TODAY’S READING: Ephesians 2:11-14
KEY VERSE:
“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” EPH 2:14
I have had the privilege of travelling to and through Germany on multiple occasions, visiting great friends in different parts of the country. Between August 1961 and November 1989, travelling this journey would not have been possible for any of the German population because of the infamous Berlin wall. The wall was built on Sunday 13th August 1961 after the East German government’s decision to close the entire border. Initially, it was made up solely of barbed wire before it was quickly replaced to be a formidable, 13-foot-high and 96-mile-long wall with 300 guard towers strategically placed across regular intervals. From that moment, there was no movement between East and West Germany until the removal of border restrictions in November 1989 and then the final destruction of the wall in December 1989. Towns, cities and regions were split in two overnight. Families and friends who were together daily, suddenly had the horror of this being impossible and illegal due to the closing of the borders and their positions on either side of the new wall. A situation hard for many of us even to imagine.
This horror is closer to home for all of us than we might think. God knitted us together in our mother’s womb and breathed the first breath into our lungs. At the point of birth, we are born in sin and are now living under the curse of the fall in the garden of Eden which results in a separation being created between us and the Father. A great wall of hostility is placed between us and the Father. Our sin is offensive to Him and we cannot enter into His presence. We are now people, “having no hope and without God in the world” (v12) and destined for an eternity without the Father. The great news for us is that, “you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”(v13). The unpassable divide which once separated us like the Berlin wall has been demolished through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and by His blood. We can now once again come close to the Father.
We could not make peace with the Father in our own strength but only through the blood of Christ. “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” Declaring Jesus as Lord and Saviour literally breaks down the wall of hostility which stood between us and the Father and is a powerful picture of our miraculous salvation. What was never meant to be possible has been made possible. For many in Germany, when the wall came down, scenes of euphoria, celebration and tears flooded our screens as many were re-united with family and friends. This, one day, will be our story as we are re-united with the Father in heaven through the blood of Christ. In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. Before Christ, we were without hope, far from the Father and lacking peace. Now, through the blood of Christ, we are again brought near to the Father and the wall of hostility between us is gone forevermore.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, that there is power in the blood of Jesus which breaks down the wall of hostility between us and allows us to draw near to you; an impossible miracle for which I am eternally grateful.
ACTION STEPS
• Read Ephesians 2: 11-14
• As you pray today, ask for the same power of Jesus’ blood which broke down the wall of hostility, to bring new freedom in your life.
• Break, rip or destroy something today and imagine it to be the wall of hostility which separated you from the Father. Once broken, worship in that moment and thank the Him that the wall was totally destroyed!