lord, and one Father. Everything became new. The Cross of Jesus Christ had removed all enmity and reconciled all of humanity, once and for all.

PRAYER POINTERS

ME: Spend some time in waiting before God. Worship Him in expectation that He will fill your heart with peace and love. Trust Him to bring about a transformation that will empower you to become an instrument of reconciliation.

US: Pray for every Christian in your nation to be similarly transformed into instruments of reconciliation. Pray for those you know by name. Pray especially for the believers in churches near you that are from other denominations. Pray that they too will be filled with the peace and love of God, and with a desire to be reconciled.

THEM: Pray for every citizen in your nation, that they will be affected by the ministry of reconciliation that will flow forth from the hearts of all God’s children who are praying and working for peace and reconciliation.

Remember your John 17 memory verse.

"We used to hate and destroy one another and refused to associate with people of another race or country. Now, because of Christ, we live together with such people and pray for our enemies."-- Justin Martyr