\u201cFor he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
middle wall of partition between us.\u201d Ephes. 2:14<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Octavius Winslow<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BEHIND this wall Jesus did once stand, and although thus partially<\/p>\n\n\n\n
obscured, yet to those who had faith to see Him, dwelling though they<\/p>\n\n\n\n
were in the twilight of the Gospel, He manifested Himself as the true<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of His people. \u201cAbraham rejoiced to<\/p>\n\n\n\n
see my day,\u201d says Jesus, \u201cand he saw it, and was glad.\u201d But this wall no<\/p>\n\n\n\n
longer stands. The shadows are fled, the darkness is dispersed, and the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
true light now shines. Beware of those teachers who would rebuild this<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wall; and who by their superstitious practices, and legal<\/p>\n\n\n\n
representations of the Gospel, do in effect rebuild it. Remember that<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that<\/p>\n\n\n\n
believes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is behind \u201cour wall\u201d that Jesus stands\u2014the wall which we, the new<\/p>\n\n\n\n
covenant saints, erect. Many are the separating influences between<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christ and His people; many are the walls which we, alas! allow to<\/p>\n\n\n\n
intervene, behind which we cause Him to stand. What are the infidelity,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had almost said atheism, the carnality, the coldness, the many sins of<\/p>\n\n\n\n
our hearts, but so many obstructions to Christ\u2019s full and frequent<\/p>\n\n\n\n
manifestations of Himself to our souls? But were we to specify one<\/p>\n\n\n\n
obstruction in particular, we would mention unbelief as the great<\/p>\n\n\n\n
separating wall between Christ and His people. This was the wall which<\/p>\n\n\n\n
obscured from the view of Thomas his risen Lord. And while the little<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Church was jubilant in the new life and joy with which their living<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Savior inspired them, he alone lingered in doubt and sadness, amid the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
shadows of the tomb. \u201cExcept I thrust my hand into His side, I will not<\/p>\n\n\n\n
believe.\u201d Nothing more effectually separates us from, or rather obscures<\/p>\n\n\n\n
our view of, Christ than the sin of unbelief. Not fully crediting His<\/p>\n\n\n\n
word\u2014not simply and implicitly relying upon His work\u2014not trusting His<\/p>\n\n\n\n
faithfulness and love\u2014not receiving Him wholly and following Him<\/p>\n\n\n\n
fully\u2014only believing and receiving half that He says and commands\u2014not<\/p>\n\n\n\n
fixing the eye upon Jesus as risen and alive, as ascended and enthroned,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
leaving all fullness, all power, all love. Oh this unbelief is a dead,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
towering wall between our Beloved and our souls!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet does He stand behind it? Does it not compel Him to depart and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
leave us forever? Ah no! He is there! Oh wondrous grace, matchless love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
infinite patience! Wearied with forbearing, and yet there! Doubted,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
distrusted, grieved, and yet standing there\u2014His locks wet with the dew<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of the night\u2014waiting to be gracious, longing to manifest Himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing has prevailed to compel Him to withdraw. When our coldness might<\/p>\n\n\n\n
have prevailed, when our fleshliness might have prevailed, when our<\/p>\n\n\n\n
neglect, ingratitude, and backslidings might have prevailed, never has<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He entirely and forever withdrawn. His post is to watch with a sleepless<\/p>\n\n\n\n
eye of love the purchase of His dying agonies, and to guard His<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cvineyard of red wine night and day, lest any hurt it.\u201d Who can<\/p>\n\n\n\n
adequately picture the solicitude, the tenderness, the jealousy, with<\/p>\n\n\n\n
which the Son of God keeps His especial treasure? And whatever would<\/p>\n\n\n\n
force Him to retire\u2014whether it be the coldness that congeals, or the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
fierce flame that would consume\u2014yet such is His deathless love for His<\/p>\n\n\n\n
people, \u201cHe withdraws not His eyes front the righteous\u201d for one moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There stands the \u201cFriend that sticks closer than a brother,\u201d waiting to<\/p>\n\n\n\n
beam upon them a glance of His love-enkindled eye, and to manifest<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Himself to them as He does not unto the world, even from behind our wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cFor he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us.\u201d Ephes. 2:14 Octavius Winslow BEHIND this wall Jesus did once stand, and although thus partially obscured, yet to those who had faith to see Him, dwelling though they were in the twilight of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-octavius-winslow","category-complete-in-christ"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5625,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5624\/revisions\/5625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}