The Page of Separation, Part 2
- Pastor Jay Christianson
- 10 minutes ago
- 8 min read
“For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.” (Ephesians 2:14-15)
In Part 1 of The Page of Separation, I shared about the single page in our Bibles that separates the Old and New Testament scriptures. Sadly, the page’s presence has reinforced the Christian perception that the Old Testament is somehow secondary to and of less importance than the New Covenant scriptures. Oh, most Christians won’t say that, but ask them how much time they spend in the Old Testament versus the New. Uh-huh. Just as I suspected. For some Christians, the only Old Testament scriptures they read are those quoted in the New Testament.
But today, the Lord is removing the Page of Separation from many Christians’ eyes, and they see clearly that without the Old Testament, there is no New Testament. The Old Testament revelation lays the firm foundation for the Father’s New Testament revelation about Jesus and humanity’s ultimate restoration. More and more Christians today are discovering the Jewish roots of Christianity and how the Old Testament is an essential part of God’s one-story book.
I also shared about a rabbi’s near-death experience that led him to embrace Jesus, which helped him over the “wall” between the Old and New Covenant scriptures. During his NDA, Jesus graciously removed the proverbial Page of Separation that enabled the rabbi to see that the New Covenant was a continuation of the Old Covenant and that what God had established in the Old Covenant was a great foreshadowing of Jesus and His work in the New Covenant. That said, many Jews today still don’t turn the Page of Separation to peer into the realm of the New Testament because it “belongs to the Christians.”
But things are changing. Last year, I spoke with a Jewish friend who follows Jesus and is an emissary of Chosen People Ministries. He told me that according to recent surveys and research, there are more Jews than ever before who believe Jesus is Israel’s Messiah. They eagerly await His return to fulfill the Father’s prophecies regarding the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. This wave has been building since the mid-1960s and the rise of the Jesus Revolution.
What this says to me is the Lord is drawing the two sides of His family together—Jews and Gentiles—so that when Jesus returns, His Body of believers will be complete. Despite the ethnic and religious separation between the two family lines, the Father is creating “one new man from the two, resulting in peace” (Ephesians 2:14-15). This movement is a fantastic thing because no human being can do this. Only the Lord can change hearts and open spiritual eyes to the truth. As I see it, Jews coming to Jesus and the Gentiles rediscovering their spiritual roots is the primary evidence of the Page of Separation’s removal prior to Jesus’ return.
As I teased in the last part, the Lord gave me a vision years ago that I would like to share for your consideration. I was in my final quarter for my B.A. in Pastoral Studies. My final paper was about “Why Christians should celebrate Passover.” The primary reason is that what we Christians know as Communion, using the wine and the bread to commemorate Jesus’ salvation, is lifted directly from the Passover Seder.
During the Last Passover, Jesus equated the third cup, representing the Lamb’s blood that saved the Israelites from Egypt (the kingdom of darkness), with the blood He would soon shed on the cross. Jesus also equated the last bite of unleavened bread, representing the Moses-like deliverer to come, with the deliverance His soon-to-be-broken body would make available to all people, Jew and Gentile.
Did you understand what Jesus did at the Last Passover? He removed the Page of Separation and revealed that what had been was a foreshadowing of what would be. Passover is just one of the bridges that connects the Old and the New. Spirit-enlightened Jews look forward and see Jesus in the Passover. Spirit-enlightened Christians look back and see Jesus as God’s Lamb of Passover. And with those revelations, the two become one.
So here is the vision.
The Vision of a Wedding (January 1995)
This vision came during a time of prayer with a Messianic Jewish friend in January 1995. At the time, the pictures didn’t mean much. As I sat in my car preparing to return home after the meeting, I asked the Lord for the interpretation. He graciously gave me insight into His desire for His people—the Jews, and the Christians.
For the record, I want to be clear that even though God still has a relationship with Abraham’s physical descendants (the Jews) through the Abrahamic covenant, I believe the only basis for a salvation relationship with God is through Jesus’ atoning work in the New Covenant. I’m convinced a day is coming when salvation through Jesus will sweep like wildfire through the Jewish people, and Christians will come alongside as they should have long ago.
First, I saw a marble tile room area with a pool in the center. Two men drew a beautifully carved statue of a woman out of the water. The statue was so exquisitely sculpted that the folds in her garments appeared real. The marble was extremely white, flawless, and polished to a high gloss. The two men began wiping the statue with a cloth to finish her cleaning and drying.
Next, the picture shifted to a large pool of bubbling mud, something like one would see at Yellowstone National Park. A figure of a man began to rise out of the mud. He was horizontal, resting on his back as if sleeping. His eyes were closed. The muddy man slowly tipped up to a vertical position over the pool. As I watched, water began to spray his face, washing away the mud. Just as his face was cleared of the mud, his eyes suddenly opened wide.
Finally, in the third picture, I saw a beautiful, ancient Gothic castle with towers on the corners of the walls and a large building inside the walls. The stones were ancient, deeply worn, and covered with moss. As I watched, I was lifted above the structure to see downward within the walls. The wall of stone I had seen at first was the rectangular wall surrounding the castle’s courtyard, and the rectangle’s short sides were the east and west sides. The part of the castle, a square building, was inside the courtyard, situated closer to the courtyard’s west wall. In the courtyard, to the east of the inner edifice, there was a large square stone altar.
This layout reminded me immediately of the Jerusalem Temple’s design, which I’ve seen many times before. As I was looking down at the altar in the courtyard, a fire burst into flame upon it, and a voice said, “It begins at the altar.”
After that, I descended until I stood on the outside of the courtyard’s east side, where there was a massive gate. Something began to draw me to the left, around the corner, and along the south side of the building. As I moved, the outer surface of the courtyard’s old stone began to peel away like wrapping paper, following me as I went. As the paper peeled away, I began to see that the entire building underneath was built out of perfectly cut blocks of crystal-clear glass. These glass blocks were perfectly cut and fitted with absolute precision. An intense light exploded outward from the structure as its true nature continued to be revealed.
When the structure was fully unwrapped, I realized that it was indeed God’s Temple. At that moment, the Eastern Gate burst open, and four horsemen carrying blazing torches raced out and headed for the horizon in four directions–north, south, east, and west. The Scripture from Isaiah 11:9 came to me, “...for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
The Interpretation
The woman in the bath represents the Jewish people. They are beautiful in God’s sight, but a hardening has come upon them (Romans 11:25). The Lord’s dealings with her over the last two thousand years have been a cleansing process. She was being drawn from her mikveh (a pool for spiritual cleansing) on her wedding day by two men who, I believe, were “Moses” (the Torah) and “Elijah” (the Prophets). The men’s cleaning and drying work reveal what the Holy Spirit is doing with the Jews in our day—preparing her for a groom. (In this vision’s interpretation, the bridegroom is not Jesus. Hang loose and read on.)
The man represents Christians, Jesus’ true believers and followers. The Body of Believers has been covered with mud for a long time, obscuring its vision. In our day, the mud-covered body is being drawn up and washed by the water of the Holy Spirit. The man, too, is being prepared for a wedding. His eyes were not open at first, meaning that he didn’t see who was meant to be his spouse. When he was washed clean, his eyes were opened.
Finally, the old castle represents the historic church. It had been built on the structure of God’s Temple. But over the last two thousand years, it had been veneered with non-Jewish traditions that obscured its Jewish foundation, rendering the church ignorant of how God wanted to build the church into His Temple. It was a fine structure outwardly but did not reveal the reality that God had intended everyone to see. When I was lifted and heard the words “It begins at the altar,” I was looking at the altar in the Temple, cold and dark. The fire on the altar had gone out. I was reminded that both atonement and marriage take place at an altar, one for cleansing and the other for relationship.
I believe Christians will be increasingly drawn back to their Jewish roots as we near the End Times, and a deeper relationship between the Jewish people and Jesus’ followers will grow, even as New Covenant partners, precisely as Paul yearned to see (Ephesians 2:14-15; Acts 26:22-23; Romans 3:29-30).
As this happens, the veneer that Gentile theologians, churchmen, and others have papered over what it means to be Jesus’ “church” will begin to peel away, revealing spiritual truths and the Lord’s original design more clearly. Jews will understand what their Jewish Messiah has done for them, and Christians will let go of needless artificial traditions and embrace a deeper understanding of our shared Jewish roots. This coming together under the Holy Spirit’s work will release a great wave of God’s revelation to the world as has never been seen before.
Then, the Father will unite the “bride and groom” to complete the One New Bride, who will then consummate her betrothal to the Groom when He returns.
Until that time, the Holy Spirit continues to tear out the Page of Separation that keeps Jews and Christians apart.
Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts