Ephesians 2:13-15 (JDV)

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near because of the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:14 You see, he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.¹ With his flesh,

Ephesians 2:15 he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new human² from the two, resulting in peace…

both groups onePaul’s description of the old sacrificial system is not a critique of God’s law but an explanation of what happens when human beings misuse what God intended as a gift. Under the Mosaic covenant, sacrifices served a temporary purpose: they provided a way for sinful people to approach a holy God. Once the sacrifice was offered, the regulations surrounding it no longer stood between the worshiper and God. The offering had done its work.

But the human heart has a way of turning even God‑given rituals into ladders for self‑promotion. When worshipers treated the act of sacrifice as a way to earn God’s approval—as a spiritual accomplishment that put them in a better position than others—the sacrifice itself became a barrier. Those who performed the rituals with pride looked down on those who did not. Those who lacked the means or opportunity resented those who seemed spiritually superior. What God intended as a sign of grace became, in human hands, a wall of hostility.

Then Christ entered the story.

Jesus did not abolish sacrifice; He became the sacrifice to which every offering had been pointing. He treated the entire sacrificial system as prophecy—shadows cast by the reality that would come in His own body. On the cross, He fulfilled every symbol, every ritual, every blood offering. The wall that human pride had built was torn down, not by a new regulation, but by a perfect sacrifice that ended the need for all others.

Because of His death, everyone—Jew and Gentile, insider and outsider—now has access to the same grace. No one approaches God on the basis of personal achievement. No one stands at an advantage or disadvantage. The ground at the foot of the cross is level. The old sacrifices are not worthless; they are completed. Their purpose now is to teach the meaning of Christ’s work, not to serve as ongoing requirements.

In Christ, the barriers fall. The hostility ends. The way to God is open, not through repeated offerings, but through the once‑for‑all sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Lord, thank you for tearing down the wall, and making both groups one.