Eph 2:12 That you were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (13) But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have become near in the blood of Christ.
The precious words at the beginning of verse 13 --"But now"-- indicate that now we have hope and we have God... We have been brought near not only to God, but also to Christ, to Israel, and to God's promise. This equals being near to God and all His blessings. Hence, in the redeeming blood of Christ we have been made near both to God and to Israel. This means that we are not only in the Messiah, but also in the redemption accomplished by the Messiah. The Jews are still expecting the Messiah to come; however, they do not realize how much they need Messiah's redemption. The transfer from our former status to our new status in Christ actually was accomplished by the redemption of Christ. We were in a low status because we had fallen. When Christ shed His blood on the cross for our redemption, His blood brought us out of that low status. Now that we have been transferred by the blood of Christ, we are in Christ and in the heavenlies. Therefore, we are near to God. We are also near to Israel, to God's promise, and to God's blessings. In other words, in this heavenly position we are one with God, one with the proper Israel, one with God's covenants, and one with God's blessings... This is our portion in Christ.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 195-196. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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