Little Jimmy was listening as his dad read a Bible story from Genesis. ŅThe man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee from the city, but when they got outside of town, his wife looked back and was turned to salt.Ó
Concerned, the lad asked his father, ŅWhat happened to the flea?Ó Author unknown
The condition of the flea was a mystery to Jimmy, and he wanted an answer. Young kids who havenÕt been formally educated are real thinkers, arenÕt they? They ask questions that adults wouldnÕt dare ask, for if they did, people might think less of their intellectual abilities. And young kids are fairly frank, saying whatÕs on their minds. An educated adult would have no thought for a flea, for itÕs only a blood-sucking parasite worthy of death.
ThatÕs sort of the way the Jews looked upon the Gentiles. They considered them less than human, dogs that werenÕt fit to eat the scraps from their tables. Back then, Jewish men thanked God for not making them a woman, a slave, or a Gentile, but Jesus came to give everyone equal access to God. Remember, He broke down the wall between the Jew and the Gentile and made us one. We both have access to our Father by one Spirit.
Although God had mentioned that the Jews would be a light unto the Gentiles, they never thought that they, the keepers of the oracles of God, would have to share their God with anyone outside the nation of Israel. Over time, the Jews took the awesome blessing that God had given them as a light and extinguished it. They thought themselves worthy because of what they had done and who they were, not because of who God was and what He had done.
They failed to recognize that all Š Jew and Gentile alike Š are sinners in need of a Savior. That Savior, our Messiah, came through the Jewish nation, but his ethnic bloodline is not as important as the blood that flowed from the cross at Calvary. That bloodline, pouring from a crucified Christ, was the only fee God the Father would accept as full payment for our sins.
Jesus died for our sins, was buried, then rose from the dead three days later to secure eternal life for us. ThatÕs the good news, or the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He came to die in your place and mine. He came to pay a debt He didnÕt owe, because we had a debt we couldnÕt pay. Jesus is the mystery revealed, the God-Man who came to live among us. He came to minister to the sinister, people who never gave Him a thought. However, God sought us out and made us His children through the power of the Gospel. He came to make us heirs, members of one body Š the church Š and sharers in all that was promised. And that is Good News indeed. Rejoice! God will reveal the mystery Š Jesus Š to others through you.
Mountain Time Moment
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel,
members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 3:6 NIV
Entire Article with verse links in blue at:
http://home.comcast.net/~flgrace/Ephesians306.pdf
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