Getting Nowhere Until Going Somewhere

Ephesians 2:12b-13

Remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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People on their own are getting nowhere,
I am on the road to see,
If anything is anywhere and waiting, just for me.

"It's a Long Way There" by The Little River Band

Paul sends this letter to the church at Ephesus. This is not a Jewish community, it's a gentile community. These people had no knowledge of the Lord until hearing about Jesus. Some might have actually heard him speak. Some might have seen him in Jerusalem. But it is far more likely that the people of Ephesus heard of him than personally heard him.

They were strangers to Christ, as we were strangers to Christ. We, well, most of us, are alien from the commonwealth of Israel. We are gentiles. We are not the children of the original covenant. We are not members of God's first selected race of people. Salvation to all peoples comes from the Jews, through the person and work of Jesus, and then to the nations. There was no hope for us in the world.

There was no hope until Jesus the Christ invited us to be spliced into his salvation by his blood.

Gentiles were once people on the road and getting nowhere. Gods that were worshiped were worthless pieces of wood and stone. They were myths with feet of clay. Ultimately they had no real power of their own. The same is true today with the idols we still hold dear, things we worship that put us on the long road to nowhere.

Thanks be to God that there is something, someone who is waiting for us. The Lord God welcomes us into his fold by the blood of Christ. We were once far off and are now in the breast of God. It's a long way there, but its a trip worth taking.