But Now, Brought Near
Those who entered Solomon’s Temple just before Christ arrived would have been familiar with the fact that a sign was prominently hung on the dividing wall in the court of the Gentiles, separating it from the place reserved for the Jews. The poster displayed a simple but unequivocal warning that they would die if they walked out of the Gentiles’ court into that area exclusively set aside for the Jews. The physical proximity may have been close, but the chasm between Jew and Gentile was vast.
The group descended from Abraham assumed they were close to God due to their history with the patriarchs. God delivered the Law through their prophets and often directly into the hands of their forefathers. The other group, the Gentiles, with their pagan roots and idolatry, would have considered themselves distant at best from the God of the Hebrews since they shared nearly nothing in common and were, as Paul put it, “strangers to the covenants of promise and without God in this world” (Ephesians 2:12). One group believed themselves close to Yahweh; the other was far away. Little did they know, they were both utterly hopeless. But then came Jesus.
So before the arrival of Jesus, the world could be divided into just two major categories: Jew and Gentile. Yet they all fit into the one big bucket of hopelessness. Christ has come, and we again see the world divided into two factions of humanity: those with hope and those without hope. Paul inferred this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, where he encouraged the Thessalonians not to grieve “as the rest who have no hope.”
The same dichotomy between those with and without hope exists today. However, there is another subsection within the hopeless group: Those who think they have hope and those who know they are hopeless. Those who think they have hope have misguided hope. They falsely believe that something, perhaps science, materialism, human intellect, politics, religion, or some combination thereof, will provide salvation for humankind. But, of course, they are wrong.
The ones without Christ, without hope, knowing they are hopeless, unfortunately for them, are right. If they remain apart from Christ, there is no other hope. Sadly, we see an “acting out” upon this hopelessness in highly unhealthy ways in our culture.
But there’s good news! Jesus came, lived, died, rose, and changed everything! Just as it seemed impossible to make one group out of the Jew and the Gentile, just as it seemed inconceivable to breach that dividing wall, the baby born in a manger 2,000 years ago brings all categories of the hopeless together into one family of hope. After painting a picture of the division between Jew and Gentile in His letter to the Ephesians, Paul declared,
“But now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall” (Ephesians 2:13-14).
It is as though the Father looked at the world as it was, and despite our sin, He loved us enough to say those two words, “But now.” Yes, we were in rebellion, enemies of God, hopeless and lost in our sin, “But now.” Two disparate groups, far from each other and God, “But now,” through hope, brought near, through Christ.
“And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” —Romans 5:5-6