Daily Affirmations - Day 7 - Where the People Are - Far Away and Near

Day 7: Far Away and Near

Jesus Himself is our peace

[Jesus] came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near (Ephesians 2:17).

Jesus, Prince of Peace, You are the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of the farthest seas (Psalm 65:5). The world longs for peace. Yet You alone understand the root and the scope of this longing, for the peace we seek is not just an absence of war and conflict in this world, but a deep soul-longing to be restored to right relationship with our Creator God.

For God made us in His image and made of us living souls by breathing His very breath in us (Genesis 2:7 - ASV). But sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).

Yet in the middle of separation and estrangement from God through sin, we received the precious gift of God's Son, Unto us a Son is given... He will be called... Prince of Peace (Isaiah 61:9).

In You, Jesus is found the means for reconciliation with God for all (Romans 4:25 - Romans 5:1). The law had been given to God's ancient covenant people, but the old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves (Hebrews 10:1 - NLT).

Trying to follow the commandments (the law)— cannot in itself justify— cannot bring peace and reconciliation with God (Romans 3:20, Galatians 3:15). [Jesus our Lord] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (Romans 4:25).

Lord, You came and preached peace to [those] who were far away (people outside God's covenant nation) and peace to those who were near (the covenant people who had received the law through Moses) (Ephesians 2:17).

In reality though, You were the ultimate fulfillment of the law and the covenant, for God had promised Abraham that all peoples on earth will be blessed through [Abraham's lineage] (Genesis 12:3). As Son of God and Abraham's human descendant, You came to fulfil the promise to remove the disgrace of sin and death:

On this mountain... the Lord Almighty will... destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever (Isaiah 25:6-8).

And on a hill in Jerusalem You came to the ultimate place where all the people are— the place of death— the payment (wages) for sin in this world (Romans 6:23). On a cross, You laid Your life down for our payment in our ungodliness and our powerlessness (Romans 5:6).

Exactly as God had willed and had planned, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures… He was buried…He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures… (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). And You left behind in that empty tomb, the fear and tyranny of sin and death. Death has [indeed] been swallowed up in victory (Isaiah 25:8, 1 Corinthians 15:54).

Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57).

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