We have access - Ephesians 2:17-19

"And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near: for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household." (Ephesians 2:17-19)

Jesus came to preach a Gospel that was not for the Jews only, but for all who would receive it; the Jews being those who were near and the Gentiles being those who were far away. In Christ, all distinctions vanish. There are none who are more chosen than others. All prior preferences, privileges, and blessings that resided with the Jew are now freely distributed upon all people. Paul writes, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:28-29) Previously, only the Jews enjoyed the promises and blessing of being decedents of Abraham, but now, all who believe are his descendants and inheritors of all the promises made to him by God.

Jesus did not come to call us to become Jews or to become Jewish, He came to make us all, both Jew and Gentile, one in Christ and one body before God. What matters is not who we are, Jew or Gentile, what matters is whose we are, that we are sons and daughters of God. We are no longer known by our natural ancestry and our birth according to the flesh, but we are know by our adoption by our heavenly Father. Paul writes, "Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:16-17) Where once we were of the household of men, we are now of the household of God and brothers and sisters with all who believe.

Where previously, the admission price to fellowship with the Father was the Law, now, though Jesus, we all have free access to Him; not by keeping the law, but through faith in Jesus. Those who had the Law failed to keep it and those who were without the Law were lost in their ignorance and sin, but now, a new way has opened up for us to approach and know the Father. The writer of Hebrews says, "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews 10:19-22) All other means and mode are to be abandoned that we might truly know the Father throuh the way He has made for us through Christ. Therefore, let us cast off every vestiage of Law and leagaism that we might know the Father in truth, liberty, and freedom.

David Robison