Bible Survey - Ephesians

Ephesians is one of those books, I keep looking at it, and every time I look at it, I see new things. Every time I look at the book of Ephesians, I see new things. One of the things that I said via email to at least some of you here is going to take a different kind of look at Ephesians than we usually do.

The bullets here have the believers, spiritually speaking, blessed and seated in the heavenlies in Christ, completing the identification truths about our shared history with Christ, crucified, buried, raised, ascended, and seated with Christ. And it's very interesting. Here's the Apostle Paul. He writes the book of Romans, for example, and good sections on the identification truths, but it's only death, burial, and resurrection. Here in Ephesians, and it's true of Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, sometimes called the prison epistles, we find a believer in the heavenlies with Christ.

Another thing to point out, the first four and a half chapters focus on the believer's position. There isn't anything in the first four and a half chapters for the believer to do. It's all about your position, either as it stands now in Christ or formerly. And chapter two focuses on some of the formerly. While the last chapter and a half focus on the believer's condition.

Now one of the things we're going to do in our different approach is to look at it in some different ways than likely you've ever heard before and that is in Ephesians chapters 1 and 2 there is a repetition of a pattern in each chapter and the pattern goes like this starting with verse 3 which is after the introduction the church is blessed in Christ from verse 3 through verse 9 it's the church's blessings in Christ in verse 10 there's mention of the Millennial Kingdom mention of the Millennial Kingdom it begins again with the church blessed in Christ and I have a break there between verse 14 and 15 because Ephesians chapter 1 from verses 3 to 14 is all one sentence even though it's broken up It's broken up in the English translations because I guess the translators just go nuts trying to make that all flow.

But Paul wrote in verses 3-14 the longest Greek sentence in all of Greek literature. The second longest Greek sentence in all of Greek literature is verse 15-23. So he gets the gold and silver medal for the longest sentence. So at any rate, you have a starting of verse 15 again, the beginning of a sentence, that's why that's marked out.

The church is blessed in Christ, and then that continues on down until verse 21, again mentioning the Millennial Kingdom. And then finally, the church is blessed in Christ for the last two verses. So you have this, the church is blessed in Christ, mention of the Millennial Kingdom, the church is blessed in Christ, mention of the Millennial Kingdom, and then finishing off with the church is blessed in Christ.

So very interesting that pattern. Now you have a two-part pattern again in chapter 2. That's the one on the right. It says, as unbelievers, and it has the word formerly two times in those first three verses, and then it talks about from verse 4 to verse 10, the church is blessed with Christ in salvation. Talking about salvation, right?

And then again, as unbelievers, formerly, from verses 11, 12, and 13, and then the church is blessed in Christ. Very interesting, this pattern that the Apostle Paul chose. One of the differences in the second part that says, as unbelievers, formerly two times, verses 11 through 13, one of the differences is that he distinguishes between the Gentiles and the Jews and he's talking about gentile unbelievers and uh... how the uh... gentiles and the jews are now part of one building as he puts it and how did the apostle paul make it that the jews and gentiles are part of the same building the same body yeah took down the dividing wall which is the law He took down the dividing wall, which is the law. That's how he put the Jews and Gentiles together as one building. One building. Okay, let's take a look here at the top of page two. And now we've got another thing that is well hidden. I have yet to find a major translation that brings this across. It's probably a best-kept secret is the way I put it.

There are 23 places in the book of Ephesians where the Christ is in the Greek text. And it's not carried over into English by the translators, so the Jews would have seen the Christ as their Messiah. When Caiaphas asked Jesus if he was the Messiah, he asked him, are you the Christ? Same words here 23 times in Ephesians. so the jews would have read that as this is our messiah this is our messiah and and the first time that it shows up is right there in Ephesians 10 which is the first looking back at the previous page the first mention of the millennial kingdom is when the messiah the title the messiah is used in Ephesians In other words, where they put in Christ, it should be in THE Christ.

Often. Let me see if I can quickly find some examples. Ephesians 1.10 is the first occurrence. It just says Christ in the ordinary English. Right. Let's take, for instance, in Ephesians 1 10 at the very last part in him and then verse 11 also we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of his glory."

There's another occurrence, an example of where the Christ comes up in the book of Ephesians. Yeah? You're saying that's the Millennial Kingdom? Yes. So let's get to that. Ephesians 1, 9 and 10 is right there on the upper part of page 2. That's quoted from the New American Standard. And let me begin by reading that.

And He made known to us the mystery of His will. And remember, a mystery is what? Something really mysterious? Yeah, a mystery and biblical definition throughout the whole Bible. A mystery is something that was in the past hidden and not revealed. But now has been revealed. So it's not something that remains mysterious. It was mysterious. It isn't now. Okay.

So a different definition than many of us would think of the mystery of his will. In other words, his will is now revealed, right? According to his kind intention, which he purposed in him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times.

That is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. Let me do the expand and explain, which is right below that. He, the Father, made known to us in the church, giving some definition to the pronouns there, through the apostles and prophets the previously unrevealed mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He, the Father, purposed in Christ. from the plan and perspective of God's administration of all things, which we now know includes the Church, toward the full completion and final stage of the earthly times. That is, the summing up and bringing into submission of all things in the Messiah in the Millennial Kingdom, including all the things in the heavens and things on the earth.

God is managing history. That's what this word administration is. He's managing history to the end that everything will be summed up in Christ. That's the future Millennial Kingdom. So does Messiah imply the Millennial Kingdom? First of all, it's the first occurrence of Messiah. The Jews would have looked at that and said, that's my Messiah. So that's part one. The other thing is it says God is managing everything, so that everything will be summed up in Christ. Things in the heaven, things on the earth. Yeah, Morgan?

Yeah, and also the fullness of the times, right? The fullness of the times. There's different times, different periods of time throughout Earth's history, but this is the fullness and the completion of all time. This is what everything is directed towards on this planet. everything will be summed up in Christ. And then will be the end of this present heavens and earth and the new heavens and new earth. By using the combination of everything in the heavens and the earth. Yes. And the only time that the earth will be in submission Will be then, right? So the implication is there, even though the word is not. Yes.

And one other thing, and it's just things in the heavens and things on the earth, we'll be looking at that shortly, but it is a Jewish expression that the Greeks would say the world, the cosmos, to mean everything. The Jews didn't have that expression. When they meant everything, they didn't use the expression world. Instead, they had heavens and earth. And that heavens and earth or heaven and earth pattern continues from the very beginnings of the Bible to the very end. If you want to say everything in the Jewish culture, you say heaven and earth or heavens and earth. You put those together, that's everything. but they don't have a word for world like we do, a whole universe.

So the places where the Christ, the Messiah is are in Ephesians 1.10 and I continue on there all the way to 6.5. 6.5 is the last occurrence of the Christ or the Messiah. So imagine Jews reading this, they would see Christ and that would definitely get their attention, but when they saw THE Christ, that's THE Messiah to them. And they would see it from their perspective. That's how they would read that as it came across. In our English translations, we've lost that because it's been dropped out every time.

Now, Paul wrote sometimes in Gentile terms and sometimes in Jewish terms. I've been going through and marking out the Gentile and the Jewish terms and I've got to page 10 and I'm still working on it. Looking at all the things that are Jewish and Gentile and which one they are and he alternates between the Jewish and Gentile terms. And so a part of what he's trying to do, and you can see at the end of chapter two where he says, you know, I took the law out of the way so to make the Jews and Gentiles into one people. He's using terminology and expressions that both groups would then understand. Here'd be a Jewish term, then here'd be a Gentile term, and he kind of goes back and forth between those to make sure everybody's included. Yeah.

Since he was an apostle to the Gentiles, and since God was going to use him for that purpose, and it was necessary for him to explain the Jewish mindset and religion to the Gentiles, and so that's what he's doing. One of the reasons the apostle Paul spends a lot of time explaining position is because the Jews already had a sense of position.

The Gentiles did not. And the Gentile culture made no connection between the deities and morality. You might pray to steal better. You might pray to the pagan deity to have this guy killed so I can have his wife. Those kinds of things. So you could pray for immoral things to the pagan gods, and that was fine, because there was no connection between the pagan gods and morality.

But so Paul had to explain, position, who you are, who you are in Christ, that you're blessed in Christ, you're seated in the heavenlies, for chapters before he started in with, okay, Now that you know who you are, let's talk about your stealing problem. Because then there was a connection. Oh, here is my position in Christ and this God is a God where morality matters.

So did their sense of position, the Jewish people that is, did that come from, say, the Abrahamic covenant or did it come from the law of blessing and curses? Yes, because you look at it, here's the Abrahamic covenant, God's made a covenant, and it's the first of several covenants that apply to the Jews. That's why both in Ephesians and in Romans, the Apostle Paul talks about the Jews having the covenants. So multiple covenants, including the law covenant. gave them a sense of identity. What did the law do, aside from establishing blessing and cursing, it also separated them as a separate people from the Gentiles.

Made them stand out, right? So now let's look at the middle here where he wrote about sometimes Gentile and sometimes Jewish terms. Let's look at the first bullet. The 23 references to the Messiah explained above spoke to the Jews and the two references to the Morneo Kingdom in chapter 1 spoke to the Jews too. That was something they were already primed for and looking for.

Next, in Ephesians 1-2 we see the words grace to you and peace. Grace, keres, was the usual manner of Greek greeting and peace, shalom. So Paul makes sure, excuse me, I should have had in there peace is a Jewish term, right? Shalom is a Jewish term. Jerusalem is Yerushalom. Nancy and I have a care facility, kind of a place with different levels of care, you know, for those who are injured or aging and whatnot. It's called Shalom, right? And it's a Jewish establishment. So peace there, Shalom, is the Jewish greeting. So what does he do? He doesn't just use one or the other, he uses both. Grace and peace. from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. So he frequently uses both because he can address both that way. He can greet them both that way.

Does Greek mean Gentile? You bring up a good question. Gentiles are all non-Jews, right? But in the world of especially the Eastern Mediterranean, the Gentiles were predominantly of Greek background. They were certainly of Greek language background, and many of them of Greek cultural background. So, as a result, you will find in the New Testament, Greek used as a synonym for Gentile.

Paul telling the Ephesians that the Father blessed unconditionally with every spiritual blessing and loved them and showed kindness and that they were saved eternally and irreversibly by grace was in sharp contrast with the pagan deities, such sharp contrast with the pagan deities that the Gentiles had to have been mind-blown when they heard these things.

Imagine growing up in a world where the gods don't care about you, And the gods are in fact immoral. And the gods will even kill one another. The earth and the universe in the Greek pantheon last forever. Eternity past to eternity future, gods come and go. So here's the Apostle Paul starting off this letter Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

The pagan gods didn't ever bless you, and they didn't love you, and they showed no kindness. You had to do things to get their favor and attention. You had to buy with sacrifices. You had to buy their favor. But they didn't love you, they showed no kindness, they had no mercy, they had no grace.

To have a God of over the top, overthrown, overblown graces, multiple magnitudes of grace was just astounding to them. And you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing and you didn't do anything to earn it or deserve it. You didn't have to try to win the God's favor by sacrifices and different things. To the Gentiles, this was just blowing them away. They were just astounded at this. For the Jews, that blessings would be unconditional and in the heavenlies rather than on earth was quite a startling revelation to them.

Because remember, with the Jews, how do you get blessed? You obey the law, that's how you get blessed, right? But what happens if you don't obey the law? You get cursed, right? That's the way it works in the Jewish system. And where do you get blessed and cursed? Which place? In the land and here, on this planet. Paul turns around and says, unconditional blessings, okay? that you get entirely by God's mercy and grace, and it's not here, it's in the heavenlies, and it's untouchable, and there's no way you can blow it.

So both the Gentiles and the Jews were mind-blown by what Paul had to write here in Ephesians. Both of them were just stunned. Wow! And the law, which is the very thing the Jews thought, well, that's the only way I can get blessed, right? Paul turns around in the second chapter and says, no, took the law out of the way. Just took it out of the way. It's all gone. Doesn't exist anymore.

And then above every name that is names would help the Ephesian believers to see how worthless all the magic papers and amulets with special names to name to gain the power of those names. See amulet next page. So let's take a look at the next page where we've got some color photos. What the marketplaces would have is lots of magic papers and magic amulet booths where you could go and buy these things and you would name names of like different angels and different deities and you'd name a bunch of names and as you named those names you would get the power of that name. So you'd go around and you'd name lots of names, right?

Names, names, names, and you'd have different ones and you know Michael and Gabriel are the only angels that are named in the Bible. We'll be seeing Gabriel here in this morning's main service. Just two. So what they did is they made up extra angel names. Raphael and a bunch of others.

They made up extra angel names so you could put the names on the amulets. So you could put the names on the papers. And so naming names was one of the ways you got power. And you'd go and spend lots of money to get these papers and amulets with the extra names.

Yeah, Pat? This is not an angel. Notice it's got a rooster head, and you've got snakes on the feet. It's some real composite spiritual being, but it's to give you power, multiple powers by different things. That's part of naming the names. It wasn't one name. It was a whole bunch of different names, and I've got a bunch of different powers that I can draw upon. So all these words within this thing are different different names you can name, right?

And so you got something where you really want some, you want to get some power, and you can take this amulet, and it might be something you carry in your pocket, or you put it on a necklace, right? And they'd hold this thing, and they'd look at it, and you'd start naming names, and it's supposed to give you power. So what does the Apostle Paul do? He says, you know, you got this practice of naming names.

It even says that in the book of Acts 18-19 that the believers gathered up all their magic books and 50,000 pieces of silver. We don't know exactly the denomination, but likely that was the drachma, which is a day's wages. 50,000 days wages worth of magic papers.

Just so you could name names and have the right incantations, yes. One of the sad things that happened to the church along the way was almost the same thing of getting magic charms and things that would give you special dispensation in the eyes of God. Well, and the tradition got started then to, you know, I got a, we went right back and we got all these names of different saints you can call on, right? Yeah, this one's for lost causes, and this one's for things that are lost, and this other one for this other thing, and you start falling right back into it. I'm going to start naming names in order to get power. So what did the Apostle Paul do?

He says, Jesus is the name that's above all those names. Jesus is the name that's above all those names, therefore, all those names that can be named. are worthless. Because all you need is the name of Jesus. Jesus is the name above every name. That's what he means by this. It's this magic naming names that he's going after. He says you don't need all those names. You just need the name of Jesus. That's the name you need.

Yeah? So Vern, where did these names originate from? Like also all the Greek gods? Well, what's interesting is is this pantheon that you have You know you've got typically what you'd have is there'd be a you know a husband and wife quite often in the pantheon Husband and wife and you get you know Zeus and Juno and you know those kinds of names And then they've got all these little underling you know Ones and it's interesting how often there's an equivalence from one culture to another from the Middle East on into Southern Europe and And even on into northern Europe, there's a pantheon of gods.

And what they did is they'd take the pantheon and just give it the name that fit the culture. So you've got Norse gods up in northern Europe, Scandinavian areas, and then you come down into middle Europe and they've got another pantheon, and then you go over to the Greeks and they've got their pantheon. And you go over to the Middle East with the Babylonians, with the Assyrians and whatnot, and they've got their pantheon. And you can actually just kind of put a chart and see their equivalent deities.

It got more complicated with the Egyptians. They had about 700 gods. So really complex. And that's the thing, being a priest is like, boy, I've got to study a lot because I've got to remember all these 700 gods and the right things to say and do with each one. So, yeah, it was something, basically they're made up.

The Apostle Paul reveals that these are really demons, if there's any spiritual reality behind any of it. In verse 20 it's talking about what God did. He worked in Christ and He seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places. Now is that, since God the Father is spiritual, He didn't really have any left or right, is that just an expression of Yeah, the thing is, we tend to say, with our kind of Greek background, we tend to say, what does it look like?

Right? And so we visualize it, what does it look like? But the Jewish way of stating things is, what does it mean? What does it mean? So to seat him in his right hand, which hand was the hand of power? The right hand, right? So the right hand is the hand of power. Yes. Yes. They're bad and evil. It's left handed. Yes. So the answer to your question is to look at first at what does it mean, not what does it look like. And so you get that significance. Because in fact, you should read in Revelation, The first time you see Christ in Revelation in the heavenlies, He's standing.

And He takes the seven-sealed scroll, right? But asking the question of anything with the Jewish writing pattern is, what does it mean, not what does it look like? Just like at the end of chapter 2, He's going to talk about building a building. That's a holy temple, and it's really people. So what does it mean not what does it look like when you when you take the description literally?

Now so then we have the second bullet That comes up on page three. It's actually the first First bullet there and in Ephesians 2 1 through 3 Paul uses the word walked which was a Jewish word with a long history What did Noah do Noah? walked with God. Enoch walked with God. So it is a very long-standing Jewish term. Those in the Greek world understood it, but they didn't use it as a part of their long-standing background. So then, in verse 3, the word translated lived was a Greek term. So Paul, when he's doing this description, uses a Jewish term, then uses a Greek term, And that Greek term, lived, means your interaction between one another. So walking is your individual ordering of steps. Just like Noah walked with God, even if nobody else did. Enoch walked with God, even if nobody else did. So walking is individual ordering of one's life from a spiritual basis.

But this word for lived is the human interaction. And that's a Greek term. Ephesians 1.4 and 2.12, Paul uses the term world, which would have been a Greek or Gentile term.

But in Ephesians 1.10, the things in the heavens and things on the earth would be Jewish. Things in the heavens and things on the earth would be Jewish. So he would express things alternating between Jewish terms and Gentile terms, or Greek terms, as Pat pointed out here. All right, now, something else to take a look at. We could go on and on with this Jewish and Gentile terminology.

By the way, when Paul quoted Old Testament scripture, that would have related to who? That would have related to the Jews and gotten their attention. And by the way, the very particular strain of the Greek Old Testament in Ephesians is from Ephesus. And that same particular strain of the Greek Old Testament is in Hebrews and Revelation.

Roman soldiers were trained to work in teams. Often when you see Ephesians 6, 10-14 taught, you will often see it presented or hear it presented as a single Roman soldier. But that overlooks the fact that the Roman soldiers were taught to work in teams.

They, for example, this is what's called the tortoise formation that you see in the photo, middle left there. They would take their shields and they were trained to put them together. That's why they're rectangular so that there's no big openings like an oval or round shield would make. So they would put them together and those behind would put them on top. So you would have on the sides, the front and the top. You would have shields all the way around. And so they trained them, and there were variations in this tortoise formation.

One of the things, for example, that they would do if cavalry was coming, they had their spear, which is called a pilum. They had their spear, and they would dig the tail end of their spear into the ground and have the spear sticking out. So you wouldn't have some guy riding a horse, a cavalryman, just come up and charge this formation. But if there are no cavalrymen, nobody on horses coming, then they could do as you see here and keep the pilum out of it, their spears. Oh, and the spears were made to break at the end if they were thrown so they couldn't be thrown back at you. So that's one thing.

And so what you see is variations on this tortoise formation. They had a tortoise formation for whether you had cavalry or not. They had a tortoise formation for if you were going up against a wall attacking a fortress or a city. So they had a tortoise formation for that. They had a tortoise formation for the battering rams.

So you'd have the shields around the guys with the battering rams because otherwise the guys are going to be raining down arrows and stones and hot oil and everything else. So you'd have a tortoise formation to protect the guys in the battering rams. It was July 1st, 70 AD. That's when the Romans took their battering rams up against the gates of Jerusalem. And they'd have a tortoise formation to protect the guys with the battering rams. Okay, and then another thing, you see this lorica segmentata is what it's called. That's this segmented body and shoulder shield.

That lorica segmentata also had to be tied in the back, and you couldn't do it yourself. So not only did they have formations where they worked together in teams, but one of your teammates would have to tie the back of your lorica segmentata. And so, you know, the idea of an individual Roman soldier standing on his own and fighting on his own, no, they taught in teams, you fought in teams, you know, if that guy is going to do the tie on my lorica segmentata on the back, I better do a good job for him too, right? So team thinking was one of the things that was ingrained in them.

Another, you'll see repeatedly, both in here I have it bolded, stand firm, stand firm, stand firm. They'd have the cleated sandals, and those cleated sandals would allow them to keep their grip. What's going to happen if you've got this tortoise formation, but you have one guy that loses his balance and slips and falls over? suddenly you got a vulnerability, right? And now the next guys are vulnerable, and then if they are taken down, the next guys are vulnerable, right? So it was a critical thing that you keep your footing.

And while we have from excavations examples of this particular cleated sandal, We have from excavations examples of that. This one is sort of a rebuilt replica. Very interesting. The only Roman soldier footprint that we have, the only one, was from the southeast part of the Sea of Galilee. And that was at the city on a hill that Jesus talked about from the opposite side of the lake. Very interesting here.

But one of the things to bring out here is just when we think of Ephesians chapter 6 where it talks about finally be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might is to think teams, think together. So part of what that's saying is not just simply in spiritual warfare that I stand alone, but I stand in my position in Christ because that's what these various pieces of weaponry mean. alongside my brothers and sisters. So spiritual warfare is not done alone. Spiritual warfare is done with your brothers and sisters as well. We work together in spiritual warfare, not just by ourselves. Alright, any other thoughts, questions? And then I've got another option to go to. Yeah? Okay, let's turn to Ephesians, because the next thing I'm going to do is have you turn to chapter 2. In Ephesians, the name above all names is at the end of chapter 1. 21. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named. not only in this age, but also in the one which is to come.

The Jewish perception, and this you can see throughout the New Testament, Jesus' words, Paul's writings, the Jewish perception was there's one age, which is this present evil age, that extends from the time that Adam fell up until the time the Messiah comes.

That's this age. And what's the age to come? is the Millennial Kingdom. So you've got this age, this present evil age, and the age to come is the Millennial Kingdom. So there's basically two ages in the Jewish thinking with this present heavens and earth. And so both Jesus and Paul used variations on that kind of terminology. This age, this present evil age, and the age to come. So that was their perception. Everything is going to be evil until the Messiah comes. Until the Messiah comes. Let's take a look at the end of chapter 2.

And this is where he, in verses 11 through 13, addresses the Gentiles, calls them the uncircumcision, and talks about what they don't have, their atheos, We get our term atheist from that Greek term. They are atheos without God in the world. Do they have gods? Yes, but they were without the God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been made near by the blood of Christ. He goes on and talks about what Christ accomplished. Let's take a look at verse 19. Now therefore you are no longer strangers, and he's talking about the Gentiles, you're no longer strangers and aliens and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.

So they're starting to use building terminology, and what they would do is they would dig down to solid rock in a well-built building, dig down to solid rock, and then from there they would start laying the foundation stones beginning with the cornerstone, which had to be the very best material, and they would machine it down So it was very straight and very accurately laid. And then they would build on top of that solid foundation. So we have the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ being the cornerstone. So they use the building analogy.

Now let's look at verses 21 and 22. In whom the whole building being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And it's like he never wrote it. starts over, in whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. Now, what is exactly the same between verses 21 and 22? What is exactly the same in wording between verses 21 and 22?

The meaning is the same. So that's one of the patterns you find in Jewish poetry, is the meaning is essentially the same. Do they start out the same? Yeah, in whom, so they start out the same, so that's identical, it's not even just rhyming, it's identical. Then the next part, the whole building being joined together, and then you also are being built together, So the built together is identical. He's saying you also, and the whole building, those are rhyming meanings. Just the second one is more personal, and the first one is more metaphorical.

Right? Yes. This almost seems like there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. This is the idea of Jews and Gentiles and Christians. You've got these three different groups. Now we've just got one big group. Think about it. In what he has said, first of all, by the law and culture and covenants and everything, the Jews and Gentiles were very separated. Very separated. Even with the Jews trying to live in the same city as the Gentiles, There were issues, right?

Here's a Jew, he's wanting to buy a tunic. And he goes in and he finds, here's a tunic and it looks nice, but it's got two different kinds of fabric. You know, two different kinds of materials in the fabric. Can the Jew buy it? Can't buy it? Can't wear it? He's not interested. Of course, the Gentile is going to be what? offended, discouraged, you know, going to bother him. Same thing, you know, the Jew says, I'm hungry. Where is he going to eat? Is he going to eat at the Gentile food distribution place?

No, not going to do that. So you have a great separation. Now, as you read this, the law taken out of the way, when you see verses 21 and 22, do you see a Jewish-Gentile distinction? You don't. You don't see any difference. He doesn't say, and over here we've got some Gentile stones, and over here we've got some Jewish stones. No distinguishing between them at all.

The preface to the verses you're talking about And He came and preached peace to you who were far off, Gentiles, and to those who were near, the Jews. For through Him, Christ, we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. So He's laid the cornerstone. That's right.

What He is doing is repeatedly using different metaphors saying there is no dividing wall. There is no difference. There aren't Jewish stones and Gentile stones. They're all out of one. Now, what he's done here is he's essentially taken something from the Jews. The Jews say, wait a minute, you got rid of my law. It's essentially that he calls the law the dividing wall between the Jews and Gentiles. And so the Jews are going to feel like, you know, he just took something away from me. But, so what does he do?

21 and 22 are in a Hebrew poetry pattern. So he finishes off this piece of news in a form that the Jews would understand. By either repetition or restatement of the same thing. Verses 21 and 22. And to emphasize things, just like in the Psalms, so many times, if you want to make sure people got the point, you repeated it. You had a couplet in which you said, in case you didn't get it the first time, let me say it again.

Yes. Let me use different words. That's right. Different words, but say the same thing. Restate it. Different words say the same thing. So this is another example where he's trying to give a message to everyone, but particularly to address the Jews, he uses 21 and 22 as a Hebrew poetry pattern that the Jews would relate to. Yes? Well, the law was set to show that the Jewish people were separate. Yes. Right. Separate them out.

So, in one of the thinking, did the Jewish people kind of think, well, now we've lost our specialness? Yeah, and that's part of what Paul was addressing. In other words, in the church, God's taking the law out of the way and taking the division between Jew and Gentile. And so, you know, there's neither male nor female. So, yeah, they would have a sense of, you know, I just lost something. So he's trying to communicate with them in a way that they would certainly understand, you know, written in a very Jewish form.

Yeah, I mean, you're brought up from, you know, before you can remember that, you know, it's the law, the law, the law, the law, the law. And now you're going to take that away. So for them, Paul had to come in and address, speak in their terms, and address their concerns. And that's why he would put in here, the Messiah, and put that in there. Your Messiah is the one that took the law out of the way. It also gives a reason why he finishes up his theology statements with practical application, because if you take my law away from me, then I might be tempted to think, well, anything's permissible now.

Yes. And Paul, in various ways in the different epistles, addresses the issue of, no, no, walk as children of light. Walk in love. Yeah. Here's what you do. You're not under law, but you're still under God's standards. God is still holy. That's right. He's still righteous. Yep. He's still holy and righteous and good. And this is where it comes to understanding position. that God is still holy and righteous and good, and the law doesn't make God holy and righteous and good, it only expresses it. That's the expression of it. Okay, one more little nugget. I notice he's going to press a button momentarily here.

Turn to Ephesians 3.10.

I'm going to start at verse 8 and then to me who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

Here is, I see it often overlooked, when God wants to teach the angels about his wisdom, he says, look at my church. We are living angel college when it comes to teaching angels about God's wisdom. We read verse 10 again, "...to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places." In order to train and teach the angels about God's wisdom, he says, look at my church.

Yes. This is in the heavenly places, so these are the good ones. Satan presently has access, yes. But these ones in the heavenly places, these are the angels that are on God's side. It seems like the ones that are being obedient don't need the lessons It's different with angels because their opportunity to be sided with God, their opportunity to have any future has already been decided.

Whereas we human beings, we're born one and sometimes a few more at a time. We're born one at a time, generally speaking, and we come into existence and we have a choice to make and there's salvation made available. Angels never had the opportunity for salvation and they all made their choice at one time. They were all created at once. They all made their choice at one time.

In fact, Jesus said that the lake of fire was prepared, perfect tense, prepared for Satan and his angels. Therefore, you can imagine, God says, okay, here's heaven. You see it. There's the lake of fire. You're going to be in it. It's prepared for you. It's already waiting. At some point in time, that's where you're going to be.

Make your choice. And Revelation chapter 12 says that a third of the angels chose, I'm going to go with Satan, and I'm going to spend eternity in the lake of fire. Yes? Isn't it interesting, in the opposite, when we read in Scripture, Christ, for the joy that was sent before, he chose to follow the Father's will, to endure the cross, and so on.

Think about this. The angels, you know, they don't get some of the things we do. The opportunity to be saved. They don't get that. You made your choice. You're going to spend eternity here or there. There's no salvation. You're not going to go from Satan's spirits back to being one of those in heaven. Nope. Choose once. That's the way it is forever. Oh, it doesn't mean that there will be no angels. There's no reason to think that angels will somehow stop happening. They are spiritual, eternal beings like us.

But fallen angels, a third of the angels created, fallen angels will spend eternity in the lake of fire with no opportunity for salvation like we have. They made their choice once and that's it. But all those who sided with the Lord are their eternal beings and they will be with the Lord. Not saved because there is no opportunity for salvation. But the one-third of the angels that fell with Satan will spend eternity in the lake of fire, which has already been prepared. and the two-thirds will spend eternity with the Lord. Alright, let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for what you've revealed here in Ephesians. There's just a lot of rich stuff. And we thank you that you've revealed these things. We thank you for what on deeper and further study is available to us as well. So we just look forward as we continue through the prison epistles to look at our heavenly position and our heavenly citizenship as we'll see next. And we just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.