Author: David McKay

Rev Vincent McDonnell

Mr Robert Drennan

The Bible uses various terms to describe what Christ has achieved by his life, death and resurrection.  That work is so rich that no one term is sufficient to cover everything he has done for us.  One aspect of Christ’s work is reconciliation – between God and sinners and then between forgiven sinners.  Consider Ephesians 2:11-18 Christ the Peacemaker.

1. Jew and Gentile divided

One of the deepest divisions know to history has been that between Jews and Gentiles.  The two have often regarded each other with suspicion.  The Jews did not fit into an immoral and polytheistic Gentile world.  The Jews’ position as God’s chosen people too often was twisted into a source of pride (see v11).  The two were also separated by the ceremonial system set down in the Mosaic Law – ‘the law with its commandments and regulations’ (v15).  This provided ‘the dividing wall of hostility’ (v14 ESV).  The Jews were undoubtedly a privileged people (Romans 9:4) – in sharp contrast to the Gentiles who were ‘excluded…foreigners…without hope and without God’ (v12).  Nevertheless, both are lost spiritually.  Many Jews rejected their Messiah and failed to use the clearer light the Lord had given them.  At root the Jew-Gentile division is caused by alienation from God.  That is first of all the ‘hostility’ of v16.  People are alienated from God and so from one another.

2. Christ’s sacrifice offered

To achieve human reconciliation the root problem has to be dealt with – the enmity between God and sinners.  That has been accomplished by the work of Christ – ‘we are brought near through the blood of Christ’ (v13) and ‘he himself is our peace’ (v14).  The goal of Christ’s work was ‘to reconcile both of them to God through the cross’ (v16).  The death of Christ first brings about reconciliation with God, because he has ‘put to death the hostility’ (v16) between God and his redeemed people (2 Corinthians 5:18).  The ceremonies of the law pointed forward to Christ and he has fulfilled them.  He reconciles Jew and Gentile ‘by abolishing in his flesh the law’ (v15).  The experience of this reconciliation is not to be thought of apart from the response of faith (God’s gift, v8).  As a result of the work of Christ sinners ‘have been brought near’ (v13).  This is the foundation for human reconciliation.

3. Jew and Gentile united

True unity between Jew and Gentile is possible only in Christ, based on his work of making peace between God and sinners.  Christ ‘preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near’ (v17).  By faith in Christ Jews and Gentiles receive the same salvation.  This results in a unity that transcends earthly differences.  ‘His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace’ (15).  Saved by grace they are united to Christ and so to one another.  The place of unity is the church, the body he fills perfectly (1:23).  The history of the early church shows that there can still be problems and tensions, but the basis for unity is in place.  The Holy Spirit is the bond of unity – ‘we both have access to the Father by one Spirit’ (v18).  As we come closer to God, we come closer to one another.  That is the unity in Christ that will last eternally.

All of the Bible is ‘God-breathed’ Scripture and so is profitable for God’s people.  There are, however, certain passages that sum up in a few verses some of the great truths of the faith and which every Christian ought to know well.  One of these passages, dealing with the very heart of salvation, is before us today.  Consider Ephesians 2:1-10 From death to life.

1. Dead in sins

In v1 we are bluntly confronted with a truth about ourselves: ‘you were dead in your transgressions and sins’.  That is the devastating spiritual impact of sin.  Our human nature is corrupted at the root.  We are born with an innate depravity (Psalm 51:5).  We inherit fallen human nature from Adam and ‘in Adam all die’ (1 Corinthians 15:22).  This results in the actual sins we commit.  They are ‘transgressions’ – deviating from the right path of God’s law.  They are ‘sins’ – falling short of the divine standard.  Sin brings spiritual bondage to ‘the ruler of the kingdom of the air’ (v2).  He exercises a pervasive influence and is ‘the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient’.  By nature we are under Satan’s dominion – ‘Among them we too all formerly lived’ (v3 NASB).  The final description is most terrible – ‘we were by nature objects children of wrath’.  We stand condemned before a holy God.

2. Loved by God

That is not all that is to be said about God, however.  For the Christian there is cause too for praise on account of ‘his great love with which he loved us’ (v4).  This is even more overwhelming because of its objects, because we were loved ‘even when we were dead in transgressions’ (v5).  God loved us when we were sinful and repulsive.  His infinite love led to action, flowing from ‘mercy’ (v4) and ‘grace’ (v5).  He showed mercy to the totally undeserving, who in fact deserved judgment.  Salvation is founded on the love of God (John 3:16) shown to us in Christ (1 John 3:16).  No deeper explanation is possible.  Paul is full of wonder as he contemplates these truths: ‘rich in mercy…great love’ (v4), ‘the incomparable riches of his grace’ (v7).  This is a fit subject for continual meditation that should fill us with awe and a desire to worship.  Note the goal that is in view: Christians will be living testimonies to God’s love throughout eternity (v7), a glorious privilege.

3. Alive in Christ

The grace of God works a total transformation in the standing and the life of a sinner.  God ‘made us alive with Christ’ (v5) – we are united spiritually with Christ in his death and resurrection – ‘God raised us up with Christ’ (v6).   Our sins are forgiven, we have spiritual life in place of death, the power of Satan is broken.  This is a complete reversal of our position by nature – we are ‘a new creation’ (2 Corinthians 5:17).  We have an amazing statement in v6 ‘seated us with [Christ] in the heavenly realms’ – a present reality in a spiritual sense (see also Colossians 3:3).  At the resurrection it will also be true physically.  Our link with Christ depends on God’s grace and power – v8 (lit.) ‘you are [in a state of] having been saved’ a permanent position.  It is impossible to earn salvation (v8-9) -it is by grace through faith and results in a life of ‘good works’ that testify to our salvation by grace.

If the statement of the angel in Matthew 28:6 is not true, there is no Christian faith, there is no hope of salvation for any of us.  The account of Jesus’ resurrection is not just an ‘optional extra’ tagged on to the record of his life and death.  If he did not rise from the dead, nothing that he did up to that point can make any difference to our spiritual condition or our standing before God.  This is a vital truth.  We consider Matthew 28:6 ‘Risen, just as he said’.

1. A plan fulfilled

Note the angel’s words, ‘just as he said’.  Jesus frequently foretold his death and resurrection (eg Matthew 20:18-19).  This was not merely educated guesswork – these events fulfil a divine plan.  In all that takes place in relation to Jesus, it is clear that God is in control and events follow a divine timetable.  The Jewish leaders did not want to act against Jesus during Passover (26:5), yet that is in fact what they did.  These events fulfil prophecies such as Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.  The empty tomb demonstrates that God’s sovereign plan has been brought to a glorious fulfilment.

2. A mission completed

Jesus was a man with a mission.  He was aware of this from at least the age of 12 (see Luke 2:49).  His baptism was a commissioning for this ministry.  He spoke often of the necessity for his suffering and death – ‘he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things’ (16:21).  To complete the mission he had undertaken required suffering, death and resurrection.  The cost to him would be immense.  The reason it was necessary – ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’ (Hebrews 9:22).  It was a mission empowered by love (Galatians 2:20).  The empty tomb is the culmination and vindication of his work.

3. A sacrifice accepted

The empty tomb also demonstrates that the Father has accepted the Son’s sacrifice on the cross.  He is ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (John1:29).  Lambs were the sin offering of the OT sacrificial system – those lambs pointed forward to Jesus, ‘a lamb without blemish or defect’ (1 Peter 1:19).  The nature of the sacrifice is spelled out in 2 Corinthians 5:21 ‘God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us’.  He died as Substitute for his people taking the full penalty due to our sins.  The empty tomb testifies to the sufficiency of his sacrifice and provides assurance that he really is able to save his people.

4. A victory won

The empty tomb testifies to Jesus’ complete victory – ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30):

            Victory over sin: all our sins are dealt with (Ephesians 1:7),

            Victory over Satan: the fulfilment of Genesis 3:15, liberating captive sinners.

            Victory over death: ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23) and Jesus has taken the penalty of our sin upon himself.  In him we have spiritual life (John 5:24 ‘crossed over’) and we will have physical life at the resurrection (Philippians 3:21), sharing in his victory.

In theology the incarnate life of the Son of God is often divided into two phases (or ‘states’).  First is his state of humiliation, in which he lives a life of perfect obedience to God’s law and dies an atoning death on the cross.  This is followed by his state of exaltation, when he rose from the dead and returned to heaven.  Paul now turns our attention to this latter phase.  Consider Ephesians 1:19b-23 Christ exalted.

1. Christ raised

The power of God that believers experience is ‘like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead’ (v19-20).  The resurrection marked the completion of his work on earth.  The fact that he rose demonstrates that his sacrifice offered on the cross had been accepted and had accomplished its purpose.  His vanquishing sin, death and Satan was due to the power of God.  The resurrection assures us of the truth of Jesus’ final words – ‘It has been finished!’ (John 19:30).  Without the resurrection, there is no salvation, no Christian hope.  It guarantees that the same power of God will raise believers at the last day – 1 Corinthians 15:20.  The final stage of the glory he secured cannot fail.

2. Christ seated

Not only has Christ been raised, the Father ‘seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms’ (v20).  He is enthroned as supreme over all powers, earthly and (especially) heavenly.  The fact that he is seated indicates that his atoning work is complete.  Hebrews 10:11-12 contrasts this with the earthly priests daily standing to offer repeated sacrifices – ‘when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down’.  Christ has received this position as a result of his work on the cross (Philippians 2:9).  He is worthy of our worship.

3. Christ reigning

The enthroned Christ is not inactive – he reigns as King.  ‘God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church’ (v22).  ‘All authority in heaven and on earth’ (Matthew 28:18) is in his hands.  This is a present reality, full of encouragement and comfort for God’s people.  He reigns ‘for the church’ – for our benefit.  He governs all events for the benefit of his redeemed people.  The rise and fall of nations is within his sovereign direction – he is ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ (Revelation 19:16).  We can rest in the assurance that his plan is being worked out and all enemies will be brought to submission (1 Corinthians 15:25).  All opposition to the church will be brought to an end.

4. Christ filling

The church is described as ‘his body’ – a living organism deriving life from its head.  The church is filled in a dynamic way by Christ – it is ‘the fulness of him’ (v23).  This is accomplished by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  This is a profound mystery, but challenging and precious.  Christ exercises a cosmic reign – he ‘fills everything in every way’.  The whole universe depends on him (Colossians 1:17) – our Saviour and Head.