“And the Lord said unto me, Son of Man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth from the sanctuary.” Ezek. 44:5
“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of the commandments contained in the ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;” Eph. 2:14,15
The scriptures above reveal to us the greatest accomplishment ever made in mankind’s behalf along with a sobering injunction related to this accomplishment. Here explains the very center of our problem and how one man created a fix for it by the suffering of it’s effects unto his death. Because of this fix, we are cautioned to examine ourselves continually to make sure we haven’t undone this wonderful work wrought in our souls.
The problem has to do with walls and the big wall: the middle wall. In a physical sense walls are a necessary thing. Imagine how you would live in your home without them! They decide a room’s size. They define the function of that room. They separate each room, confining our living space, yet making that same space of more practical use. Walls can be a curse a well especially if someone is trapped behind one and it’s door is locked. That which provides privacy can also create an absolute isolation. You cannot get out, and they who would want to come in cannot.
Our greatest problem is with spiritual walls, barriers that can easily exist between us and others, and moreover, the wall in the heart that solidly separates us from God. A wall has two sides which often look completely different. On one side the wall may be painted while on the other side it is paneled. The spiritual wall is the same. On our side, the wall is the structure of our sins ever growing as we continually do wrong. One the other side, God’s side, it appears as a perfect holiness, a total righteousness having no spot or blemish. This wall separates one from God and separates God from the individual. Nothing we could do in ourselves can break through it, nor can a just and holy God compromise and make a hole for sinful man to enter in. It is a wall right there in the middle, and because of our fallen nature it is firmly there. This is why Jesus came, and this was the focus of His earthly mission: to break down that wall once and for all.
The structural design of the tabernacle and temple testify of this necessary separation yet also of the matchless grace of God. There were separate courts for the men and the women and for the Jews and the Gentiles. Each could not exceed their boundaries. There were veils everywhere, each made from specially ordered materials, serving as partitions and in themselves a warning not to venture beyond them or through them. Then, there was the middle wall. This was the very large, very heavy curtain that separated the Holiest of Holies ( where God came) and the rest of his house. No one was allowed to pass through, and no one dared. To do so would be instant death. Only the high priest, with the sacrifice and with careful personal preparations, could enter in. Even this was only allowed once a year. If the priest messed up in the least, well, you know what happened. God was serious about sin and still is, and he wants us to take this dead serious as well.
God wanted Ezekiel to mark well how the people entered in to the temple and how they left the temple. Did they come through the proper entrance? In what spirit did they enter? Did they stay where they were supposed to? How did they act while there? Did they exit properly and with what spirit? The people were to be mindful of the partitions and the walls, especially the middle wall. Moreover, they were to be mindful of why these walls were there and to behave accordingly. How often do we just cruise into God’s House and out, paying no attention to the little petty walls we have erected between each other, especially the middle wall of unconfessed sins we have neglected to address? Do we come in with a wrong spirit, an unclean heart, and by not dealing with ourselves, leave in a worse condition? How you come in and how you deal with yourself unto God while here, determines how you will leave and your relationship with God outside these doors.
With such impenetrable walls surrounding us, can it be possible to make peace with others, with God, and with ourselves? Absolutely. Jesus’ daily life while here was a continual breaking down of the walls that separate and confine the souls of man. Walls were everywhere, between Jews and Romans, between Jews and Samaritans, and between the Jews themselves. He chose Nazareth, the place that had the reputation of “nothing good can come out of it,” as his hometown. He chose, to the disdain of the Pharisees, to go home more than once with sinners for supper. He deliberately traveled through Samaria, whose people and Jews had built a mutual wall of racial animosity, to deliver a sinful, unforgivable woman of her sins. He came between a hail of stones from the self-righteous and an death-deserving adulteress, asking of the assailants that the individual who was without sin himself to cast the first stone. Each in turn left, and with his word of forgiveness that deadly wall dissolved away. The ten lepers, whose disease isolated them permanently from everyone, especially the priests, were instructed by Jesus to go and shew themselves to the same priest. As they did so, the wall of disease was cleansed away. And the only one who turned back to thank him was a Samaritan!!
Every conceivable wall that people could make between themselves was broken down by the power and grace of the Master. But the middle wall remained. The veil of the Temple still hung firmly, separating unworthy, sinful man from his Holy God, and vice-versa. But this very wall was the target of Jesus’ coming. It would not be as easy to break down as all the others he had dealt with because they were just resulting barriers whose roots were in this one. It would take everything He had and everything He was even down to His own life’s blood. Jesus was walled in, a wall built by the hands and hearts of the Romans, the religious rulers, his fellow countrymen, and even one of his own disciples-turned-traitor.
Believe it. The wall of sin makes sinners out of everyone, and in turn we fashion countless walls between ourselves. Regardless of how we may justify it, they are still walls. When Jesus drew his last breath on Calvary and uttered “it is finished,” that mighty veil in yonder temple was split in twain from top to bottom flinging open to make two quite different rooms one. With his death and with his all, Jesus broke down once for all this wall of sin. Now you can be reconciled to God and God can to you through humbly, repentantly placing your faith in Him. As a result, all those others walls of partition can be dissolved as well. Then you can have peace.
Today, mark well your life–your comings in and your goings forth. How many walls surround you and separate you from others? Why are they there and what are they made of? Aren’t you the one that made them? Is that middle wall still there between you and God? Come now to Jesus, just as you are.
“He is our peace”- your peace.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 