Brought Near

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13)

Many passages and prophecies in scripture serve a dual purpose, one in the day they unfolded and another future purpose, with that future purpose greater than the first.

For instance, when Isaiah spoke to the king of Judah about a maiden giving birth to a child, he was reassuring the king about a daunting problem in that day. He was addressing current events. The two nations of Syria and Israel were threatening Judah at that time and that threat was ominous.

But don’t worry about them, Isaiah said, for a maiden conceiving today and bearing a child wouldn’t wean that child before those two nations you dread are broken by God, through His instrument, Assyria. And that reassuring prophecy proved true.

But we know Isaiah was also prophesying of the virgin birth. Her Child would be named Immanuel – “God with us”. He would bring about a greater deliverance and from more daunting foes than Ahaz was facing!

I say this principle does not only apply to Old Testament types and prophecies. I say it applies to Paul’s declaration that I quoted at the top of this article.

Paul is directly explaining the revolutionary bombshell happening in his day, one to which Jewish Christians were still acclimating. He was stating that gentiles, those “who were formerly far off”, are being fully joined to the Church. They are being “brought near” by the blood of Christ.

The old wineskin of parochial Judaism had been replaced by the new wineskin of salvation for all. That was still a revelation and a marvel when Paul crafted his letter to the Ephesians.

But the Holy Spirit made this declaration. He made it through Paul, but He means more by it than Paul did. The Spirit of Christ had more in mind with “brought near” than Paul did.

And His vista is much more expansive than Paul’s. Paul was thinking of gentiles locking arms with Jews; the Holy Spirit is speaking of humanity embracing God.

The Holy Spirit also means nearer than Paul meant. Paul was content that Jews and gentiles were under the same roof, sitting at the same table, breaking the same loaf. The Holy Spirit won’t be satisfied until Christ’s prayer in John 17 is fulfilled:

“That they may all be one; even as You, Father, in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (Jn 17:21)

That is God’s definition of near and by that definition we are still far off. Jesus’ dying request has not yet been fully realized. Therefore, the Triune God is still at work, pressing on until Christ sees the result of the anguish of His soul and is satisfied (Is 53:11).

Happy is that people whom God has blessed so thoroughly that He is satisfied! God has not done His awesome work across the ages and at great personal cost so that we could be satisfied, but so that He will be satisfied.

While we are often content to fall far short of the mark, settling for mediocre results, the Triune God will not rest until He brings about the full and utter culmination of His initial intent and heart’s desire. Perfect God will be perfectly satisfied with perfect results. And man is bound up in all of that. We are woven into the goal God is out to achieve.

So, while Paul’s conception of Eph 2:13 had already been realized in his day, so that he made it as a simple statement of fact, Eph 2:13 truly remains a potent prophecy of deep revelation that has not yet been fulfilled.

There is no glass ceiling for mankind. We are destined to ascend past the angels as Christ lifts us up to sit with Him at the right hand of God. But, like Christ and in Christ, we shall draw nearer than that. “At the right hand” will be true and yet an understatement. Creator and creature shall embrace.

The heart’s desire of God for man remains undiscovered country. Its horizon cannot be sighted; its peaks cannot be scaled. But just as it is written, "things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man - all that God has prepared for those who love Him" (1Co 2:9).