For He is our peace, Who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Ephesians 2:14
Let us turn back the clock and calendar until we reach ancient Israel in the years immediately following the reign of King Solomon. We approach the temple mount in Jerusalem, and make our way inside the outer gates until we reach the court of the Gentiles, from where we can view the magnificent temple proper, including its towering structure that contained the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God dwelt. As we make our way toward that imposing structure, we encounter a low, latticed railing. And here we stop. Posted prominently on that railing, known as the soreg, are warning signs which, translated, say: ‘No outsider shall enter the protective enclosure around the sanctuary. And whoever is caught will only have himself to blame for the ensuing death.’ No Gentile, and no unpurified Jew, dare step beyond the soreg. The soreg is the middle wall of partition that is spoken of in today’s text. And it is forever broken down.
Throughout their history, the ancient Jews were involved in strife against those who rejected their doctrine of the one true God. The Gentile nations around them despised the temple and all that it stood for. Its very existence condemned those Gentiles as profane idolators with no access to God. Any Gentile who entered the outer part of the temple would encounter the soreg and be turned away. An interesting aspect of that soreg is that its design is nowhere to be found in the instructions God gave for the construction of the temple. It was added by the Jews to maintain their supposed exclusive access to God. But God never intended that the Gentiles be excluded, if they met the legal requirements. So if we look that soreg, we see fault on both sides: rebellion by the Gentiles and arrogance by the Jews. That middle wall of partition, the soreg, was both the cause and the symbol of strife and animosity. Is it any wonder that the One Who broke down that wall is identified in our text as our peace?
During this age of grace, everything has changed, for both the Jew and the Gentile. For the Jew, the ordinances of the old economy are no longer needed, because their fulfillment has appeared. For the Gentile, the soreg is gone and the access to worship and service for God is removed. For both, there is peace between them. Even better, there is peace with God, something that neither Jew nor Gentile had before: ‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ – Romans 5:1.
Before the Gospel reached us, we had the same condemnation as the Gentiles of old, and were involved in the same enmity against God and against His people. That is why our text identifies the Lord Jesus as our peace. And why we celebrate both the peace and the Peacemaker today. -Jim MacIntosh