November 02 2025

Sunday November 02

The Wall of Separation Has Been Broken Down

Ephesians 2:14-16

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

First, I want to thank you for your prayers for traveling mercies for my wife and I yesterday as we left our home in Sneads Ferry NC around 3am to drive 6 hours up to Roanoke, Virginia for the ribbon cutting ceremony and the grand opening of the Go Center. We had a wonderful time with a great group of friends seeing and experiencing what God is up to in the Roanoke Valley and will accomplish around the world through this Center. Thank you for your prayers for the Go Center.

Around noon, we were got in the car to go to Charlottesville to visit my brother Mark at the UVA Medical Center. We called to make sure it would be ok to visit him and were pleasantly surprised to find out he was being discharged at that very moment to go back home to Lynchburg. He has made an amazing recovery from his bypass surgery. Thank you for your prayers for Mark.

Thank you for your birthday wishes that so many of you sent us yesterday for our 74th birthday. We are so blessed to have so many friends that care and pray for us. We feel extremely blessed to have so many people who love us, support us, encourage us, and have inspired us over the years. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I’m convinced the only way we had the energy to drive all the way to Roanoke and then turn around and drive another six hours and be back home last night by about 6:30pm, was because of your prayers. We cannot thank you enough for your love and prayers.

Today we want to look specifically at Ephesians 2:14-15, where it speaks of the fact that, “Jesus Christ Himself is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation having abolished in His flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so as to create in Himself one new man from the two thus making peace.”

My first big question as a brand-new Christian was how did people get saved before the cross? How did they get saved in the Old Testament? My friend over the years I've concluded there's only one way of salvation. That is the way of faith. The way of faith through Christ Jesus. In the Old Testament, they look forward to His sacrifice on the cross and now we look backwards, and by faith, both looks are taken. Everyone, both Jew and Gentile receive salvation because of Jesus and His sacrifice and blood shed on the cross.

Verse 15 reveals that the cause of the enmity was the law because the law had made a definite distinction between Jew and Gentiles. The dietary laws reminded the Jews that God had put a distance and difference between the clean and the unclean (Leviticus 11:44-47). But the Gentiles did not obey these laws. Therefore, they were unclean. Ezekiel the prophet reminded the priests that their task was to teach the Jews the difference between the holy and the profane (Ezekiel 44:23). The divine ordinances given by God to Israel stood as a wall between the Jews and the other nations. In fact, there was a wall in the Jewish temple separating the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple areas.

Archaeologists have discovered this inscription from Herod's temple. It reads like this: “No foreigner may enter within this barricade that surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will himself be blamed for his ensuing death”. It was this wall that the Jews thought Paul and his gentile friends crossed when the Jews attacked him in the temple and threatened to kill him in Acts 21:28-31.

In order for Jews and Gentiles to be reconciled, this wall had to be destroyed, and this Jesus did on the cross. The cost of destroying the enmity was the blood of Christ. When He died, the veil in the temple was literally torn in two, and the wall of separation (figuratively) was torn down. By fulfilling the demands of the Law in His righteous life, and by bearing the curse of the Law in His sacrificial death (Galatians 3:10-13), Jesus removed the legal barrier that separated Jew from Gentile. For centuries, there was a difference between them. But today, "there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:12-13).

Oh my friend, what a wonderful Savior we have. He is our peace. We are now one with anyone. The new creation is the church, the body of Jesus Christ. We are part of that new creation. “Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new”. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to have peace with God, peace with one another, and be made one in Christ, and with any and everyone who accepts Him as their personal Lord and Savior.

God bless!