This is the conclusion at which the Apostle arrives following the thesis he develops from the 11^th verse downwards, when he reminds the Ephesian Church,

Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

That is their position: they were far off, now they are made nigh. He goes on to explain how this has happened: ‘For’, he says, ‘he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace’.

Now, sometimes a little confusion arises in considering what the Apostle says about ‘both’. When he says, ‘ye who were far off’ he is thinking also of those who now were near. Then he goes on to talk of the breaking down of ‘the middle wall of partition between us’.

Now what is he talking about?

Well, in the immediate context he is talking of the Jew and the Gentile; these are the two to whom he refers. He says we both have access unto the Father through Christ Jesus by the Spirit and then when he talks of ‘the middle wall of partition’ he refers to the wall that separated Jew and Gentile; the wall that divided the world into two different groups, namely, the Jew on the one hand, and the Gentile on the other. But we must not lose sight of the fact that over and above the reconciliation of Jew with Gentile there is the reconciliation of both unto God through the blood of the Cross. The reconciliation between men, between races, between classes, is made in a greater reconciliation than these, even in the reconciliation made between God and man through the Man Christ Jesus.

Temple Barrier⤒🔗

In order to understand what the Apostle says, it might help us to recall the worship of the Temple. In the Temple precincts there was a wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. There was what was called, the wall of the Gentiles beyond which no Gentile could go. That was what caused the uproar when Paul was accused of bringing Trophimus into the Temple (Acts 21). His enemies said that Paul brought Trophimus, who was a Gentile, beyond the wall of partition, the wall beyond which a Gentile could not go. But as we go further into the Temple precincts and into the Temple itself there is another wall of partition beyond which no Jew could pass and that is the veil of the Temple which separated the Holy from the Most Holy place. This was a wall of partition. None, not even the priests, could go beyond this wall; none, but the High Priest and him but once every year. Amongst other things that happened at the crucifixion of the Lord, there was this, the rending of the veil which separated the Holy from the Most Holy place: it was rent from top to bottom. This wall of partition was done away with; the veil that separated the Most Holy place from the congregation of Israel, and when this one was done away with every other veil was done away with also. The wall of partition that kept the Gentile from going beyond a certain place became meaningless once the veil of the Temple was rent in twain. We might look at it like this: that which divided the Jew from the Gentile was abolished because that which separated man from God was abolished.

The veil of the Temple was the obvious sign that the way to the Most Holy place was not yet open while the old Tabernacle stood. You remember how in the Epistle to the Hebrews this argument is developed at length. There was no immediate access for man into the presence of God while the earthly Tabernacle or Temple was still standing. We might say that a characteristic of the Old Testament dispensation was not only what it revealed, but as in contrast with the New Testament we would say it is what it concealed that was characteristic of it; it certainly revealed much but as contrasted with the New Testament it concealed much also. The way into the Holiest was not yet open while the earthly Tabernacle still stood but when these shadows were set aside when the substance had come, there was a way of access for all; the veil was rent from the top to the bottom and because of this every other partition, every wall, was automatically abolished.

And now says the Apostle, seeing He is our priest, our High Priest who has entered into the Holy place, not into the Holy place that is made with hands but into Heaven itself there to present Himself for His people; since this is so, we have a way of access unto the Father. Now for a little, we might think of the place to where we have a way of access — To the Father. Then, through whom? Through Him, the Son we both (Jew and Gentile) have a way of access unto the Father. But by whom? We both have a way of access through Him by one Spirit unto the Father. It is to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. We have therefore in these few words the fullness of the Godhead: in the Father, in the Son and in the Holy Ghost — and all that fullness engaged in the work of man’s salvation.

Access to God←⤒🔗

Now in the ultimate analysis this is salvation — access to God. We know that this is how man, ruined by sin, is presented to us in the Scriptures. Man sinned and was expelled from the presence of God, and not only was he expelled, but every precaution was taken that he would not return; that he would not, in other words, have a way of access unto life.

Lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life ... he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Genesis 3:22, 24

Access, in other words, is made absolutely impossible. That is, from man’s side, and this is his misery; this is the essence of it — that he is expelled; he is a wanderer; he is cast out from God — man’s misery commenced in this: ‘for by the fall man lost communion with God’. No access, no communion, no friendship anymore; he is shut out, and it is man that is shut out; that is not Jew or Gentile, considered merely as Jew or Gentile, but man, both Jew and Gentile. Of course, at that time there were no divisions, but man, as man, was expelled from the presence of God and from the glory of His power.

But he is not expelled in such a way that there cannot be a return; there certainly cannot be a return on the part of man because he has neither the desire nor the energy to retrace his steps. All the propensities of his nature hasten him on the way of getting further and further from God. His back is towards God and his face is towards perdition, and thus he moves and thus he is gathering momentum. He doesn’t move at a steady pace, but gathers momentum all the time in his downward course, in his flight from God. For he is without God in the world, without Christ and without hope — this is his condition. But now he says, ‘we have access’ and this access is based on peace. He has made peace by the blood of His Cross. We have almost the identical thought, almost in identical words, in the first verses of Romans chapter 5, ‘being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God’. Being justified by faith we have peace through Christ, by whom also we have access to peace; access to God through Christ of course. We have it because of the peace made.

Now, there was never peace like this peace and there never will be peace like this peace. It is the peace of God and the peace of God means first, not the peace that one enjoys in himself, it is the peace that God has wrought. It is objective, not subjective. It is something that has objective reality, not something that is merely enjoyed in man’s soul; of course it can be enjoyed in man’s soul, but that is not its basis. It is something that God has accomplished, something that God has brought about, and that is peace. Now, if He is our peace and if we have no peace without Him, there is the implication that what exists without Him is not a state of peace but a state of war or a state of enmity, and that is exactly the testimony of Scripture. Man is at enmity with God, the God who expelled him, the God who cast him out on account of his sin. Man is at war with God and from man’s side the angel with the flaming sword is still at the gate.

Through Christ←⤒🔗

The angel is not, and cannot be displaced by man, but nevertheless God has made peace and to make peace means, or implies, at least, coming to close quarters with the flaming sword. There was to be peace on no other condition; there was to be reconciliation on no other basis; there was to be a way of access in no other way but by coming to grips with the flaming sword that guarded the way to the Tree of Life, that is, that guarded the way to the presence of God. But we have access — therefore, someone must have come to grips with the flaming sword.

The Prophet Zechariah speaks in these terms, ‘Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered’ (Zech.13:7). Now this sword is no other but the very sword of which we read when man was expelled from Eden. And when it is said ‘Awake’ it would seem that in some sense the sword lay dormant, although still executing its purpose, of course. Now, if that is a legitimate thought, we think of it as meaning that it lay dormant in this sense: that the blessing of God had come out and that the saints of God had come in, under the Old Testament dispensation. The sword did not bar Abraham from access to God, although the work of reconciliation was not yet effected. It lay dormant in this sense, that there was a way of access based on a coming reconciliation for in a sense the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, yet He was not actually slain until the fullness of the time had come, and when it did, there was the awakening of the sword. Its blade was as keen as ever, its fire as hot, and here we see one approaching and well might we ask: Who will ascend up to the hill of God? Who can meet the flaming sword? Who can abide His wrath? Who is this, indeed, that cometh from Edom travelling in the greatness of His might? (Is. 63:1). And in what direction is He going? He is going towards the sword. He is to do business with that which turns this way and that, that which turns every way, guarding the way to the Tree of Life. And as He draws nearer, speaking with all reverence, He feels the heat — and it is the heat of the flaming sword that we see bringing out His sweat in Gethsemane as great drops of blood, even when the night was cold. It was a cold night. John tells us that the soldiers made a fire of coals, ‘for it was cold’ (Jn. 18:18), but the heat from this sword brought out the sweat of the Champion of His people as He drew nearer to do business with it, and nearer and nearer He comes. There is no turning back, He has set His face like a flint and as His disciples followed they were afraid; and they could only follow so far, then they turned and fled. But He went on. For Him there was to be no turning back, and He met the sword. ‘It clave His Humanity’, as Lachlan Mackenzie who was in Lochcarron used to say: ‘It clave the Humanity until it hit the Divinity’. And then it turned back, it could go no further. He is our peace and that sword is sheathed forever. It is now not only dormant but out of the way for all who are in Christ Jesus, and in Him they ascend up to the hill of God, having received righteousness from Him who went before. We have access through Him and in Him, access into the very presence of God.

There is no place too holy for this peace to enter. There is no more a sign forbidding to come any further. There was a sign on the wall of partition between the Jews and Gentiles, ‘No Gentiles must come beyond this’. There was a sign in the Temple and in the Tabernacle that beyond the veil none must come except the High Priest once every year, but this access is of such a nature that there is no limit set to it; it does not say ‘so far but no further’. It is access into the very presence of the Most High — in the Most Holy place. We have access not up to a certain point merely, but access into the Holiest of all and it is through Him who made peace, who met the sword, who came back not without marks of the conflict, but who came back triumphant and as He is seen returning it is in garments rolled in blood. Who is this that cometh, who has been to enemy country and back again? ‘Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel’. Who is it? It is He who speaks in righteousness — ‘I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save’.

By the Spirit←⤒🔗

Through Him we have access. But it is by the Spirit, that is, by the Holy Spirit of God, by one Spirit, who through Christ leads us into the presence of the Father. And how does the Spirit do this? He does it first of all by enabling the soul to draw near; that is, by imparting life to it. It is the living who have a way of access. A way of access, of course, is of no use to the dead; there might as well be no way at all. As long as they are dead, they cannot take the way, they cannot use the way. But when it is by the Spirit, it is by the Spirit that gives life. ‘It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing’ (Jn. 6:63). He imparts life and not only does He impart life but He imparts instruction. It is by His Word and Spirit that Christ executes the office of a Prophet by revealing to us the will of God for our salvation - life and instruction.

In what does instruction consist? In this: in His receiving of the things of Christ and revealing them unto us. The immediate cause of the believer’s approach to God is not (that is from the point of view of the consciousness of the believer) that the Spirit is leading him. No one draws near to God on this ground — that the Spirit is leading him. On what ground then does he draw near? On this ground — that there is a High Priest over the House of God. His encouragement to draw near is not derived from considering the qualities of the Spirit but is derived from considering the merit of Christ. It is the things of Christ that the Spirit receives to reveal them unto those who have a way of access to the Father. ‘Having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart’ (Heb. 10:21-22). Having a High Priest let us draw near. But how can we say that we have a High Priest? Through the Spirit or by the Spirit. It is the Spirit that enlightens the mind in the knowledge of Christ. Through Him we both, that is Jew and Gentile, man as man, have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Now, it is significant that he doesn’t say that we have access unto God — that is true; he doesn’t say we have access unto the Lord — that is true; but, we have access through the Son, by the Spirit unto the Father; God in the Person of the Father. But why call Him Father? Because, among other things, there could not be access to Him in any other way, nor from any other viewpoint; it is to the Father there is access, and access unto Him as Father. In the Catechism, what does the address in the Lord’s Prayer teach us? ‘Our Father which art in Heaven’ teaches us that we are to draw near to God as children to a father — to the Father. That is access as based on the relationship, and without the relationship of adoption there cannot be access. It is those who are adopted who receive a right to all the privileges of the sons of God, and surely this is the highest of all privileges — to have a way of access unto the Father.

But we must remember that there is a great difference between the right of the child of God (that is the right of the believer) which he has to all the privileges of the sons of God and the conscious enjoyment of that right. The believer may oftentimes be in such a state that he dare not call God his Father; he could not use that relationship in his plea. But does that change the relationship? Not in the least. The right still stands unchanged and unchangeable. But the conscious enjoyment of it, of course, is something else, and this is exactly what we mentioned about peace — the peace made by the blood of the Cross is never broken, it always holds good in Heaven. How then can the peace, the subjective peace of the believer, the peace he enjoys in his life, be broken? How can that be broken, if the peace, objectively considered, cannot be broken? There is a big difference between the two, although the one of course is based on the other, yet they are to be viewed differently, at least distinctly — with a distinction between them. The enjoyment of the peace in the heart is dependent upon God’s gracious ministration of His Grace and that in turn reflects itself in the believer’s walk and conversation. The believer can disturb his own peace.

This morning we considered a case of that — when David’s peace was not only disturbed but almost vanished. But it didn’t change the peace that was made on his behalf. That is something that is beyond the creature. It is not beyond him, alas, to disturb things in himself and fill himself with the darkness of sin, the darkness of unbelief and the darkness of ignorance. But that does not interfere with that which was made and which stands in Heaven, steadfast, unchangeable. So the believer has a right to all the privileges but it cannot be said that he always enjoys all the privileges. But it can be said that he will enjoy them. The time is coming, as someone has put it, when the experience of salvation, the joy of salvation, will be commensurate with salvation itself. As John Macrae (Big Macrae) used to put it, ‘The time is coming when the cup of his enjoyment will be as full as the cup of his right’. The right he has to the privileges, his enjoyment of them will be commensurate with that. But that is not in this world. But even in this world he may be made so conscious of peace, of the blessedness of peace, and of the privileges which are his in Christ, that with the Psalmist he may be able to say, ‘My cup runs over’. We fail to realise God is sovereign in His dispensing of His comfort as He is sovereign in His dispensing of His salvation.

Nevertheless, this is what holds true — we have access. It is not we ought to have it, but, we have it. So, says the Apostle, in the name of the church, ‘We have access through him by one Spirit unto the Father’. And it is the duty, as well as the privilege, of the believer to use every means to possess his possessions, to be in conscious enjoyment of what has been done for him and on his behalf and it is for this reason that we read again and again, walk, ‘not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil’.

Prayer←⤒🔗

O Blessed One, grant us Thy favour; grant us to know in our hearts that which Thou dost declare to us in Thy Word; enable us to make use of what Thou dost so bountifully and freely set before us — the blessings of the Gospel of Thy Grace; undertake for us and take away our sins, for Christ’s sake. Amen.