Page 81 - Ephesians

What was revealed to Paul by the Holy Spirit pulled the “holier
than thou” rug out from under their feet. The outward show of
physical circumcision was being exposed for what it was, spiritual
hypocricy. He said, “God looks at the heart”. A “true Jew”, had
a circumcised heart. He hit them where they lived. He was taking
away their self-imposed source of pride, dignity and identity. It
said, flat out, that in God’s eyes, many of the “gentiles” were the
“real Jews”. Worse than that, many of the Jews were the real
gentiles. They had an awful hard time with Romans 4. What a
shock to learn that in God’s eyes, they were “spiritual gentiles”.
(Probably the main reason they killed Paul).

You can’t believe the division and hostility. I was reading that an
orthodox Jew would not burn wood, if it came from a gentile tree.
The Jews were used to walls, gates and veils. They were a
separate people. Originally, God did that to protect His chosen
channel of redemption. So He said, “I’ll separate you.” But they
misinterpreted that missionary opportunity for entitlement, saying,
“We’re special, the highly chosen of God.” They made wall
after wall, creating division all over the place.

Let me give you a diagram of Herod’s temple as it was in the New
Testament. They copied the two main sections of Solomon’s
temple. The Holy of Holies, and the Holy Place. The great veil
kept everyone from entering the Holy of Holies, except for the
once a year visit made by the high priest. The Holy Place, was
constantly filled with ministering/working priests going in and out.
There was a tremendous wall separating another court called
“The court of the sons of Israel”. Those, who had bloodlines to
Abraham.

The temple was built on a hill. Twelves steps up from there was
another wall. Of course, that’s where they had the treasury.
They wanted to make sure they got their bucks, you know. Then
they had another huge wall. This wall was the “great wall” called
the “Middle wall of partition”. The gentiles could not go beyond
that. The message of the elevation was simple. Some people are