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Ephesians 2 describes the remarkable change that has taken place for those who belong to Christ. Once we were without Christ, strangers from the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. “But now”, Paul writes, those who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. To understand the weight of those words, we need to go back to the Old Testament and see how seriously God takes blood, covenant, and atonement. Leviticus 17 tells us that life is in the blood and that God appointed blood for atonement. From the beginning, blood represented life given so that relationship with God might be restored.
That brings us to the biblical idea of covenant. A covenant is much more than a casual promise or modern contract. In Genesis 15, God confirms His promise to Abram through a solemn covenant ceremony. Animals are divided, yet Abram does not pass between them. God alone, represented by the smoking oven and burning torch, passes through. The significance within the message is profound: the fulfilment ultimately rests upon God’s own faithfulness. Abram believed God, and his faith was accounted to him as righteousness. The security of the promise was not grounded in Abram’s perfection, but in the character and faithfulness of the One who made the covenant.
Centuries later, Jeremiah spoke of a coming New Covenant in which God would write His law upon the hearts of His people. Then, at the Last Supper, Jesus took the cup and declared, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” The covenant is no longer pictured through the blood of animals. Christ Himself goes to the cross. His death, resurrection and the later outpouring of the Holy Spirit reveal the fulfilment of God’s saving purpose. The believer is forgiven, reconciled to God and sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. What the older covenant signs pointed towards finds its fulfilment in Jesus Christ.
That brings us back to Ephesians 2. We who were far off have been brought near, not because we earned our way back to God, but because of what Christ has done. The New Covenant is a covenant of grace, forgiveness and reconciliation, bringing Jew and Gentile together in one body and giving those who believe an enduring relationship with God. This also gives hope when believers fail. Sin still damages fellowship with God, but we are invited to turn back to Him in repentance, trusting the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice and God’s faithfulness to His promises. Our confidence rests not in what we say about ourselves, nor in what we have accomplished, but in the finished work of Christ and the precious blood through which we have been brought near.
The message traces one continuous covenant theme through Scripture:
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- Blood represents life and atonement – Leviticus establishes why blood is sacred.
- God binds Himself to His promise – Genesis 15 shows God’s covenant with Abram resting upon God’s own faithfulness.
- God promises a New Covenant – Jeremiah foretells a covenant written upon the heart.
- Jesus establishes that covenant in His blood – at the Last Supper and ultimately at the cross.
- Believers are brought near and sealed by the Spirit – the New Covenant brings forgiveness, reconciliation and relationship with God.
The central emphasis is therefore not what we have done for God, but what God has done for us in Christ.
Take some time to read Genesis 15, Jeremiah 31 and Ephesians 2 together. Notice how the theme develops from God’s promise to Abraham, through the promise of a New Covenant, and finally to those who have been brought near through Christ. Let the faithfulness of the covenant-making God strengthen your confidence in the finished work of Jesus.
