Christ has died for and under sin-our sin. And what is the consequence? All believers now, whether Jews or Gentiles, in Christ Jesus are brought into an entirely new place. The Gentile is brought out of his distance from God; the Jew, out of his dispensational nearness; both enjoy a common blessing in God's presence never possessed before. The old separation dissolves and gives place by grace to oneness in Christ Jesus.
When did this begin? This is an important question, for it is really the answer to the question: What, according to Scripture, is the church? Ask many of God's children. Would they not say, The aggregate of all believers? But is this the body of Christ? There were saints from the beginning, all who were born of God, but were they formed into a united assembly on the earth? Did anything under the Old Testament correspond to one body? It never was heard of, excepting as a thing promised, till the day of Pentecost. It awaited the cross of Christ. Therein God abolished the enmity. Before that God had commanded the Jew to be apart from the Gentile, and our Lord maintained it most strenuously when He was upon earth. He forbade His disciples to go into any city of the Gentiles. [12]