HOW WE HAVE ACCESS TO THE FATHER
E. M. Walkinshaw
I was thinking, dear brethren, of the wonderful fact of our having been made nigh and having access through Christ by one Spirit to the Father. The privilege is very great and it belongs to all believers. I think the Lord would encourage us to take it up. Paul speaks here to these Ephesians who had been aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. They were not to forget what they once were in the flesh, that they were alienated from everything that was precious—very much like the younger son who had gone into the far country—gone away from God, abandoned Him, and found themselves in idolatry and distance. God comes in in His wonderful grace, and His disposition is towards all men, not just towards the Jew. Christ Jesus is the Mediator of God and men (1 Timothy 2: 5), not of God and the Jews. It is not a function just toward Jew or gentile; what is before God is men.
So here Paul exhorts them to remember what they had been, complete strangers to everything that was precious to God, and, in fact, at that time, precious to the Jew. Then Paul says, “But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were afar off are become nigh by the blood of the Christ”. I think that is a very touching statement. It refers really to the giving up of the life of Him who is the Head of the anointed system, and in the giving up of His life He has removed for ever the order of man which was displeasing to God. So we have a reference to His blood, and to being made nigh. I think that is moral. It is how we are to understand it, dear brethren, that it cost Jesus His precious life.
He had to give up His life, and His blood be shed, in order that we who were afar off might become nigh, and we are become nigh in Christ Jesus. It is not that the flesh is made nigh, or the gentile made nigh, but “now in Christ Jesus ye … are become nigh”. It is in Christ Jesus, that is, another Man. I believe God would help us to lay hold of this so that we might be strengthened in what He has done, that in the blood of Christ every moral issue has been met and the man who was so displeasing to God removed, and we, although gentiles, have, as persons, been brought into nearness to, and favour with, God. How wonderful it is! There was a time when we were without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world; now we are not thus in the world. I think God would have us to appreciate that, and to appreciate what it cost that we might become nigh.
I think of the father’s affections for that son who went into the far country; his affections were very real, and never changed. The prodigal was ever his son, although distant from him, but in coming back on the wonderful ground of repentance he came into the favour that was his. I think the spirit of repentance is to mark us all the time—a change of mind. It is not just a question of something that happened twenty, thirty, or forty years ago, although, of course, that was very real and necessary—“repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20: 21)—but I think it is a question all the time. A constant change of mind brings us into a deeper appreciation of the Person and the work of Christ, and consequently into the enjoyment of our nearness to God. As I
said, I think that is moral, but access by one Spirit is spiritual. I put the two together so that we might see something of the difference, but the moral foundation in the blood of Christ lays the basis for what is spiritual, and, as we all know in our exercises, what is moral must necessarily precede what is spiritual.
Then Paul goes on to say, “For he is our peace”. He is dealing, of course, with the distance and enmity which existed between the Jew and the gentile. There might be enmity existing between rich and poor, or between different social classes, between brother and brother, or sister and sister, but the fact is that that kind of man has been completely removed. So Paul says, “He is our peace”. It is not God’s peace here, it is our peace. Paul says in another passage, “having made peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1: 20); I think that refers to peace for the Godhead. But here he says He, that is Christ, is our peace. Think of the middle wall of enclosure being broken down; the distance that existed, the enmity, the hatred between Jew and gentile, completely broken down. It is not, as another has said, that the Jew is brought down to the level of the gentile, or that the gentile is brought up to the level of the Jew—morally both are removed. So whatever alienation existed, or may exist even today, is not settled by the one being brought down to the level of the other, or the other being brought up to the level of the one, but by both morally being removed. Both Jew and gentile have been removed morally from under the eye of God, and Christ has formed the two in Himself into one new man.
Now, dear brethren, that one new man is Christ in character in the saints, and He has reconciled both Jew and gentile in one body to God. So we can
see how in the precious work of Christ, His blood, His flesh, the cross, everything that stood in the way has been completely removed; not only that which stood in the way between us and God, but anything that might stand in the way between brother and brother and sister and sister, so that the enmity has gone. It speaks here of His blood, as I have said, and it speaks also of His flesh. You will notice what is said, He has “broken down the middle wall of enclosure, having annulled the enmity in his flesh, the law of commandments in ordinances, that he might form the two in himself into one new man, making peace”. So that what is in mind through the work of Christ, and the Person of Christ, is that both should in perfect harmony and in perfect peace have access to the Father. I think it is very touching, dear brethren, and it should affect our hearts and help us to judge ourselves in the light of the precious death of Jesus, so that as we judge ourselves we are able together, as one, to enter into the presence of the Father. One has always been touched in reading this passage by the reference to His blood, and to His flesh, and to the cross—what it cost the Lord Jesus so that the middle wall of enclosure might be broken down, and that applies morally wherever it may apply.
Today it hardly applies to Jew and gentile because mainly in the assembly we have nations, or gentiles, but it does, of course, apply socially very often. At one time the rich sat in one place in the meeting and the poor in another. We might be horrified at that and hardly believe that it was the case, but it was. But the Lord in His gracious operations has, I believe, gradually brought the brethren into correspondence with the truth so that they appreciate that in His death both the poor and the rich were morally extinguished. The poor are not made rich, nor are the rich made poor. If in
God’s ways I am poor, I remain poor. If another brother is rich, he remains rich. But morally there is no difference. In the assembly in Christ Jesus we are all one, and I think the Spirit of God would help us to reach that.
So as I have said, as we get a touch as to the blood of Christ, the flesh of Christ, and the cross of Christ, it becomes a lever in our souls to judge ourselves so that we might not only be reconciled to God, but reconciled to one another, and thus experience access through Christ by one Spirit to the Father. So that first of all there is His blood, then His flesh, then the cross, and then Himself. So the work is there—He has done everything that was necessary; He has made the way morally; but we have not only what is moral dealt with, we also have the Spirit.
We have Christ’s work, and His Person, and through Him, in that permanent, glorious, mediatorial position, we have access in the power of one Spirit to the Father. So, dear brethren, we both go in—that is the idea. Jew and gentile both go in. You may say, ‘How can it be?’. It can only be because God has so wrought to bring persons into the gain of the death of Jesus that together they can both go in in one new man, that is Christ in character under the eye of God. So we should take up this privilege. As I have already said, it belongs to every believer. No matter where he is, how distant he may be, it is his property. Now the point is, Can I take it up? Can I take up the access that Christ has won for me? Can I appreciate the moral side, that is, His blood, His flesh, the cross? Then can I appreciate Himself, and the presence of the Spirit, so that you and I, and the brethren, can together take up the greatest privilege that you could possibly imagine for men and women here? I would agree that it is not as men and women spiritually, but men and women here are able to take up
the greatest possible privilege—access to the Father.
I think the opening up of that, and the Father’s realm, is in chapter three, the Father supreme in a world of bliss that has breadth, and length, and depth, and height; but if we are to enjoy it, dear brethren, we must face with God the moral side, judging ourselves, so that we are in correspondence with the death of Jesus and able to take up the privileges that belong to us.
May we be encouraged to do it, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Gillingham
22 March 1977