Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Thought:  To me, we often take for granted the great "joining" we have to God through Christ.

Question:  Am I a "holy temple"?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:21 (NIV):  "In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord."

The cornerstone unites the whole building into one holy body--a temple to God.  Are not our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit?  And so all small "temples," joined by Christ's Spirit, make up the One Grand Temple, the Body of Christ, the church universal ("catholic").  We are joined to Christ.  Christ makes us one; no other force does.

The church "rises."  To me this means it grows up from its foundation, like walls erected as the next phase of a building.  Over the years, the church has done just that; grown up in diversity and size, various parts being added even now.  But the cornerstone makes the building become strong, straight and true, that is, "holy":  "in him the whole building is joined...", and as the branches in a vineyard cannot live unless they abide in the vine (receiving its life "juice", the sap), so we must remain in Christ truly to be part of the "whole building."  We also "rise" in Christ in the sense of His resurrection power.  Christ is the first to be resurrected from the dead; we will all follow later only because His power was established as the beginning groundwork.

Prayer:  Holy God, it amazes me always, the amount of blessing and goodness You give us in Christ.  Often I am overwhelmed with it all!!  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, great rejoicing should spring from our hearts when we see God's great plan of "the church" and Christ, its cornerstone.

Question:  Have we studied all about the prophets and disciples enough to know and appreciate what our "church" is founded upon?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:20 (NIV):  "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone."

This God-ordained change was well-established by God throughout time's eras.  The church, united from many nations and races, a world-wide brotherhood in Christ, was already a plan to God before He invented time.  The Old Testament prophets foresaw its scope and beauty, and the apostles brought it to inception in God's timing, after Christ departed the earth.  These men of God, filled by His Spirit, (thus united in theme, doctrine and purpose), laid the groundwork, the "foundation", for the church to take its footing.  That Jew and Gentile would unite was no freak accident, no new development at all.  It was purposed all along.  This great fore-ordained foundation is unmoveable and flawless because it has as its cornerstone, Jesus Christ.  A cornerstone sets the pace for all other stones.  A cornerstone is primary and determines what kind of building will be produced.  It undergirds and anchors all other stones.  It supports.  It is laid first.  And it becomes unseen underneath the superstructure.

The word "himself" here, to me, shows how God became flesh to join the prophets and apostles in making up the foundation of the church.  The church is based on the blood of these martyrs, Christ being the extreme example.  All the apostles died as martyrs, and scripture often refers to the fact that the prophets were slain.  Great sacrifice established the existence of the church.  

Prayer:  I praise You, Oh, Lord, for the great forethought You had and the great pre-planning You did, out of love for us, to establish the groundwork of Your dynamic church.  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, our society has many members who are in the midst of a "need to belong somewhere" crisis.

Question:  Now that you belong to Jesus, has it erased your lonliness?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:19 (NIV):  "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,"

Jew and Gentile combine, "in Christ," into a family.  The atmosphere is one of belonging, of sharing the family name and inheritance (whatever the family head owns).  Formerly they had experienced strangeness and alienation, but now they are blessed with the opposite.  God has made the change, not they.  Nothing is worse than a sense of not belonging somewhere.  "Where is my home?" some might cry.  Christ is "a friend that sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24b), and if you have no one else, all you'll ever really need is to know Jesus.  He'll be yours, and you'll be His, forever!

Prayer:  Father, I'm so glad I'm a part of Your family.  What a great privilege!  Bathe me every day, Lord, in a new sense of belonging to You.  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, God's Holy Spirit always brings and creates peace.

Question:  Have we ever questioned the existence of the Trinity?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:18 (NIV):  "For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit."

Access, what a satisfying word!  Christ's most fundamental purpose in coming to earth was to provide us access to His Father.  Without Jesus we have no way to the Father.  There is one Mediator between God and man and that is the Man Christ Jesus.  Jesus declared Himself to be the only Way, (John 14:6).  And Paul declares that this access can be shared by both Jew and Gentile; both attempting law-keeper and lawless one.  The access is to the Father, of course through Christ, but also "by one spirit", that is, the Holy Spirit.  Here we see the Trinity at work.  When Jew and Gentile enter into the same spirit, that force is what unifies them and empowers them toward peace and nearness to God.

Prayer:  Divine Father, thank You for sending both Your Son and Your Holy Comforter, the Holy Spirit to us!  The result of all three of You at work in our lives is access to You:  all "three" of You!  Amen.

Thought:  To me, the universality of the gospel is a much-needed and very powerful quality.  It is available to all and helps each of us right where we are.

Question:  What does it mean to be "near" the Kingdom of God?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:17 (NIV):  "He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near."

Jews were nearer, I suppose, because of their exposure to the things of God, especially the Law.  Christ told certain ones in the gospels that they were "near" the Kingdom of God.  Usually it was due to their great faith.  Gentiles were "far away" because of lives lived with no tradition of Law or heritage in the things of God.  But Jesus preached to both.  This is the beautiful thing about God.  He is no respecter of persons.  All need Him universally.  The message of the preaching was, and ever is, peace.  What another beautiful thing about God!  He loves everyone and He brings everyone peace!!  In His love He provides peace, and it unites those who were "near" to those who were "far away", closing the gap.

Prayer:  Lord, where would we be if You had not "come" to "preach" to us?  We would yet be separated from others and struggling with hostilities.  Thank You for bringing us out of such strife with Your gospel of peace.  Amen.

Thought:  To me, it is a great work for man to have peace with his fellow man, as accomplished in Christ; but it is a greater work for those men to have peace also with God.

Question:  Has my hostility been "put to death"?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:16 (NIV):  "and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility."

Reconciliation is what the cross accomplished.  Reconciliation was achieved for both the self-righteous law-keeper and the hopeless Gentile dog who kept no laws.  Both are sinners and in need.  Both are unable to save themselves.  Both come together "in Christ" if they yield their free-will to Him, believing Christ is Savior and Lord.  Once yielded to Christ and saved, the two formerly opposing sides are at peace.  No more disagreements need exist.  No more hostility between issues of law-keeping need exist.  Christ kept the law--that is what's important.

Is this to say that no one need keep the law anymore?  No, of course not.  It is discovered that "in Christ" we are finally enabled to keep the law, and for the first time.  The Jews thought they were keeping laws because they tried to, but now "in Christ" they finally do truly "keep" the law.  The Gentiles never had laws because they were kept out of that tradition, but now "in Christ" they discover the ways to "keep" the law.  Christ becomes their law.  They "keep" themselves "in Christ," both of them.  Thus steeped into Christ and joined into His "Law of Love" they are no longer hostile to each other.

Prayer:  Lord, Your peace truly does pass my understanding.  You have conquered our hostilities by way of Your love.  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, the peace God offers in His Son is the answer the world needs--oh, that all would believe so that peace could be applied to any problem!

Question:  How can Christ both "abolish...the law" and "fulfill the law"?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:15 (NIV):  "by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.  His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace."

How did Christ destroy the hostility barrier between Jew and Gentile?  He "abolished" the law in his flesh on Calvary by dying.  By offering up His body as the ultimate sacrifice for everyone's sin He broke sin's power.  Commandments and regulations of Judaism were done away with; they were no longer mecessary.  Yet Christ's flawless life was a fulfillment of the law because He was the only sinless person to ever live.  Thus, in Christ, the dichotomy of abolishment and fulfillment meet and are fully satisfied.  Christ's intention, among many his Father had willed, was to join Jew and Gentile together into one "new man."  All are united in Christ.  The "new man" is the resurrected Christ, the Savior of both Jew and Gentile, living inside each man.  Both are sinners; the Gentiles faced their sin more quickly than did the Jews who believed their heritage and rule-keeping was what saved them.  Thus the majority of believers today are Gentile and only a remnant of Jews will be saved.  But those saved Jews are at peace with the saved Gentiles.  All in Christ are at peace with each other when they are abiding correctly and fully in His Spirit, and in His resurrection power.  Any two people who clash can be brought to peace "in Christ."  Think of it!

Prayer:  My King and God, thank You for giving us Your Son, the Prince of Peace.  Thank You for the way You have healed all hostilities.  May many more needy individuals enter into Your peace!  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, God has resolved our spiritual human-need crisis very well, and very simply:  it's all "in Christ."

Question:  Do I fully appreciate what God has done when He embodied every solution to my soul's needs in His Son?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:14 (NIV):  "For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,"

Paul of course refers here to Jew and Gentile people.  "The two" differing groups are made one "in Christ."  There's that phrase again:  "in Christ."  Everything good and valuable is in Jesus Christ.  Christ Himself is "our peace", our salvation, our joy, our life, our everything.  The only way we can have any of these qualities is to be, to exist, live and thrive, IN CHRIST.

Christ has "destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility."  Peace eradicates hostility.  The barrier that divided Jew and Gentile, to me, consisted of several things.  First of all birthright.  To be a Jew and thus know God at all required that you be a descendant of Abraham.  This was an unresolveable problem for most gentiles.  Circumcision was a second barrier.  And on and on we could go.  All the Pharasaical laws and rules piled up into an insurmountable barrier wall that excluded Gentiles.  Apparently Jews were convinced that no Gentile could possible know God because they were not blessed with all that the Jews were given.  How tragic!  But whether or not this was justified, the barrier stood and was insurmountable.  Only God could begin to break it down.  Only Christ could "destroy" it utterly.  Hostility of men is an unresolveable, non-mediateable, immoveable barrier, that only the touch of God can help.  God's touch is the gift of Jesus Christ.  Jesus embodies peace because He dissolves hostilities.  He does so by eliminating the need for rule-keeping as a way of salvation.  He improved rule-keeping by keeping all rules Himself and covering us when we all fail to keep the rules.  Thus the Jews needed no longer to vainly glory in their rule-keeping, (which was a lie anyway.  No human can truly keep all rules.)  And thus the Gentiles needed no longer to worry about their failure at rule-keeping:  a new standard was raised--Jesus Christ, the only authentic Rule-Keeper.  Entering vicariously into Him is our way to "keep the rules"!  Entering into Him is our only way of peace because He is our peace.

Prayer:  I am so glad, Lord God, that all my needs are met in Christ!  Help me to remember this at every point of want.  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, it is extremely rewarding to be "brought near" to God.

Question:  Do we know when we're "far away" from God?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:13 (NIV):  "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ."

We love to see the many appearances of the word"but" in New Testament writings!  Paul knows how to remind us of our horrible lost state, our sinfulness and degradation (Romans 1 & 2), and the disparity culturally between Jew and gentile.  What's to be done?  The solution, the comfort, the answer is always and only found in the person of Jesus Christ.  "In Christ Jesus" we have real help!  Are we "in Christ"?  It certainly would behoove us to be!  "You who once were far away," as described in verse 12, was a former picture of the status of the Ephesians.  All those reasons (verse 12) piled together to create a huge distance from God--a hopeless, uncrossable gap no man could engineer a way over.  But God can bring the Ephesians, and all gentiles everywhere, near to Himself.  Notice that no man, Jew or gentile, had the ability to fashion a way back into God's nearness.  Only God could do anything about this immense problem.  And do something He has!  He has beautifully gifted us with His only Son, Jesus Christ.  He has shed His Son's blood.  We draw near only through His blood--there is no other way.  If you now wish to be found "in Christ" you must come through the blood.  If you desire to remain "in Christ" that is also kept going for you through the blood and its daily application to your daily needs.  Only the blood of Christ has power enough to draw us nearer to God.  Again, no self-effort saves us; neither can self-effort keep us (in right relationship with God).  Only Jesus' blood preserves us blameless, thus enabling our nearness to God.  How much we owe God great praise for His unspeakable gift:  His Son Jesus Christ our Lord!!!

Prayer:  Great praise is Yours, oh Father God, for bringing gentiles (like me) near to Yourself through Christ!  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, we're all suffering an identity crisis in regard to knowing God--unless we've come to know Jesus Christ.

Question:  Am I still a "gentile in spirit", or have I been born into the family of God by receiving Christ?

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:12 (NIV):  "remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world."

The lot of a gentile (non-Jew) unbeliever is truly a sad experience, especially for those alive at this time when Judaism was on the rise.  No wonder they were called "gentile dogs."  The Ephesian Christians had formerly been 1) "separate from Christ."  That's the worst experience of all for anyone, gentile or Jew.  Without Jesus they were dead nothings, even if they were lucky enough to have been Jews.  The Ephesian Christians had formerly been 2) "excluded from citizenship in Israel."  Uncircumcision banned them from Israeli citizenship.  They were politically outcast as well as socially separated.  They were thus categorized as pagans.  The Ephesian Christians had formerly been 3) "foreigners to the covenants of the promise."  Jews only were given the covenant promises by God, that is, that Abraham would father their nation, blessed of God and protected.  Gentile non-Jews had to survive somehow as "foreigners" to these wonderful promises.  And lastly, the Ephesian Christians had formerly been "without hope and without God in the world."  Only Jews had an in-road with God.  This left everyone else, gentiles, out in the cold.  This shunning left them no hope.  No hope equates to no God.  This is the condition of anyone, really, who does not come to God in and through Jesus Christ.  Thus the picture of the gentile/Jew problem is in reality a true picture of the unbeliever problem we each have to deal with as we seek for salvation.  To be "gentile" in spirit is to have no hope, no God, no Christ--to be lost "in the world" of sin and death.

Prayer:  Lord, help me to remember what I would be without You--without Your Son--so that I may fully appreciate Your Great Salvation.  Amen! 

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