Ephesians 1 

Verse by Verse Study

 Chapter 1

Introduction:

It is believed that Ephesians was a circular letter written to a community of believers in Christ, within a few years before Paul’s death in AD 62-64. The first verse tells us who it is written to: “the faithful in Christ Jesus,” who are believers in Christ Jesus throughout the area where Paul and his team ministered. The earliest surviving copy of Paul’s letters is Papyrus P46, housed at the Chester Beauty Museum in Dublin, Ireland, dated to about AD 175-225.

Paul presents the Gospel of our salvation from two different starting points:

• In Romans 3-5 and Galatians 2-5, Paul begins with justification, apart from the Law, by faith alone.  

• In Ephesians 1 and 2, Paul begins by discussing God’s choosing and calling us because of His personal good pleasure and love. God adopts us as His sons and daughters and places us alongside the Son He loves.

Overview of Ephesians

Ephesians is called pure music; it gives us a Hubble Telescope view of the love of God. Love is mentioned 17 times and grace 11 times, second only to Romans.

It is a golden chain of essential spiritual truths, linked together, that gives us breathtakingly beautiful vistas, making us feel as if we have gone to the moon and back.

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God: To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:  NIV

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: NKJV

Paul Introduces Himself

Paul begins this profound letter, read by billions, generation after generation, by his name. We need no doubt about who wrote the letter.

Paul could have written a short biography of himself, showcasing his many accomplishments as a world-class evangelist and author. In today’s culture, he could have presented his educational degrees as a reason why we should listen to him.  He could have told us all about many miracles that accompanied his ministry, which included “signs, wonders and miracles” (2 Cor 12:12). He could have reminded us of the many languages the many spoke—"tongues more than all” (1 Cor 14:18).

However, he did not mention his accomplishments in the entire letter to the Ephesians or in its twin book, Colossians. He makes very few references to himself.  The readers’ eyes are not directed to him, but to the Savior and God our Father.

Paul was a man of letters; fewer than 10% of Roman males could read and write, and even fewer females, but his elite grammar skills were not a reason for Paul to boast about himself. Yes, Paul’s writing skills were top of the class; several times he created new Greek words to express his ideas more clearly. But none of this mattered at all to Paul. Instead, Paul declared “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Cor 11:30), not my strengths.

An Apostle of Christ Jesus by the Will of God

Paul started his letters to the Ephesians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and 2 Timothy with the same expression: “Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.”  Paul kept his calling uppermost in his mind:

• So that he would never forget who he represents in his teachings.

• So that he would never slip into the foolishness of dwelling on himself, as if to brag about the success of his mission trips. This is the custom of many modern evangelists and popular preachers.

• To bring honor to himself, the eyes of others for his spiritual understanding, leading into spiritual pride, which is spiritual death. As the “angel of the church in Sardis” wrote, “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (Rev 3:1). This church had become focused on their former good spiritual reputation, more than their present condition.   

Your Will Be Done

 Paul knew that he was “an Apostle by the will of God.” In like manner, we are privileged to be able to move throughout our day, attending to the many tasks that need to be completed. With the Lord’s Prayer on our lips:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed [holy] be your name”

 Lord, today may I give to you honor, glory, and praise to your name, not my name. Like the angels pray before You: “Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Rev 7:12). Today I am privileged to live my life under the authority of His Holy Name. “I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust'” (Ps 91:1).

• “In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name” (Ps 33:21)

• “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name” (Ps 103:1)

• “Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice” (1 Chron 16:10)

“Your kingdom come”

 We look forward to the promised Second Coming with deep humility. Having moved away from self-centeredness. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17). Today we want to practice servant leadership: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me… Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt 25:40, 34).

“Your will be done, on earth [in my life] as it is in heaven”

Just as God’s will and His plans are done in all of heaven, we pray that we will live today according to His will. Every morning, as we put our feet on the ground, we pray to God that we will do His will in our life today. We look for His guidance for each day, with a humbled, surrendered heart.

In the twin book to Ephesians, Paul teaches us, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed,” throughout the day, “do it all in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col 3:17). We must permit God to direct us so that we may do His will in the work we are assigned, with much thanksgiving, for in this way we carry His presence with us all day long.

By the Will of God

Paul tells us that this letter was written under the direction and “will of God”, for all believers. God provided the time, funding to purchase writing parchment, the place for this letter to be written, and the content—it was all of God’s will. Another way to say it, God planned the details, making it possible for Paul to write this letter.

Paul “received” the content of his letters not by education but “by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:12). The things that Paul teaches us should be regarded similarly to post-resurrection instruction from Jesus Himself.

Now, in front of you, is a message from God the Father and his Son, preserved for over 2,000 years. We are blessed every day. This letter carries self-authenticating authority for each reader because it comes from God, the “everlasting God” (Isa 40:28).

God directed Paul to write this book of Ephesians, and God has preserved it for several thousand years for us to read today. This book did not come from Paul himself, as shown by the high esteem in which millions hold this letter today. Would anyone today read Roman or Greek literature for spiritual inspiration? No, of course not.

Paul Was Commissioned by the Working of God’s Power

Paul said, “I became a servant [or minister] of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of His [God’s] power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given [to] me: [for the purpose] to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ” (Eph 3:7,8).

When Paul wrote his letter, he did not recount what he had learned from books or from his studies in Jerusalem. Instead, it was all by God’s grace.

How can we know that Paul received this gift of grace he claims? Because the words Paul wrote in this letter are never out of date, even if they are 2,000 years old. They appeal to us powerfully and personally, enlightening us from the inside out and deepening our understanding of this treasure. It transcends time and culture, appealing to men, women, and children of any culture, language, or location, with or without education. It is heart-based. The mind agrees with the instruction learned, while the heart is convinced and moved with emotion and conviction.

God’s Holy People

They are believers who have personally committed to follow what Jesus taught faithfully. As Jesus taught us, “those who love me will keep my word” (John 14:23). They follow Him and His teachings, as Peter teaches us that we are to be “obedient to Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:2). This is what a New Testament believer looks like and acts like—followers of Jesus.  

The word “saint,” used in the NKJV, is the Greek hagios, meaning “to set apart,” not the newer meaning of someone who has been canonized. Saint was a common term in the Roman world; pagan devotees used it to denote those set apart in service to a god or goddess. All believers who are faithful to Jesus are called Christians today—a term used three times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1 Pet 4:16). In our culture, this term carries more meaning than the word “saint.”

Praise to God the Father 1:3-6

Ephesians 1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. NIV & NKJV

Grace & Peace

Twin blessings from two sources, making it double strength.

Grace

Is God’s undeserved favor, seen in always freely leaning toward us. Reaching out to us because of God’s preeminent kindness to bless us. He moves toward us to love us, care for us, be Father to us, and forgive us and remove our guilt. To offer us the privilege of calling Him Father in prayer and justifying us of our dark sins and mischievous guilty actions, that would, under normal circumstances, cause others to shun us. 

Grace is like a natural fountain, inside God Himself, innate and inherent in God, directed toward unworthy and unruly sinners. For “all” of us in this world have “sinned” (Rom 3:23), but now we “are justified freely [forgiven] by His grace through the redemption [so we can belong to God] that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).

• “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).

The last verse in Ephesians places grace next to the love of God. “Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love [imperishable]” (6:24). The love of God is evidence of grace; His love and favor on us are received and welcomed in our lives. Love may be the only thing that we come out of the grave with: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).

In the last verse of the book of Philippians, Paul says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (Phil 4:23). Here, grace from God and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be in “our spirit.” This is a place, somewhere inside us, where “the [Holy] Spirit himself testifies with our [human] spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom 8:16)! When God puts His loving grace inside us, we know it to be true and believe it because we have come to know the love and grace of God individually.

Paul says that God had chosen him to be the revealer of God’s grace, saying, “God’s grace that was given to me for you…made known to me by revelation” (3:2,3). This is the same expression as in the book of Revelation: “the revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him” (Rev 1:1). John is the revealer of prophecy, while Paul is the revealer of God’s grace.

Paul used this term, grace, is used about 110 times. In Revelation, grace is only used twice, both as greetings. In Ephesians, Paul uses the word "peace" 7 times. There are many expressions of God’s grace, “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8) that are unique to Paul. How poor our understanding of the love and grace of God, we would be without Paul!

Peace

is a state of inner harmony sourced from within the body temple by the Spirit. It is the third fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:23).  When we lose this peace, its absence creates a feeling of spiritual discomfort. This peace has unique attributes; it is called “the peace of God” because it is a gift from God. Paul describes this unique gift as transcending “all understanding” and as “will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7). It has a protective effect in our lives when we are confronted with anxiety and depression, enabling us to rise above them more quickly.

Peace is sent to us by the Spirit to dwell in us and with us wherever we go. For “the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom 8:6), and for “For the kingdom of God is… righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). God at creation “fashioned us for the very purpose” to give “us the Spirit” (2 Cor 5:5). This peace, sourced from God, can not be explained on paper or in words because it is a Divine Influence that creates a peace that does not come from something human in origin.

This heavenly peace is God-given through “His Spirit” (Phil 3:3) and will “guard” our hearts and minds “in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7). When we lose peace, its absence creates spiritual discomfort. The loss of peace warns us to stop and pray for direction and discernment, or to confess something in our lives that is spiritually numbing us. Peace guards our hearts, spiritually alerting us when we take false steps. Peace comes from the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6). This precious gift is something that unbelievers do not have in the same manner as believers: “There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked” (Isa 57:21).

Paul Writes in a Single Sentence: 1:3-14

The next 12 verses form one single sentence. This is a unique section, as no one could ever know some of the details revealed here unless God personally told Paul. It gives the closest appearance of God Himself speaking to us about Himself. Paul presents the words of God in such a way that they seem to be speaking to the readers in the first person. He mingles praise for many specific actions that God, our Father, does on our behalf. It is a brief description of the “message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13) or, as described by John, “the eternal gospel” that is “to proclaim to those who live on the earth” (Rev 14:6). Let this section warm your heart with love for God, your Father.

Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who [God] has blessed us with every [all]-spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. NIV

1:3 Blessed [praise be] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who [God] has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ NKJV

Praise

 We should praise God because He has blessed us with every [all] spiritual blessing. This is mind-blowing; they are not maybe, but available to you. These blessings come from heavenly places, from the very presence of God, where we have a welcome place, in “my Father’s house” (John 14:2), the home of God. The larger part of our prayers should be in thankful praise. Praise is central to our salvation; we praise God for His plan of rescue and His undeserved love for us.

Praise is a central theme in Psalms and appears about 180 times.  For example, Psalm 150 has six verses, and praise appears twice in each verse, while the first verse uses praise three times. In contrast, praise appears about 10 times in the first five Books of Moses.

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

This expression is used five times by Paul (Rom 15:6; 2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:17; Col 1:3; 2 Thess 1:1)  and once by Peter (1 Peter 1:3). It carries the idea that God, as “the Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:2), is the one who sent Jesus to us. He Fathered the sending of His Son so He could bless fallen humanity with “every spiritual blessing” that was otherwise unavailable except through faith in His Son.

Every Spiritual Blessing

The word spiritual relates to the influence of the Spirit, the invisible sphere in which the Holy Spirit imparts faith and love in all its forms to the believer. Suppose it is your wish to have greater spiritual blessings, such as spiritual understanding, for the honor of God, not yourself. Then ask God in faith, and it will be given to you. Open yourself up to what Scripture actually says, not what a specific church tells you to believe. Sadly, many church traditions, customs, and doctrines form a filter, with dark glasses, that prevents clear understanding of what Paul is teaching.

In Christ

This is where God sends all His spiritual blessings to us. For “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1), none at all. 

Never ever can we count all the blessings of being in Christ, an expression used by Paul about 165 times. This is the same idea Jesus taught his disciples in John 15: "Abide in the vine." This is accomplished by means of the Spirit that “lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). The Spirit brings us into Christ and makes Christ “living water” (John 7:38) for our hearts and souls. Once tasted, we thirst again and again, always to be satisfied again.

While we want more than just a taste, we seek “rivers of living water” that flow from “within” our hearts (John 7:38). The redeemed of the Lord, in heaven, will be led by the Lamb: “the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes' (Rev 7:17). This living water has a high mixture of joy, thankfulness, and heartfelt praise.

 Paul expands this concept when he repeats it in Ephesians 2:6: “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him [God] in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  Imagine seeing yourself seated next to Father God.  Being brought close to God the Father, we are given assurance that our prayers, praise, and thankfulness are heard by “God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:6).

Every Spiritual Blessing: God’s grace and love in action

1.      God gives us every spiritual blessing from heavenly places (1:3)

2.      God has chosen us (1:4)

3.      God has predestined us (1:5)

4.      God has adopted us (1:5)

5.      God's glorious grace He has freely given us (1:6)

6.      God has granted us redemption. (1:7)

7.      God has given us forgiveness of our sins (1:7)

8.      God has given us an eternal inheritance (1:11)

9.      God wants to give us the seal of the Holy Spirit (1:13).

10. God wants to give us the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our eternal inheritance (1:14)

Thus, we should bless and praise God for what He has done for us with humility, since we have neither initiated it nor worked for it. It is all of grace, God’s personal supply of grace. Direct from Himself, personally to you.

It is the Spiritual first; it is the Spirit that really counts. However, God gives tons of blessings every day: gifts, talents, common graces such as mechanical, carpentry, or musical abilities, and engineering, physical, and mental abilities, all given to us to do good and be a blessing to others. God gives us daily wisdom, guidance, protection, and many other gifts: family, friends, mental and physical health, often unseen by us. 

God has blessed YOU from Heavenly Places, where God’s presence can be seen somewhere in the center of the encircling universe, in this unimaginably organized, grand, immeasurable cosmos. God is seen as blessing us first without us asking Him. God loves us first, before we even knew of his love, as John wrote, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God carried his love for us so that we could see it, in earth time and place: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

It is estimated that there are up to 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. This is only a human estimate, for we can see only 5% of everything in the Universe. The remaining 95% we cannot see. There is dark matter and other dimensions of space that are not discernible by a camera. Space does not lie on a linear plane.

From within the cosmos, perhaps even a different dimension of space that we cannot see, God sends you every spiritual blessing from heavenly places.

The story is told about a person who asked God if he could show him the universe of stars. Upon this request, an angel was sent to take him on a tour of the cosmos. The angel picked him up and carried him up into the sky. Soon the Earth disappeared and then our Sun.  Millions and more millions of galaxies- spiral, elliptical, flat like a disk, round, oblong, pointed, shrouded in mist, or like a column- multicolored galaxies passed by at amazing speeds. So, this person asked if there was an end to God's universe, and the angel said nothing. After asking the angel three times if there was an end to God’s universe.  The angel replied: “There is no beginning.”  

Ephesians 1:4 For He [God] chose us [you] in him [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his [God’s] sight. In love… NIV

1:4 just as He [God] chose us [you] in Him [Christ] before the foundation [creation] of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, NKJV  

God Chose You as First Importance

Take note of the flow of history: Before God started His endless creation, called the cosmos or universe. God chose you as of first importance. People like you and your loved ones were God’s first concern before He created galaxies in unnumbered amounts. God set in motion ways to bring us home. Although God knew we would turn from Eden's innocence to “do evil in the eyes of the Lord” (1 Sam 15:19), God planned the opposite. His plans see us far into the future, where, passing over the years of darkness, God sees you in his sight as blameless. In fact, you were at one time the opposite in every way possible.

God Chose You

 It is not possible for us to choose him before creation. We did not use our free will to choose him first, since it was God’s act and “grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim 1:9) that we are believers today. This was not a casual choice on God's part; it was purposeful and methodical. He chose us, loved us, and wanted us.

It was by God's initiative, or none of us would make it out of this evil world alive. As John testifies, “that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). This happens “because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16).

When God made the world, He also prepared a kingdom, as described in the New Jerusalem. Jesus has told us of the welcome given to the redeemed from earth: “Come, you who my Father blesses; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt 25:34).

Take this in for a moment to think about this: when God created the earth, He prepared a place for those who had fallen from it to come and live next to Him. This was not an afterthought on God's part but deliberate and planned. When God calls us and chooses us, he also calls us to have a dwelling place next to Him.  While on earth, we are brought into this dwelling place by faith. Still, in heaven, we will be privileged to live, work, and eat in the very home of God the Father: “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev 21:3). God is not thinking of just your pleasure of being in the eternal dwelling place in the house of God. No—God is thinking of His pleasure in having you around Him! Yes, believe it!

God sees YOU

 God sees you right now as blameless in heaven beside Him. All the mess on earth of thousands of years, He does not even notice. God says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11).

 God does not see you as guilty of anything because all is forgiven and forgotten. “I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more” (Jer 31:34). We humans have a hard time forgetting an offense, when we do, we often say: “I have “forgiven them, however I will never forget.” Not so with God. If His love for us is forgetful, He could not say that the redeemed of the Lord will be blameless in his sight. For “all are justified freely by His [God’s] grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).

In love

 This is a prepositional phrase. In love, the word in acts as the preposition, and “love” is the object of the preposition, which describes a state of being deeply affectionate towards someone. God’s love should be understood as He is reaching out to us, affectionately and emotionally, and not in judgment, not in reproofs, not waiting for our response first. No! God, with His emotional love, seeks us out first, in love. Why? Because “He is good. His love endures forever” (Ps 136:1).

Best of all, we, as sinners, can know something of the love of God for ourselves in a very personal matter. Because “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

 Here is the point: God himself loves us, and He uses emotionally charged words, saying “He chose us” (Eph 1:4) and “He predestined us for adoption” (Eph 1:5) to Himself. When those “loved by the Lord, because God chose you” (2 Thess 2:13) are redeemed, John’s book of Revelation describes their welcome into heaven as a “wedding celebration” (Rev 19:7-9)—a time of love for one another, like what a wedding here means to us. Love from God to us and love from us to God, an emotional bonding, a cementing relationship of trust built on affection for each other.

We must not underestimate the importance of this phrase “in love.” We are reminded of the story that “Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, ‘I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel’” (Gen 29:18). Can you feel Jacob’s emotion and love for Rachel? Since we are created in the “image of God” (Gen 1:27), our emotions of love are representative of His.

God is Abounding in Love

This expression of in love is a way that God has frequently described Himself. “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6).

Also, this expression in love is a common way God is described by others. “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you” (Ps 86:5).

In Paul’s longest prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21, he says: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…” (Eph 3:17). What a privilege!

The Apostle John is even clearer, saying, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). And “Do everything in love” (1 Cor 16:14). Why not?

God has given us a two-word picture of Himself. We can use it as we pray for others. We can pray, making a request for someone's spiritual awakening, and ask God, “in love,” to assure them that they are loved by God.

Before the Creation of the World

 God’s eyes were always on you. Of course they are on you; God would not wait so long and lose it. God sees you safe and honored at His side, all due to God’s own personal love. It is historically a very long-lasting love—nothing to compare with it—before the creation of the earth.

Although we did not exist, God waited a long time for us, so as not to lose us to the forces of darkness. God, from His calm eternity, before the earth was created, viewed us not as sinners, as we really are, but without blemish in eternity. It was a deliberate choice with a definite outcome. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies” (Rom 8:33). God declares that, when we are in faith in His Son, all the debts we owe for our sins have been paid. We are regarded before God as “blameless” (Eph 1:4).

David wrote that a reason God should forgive him is that God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us “according to our iniquities.” Why? Because “His tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old” (Ps 25:6 NKJV). In other words, this is the way God has always been. He has always acted in this manner since time everlasting. Constantly, God, as “the judge of the earth” (Gen 18:25), does not treat us as we deserve; instead, He is stunningly gracious.

God Chose You Deliberately.

Paul writes of “The hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:2). This is before time even existed, in the sense as created life counts time. Perhaps the cosmos had no galaxies, no creation yet begun, anywhere. The real fact is that God knew you; God loved you. God chose you—deliberately.

 But more surprising of all. God made a promise to Himself! To whom greater could God promise? He promised Himself that He would see you through this life, so you can in reality sit with Him in heavenly places. This is not in our earthly body, which Paul metaphorically calls a “tent.” But a “building from God, and eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands…a heavenly dwelling” (2 Cor 5:1-4). When Christ returns, He “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil 3:21). Imagine a body like that? 

Here is an important thing to remember: “In hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:2 NKJV). That is so far in the distant past that it is immeasurable. Before any galaxies existed and the entire cosmos was nearly empty. 

• “He [God] has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:9-10)

         We are less than a moment in the full span of eternity. For “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Ps 90:2). That is from the eternal past into the eternal future—God has always existed. But, amazingly, in the midst of God’s everlasting eternity, you mattered very much to Him.

Ephesians 1:5 In love (1:4) He [God] predestined us for adoption [to Himself] to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his [God’s good] pleasure and will— NIV

1:5 In love (1:4) having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will NKJV

In Love

This prepositional phrase, “in love,” belongs to the previous verse and the present verse. It is the reason for both sentences, verses 4 and 5. It is the glue that holds them together, the hinge that binds present and past thoughts.  In love God chose us before the creation of the cosmos, and in love God predestined and adopted us—all of this because it was his pleasure and his will. Imagine God, if we can place him in humanlike settings, finding immense pleasure looking at all the redeemed whom His love is going to save. While in our lives this happens in real time, God’s love finds us, “while we were sinners” (Rom 5:8), hiding from Him in darkness, ignorant of his amazing love.

God Has Predestined Us. 

This Greek word, predestination (proorizo), means to predetermine and foreordain, which is to determine the results in advance of the event. None of us can predetermine the winning lottery number; for much of what we do, we have to strive, hoping for good results.  

God makes pre-arrangements in your life for your good, months and years before the event. Time and distance mean nothing to God.  We call this God’s quantum planning, expanding His resources where needed to prearrange things for our good.

God opens the road, removing the obstacles ahead of you, most often unknown to us at all. God provides, ahead of time, a way of escape from traps and snares of the evil to sidetrack you.

God planned, from eternity, your adoption for Himself into sonship. God has had ample time to accomplish 

His plans; thus, He knows what He is doing. It is not impulsive on God’s part; He has preplanned or predestined events and given you the necessary natural talent for God’s purposes.  This could mean that the person you married, your career, or an opportunity that opened especially for you was actually planned and designed by God the Father before time had even started in the cosmos.  

God pointed his finger at you, before you were born, saying, “I want you.” God moves on us, by His own choice, calling us to be His own Sons and Daughters.

Good Pleasure of His Will

 No one made God adopt us; there was no mental confusion; He did not have to weigh the cost of all the trouble believers have caused Him personally.

 It is all because it is the good pleasure of His will, which is God’s free, unfettered will. There is great comfort in this for believers. Rest on that!

Adoption

This is God’s plan for us, to become His sons and daughters with all the privileges implied. He has not left such an important matter as our adoption to ourselves, “not by works” not of yourself, “so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:9). Our adoption is not in name only, not in paperwork; instead, God gives of Himself, through “His Spirit” (Eph 3:16), to bring us close to Himself. To adopt us and make us “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17).

Jesus promised, “I will send the Spirit to you, from the Father” (Jn 15:26)—to live in your human spirit. From His Spirit, inside the spirit of the believer, we know within ourselves that our heavenly Father loves us. For “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom 8:16), those who are adopted.

God’s Good Pleasure in Action—Ephesians

         1:5—By God’s good pleasure, with no regret, He has adopted us

         1:3—God blesses us with every Spiritual blessing

         1:4—God chose us in His own mind before time was created.

         1:5—God predestined us to be adopted as His son/daughter

         1:6—God did all this because of His glorious grace

         1:7—God did this because of the riches of His grace

         1:8—God has lavished upon us His grace

         1:9—All due to God’s good pleasure

         1:11—All due to the purpose of God’s sovereign will

         1:12—That we might be for the praise of God’s glory.

         1:14—God gives the Spirit to show we are His possession, to His praise.

         1:17—God is entitled to us as our glorious Father.

    1:17—God gives us from the Holy Spirit wisdom and revelation so we can know Him

         1:18—God freely gives us the riches of His glorious inheritance.

Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of his [God’s] glorious grace which he has freely given us in the One he [continuously] loves. NIV

1:6 To the praise of the glory of His [God’s] grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. NKJV [Some Manuscripts read: “within His beloved Son”] NKJV

1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son NET Bible

1:6 The Geneva Bible of 1587—"To the prayse of the glory of his grace, wherewith he hath made vs freely accepted in his beloved.” (The Geneva Bible preceded the King James by 24 years, translates the text more clearly than the KJV or NKJV, original spelling provided)

Freely Given

The Greek word for freely given is charitoó, meaning to give favor and to bestow acceptance. It is best translated in the NIV as “freely given”. This word carries a deeper meaning, giving us a picture of God freely pouring out this grace upon us, individually. Why? Because God’s kindness is seen in giving to us grace in abundance, “we have all received grace in place of grace already given.” (John 1:16).

This same Greek word is also used in the greeting given to Virgin Mary by the Angel Gabriel: “Greetings you who are highly favoured [freely], the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28).  

This grace of God, given to us, should make us feel that we are also highly favored in the sight of God. God wants us to see Him as having glorious grace toward us—not given because of something that we have earned or sought after. It comes because a perfect and holy God does not view a believer as impure as they really are; instead, He covers them with His grace. This is what Jesus asked of His Father in mercy: to forgive the soldiers who were placing him on the cross. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34). The Father forgive these Roman soldiers, forgoing judgment for killing His Son, in accordance with His glorious grace.

To His Glorious Grace or the Glory of His Grace

God’s grace is given so that it can be publicly displayed to His honor. He has no need to hide his grace from sinful humanity because God is not ashamed of loving, having mercy on us, and showing undeserved favor to sinners living in darkness. God blesses us from his own honor.

God has mercy on many people who have limited understanding of the Word of God. They may act out of duty to a church that tells them what to do, or out of deference to the collective conscience of their society and families. So, God meets with them in mercy, even though they often are following the teachings of men in all sincerity.

For example, David had about eight wives and many concubines, which was not the Garden of Eden model. This was later affirmed in the New Testament teaching that an elder must be “husband of one wife” (Titus 1:6). God, out of His personal mercy, showed kindness to David despite his cultural misunderstandings, which assumed it was a king's duty to have many wives. So should we have mercy on others who are confused in theology with sincerity?

Paul has expressed God’s wonderful grace in other passages in his letters.

•  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace” (Rom 3:23-24).

• “…so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

There are very few parents who are as gracious as God is toward evil toward their rebellious or disobedient runaway children, as is God toward us. It is as if God is not ashamed of their wrongdoing; instead, His grace reaches out to them to get their attention.

In short, God is proud that He can, with honor, freely give us His grace. If God asked us to pay it by being good first, we would all fail. It has to be freely given, or we would never in a lifetime deserve or earn it.

God’s Glorious Grace Is

God's undeserved favor, seen in always freely leaning toward us. Reaching out to us because of God’s preeminent kindness to bless us. He moves toward us to love us, to care for us, to be Father to us, to forgive us, and to remove our guilt. To offer us the privilege of calling Him Father in prayer and justifying us of our dark sins and mischievous guilty actions that would, under normal circumstances, cause others to shun us.  

God Made Us Accepted in the Beloved

This phrase is also translated as " we are accepted in 'His dearly loved Son ' and 'the One he loves.'” God has placed us next to His Son—the One whom God dearly loves and who is dear to the Father’s heart. This is what it means to be “in Christ.” “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). Let that sink in: God has no condemnation when you look to God in faith.

Praise To Jesus Christ

“So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” 1 Pet 4:11

Ephesians 1:7 In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace NIV

1:7 In Him [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His [God’s] grace  NKJV

1:7 In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace. NET Bible

First—Redemption in Christ, Christ our Redeemer

 The word forgiveness means to let go and send away. Our sins are no longer held against us. God will not hold them against us; they have been paid for by another.  This is the extravagance of divine goodwill: to justify the guilty and let the innocent pay for the transgression, the only One who was able to provide forgiveness and restoration.

Yet this was no ordinary innocent person—it was the Son of God Himself. God’s Son. In ways beyond our full comprehension of the eternal relationship between the Father and His Son. We could truthfully say that God participated in our forgiveness in the shared life and blood between Father and Son--not from a distance, but continuously with, by, and through, all the time, in all ways—in His Son. “God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in him [His Son]” (Col 1:19).

The Father was in His Son, as Jesus explained to Philip: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?” (John 14:9-10). 

The Bible magnifies the wonder of God’s power of forgiveness, saying that He “forgives all my sins” (Ps 103:3). Again, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Jer 31:34). John writes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and purify us of all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Now, by your faith, accept Jesus as your redeemer. For “all” of us, “are justified freely by his [God’s] grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).

Second—Redemption in Christ: The Cost of Ransom  

In the Roman world, redemption (apolytrosis) referred to going to the marketplace where enslaved people were sold and purchased. Here God is seen as releasing us from the slavery of sin by a payment of ransom: His blood. Christ became the ransom price to free the sinner, through purchasing the slave at the cost of his own blood and life on earth.

Christ becomes our dear Redeemer. This is His principal work: paying the price for the redemption of believers. It is central to Christianity; it’s the most beloved term. There is nothing more precious to believers than the title Redeemer.   

It presents a picture of the release and freeing of prisoners of war for payment or ransom. In Exodus 21:28-30, the law provided a redemption price as an alternative to the death sentence. 

Christ becomes our dear Redeemer. This is His principal work: paying the price for the redemption of believers. It is central to Christianity; it’s the most beloved term. There is nothing more precious to believers than the title Redeemer. 

It presents a picture of releasing and freeing prisoners of war on payment or ransom. In Exodus 21:28-30, the law provided a redemption price as a payment option for someone under the sentence of death. 

Redemption: From the Curse of the Law

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole” (Gal 3:13, citing Dt 21:23). The idea here is that a person hanging on a wooden pole was regarded as a curse. Jesus freely took the curse upon Himself when he was hung on the wooden cross, like a pole. He died under a Roman execution method reserved for criminals. Therefore, at His resurrection He became our redeemer, having paid the penalty price for our sins.

Beyond that, the price He paid is His right to forgive our sins and justify us from every wrongful thing we have done in life. He welcomes us into a grand heavenly family, with unnumbered angels and a vast cosmos spanning immeasurable distance. Even more, we are granted permanent residence in a city that is approximately 1,400 miles high and wide, of transparent gold (Rev 21:15-18).  None of this would be ours except for the price paid by God and his Son. But more than that, they did not do this out of obligation, but out of personal love, looking at you individually. A love that envisions you as already in possession of a joyful, endless life.

Forgiveness of Sins

To reiterate, the word forgiveness means to release and send away. Our sins are no longer held against us, and if God does not hold them against us, no one else can! We are freed from guilt that so often plagues our thoughts with depression and sorrow.

 This is the extravagance of divine goodwill: to justify the guilty and let the innocent pay for the crime. But this was no ordinary innocent person who paid the cost of our sins—it was the Son of God Himself. God’s Son provides necessary forgiveness and atonement that God the Father accepts. We truthfully say, God participated in our forgiveness in the shared blood between Father and Son, not from a distance, but with and by and through in all ways—in His Son.

 It must be understood that our forgiveness is very serious in God's eyes. It was not cavalier or offhand on the part of God. It was a very costly business to make available to us sinners the forgiveness and righteousness that affect the uniqueness of the relationship between God and Son. Because the forgiven and redeemed from this earth become part of the larger family of God in heaven. When a believer is in Christ, they are to be brought, in the future, to somehow share in the blessed relationship between Father and Son. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). As the Father has his arms around His son, the forgiven and redeemed are included in this embrace.

Riches of God's Grace

This expression points to the boundlessness of divine wealth in the currency of grace. If we could open the vaults of heaven to see the stored gold and silver, what would we see? God’s vast, unmeasured, unweighable, uncountable currency of grace.

 God dispenses His currency in overflowing, unexpected grace, giving rich benefits to the undeserving, chiefly forgiveness—"All to His good pleasure” (Eph 1:5, 9).

God forgives all their sins through the riches of His grace. He takes ownership of us from the marketplace of enslavement of sin. We become God’s “purchased possession” (Eph 1:14 NKJV).

There is not enough English prose to describe God's superlative great mercy toward us. This is the reason why we have redemption and forgiveness: because of the riches of his grace. If it were not for grace, God would not pardon us in love when He rightfully should be angry at our willful, abandoned sins.

Doubled Blessed

Best of all, for sinners here on earth—"Out of his [Christ] fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:16). Grace can be called the “riches of God’s grace” (Eph 1:7) and called the “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). 

Grace is doubly sourced, so that believers in the Son of God are doubly blessed—receiving grace from God the Father and grace from the Son of God. “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people" (Titus 2:11).

Praise to God our Father 1:8-10

Ephesians 1:8 [Riches of his grace 1:7] That he [God] lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding

1:8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence” NKJV

To Lavish On Us

This Greek word lavish is perisseuo, meaning, “to be over and above and beyond the expected measure, to surpass expectation.” God wants us to know that He has a super-abundant supply of divine grace for us. It is like God has showered, in a flood of grace, upon us the “riches of his grace” (Eph 1:7). The KJV and the NKJV poorly translate this wonderful expression describing the superabundance of God’s grace with the word “abounded” or “abound,” not an expression of abundance.

We need this lavished “grace” as human beings. Humanity has problems: they are murderers, thieves, abusers of children and women, betrayers in marriage, angers, slanderers, using filthy language and demeaning others, dishonorably betraying friends, with no respect for truth. Today, Western Christianity has often descended to a low level. Many do not know what it means to daily “remain in the vine” (John 15:4).

Yet those weakened by compromise with the world can come to Christ and find forgiveness. If God did not have such an endless wealth of grace, humanity already would have exhausted the fund of God’s available grace, leaving the world in a place of wild, disordered societies with no peace.  

There are many examples of God’s mercy in the Old Testament. Just consider King David, sending an assassin to kill a man so that he could take his wife for himself. Yet God had mercy on him, spared him the worst of his deserved punishments, and, best of all, still loved him.

Even more, Jesus came in the lineage of David: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1), meaning God used the family of David in the genetic background of His Son, “born of a woman” (Gal 4:4), as a “son of man.”

All Wisdom

Divine wisdom of God in dealing with us—never throwing in the towel, saying, “I give up on you.” All provisions sinners need, God has foreseen and provided in advance. His provision for you is more than adequate, due to His lavished grace and love. When you come to Christ, you will know this to be personally true for you.

All Understanding

God knows that we are weak, broken, sick, addicted, over-medicated, and often raised in environments surrounded by violence. Yet God possesses an understanding that is not of human origin. In all honesty, each of us can acknowledge that God has been overwhelmingly gracious to us, rather than being judgmental and condemning as we deserve. 

A Pastor told the story about an older Christian who was asked to give his testimony. He told how God had sought him out and found him. He told how God had loved him, called him, saved him, delivered him, cleansed him, and healed him—a great witness to the power of God’s grace, which is the glory of God.

But after the meeting, a brother took him aside and said, “I appreciate all you said about what God did for you, but you didn't mention anything about your part in its salvation.”

“Oh yes,” the older Christian said, “I apologize for that. I'm sorry; I really should have said something about my part. My part was running away, and God’s part was running after me until he caught me.”

•  “Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you” (Ps 89:8).

•  “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives our transgressions…but delights to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19)

• “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins, and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies” (Ps 103:2-4).

• “Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in mercy. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him” (Ps 103:5-11).

• As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; or he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust…But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with [stays with] those who fear him. Praise the Lord, my soul.  Ps 103:12-17, 22 NIV; NKJV adapted)

Ephesians 1:9 He [God] made known to us [revealed, opened up] the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure [delight], which he purposed [set forth publicly] in Christ NIV

1:9 having made known to us the mystery of His [God’s] will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself NKJV

1:9 He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ. Berean Study Bible 2020

1:9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ. Christian Standard Bible (2017)

1:9 He did this when he revealed to us the secret of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ. NET Bible (2019)

Mystery of His Will

Once it was hidden from full view, in the ages before the birth of Christ, the mystery of God’s will has now been revealed in “the gospel of Christ” (Rom 15:19). It is now, every minute and hour of the day, made public in the personal ministry of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. This is “the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9). The only light, the “light of the world” and the “light of life” (John 8:12).

This Mystery Now Revealed

A mystery is something hard to work out, something previously unrevealed. Now, Paul tells us God has revealed this mystery in Christ. His birth in a manger, His humble first 30 years as a physical laborer, His baptism, and the voice from heaven declaring Him to be God’s Son, the Son of God.

This was followed by His ever-new and revealing teachings, His death and resurrection. Unheard of in all human history!

His life has had an impact on more people than any other living person. Billions over the last two thousand years. Greater by far than any person that has lived on earth, since the times in Eden. Amazingly, this man Jesus Christ is made new and fresh with love in the hearts of millions every day. This is unrivaled and unmatched in history. How can millions of individuals, from all around the world, love this man Jesus Christ, all at the same time? Trust this man Jesus Christ with their life, all at the same time. Find peace, love, hope, faith, and goodness from this man Jesus Christ?

• “We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony [witness] is greater, because it is the testimony of God [Himself], which He has given about His Son” (1 John 5:9).

This Mystery Now Revealed

This mystery about Christ points to something entirely new—the Son of God's appearance on earth and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God’s testimony about His Son moves into the human heart and, from there, sets up within a believer a sacred temple, “a dwelling [place] in which God lives by His Spirit” (Eph 2:22).

This Mystery Now Revealed

Who could have, in past ages, thought of a plan whereby God would publicly display his good pleasure in the story of His Son Jesus Christ? No one could ever have thought of, dreamed up, such a detailed plan on how God “in love” “predestined” us for “adoption” to himself (Eph 1:4-5).

It was God the Father’s plan from the beginning—how He was to forgive and redeem sinners, by means of coming to knowledge of Christ as revealed in the four gospels and what the Apostles proclaimed. Who in ages past could have imagined a plan that would transform millions and billions of individuals of all ages, men, women, and children, of all cultures and peoples over the world? Not just for a short time after an event, but for so long a period. A story is ever new, ever inviting, ever fresh, ever transforming.  Nobody! It is God’s mystery that is now opened to us.

•  Wonderful, merciful Savior. Precious Redeemer and Friend, who would have thought that a Lamb could rescue the souls of men. Oh, You rescue the souls of men…

Song lyrics by Dawn Rodger & Eric Wyse (popularized by Selah)

Good Pleasure

The nature of God is that when He does something for us, it is by His own good pleasure. God delights in what he does for our benefit. God does not do anything out of obligation. He revealed the mystery of how He would save sinners; it was not to please anyone else, even his own Son. It was natural for God to provide a generous way to offer us a home with Him for eternity. It pleased God to reveal it to us now.

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). What else might God be planning to give the redeemed in heaven? Who could even hazard a guess?  What God has planned for the redeemed, He already has everything in place. Because He planned it all out ahead of time. The idea of giving us something that will last forever brings Him much pleasure. Even more, “God predestined us for adoption to sonship” (Eph 1:5). What it will mean throughout eternity to be family to God—the exalted privilege is yet to be revealed to us.

Ephesians 1:10 [the mystery of His will 1:9] to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment [fullness of the times]—to bring unity to all things in heaven [cosmos] and on earth under Christ. NIV

Ephesians 1:10 reworded: “God has a master plan to carry out when the right time arrives—the fullness of the time. On that day, God will gather together and bring into complete unity all things in heaven and on earth, uniting them under the supreme authority of Christ.”

1:10 that in the dispensation [a period of time] of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth—in Him [Christ]. NKJV

Put Into Effect—Carry Out A Divine Plan

God plans to reveal the complete picture for all to see the “mystery” (Eph 1:9) of how God is going to make good on His promise to give sinners eternal life, to “obtain an inheritance” (Eph 1:11) with “adoption” (Eph 1:5) to Himself. He has revealed His plan in the first coming of Christ. This has demonstrated that He really does love the world, all the peoples that live on earth.

All Things in Heaven

We, the redeemed of the Lord, will be joined together, in union, with all angelic hosts and inhabitants of unlimited, unnumbered Galaxies of the cosmos. At this present time, we who walk by faith in God and His Son are excluded from the cosmos-wide, interplanetary fellowship.

To Bring Unity to All Things in Heaven [cosmos] and On Earth: Under Christ (1:10)

This is the second “mystery of His will” (Eph 1:9). It points to a future time when God brings all things together in Christ, including all believers on earth who are in Christ Jesus by faith, together with those in all of heaven since time began.  

Those redeemed from earth are first and always under Christ. We are enabled to be present, not due to our birthright, but the provision provided by God the Father, through His Son. Our right to participate in interplanetary cosmic fellowship is not due to our heritage, but upon our faith in Christ. For we have been “brought to fullness” in Christ who “is the head over every power and authority” (Col 2:10). Under His name and authority—we who were once fallen sinners take our seat and participate in “all things in heaven”

This inclusion event is the grand conclusion of God’s redemptive mystery. As the Apostle Paul writes, “After that,” the Second Coming, “we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them [those raised from their graves] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess 4:17).

Upon our arrival in heaven, we will stand “in front of the [God’s] throne” which looks “like a sea of glass, clear as crystal” (Rev 4:6). You are standing in and among the “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb [a prophetic symbol for Christ]. They all are wearing white robes [all united in declared purity] and were holding palm branches in their hands [symbols of celebration]. And they cried out [joyous expression] in a loud voice [all together]: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Rev 7:9-10).

We will stand there not because of ourselves, but for no other reason than God the Father accomplished this through His Son. God’s Son sacrificed Himself, in the symbol of the lamb of profound humility, to bring all the redeemed home. Safe at last, secure forever and ever.

Now at Last All Things Are in Perfect Peace

Believers from centuries past to the present age, educated, illiterate, children, males, females, seniors and youth—all together in peace and love, with joy and thankfulness, as “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17).

In that day you will hear the words of the King of the Universe say: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt 25:34). There you “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt 13:43).

There you will be “giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col 1:12-13).

How is it that we, known sinners, can receive from God the shared love He has for His Son? Through God’s love for His Son, we are adopted into that very circle of divine love.

The Fulfillment, When the Right Time Comes

This fulfillment is the conclusion of God’s mystery; then there will be a grand celebration with Christ and his brothers and sisters. Now, not just in faith, we will be a tangible reality as real children of God.

Can we imagine that in heaven, in the endless cosmos, there will be a celebration, maybe with cosmic wide fireworks, when Christ is enthroned, so that “God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything” (Eph 1:22). Along with His sons and daughters at his side who will come to share the grand power and authority of Christ.  With the beaming face of God, who has personally called and saved, having predestined them (Eph 1:11), all who stand before Him. 

Then we will give “joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:12-14).

Tell the Lord you want to be there. In that day when you will be present in your Father’s house. When it becomes a known reality, then it can be said, “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Rev 21:3-5).

Perfect Unity In All Creation

First and foremost, we rebellious souls are now God’s adopted children, “blameless in his sight” (Eph 1:4). Now, Satan and his followers, the fallen angels and unsaved humans, are justly excluded from the gathering of all things under Christ.

Unity is restored in heaven, from the crack of disunity created by Satan and his host, who are the father of evil, hate, and discord.

Why are Satan and his host excluded? Not because they have sinned and rebelled against heaven. For this would exclude all of us standing there in “white robes” (Rev 7:9). Oh no, not because they sinned; yes, they have sinned grievously, so have the redeemed. Why then?

Because “those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Satan and his host of fallen angels have steadfastly refused to believe in Jesus the Son of God. Thus, along with many other individuals from earth, they themselves have forfeited any claim to eternal life.

Satan has Created Disharmony—Now unity is restored.

God’s answer, His mystery now revealed, is found in Christ's new, elevated position throughout the entire cosmos, with evil vanquished forever. Perhaps the biggest difference is not the announcement of a new position for Christ the Son of God. His prior position already has been described as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15).

The biggest difference with Christ is who is present alongside Him. It is the family that is “co-heirs” with him (Rom 8:17). As Christ is elevated as “king of kings and lord of lords” (Rev 19:6), in ways yet to be disclosed, the redeemed of the Lord share in His elevation in heaven.

Ephesians 1:11 In him [in Christ 1:10] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined [past tense] according to the purpose of him [God] who works all things [in our lives] according to the counsel of His will. (English Standard Version, ESV)

1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will NIV

1:11 Yes, in Him, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestinated according to His purpose, who is working out all things according to the counsel of His own will. A faithful Version (2008)

1:11 In Him [Christ] also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined [past tense] according to the purpose of Him [God] who works all things [in our lives] according to the counsel of His [God’s] will, NKJV

God’s Purpose and Counsel of His Will

 God, from within Himself, sets a course of action that will result in us receiving an eternal inheritance: “Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you” (2 Chron 20:6). “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).

The context is that when we are in Christ by faith, it is because it is in accordance with God’s will, as God has predestined and purposed it, which means that God has made pre-arrangements in your life for your good, months and years before the event. Time and distance present no boundary to God.  We might think of this as God’s quantum planning, deploying His resources far in advance where needed to prearrange things for our good. God opens the road, removing the obstacles ahead of you, most often unknown to us at all. God provides solutions; how many times we will never know, saving, helpful solutions to problems you face, a long time ago.  He saves our lives; He moves us from place to place, all for His “goodness sake” (Ps 25:7 NKJV), good for us. 

Meaning that in the mind of God long ago, what He willed has become a reality in your life today. It must bring God much satisfaction to see and hear your prayers of trust and faith in Him. To hear you say to Him “Abba Father” (Rom 8:15) is like sweet music to Him.

 Never forget that God Himself “chose” (Eph 1:4) you; He planned a way for you to be in Christ. We are believers in the gospel because it is the will of God our Father. Celebrate this and acknowledge that you have been “born of God” (1 John 5:1).

With Peter, be thankful for what God the Father has done for you: “In his [God’s] great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3).

When we find ourselves as believers in Christ, we should realize that God predestined this for us, who works all things out according to the purpose of his will, which means, as God once said, “Who is like me and who can challenge me?” (Jer 50:44). No one.

Now we can give “joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of eternal life in his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12). “He [God] called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess 2:14). That’s true, you who are born again, of the will of God, will have part of the glory and honour given by God the Father to His Son as part of your eternal inheritance, for “in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Col 2:10).

But let’s not misunderstand God’s purpose for our lives, for He “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). God does not plan for only some to be saved and others to be lost. “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” (Rom 11:34). The truth is that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), not just some, but all mankind.

Obtained an Inheritance

In the original Greek text, obtaining an inheritance (eklērothēmen) carries the meaning of being assigned a portion, to receive a share of our inheritance. In Christ, we have our inheritance allotted to us, decreed by the purpose of the will of God the Father, who works out everything he does in accordance with the counsel of His deliberate mind and choice, with the motive of His “love” (Eph 1:4); He carries out His desires. “This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Pet 1:4).

Paul acknowledged that this gospel he is teaching us: “I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:12). So, God has left this letter to the Ephesians to know all about our promised inheritance, all by the will of God. So that we may gain the right to be citizens of the kingdom belonging to God, but more “members of God’s household” (Eph 2:19).

Amazingly, as Christ is promoted, we as His “chosen” and “loved” (Eph 1:4,11; 3:17) “predestined” (Eph 1:5,11) and “adopted” (Eph 1:5) and “redeemed” (Eph 1:7) are likewise elevated. Christ is a new head, the new leader for the entire cosmos, for ever and ever due to God’s good pleasure. This is the kind of love we know nothing of, at all, that willingly yields some of His absolute power to people like us. This kind of humility and love from a God of absolute power and righteousness is assurance that “righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you” (Ps 89:14).

Redeemed in heaven, the New Jerusalem

When the redeemed of the Lord are all together in the Holy City, there is a river that flows throughout this city called the “river of the water of life, as clear as crystal.” It has its endless, vibrant, life-giving source “from the throne of God” (Rev 22:1-2).

On each side of the river of life, a large tree grows, united above the river, spreading its branches, arching over the entire city, laden with the fruit of life. There are two sources of eternal life that the redeemed of the Lord can drink and eat. And “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:2).

Why do we need healing in heaven? Just an idea: consider the number of people who are not cultural or political friends while on earth. For instance, a Viking warrior in the year 1,000 AD with a boatload of other warriors was known for robbing and killing priests and nuns in their monasteries. Just imagine a nun meeting the very warrior that killed her, who later in his life was changed by faith in God. Around that tree of ultimate healing and life, love is restored, and they embrace each other in heartfelt care for the other, and friendship blossoms, not only among them, but between everyone that eats and drinks of the fruit and water of life. Be there or be nowhere.

Ephesians 1:11 In him [in Christ 1:10] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined [past tense] according to the purpose of him [God] who works all things [in our lives] according to the counsel of His will. (English Standard Version, ESV)

Ephesians 1:12 [God who has predestined us] so that [so that] we, who were the first [who already] to put our hope in Christ [past tense], might be for the praise of his [God’s] glory. NIV

1:12 [So] that we who first trusted [hoped] in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. NKJV

First to put our hope in Christ.

Speaking to the early Ephesian believers, Paul could rightly say that they were the first in their area to put their hope in Christ. When we hope in Christ, we bring praise and honor to God.

Trust in God is most often understood through experiences in which, in answer to prayer, we find God faithful to His promises and learn He is trustworthy. Faith in God is always in the present tense; today, you can have faith that He loves you and has your best interests in His mind. Hope looks to the future, to the fulfillment of the promises of God. Hope sees Jesus will return and take us to “my Father’s House” (John 14:1). Hope sees it so real we can almost taste its joy.

Praise of His [God’s] glory

 When we trust in Christ, we are, in God’s eyes, bringing him praise. It honors God when He sees our faith in Christ. When all are safe in heaven, we all together are going to shout with much brimming-over enthusiasm, as loud as we can, in the loudest and largest, in the history of the world. A choir of millions of the redeemed—“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Rev 7:12). God is honored to see and hear us say this.

Our praise is not empty, as some have said: “Long live the King.” Oh no! These redeemed from earth have been so gifted as sons and daughters of God, so blessed with an eternity of youth and energy to live in love, in peace, in happiness, in joy, in delightedly sharing in the responsibilities of the Creator God—into the undimmed future. And more beyond that: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt 25:34). There you “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt 13:42). Be there or be nowhere.

The Holy Spirit as God’s Pledge and Guarantee

Ephesians 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 1:14 who [The Holy Spirit] is a deposit [pledge, down payment] guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession [until God redeems what He owns] —to the praise of his glory. NIV

1:13 In Him [Christ], you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed [in Him] with the Holy Spirit of promise. 1:14 who [Holy Spirit] is the guarantee [deposit, “earnest” KJV] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession [God’s ownership], to the praise of His glory. NKJV

Reworded: After you listened to the message of truth—the gospel of your salvation—by faith you believed and were brought into Christ.  You put your hope in Christ. As a result, you were sealed: when in Christ by faith, with the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit is given to you as God’s pledge, as a down payment for your inheritance of eternal life, until the time comes for you to become God’s personal possession, when you are made part of your Father’s family, inheriting all the treasures in heaven, to the praise of God who is so proud to do this for you.  

Downpayment, Pledge, Deposit, Guarantee

The Greek word for pledge is arrabón, which means: “Pledge, guarantee, and down payment, or earnest money.” It refers to an initial deposit that legally obligates the buyer to complete a transaction, such as providing more money down on the purchase of a car or a house.

God gives us the Holy Spirit as His pledge, His solemn guarantee that we will be among all the redeemed from the earth.

It is a guarantee of what God has promised us. Life everlasting, with all the joys and loves that life can bring, is soon to come. But more than this, the Spirit’s presence is the only means by which we can be close to God, and He becomes dear to us.

Guaranteeing our Inheritance

The Spirit is our deposit to our inheritance, as a down payment of our legacy to come. We can taste it now through the ministry of the Spirit, sensing the ever-dynamic, ever-moving love, joy, and peace in our lives. At the same time, we wait for the fullness in the future, when we receive our inheritance.

What an amazing security. The presence of the Spirit in our lives is evidence we belong to God the Father; we are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. They are sealed and shielded, or protected: “sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph 4:30).

They are marked with a seal; this is authentication that believers are truly God’s and none of the promises God has made to them will fail.

 But more than just a guarantee, through the Spirit we are enabled to draw nearer to God and His Son, in love and devotion that was impossible before. This seal leads us to Christ. It increasingly changes us to love God; love for His Son and love for others—all the time more.

1st A seal is used to confirm a believer is true and genuine.

2nd A seal is used to make an object the property of another.

3rd A seal is used to secure something.

After listening to the Message of truth

What were the Ephesians listening to? They were listening to the teachings of the Apostle Paul and his team of co-workers, in connection with accounts of the life and resurrection of Christ from eyewitnesses:

• Barnabas, Silas (also called Sylvanus), Timothy, Titus, Luke, Aquila, Priscilla, Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphroditus, Apollos, Tychicus, Philemon, Epaphras, Demas, Gaius, Lydia, Phoebe, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, and Prisca. Paul speaks of two women, “Euodia and Syntyche,” who “contended at my side in the cause of the gospel” (Phil 4:2-3).

In Ephesians 1 and 2, God Himself is displayed as the Mastermind, Author, and Designer of the gospel of our salvation, through and in Christ. The Holy Spirit is received, in connection with the teaching of the gospel, as presented in Ephesians. This is God’s plan to save sinners like us.

Sealed in our Hearts

Paul assures the Corinthians that “God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor 1:21-22).

This is a very sobering thought, to think of ourselves as being owned by God, because we believe in His Son. Thus, He gives us the Holy Spirit. Our privileged sealing does not come to us on account of what we have worked for, our good works, or our belief system. It comes by believing in “the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13).

The Spirit’s influence makes us aware of God's presence in our lives through multiple channels.

·         We learn to recognize the leading of God’s Spirit in our lives.

·         We discern His work by the unselfish love growing deep within our hearts.

·         We love and delight in Scripture—and we know it.

·         We love to sing praises to God.

·         We know that God is leading us, even when we make mistakes, which are freely confessed.

·          We want to honor and please God and our Lord Jesus Christ. No one makes us want to do what is true and honest; we are, due to the Spirit’s anointing that Jesus and the Father gave us, committed without force, obligation, or fear—but out of love that we know is not natural or native to us before.

The anointed need to be aware of the snares of the Devil, which create diversion from God and involve us in matters that defile our conscience. Jesus has warned us in symbolic words “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire” (Matt 18:8). If certain things in our lives repeatedly draw us away from God, we know that we must separate from them or it will result in separation from the guidance of the Spirit.

Should one of God’s children get lost and wander away, the Good Shepherd will go in search of this lost one. Sometimes it may take many years, but Jesus says, “this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me but raise them up at the last day” (John 6:39). God sees every sparrow and “not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care” (Matt 10:29). God does not want to lose any of his anointed children. This is assurance in our prayers, not presumption. Assurance that comes from the witness of the Spirit inside our hearts.

God is the Designer and Mover of our Hearts

·         All from His love (Eph 1:4).

·         All from His “good pleasure” (Eph 1:5).

·         All from His “glorious grace” (Eph 1:6).

·         All the events in our lives that give us adoption and sonship with God the Father.

 Why? So, we can “stand” “by faith into this grace” (Rom 5:2). In His presence to “be holy and blameless” (Eph 1:4) as His children that He dearly loves, “the one He loves” (Heb 12:6).

In Him, In Christ Jesus

 This message of truth must be Christ centred, “For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval” (John 6:27). Jesus told his disciples, “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63). If the teaching of the Gospel Message is not Christ centred, is not appreciative of the Father God’s planning our salvation and the Ministry of the Holy Spirit—it is most likely not a saving sealing message.

Having also Believed, Coming to Faith

 Because God has “made it known to you” (Eph 1:9). This is how belief becomes real in our hearts. Unknown and unseen to us, the words in the New Testament come alive inside us. We slowly, or sometimes very quickly, become persuaded that the gospel message is true. It is a heart-based influence that affects the mind, leading the former unbeliever to seek after God and desire to know more about the gospel.

For the gospel is the great magnet to human hearts, moving their emotions and affecting them in ways they have never been affected before. Then what happens? They come to faith; they “have faith in God” (1 Thess 1:8), real faith that starts as a very tiny “mustard seed…Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches” (Matt 13:31-32).

Over time, you grow into strong, mature faith, lending support to many others, “in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13). So that we “may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col 4:12).

Sealed With the Holy Spirit

         The Greek word for Seal is sphragizó; it means: “To seal, mark, or stamp for security and preservation.”  In antiquity, a seal acted as an official signature guaranteeing authenticity and ownership.

After the gospel message has moved you to have faith, which is God moving in your heart, God makes the next move; you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. This Spirit of promise refers to Jesus’s promise that He would send to us the Spirit to “help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16,17). Teaching you, from your inner self, the truth of the gospel message as taught by Jesus and his apostles. For the Spirit is sent to us individually to “teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26).

We must never underestimate the value of being Spirit-filled. Those who are “led by the Spirit of God are the children of God” (Rom 8:14) and “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom 8:9). Here the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ because this is the very purpose of the Spirit. So that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…being rooted and established in love” (Eph 3:17).

Many Names Are Given to the Holy Spirit

There are many names used for the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul talks about the Spirit about 130 times. Jesus makes the Spirit a major theme in John chapters 3, 4, and 14-16.

Jesus used the Greek word parakletos to describe the function of the Spirit (John 14:26). It is translated into English in a variety of ways: advocate, intercessor, consoler, comforter, helper, one called alongside like a companion, and one who stands by us. No single English word has the same range of meaning as the Greek word, for all the words apply to the work of the Spirit. What a privilege to “live by the Spirit” (Gal 5:25), providing for us a means of assistance, direction, the ability to see right and wrong, and to be directed in your life to a work, a family, a career, a place where God will plant your feet in goodness.

There are many names used for the “The Holy Spirit,” or just called “Spirit”:

• “God’s Spirit” (1 Cor 3:16)

• “Spirit of God” (Rom 8:14)

• “Spirit who is from God” (1 Cor 2:12)

• “Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11)

• “Holy Spirit of God” (Eph 4:30)

• “Spirit of prophecy” (Rev 19:10)

• “Spirit of holiness” (Rom 1:4)

• “The Spirit of glory and of God” (Acts 7:55; 1 Pet 4:14)

• “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 4:6)

• “Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:9)

How Can We Have More of the Spirit in Our Lives?

The Spirit is sent to “testify” about Jesus; “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me” (John 15:26). Thus, the time we spend on the life and teachings of Jesus and the witness of His apostles, the more we will have of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Sealing is what is inside a person, something so very precious to God. It is the “message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13). God wants to protect your faith, as Paul says that “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

The brother of Jesus, Jude, advises us to “keep yourselves in God’s love” (Jude 21). By the love of God, streaming out of our affections, unbidden, not forced, but natural—the Spirit is sealing you as a child of God. As Jesus said, “rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38); this living water is the water of spiritual life that will at times cause you to feel new, all new.

This is not human-sourced; it is an influence that will spread from your mouth and heart to God in praise, song, and thanksgiving—followed by a desire to do good, to love others, to be faithful, to be true, to care deeply for the things of God. Your hearts are set “on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1).

Redemption of God’s Possession

The seal is a sign of ownership; it carries the name of God our Father and confirms that our Father owns us. When “he [Christ] comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mk 8:38), the sealed will be received by God our Father as belonging to Him. Not to this earth, this sinful, broken-down global society. “Instead,” we are “longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Heb 11:16).

Paul speaking about our new bodies, our new existence and our new home says, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in [our current bodies] is destroyed [in death], we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Cor 5:1). Nothing will be “worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18).

As for now, God is making his “dwelling place” (Eph 2:22) in us, abiding with us through the Holy Spirit. This seal is inward, abiding in you and on you; it is not an outward visible sign. As Jesus taught us about the Spirit, he “will live with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).

Discernment: Genuine Fruit or Just Verbal Claims

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matt 7:16). In other words, those who do have the Spirit and those who do not have the Spirit living in them are obvious to discern over time. If a believer who claims to be born again is frequently rude, jealous, unforgiving, and vengeful; if they are often unkind and have in their heart “anger, rage, malice, slander. If they use “filthy language” or “lie” to others (Col 3:8-9). This is not the fruit of the Spirit, illustrated by Jesus as sweet-tasting grapes from the vineyard. Instead, it is like eating thistle leaves.

 The Spirit does not make a believer a “thornbush” if kindness and love for others are lacking. Verbal claims of being a believer do not matter at all.

The Apostle John has much to say about testing our spiritual claims. If “anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them” (1 John 2:9-11).

Many are drawn to the gospel’s promise of eternal life. But they still believe they were justified into hating some people, in and out of the church. John tells them they are in darkness, a lost condition because they don’t really love others. The most important milestone of a believer’s faith is not their baptism, not their membership in a church—but the true light of love living in them, their thoughts, their plans, their ideals, is the most profound. “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness” (1 Thess 5:5).

Let it sink into every believer’s heart: a failure to receive love from God and then to give love, even to the undeserving, has an impact on our salvation.

What Does It Mean to be Sealed by the Spirit?

You know that you have been “made us alive in Christ” (Eph 2:5), “that old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires” (Eph 4:22), has been silenced to be “made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:23,24). You know it in the morning, in the evening. It is never far from your consciousness. When this happens, you can know for sure that the ministry of the Spirit is abiding in your heart.

Human beings are blessed with a natural ability to love and to be loyal to their family and friends. Yet the Spirit offers a more complete, more unselfish, and profound love that is unavailable to all but those who are “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6). Love is the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22) and the very heart of the gospel, for without love the gospel is nothing but a theory or a guide for life.

The Spirit is the only power that can defeat our flesh, that is, the sinful nature that we inherit at birth. “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds [sinful] of the body, you will live” (Rom 8:12-13). The victory over sinful thoughts and the actions that result from them is won, one by one, every day.

Examples of the Ministry of the Spirit to the Believer:

• Through the Spirit we become a dwelling place for God. (Eph 2:22)

• We become God’s temple where God dwells by His Spirit (1 Cor 3:16)

• We learn to pray in the Holy Spirit (Eph 6:18)

• We are taught to walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16)

• “The Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me” (John 16:26).

• We are privileged to be guided by the Spirit (John 16:13)

• We are personally taught by the Spirit (John 14:26)

• The Spirit is to “abide or live” with us and to be “in” us (John 14:17)

• We are to be strengthened in our inner being by the Spirit (Eph 3:17)

• We are to keep in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25)

• We must not quench the Spirit’s fire (1 Thess 5:19)

• True worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth (John 4:23)

• We are to live by the Spirit (Gal 5:25)

• When Spirit-filled, we learn to “love in the Spirit” or love from the Spirit (Col 1:8)

• We are to serve God in the Spirit (Phil 3:3)

• We are sanctified by the work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:2)

• Praise be to the God and Father, in the great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ into an inheritance that can never perish (1 Pet 1:3)

• We are to live according to God in the Spirit (1 Pet 4:6)

• We are to be made alive in the Spirit (1 Pet 3:18).

• We are to be circumcised of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code (Rom 2:29)

• We are to have fellowship in the Spirit (Phil 2:1)

• We are to be sealed with the Spirit, a sign of God’s ownership of us (2 Cor 1:21-22)

• We are to receive the anointing of the Spirit (1 John 2:20,27)

• We are to be born, given a new birth, by the power of the Spirit (Gal 4:29)

• We are to be a dwelling where God lives by his Spirit…a holy temple to the Lord (Eph 2:21,22)

• We are given access to the Father through the Spirit (Eph 2:18)

• We are to praise God in the Spirit (1 Cor 14:16)

• We are to serve God by his Spirit (Phil 3:3)

• We are to sing songs from the Spirit, singing to God (Col 3:16)

• The Spirit God gives us is power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Tim 1:7)

• We are to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all the wisdom & understanding that the Spirit gives (Col 1:9)

Nine Fruits of the Spirit

They are: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22,23). These fruits are nine simple word descriptions of what it means to be marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

When we pray to be filled with the Spirit, the Spirit will direct us into the practice of these fruits, for these fruits were the lifestyle of Christ himself while on earth. The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are the practical application of the Fruits of the Spirit.

The Spirit applies these fruits to us personally and individually, which is an action of God’s grace to His believers. They are not instantly mature in our lives, so that we could say we have perfect love, patience, and self-control. They are like young fruit trees that take time to grow and bear mature fruit.

These fruits are not like justification by faith, which offers instant forgiveness and reconciliation with God. When we learn to be more sensitive to our need for these precious fruits of the Spirit, it brings glory to God. Throughout our lives, we will be led by the Spirit to love others more—those who dislike us or trouble us. The Spirit will test us to be more patient and kinder. We will be urged and led by the Spirit to be more self-controlled in our words, reactions, diet, exercise, and family life. We will be led by the Spirit to pay close attention, to pray, when an impure thought finds response in our hearts.

To the Praise of His Glory

These closing words tie us with the opening words, “praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph 1:3).

Everything we have in Christ comes from God the Father. The gospel is God-centred from beginning to end, to the praise of our Father God, all from the “counsels of his will” (Eph 1:11), for our good.

• According to his good pleasure of His will ( Eph 1:5)

• According to his good pleasure (Eph1:9)

• God works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will (Eph 1:11)

• God chose us before the creation of the earth (Eph 1:4)

• But you are a chosen people…God’s special possession.” (1 Pet 2:9)

• God predestined us (Eph 1:5,11)

• God has adopted us as sons through Jesus Christ at His pleasure (Eph 1:5)

• God made us accepted in the beloved, gave us to Christ (Eph 1:6)

• God gave us forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7)

• God has redeemed us—by the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7)

• God has Lavished His wisdom & understanding on us (Eph 1:8)

• God has made known the mystery of His will to us (Eph 1:9)

• God has given us an inheritance (Eph 1:11,14)

• God led us to trust in Christ (Eph 1:13)

• God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit through faith (Eph 1:13)

• The Holy Spirit, from God, guarantees our inheritance (Eph 1:14)

• All of the above is to the praise of God’s glory (Eph 1:6,12,14) 

Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians

1:15-23

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 1:16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. NIV

1:15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 1:16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. NKJV

A Morning Prayer

For Increased Faith and Love

Thank you, Lord, for another day of life, and especially all the gifts and blessings You have lavished on me. Lord, I ask You to give me more love—love for the people I meet today. Lord. Give me more trusting, more steadfast faith in my Lord Jesus Christ. Make me conscious of others around me so that I can give to them respectful, caring love, just as You have been so gracious to me. Amen

For this Reason

This transition anchors directly to the preceding truths: because believers have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise” and secured as “God’s possession” (Eph 1:13,14).

Paul Did Not Stop Giving Thanks for Them

Every time we see love and faith grow in ourselves, we should thank God.  “I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart…for your unfailing love and your faithfulness” (Ps 138:1-2).

Genuine faith is always in union with love. These two go together, making them brighter than if they were all alone. They should be considered as primary doctrines of the church, the most important teaching themes month to month.

Paul’s final greetings to the Ephesians were, “Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love” (Eph 6:23-24).

This parting benediction captures the core summary of the gospel. It should be regarded as the summary and most important part of the gospel. Would that God, if we as Christians were less occupied with other minor theological issues.

It is impossible to have strong, growing, maturing faith in God without increasing love for others. They are not to be separated; they are to grow stronger together over time. Faith needs to be united with love for God and others to grow in character and expression. This is a natural consequence of those who are “marked in Him, with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph 1:13).

Love For all God’s People (Part I)

The love that the Ephesians possessed was not self-centered. They had a big-hearted and generous love that extended beyond their family and social group, across the Roman Empire. Later in his letter, Paul explains that believers love God’s people because they are walking “in the way of love, just as Christ loved us” (Eph 5:2).

Love from God is one of His greatest gifts to us; it belongs at the forefront of our Christian walk. It should be placed as the most prominent aspect of our faith. In the last verse of the 12th Chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul says we are to “eagerly desire the greater gifts” (1 Cor 12:31). He then commands: “Follow the way of love” (1 Cor 14:1). Love is the path of life, not just spiritual life. To fall aside from this path leads to darkness in the heart and dims our faith in God.

For Paul to mention these two spiritual elements, faith and love, at this point in his letter is important. For it tells us that when believers were “marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph 1:13), the result is strong faith in the Lord Jesus and ever-increasing love for others. These chief doctrines are the results of believing in “the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13). Everyone who is sealed with the Holy Spirit will continually pray for more love and more faith. This is the very heart of true worship.

I'm comin' back to the heart of worship.
And it's all about You.
It's all about You, Jesus

I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it.
When it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus

King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve?

Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath

Songwriters: Matthew James Redman

The Heart of Worship lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing

Knit Together in Love for Each Other (Part II)

In Paul’s Colossian letter, he said that his “goal” for believers is to be “knit together in love” (Col 2:2). Knitting refers to the idea that whenever a tear occurs in a garment, it is to be knitted back together. If there is division in the church, love seeks ways to restore and knit all together through faith in Christ, from a “pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim 1:5).

Christian believers will not let politics or matters of opinion separate their Christ-based love for one another. If they do, no matter what doctrines they hold, it will in the end count for nothing, for “Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:8). Love and its fruits, from God our Father, faith in Christ, and the presence of the Spirit, are the only things from earth that will follow us into heaven. Into eternity blessed with everlasting life, love, joy, and peace.

Taught by God to Love One Another (Part III)

Paul commended the Thessalonians for their exemplary love:

• “Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more.” (1 Thess 4:9-10).

The Greek expression “taught by God” is plural, meaning “again and again.” In Thessalonian church culture, they developed a respectful love for one another. It dominated their sermons and songs. It was the leading edge of their church doctrines. This sweet, pure-minded, refined, honorable culture of love, Paul wished this to increase in time by its practice, more and more.

The point is that if God does not teach us to love, we are unlikely to learn it anywhere else. We can read about it in books and romance accounts, but this love is from heaven, not from earth. It can only be said that we know it from the inside, a hidden place within ourselves. We know that we need to pray for love every day. We rejoice when we see love that was not there before swelling up in our hearts anew.

When our paths in life encounter difficult-to-love people, we resort to prayer to protect the gift of love that God, through His Spirit, is giving to us, expanded capabilities to love when others find it impossible.

A Solemn Warning Against Mistreating Others (Part IV)

Jesus had a very dim view of individuals who mistreated or took advantage of others. Love was missing in their lives. Jesus said, “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire” (Matt 18:7-8).

This symbolic language of Jesus leaves no excuse for abuse whatsoever of a wife, daughter, son, employees, or strangers. If anyone is part of causing others to stumble—an expression meaning to be knocked down to the ground spiritually or emotionally—they have, on judgment day, a free ticket into eternal fire, to matter no more to anyone than they ever existed.

The Culture of Love Between Jesus and His Disciples (Part V)

Jesus illustrated love to his disciples to the extent that he could ask Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:16). Jesus could ask Peter this direct question because love was the focus of the ministry of Jesus in the towns that they visited.

To the Rich Young Ruler, Mark observed that “Jesus looked at him and loved him,” and then he said to him, “One thing you lack” (Mk 10:21). That was his love of money, which made him feel superior and gave him the influence and authority it brings over others.

Another account of Jesus loving others was when his friend Lazarus died. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ (John 11:33-36).

Love is Nurtured, Cultured and Matured by the Teaching of Jesus (Part VI)

Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15) and “Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching” (John 14:24). In other words, love has a pattern of behaviour that is defined in the teaching of Jesus such as the Sermon of the Mount and that of the instruction that the Apostles, which bore witness to Him.

Love Must Have a Foundation (Part VII)

Love must be subject to the description of love in 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy [jealous], it does not boast [it is humble], it is not proud [arrogant]. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking [selfish], it is not easily angered [irritable, resentful], it keeps no record of wrongs [revenge]. Love does not delight in evil [dwell on evil] but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:4-8). For “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal 5:6).

With love that “endures,” there would be a far smaller number of divorces within the Christian community. With love that is not “self-seeking,” there would be more friendship among believers across different social and economic classes. With love, there would be fewer negative comments about other congregations that believe a little differently. With love for Christians in poverty or who are ethnically diverse from the majority, they would be loved also as children of God.

John’s Theme of Love (Part VIII)

To John, this theme of loving others was so often taught that he wrote, “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have [already] heard” (1 John 2:7-8). John does not even have to repeat Jesus's verbal teaching that we should love one another; the congregation was so well informed that it was considered an old message they already knew.

The Apostle John taught the necessity of love. “Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. The one who says he is [a believer] in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides [walks] in the Light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:8-11).

Darkness Is the Failure to Love (Part IX)

Oh God, save us from any form of hate, shunning, or excluding others from warm Christ-like and Spirit-given love. Instead, we want the “light of the world” (John 8:12), not the darkness, the despair, the deep regrets as results of walking in darkness with blindness.

To the Apostles John and Paul, to walk in the light is to love. To be in darkness is to carry around personal animosity toward another person, even if they, in our opinion, deserve it.

Hatred harbored will bring total spiritual darkness. Also called absolute darkness, where one still thinks they see very clearly and feels justified in harboring reproachful thoughts and deeds against another person. Their darkness has masked the reality of their condition to such an extent that it is possible for them even to attend church and never come to repentance. They never ask God to remove from their hearts a general dislike of others, replaced with a generous, kind-hearted, and tolerant sweet love.

Love is a Stable Platform to Stand On (Part X)

Love places all of us on a stable platform from which Christian fellowship thrives. With no love, warm Christian fellowship shrivels. Under the administration of love, there is no reason for others to stumble and lose their faith. Their fellowship has a warmth that embraces the new, the different, the broken, the poor, or the influential with equal kindness and inclusion. Love can overlook minor matters such as diet choices, the style of worship music, and a hundred other things that flow from our diverse backgrounds, habits, and customs.

So that we are not the cause of abusing any person, we should “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else” (Eph 5:15).

Paul says, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor 13:5), whether you have unresolved resentment toward a spouse, a betrayal of a friend, or a co-worker. Ask God to implant love in your heart. Tell God you can’t do this because the bitterness is too deep to ignore; it is a sadness that shadows you. Ask God to pour the love of God into your heart “through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). The Spirit is yours to claim, and He is more than able to bring the fruit of love mixed with forgiveness into your soul.

Don’t wait one minute more; do it now. Ask in faith, and before long you will find new streams of thoughts of forgiveness flowing from your heart. Embrace it when it comes with praise and thanksgiving to God, asking for more love for God. Why? Because more love for God will provide increased capacity to love others, who can be difficult to love.

Reviving a Spiritually Dead Congregation (Part XI)

If a congregation has become spiritually stagnant, it wishes to grow in love and faith. Have the seniors or those with experience in the group embrace and welcome every member who is isolated—the ones who sit by themselves and seem to have no friends. 

Reach out with openness to accept and honor the youth and the disenfranchised. Create a new atmosphere of acceptance of one another, making love superior, placing theology and church dogma secondary. 

Schedule many church socials, picnics, and game nights, always combined with time for God, for Scripture study and prayer. Create sermons that include more Scripture and less talk about who the speaker is and what the speaker has done and experienced. Show care for others, not contingent on their correct behavior. Is not this how God has loved us? “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children” (Eph 5:1-2).

 Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation [understanding], so that [so that] you may know him better [growing in knowledge of Him]. NIV

1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. NKJV

I Keep Asking God

Paul’s prayer was not occasional but ongoing and unceasing, a request on behalf of the Ephesians. This provides a model for every student of the Scriptures: we should pray to our glorious Father, worthy of honor and praise, for spiritual insight and understanding.  

Give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation.

This is another benefit of “the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph 1:13). This is what Jesus taught us: “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5).

This is an experience that comes from inside a believer. It is an inward reality, a new real presence that comes into their lives. When the “apostles” were “arrested” and thrown into “public jail,” at night “an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail.” He told them to go to a public place, “stand in the temple courts” where many people are present, “tell the people all about this new life” (Acts 5:18-20). “Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom 6:4).

Wisdom and Understanding (Col 1:9)

In Jesus' prayer to His Father, he stated the most essential truth: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). So that we may know God and His Son, the Spirit of God gives us spiritual wisdom and understanding for this very purpose. We can never know the value of Spirit-given wisdom; it is beyond measure.

Now, right now, you are very privileged to ask God to give you wisdom, which is a special gift from the “Holy Spirit of God” (Eph 4:30). May your life reflect superior wisdom in the things you do and what you say, because you know God better.

In the last hours of Jesus' life on earth, he told the disciples about the Holy Spirit in John 14-16. Jesus used the Greek word paraklētos in John 14-16, which means advocate, intercessor, consoler, comforter, helper, one called alongside like a companion, and one who stands by us. Finding a suitable English translation is difficult. No single English word has the same range of meaning as the Greek word, for all the words apply to the work of the Spirit.

Our need for wisdom is obvious. We need to make sound judgments, understand what to do next, and make good decisions every day. This is the work of the Spirit, which stands by us, dwells or abides inside us, to impart the needed good direction for our lives.

Wisdom and Revelation in Daily Life

Both wisdom and revelation are personally given to us to draw us closer to God. In praise and thanksgiving, as God becomes very dear to us because of the wisdom and insight that God’s Spirit implants inside us. Giving us guidance on how to live our lives, apart from the foolishness and darkness of the present age. All for the praise of God, who has given us these two gifts that are with us every day of our lives.

James writes to the world church, teaching us to ask God for wisdom, saying, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5).

The concept of “without finding fault” is very encouraging. Many faults in us would make us unworthy of such a valuable gift of Spirit-directed wisdom, just what we need when we need help and guidance. God regards us as worthy, rather than accepting the evaluation we may make of ourselves. God gives us wisdom when we ask, more today, more tomorrow, more every day. He does not see our inexperience, which could be a good reason not to trust us with such a gift. Instead, God loves to “give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matt 7:11).

Full of Spirit and Wisdom

When the disciples chose deacons to serve in their growing community, they wanted “seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3).

We should never underestimate the Spirit’s gift of wisdom made available to the believer. This is God’s wisdom that we may make better choices for our lives, our families, our homes, and our workplace. God will give you “wisdom that comes from heaven” (James 3:17) on how to train your children. How to labor in the workforce with efficiency.

The Spirit-given wisdom to the believer is intelligence, clear-sightedness, and sound good sense. This Spirit-given wisdom gives us a clear sense of what is best and good to do in every situation in life. It is the opposite of folly, ignorance, and carelessness. God gives us spiritual wisdom through the Spirit to know him better, while this same Spirit also gives us practical wisdom that makes us better, wiser, stronger, and more assured as we travel the path of life, facing many confusing choices with confidence.

• “My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.” (Prov 3:21-22)

Just think of this: the Spirit of wisdom comes “from the Father of heavenly lights.” That lights up your life with his lovingkindness and tender mercies, but more, giving you heavenly wisdom. Which cannot be purchased on earth; it cannot be learned from higher education. It cannot be received from a preacher or esteemed leader. It is individualized to you, your age, and your needs.

Wisdom to Discern False Spiritual Claims

Jesus called the religious leaders of Judea “blind guides” and “blind fools” (Matt 23:16-17). They had no common sense in the religious rules they taught. They were ignorant of the “wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17). They created many religious rules from “the father of lies” (John 8:44).

The spiritually wise will quickly discern if religious rules demanded of them come from “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor 1:3), because they have been “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8), also called the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26).

Wisdom Given for Good Works

Not long ago we read about a Pastor of one of the largest Christian churches in India talking about his ministry. The church is at fever pitch with activities focused on Bible study for young people and weekly medical clinics. Plus, a hundred other events. He said that he could not manage a church of this size unless God had given him the needed wisdom and ability. In all our needs, God has “lavished on us,” by His glorious grace, “all wisdom and understanding” (Eph 1:8), so that we are thoroughly equipped to move in our assigned positions in life with assurance.

The God-given wisdom, through the Spirit, is for what is needed. A mother of three small children, a man working as a lumberman, a farmer, or a Physician. The Spirit gives what is needed, but with it comes the promise of “mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance” (Jude 1:2).

Wisdom from above works best when we have strong “faith in the Lord Jesus” and “love for all God’s people” (Eph 1:15). God’s wisdom is given simultaneously with stronger faith, love for God and others, and an earnest desire ‘to be obedient to Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:2).

The Spirit's wisdom, which is from our Father, is to be used for our good, so those who are blessed by wisdom have something to share with others. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10).

Spirit-Given Wisdom to Discern Truth from Error

When the Spirit gives us wisdom, it enhances our better sense of what is right and wrong. It makes active ideas that arise from within our heartfelt sense of direction we should go. What should be done for order, safety, and preservation of life and health. What is the right, the honest, the best of the several directions that open to us. It should not be regarded as the voice of God, but the better part of wisdom, making us wiser in choices and ideas. It will assure us that the course we are moving in is God's will. It will give us the wisdom to respond wisely to difficult situations. This Spirit-given wisdom is never out of harmony with “the Spirit of truth.” It is built up on a growing love of Scripture and our constant prayer to know Scripture better.

Mothers with several young children. Father’s going to work for the day. The Spirit is there to give needed direction, to make wise decisions. It is important to be “always in prayer” (Rom 1:9), even as the great Apostle Paul was. So that at every turn of our lives, we are privileged to ask God for wisdom, for understanding, to know with certainty what to do, as well as how to do it.

Wisdom from the Spirit is primarily given for understanding spiritual matters. However, this wisdom from the Spirit within us is also for our success in the present duties that God has directed us to do.

Never put ourselves up front to receive praise. Always for the glory of God, which we, as the unworthy, have been used for God’s good.

Stephen told this principle just before he was stoned, saying that God “gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. So, Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace” (Acts 7:10).

We could say that Samson did not have the Spirit of wisdom when he thought he was in love with a Philistine pagan woman and told his parents, who must make the arrangement, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well” (Judges 14:3 NKJV). These poor choices created a life of sorrow and tragedy for Samson.

Wisdom Implanted in Us

When we are “born again,” we are “born of the Spirit” (John 3:3,6). John says we are “born of God.” “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12,13).

To his newborn spiritual child, God makes available from “His Spirit” (Rom 8:11) what we could best describe as a wisdom implant. This is active when used with Scriptures, praise, and prayer. James says that we are to “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (James 1:21). This is not the Spirit’s voice, but it is something instilled within the believer, giving them the skill and understanding to accomplish the task God has given them. To know their life-calling, with all its obligations. To endure the testing of their faith. This gift of wisdom does not come all at once, in full measure. It is like the rest of the fruits of the Spirit, like a seed in the ground, which grows up into maturity as it is nourished by “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph 6:18 NKJV).

 This Spirit-given wisdom never leads to boasting or pride to seek the attention of others. It is rooted and grounded in deep humility, as Jesus taught: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt 5). In their human spirit, they do not desire to receive the praise of others.

Pride cancels out Spirit-given wisdom. Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount If you “practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matt 6:1). In other words, those are driven to make themselves important, rich, or praised—may have, unless confessed, forfeited eternity for a few minutes of praise. More importantly, they lack the Spirit’s gift of wisdom, even if they profess to be wise and claim degrees from esteemed universities.

Spirit of Revelation

What is the Spirit of revelation in practical terms? It is, through the presence of the Spirit, the ability to unlock difficulties that need solutions. To find a way to solve a problem that defies answers and affects believers in God.

It also means that the Spirit will give us insight and understanding in the word of God. The books of Ephesians, Romans, Galatians, and the Gospels will come alive to you, personally revealing the wonder, power, and glory of God's love. Whereas before this gift of the Spirit, the Bible was a dead letter, having very little influence on you.

The Garden Syndrome: A Lesson from the Past

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Gen 3:6).

When Eve was in discussion with the talking serpent in the tree, she did not take time to pray to God. To ask Him questions that were presented by the serpent. Neither did Adam take Eve to God to ask Him for advice on what to do in this situation. They both acted from their own judgment, what seemed best to them.

Adam and Eve were not created with perfect God-like wisdom or judgment. To understand this is a reason we need God’s wisdom through His Spirit to guide us in our lives. Without prayer for divine guidance and direction, blindness will follow. This is a reason we are so frequently advised in Scripture to “pray continually” (1 Thess 5:17) and to “devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Col 4:2).

“Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Lk 18:1). Paul has repeatedly told us to be often in prayer, saying we should pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” (Eph 6:18).

However, many, even Christians, today are like a modern Adam and Eve, thinking they can guide their lives themselves, “although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Rom 1:22).

The pre-flood civilization did not care to ask God about the flood and the Ark that Noah was building. They believed they could decide for themselves, using their own wisdom. The same can be said about Cain, who believed that his judgment was better than God’s, which demanded lambs to be sacrificed instead of fruits.

Eve sincerely believed that eating this fruit would make her wise. She must have sensed a need for more wisdom since nothing else could be added to her life that she did not already have. Eve did not recognize the hidden danger of seeking wisdom apart from God. This flaw has recurred millions of times throughout human history. Those in education and leadership often seek to draw attention to their own human wisdom, which they have gained by scholarship.

Jesus countered Satan’s fall: He did not regard himself as adequate even to speak all on his own, saying, “I do exactly what my Father has commanded me” (John 14:30-31) and “I gave them the word you gave me” (John 17:8), and the goal of Jesus was that we would come to know God (John 17:3).

Now, right now. God, by means of the Holy Spirit, offers us His wisdom to keep us from deception so that we know Him in truth, better and better. Now, at this moment, God, by means of His Spirit, makes available to us “wisdom from above” to act as our guide. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). If only Adam and Eve knew the importance of walking humbly before God, they would have sought God’s advice before acting on their own judgments.

Now we know. “In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (Ps 10:4). Instead, seek Him with all our heart, our minds, and strength, which is “the first and greatest commandment” (Matt 22:38).

We know that we are dependent on God for both wisdom and revelation, unless pride in our own opinion has puffed us up with high self-esteem, so that we walk off into darkness, thinking, like Eve, that our conclusions are always right.

Ephesians 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order [so that] that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. NIV

1:18 the eyes of your understanding [Greek: your heart] being enlightened; that you may know what the hope of His calling is, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. NKJV

Paul’s Third Prayer for the Ephesians

Paul’s first prayer was for thanksgiving to God for the visible increase of the “faith” and “love” (Eph 1:15) of the Ephesians. Of all our prayers to God, ask for an increase of faith and more love every day.

In Paul’s second prayer, he asked God to give the Ephesians the gifts of “wisdom and revelation” (Eph 1:17) from the Spirit. Wisdom for the tasks of the day, all for the honor of God. Revelation to see the consequences of certain actions, answers to dilemmas, and fresh insights into Scripture that strengthen you.

Now, in Paul’s third prayer, he asks God to open the eyes of the Ephesians so that they can see the riches of their inheritance awaiting them in heaven.

Parable of the Ten Virgins

In the parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesus tells in Matthew 25 that all ten virgins were awaiting the bridegroom's coming and anticipating their future inheritance. The difference between them was that the wise brought extra oil to add to their lamps, representing a Spirit-filled life. When the wedding invitation was announced, they were ready to attend. The foolish did not have enough oil of the Spirit, which is renewed daily from the Word, in their lives, and the door was shut, preventing them from entering the wedding party.

The wise never lost their vision; the eyes of their hearts were set on the glorious inheritance awaiting the return of the bridegroom.

This is the purpose of Paul’s prayer, that the Ephesians would have a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3). That they could see by their heart’s desires, they would know, for certain, their “calling and election” (2 Pet 1:10) from God. This “hope” God has given them “will never disappoint us” (Rom 5:5 ICB); its vision of the resurrection into a new reality and identity is sure and certain, as the next day has always occurred.

Now, right now, ask God to give you a certain and living hope for this new life, eternal life, consisting of an inheritance unimaginable.

Eyes of Your Heart Enlightened

The Greek word is a feminine noun meaning the heart and the inner self, “our inner being” (Eph 3:16). This is not just our heads as a teacher, but to experience it so that you may see the rich inheritance God is planning for you in your heart. Meaning, at an emotional level that is not connected to the intellectual; it is a matter of the heart.

This is what we experienced when we first fell in love. When we enjoyed a wonderful courtship followed by a wedding, this is a matter of the heart that God has given to all of humanity.

Here Paul prays for us, that we can see from our hearts, not our heads. We can realize, in terms of hope, that it is as real as an anticipated vacation to a place of enchantment. What is hope on an emotional level aware of? The promise of Jesus: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

This gives us confidence that we really are God’s children and God’s hands are on us leading us to a certain and “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). We are called to destiny where “the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa 35:10; 51:11 NKJV).

“Before they call, I will answer;

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb will feed together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

and dust will be the serpent’s food.

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord.” (Isa 65:24,25)

The Hope to Which He Has Called Us

Paul links the words “hope” and “call” together. Hope looks to the future of becoming family to God in heaven. You see and feel the vast inheritance that God has called you to come and receive. Your heart longs for it; your eyes envision it as reality. Together, your heart and your eyes are focused there, with anticipation. This vision is God-given to you, an indication that God is planning for you to be there.

Hope knows that you are “qualified … to share in the inheritance…in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12). It is an “inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet 1:4). God has laid up our inheritance in heaven’s open storage.

It is yours already, but not yet. Perhaps God has your name on the title to your inheritance. Hope sees it there. However, hope is kept alive as we continue to enjoy “faith in Christ Jesus” and “Love…for all God’s people” (Col 1:3). This is the basis of our hope; by this means we know we have our inheritance waiting for us in heaven.

Hope sees our inheritance, stored up in a safe location around the presence of God and all the heavenly Angels, with your name affixed, giving you all the rights and privileges of a son or daughter of God the Father. Soon to be handed over to you. Can you see it?

It is called: a “Living Hope” (1 Pet 1:3) a “Blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) and “Hope that is sure” (Heb 6:11). Soon, but not soon enough, you will be there in praise to God that loved you, called you, elected you, justified you, forgave you again and again, send His Spirit to live in you, set you apart as his chosen, anointed you with His Spirit—where “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand (Ps 40:2).

• "They lay their crowns before the throne and say: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Rev 4)

The phrase “you created all things” is an expression of their gratitude that God created them so they could be here, around the “throne… clear as crystal” (Rev 4:6). Born on earth, an unworthy and unfruitful sinner—now in a reality that includes the entire cosmos, unimaginable, yet real as real can be. This includes an abundance of loving relationships and friendships, with joy, in a full life that awaits you to explore, to enjoy, to be a part of—never excluded, with a good future unending. What could interrupt our amazing flow of life to its fullest extent, since we are indeed “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17)? We are God’s children whom He will entrust with huge responsibilities throughout His limitless creation, privileges granted only to the heirs of God!

Eyes May Be Enlightened

The word means to shine and overcome darkness. Whenever we can see the hope of our inheritance as real as the day, it will have a sanctifying influence in our lives. It will enable us to reject the godless entertainment that the media entices us to imagine as true.

“He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see” (John 9:15). The mud in our eyes is removed, so we become enlightened, in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.

These realities cannot be known without the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (Eph 1:17). We need prayer that God will reveal to us the hope of our calling and to know the riches of our inheritance.

a.      We are chosen and loved by God (1:4)

b.      We are predestined and adopted in love by God (1:5)

c.      We are redeemed and forgiven of our sins by God (1:7)

d.      We are sealed with the Holy Spirit by God (1:13).

e.      Our inheritance is waiting for us since the “creation of the world” (Matt 15:34).

f.       Our inheritance is based on God’s promise (Gal 3:18).

g.      Our inheritance is called “kingdom of light” (Col 1:12).

h.      Our inheritance is “kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet 1:4).

Hope sees your future events, such as receiving the riches of His glorious inheritance. This expression points to something so large that it can only be compared to God’s personal glory. To God’s personal riches of ownership, governor, king, creator, sustainer, giver of all life, to his creation of a limitless size of the cosmos, with an equal uncountable number of galaxies. Someday, yet to be revealed, we, the redeemed of the Lord, have been given, freely given, a share of all that belongs to God.

How is this possible? Are we not “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17)? Have we not been “Born of the Spirit” (John 3:8) for this same Spirit also called “the Spirit of God” (Rom 8:14), as Jesus has said it is “the Spirit gives life” (John 6:63).

That YOU May Know

That is, that you may personally know with no doubts or questions. That you can see by hope for yourself sitting in “heavenly places” (1:3,20; 2:6) with God the Father.

How little we know of these blessings that God has planned. What do we know of heavenly joys and the warmth of enduring love unmixed with disappointment? We know that someday we will possess our inheritance; therefore, we live differently here on earth. The citizens of heaven make the greatest difference on earth. Spend some time, right now, in “Joyful Thanksgiving.”

• “Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12).

Postscript: How can we know? It is because the Spirit of God makes us alive and gives us sure knowledge that God loves us and desires that we be with Him, day by day.  Another way we will know the Spirit is working in our lives is by seeing real changes in what we value.  We will cease to enjoy much of the world’s entertainment, misspent on sports, movies that are filled with violence, cursing, and indifference to adultery and gratuitous sex. Instead we will love morning prayers, love Scripture studies, and love others around us.

Ephesians 1:19 and [that you might know 1:18] his [God’s] incomparably great power for [to] us who believe [have faith]. That power is the same as the mighty [supernatural, immense] strength. 1:20 He [God] exerted when He [God] raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his [God’s] right hand in the heavenly realms [places], 1:21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the [future] one to come. 1:22 And God placed all things under his [Christ] feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 1:20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 1:21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 1:22 And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. NKJV

Incomparable Great Power, Mighty Power

Immeasurable, surpassing, exceeding, and extraordinary. This is not from human-sourced power, money, or influence. It is a power that is from far above, not of this world, “for the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk” that is human words “but in power” (1 Cor 4:20). Power that flows naturally from the presence of God the Father, which is called His mighty, supernatural, and immense strength.

This was first seen in the resurrection of Jesus. But this is more than just the physical act some 2,000 years ago. It is the influence of the cross, the life of Jesus, that flowed into the Apostles and every believer ever since the event. The resurrection of Jesus is repeated in our lives. “Our old self was crucified with him” so that we can “be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom 6:5-6).

When our old selfish ways, the habits and behaviors of our fallen nature, are changed, we are crucified with Him. When born again of the Spirit, we have assurance of resurrection.

If you know you belong to Christ, you love Him, and you are drawn into the accounts of His life and teachings with an attraction that is ever present with you. Ever new, ever refreshing, often with tears of love, with copious amounts of praise and thanksgiving. Then you feel God’s great power in us who believe.

There is nothing in the world that attracts us, draws us, motivates us, into such a profound personal experience, as real as our daily breath, to be near to the heart of God so we can say, “My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast” (Ps 57:7), on you alone. This experience is only realized by “power through His Spirit in your [my] inner being” (3:16), so you say with David several thousand years ago:

• “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. I will sing and make music.” Ps 73:25,26

• As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? Ps 42:1,2

• “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.”  Lamentations 3:22-25

Now Think About This

Is this your experience? Do you want this love and faith in God to grow? Do you desire the Spirit of God to subdue your ungodly, selfish internal callings, and be moved under the authority of the risen Christ, who is appointed head over everything? That everything is our works of the flesh, which are dominant in all who are not under Christ's authority.

Did you want this? Yes, you do. So do millions of others, all at the same time, desire the same thing as they read the same Word you are reading. They offer the same prayer that you are praying. This is power, real power that moves into the hearts and lives every day, every hour, around the world. This is mighty, supernatural strength on a scale unknown to any element on earth.

 You want more love, you want more faith, you want more “wisdom and revelation” (Eph 1:17), you want more understanding into God’s will for your life. So do millions of others want the same thing—this very hour, countless others are moved by a power unknown to this earth. This is power out of this world. Nobody, no human leader, can accomplish such uniform desire for freedom, for “in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Col 2:10). As you “draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings” (Heb 10:22).

But more, yes, more. We all together have been given “a hope to which He has called you” to share in “the riches of His glorious inheritance” (Eph 1:18). You know God “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12). You know, you believe, with no evidence ever seen by anyone—that you will be given eternal life as a child of God. Who taught this to you? God did. His power moved on you. No proof was needed; you just knew it was true as the morning and night came.

What could cause a person to believe, with their heart and soul, the gospel message and know it is the truth? When they have no evidence but that of the Bible account written 2,000 years ago. No eyewitness, no confirmation, except their faith? Yet, against all odds, they sing the song, written about 150 years ago by Simon Kara Marak:

 I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back; no turning back.

Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age

Satan is “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (2:2); with him are a host of followers of his ideas, his darkness and rebellion. Yet, every day the Lord Jesus removes thousands from Satan’s allegiance and all his power; he can’t stop it. All his wicked arts and spells are seen for what they are—evil with the face of death, skull, and bones, with bondage to his followers. In a second, as the Spirit of God moves into our human territory, our spirits, evil is dispersed by the rule of Christ, on the run from the total victory on the cross. This is Christ's authority—no power, no dominion, no kingdom, no other name such as a Buddha can defeat the face of evil, causing it to run away in terror. Imagine demons of evil temptations are forced to run away, tripping over themselves, from a young child of faith!

Now, in prayer, ask that the authority of the risen Christ will become your rule of faith.

The Power that Raised Christ from the Dead

This same power will raise us from physical death. Should we sleep as did Lazareth “until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21)? Our resurrection from the grave or ashes tossed into the ocean—is nothing to God at all. To Him, it is like a walk in the park, or, more accurately, his trumpet-like voice raised the dead.

By the “trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess 4:16). God’s voice is heard around the world, and the dead from all over the earth will rise out of the ground or ocean, all at once, all at the same time. When the redeemed of the Lord rise, they do not come up with the same bodies they died with. For “we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed, for the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (1 Cor 15:51,52).

Imagine the graves under tons of pavement and buildings or mountains of human waste over the sands of time. Sleeping there for hundreds of years, scattered all over the world, under the oceans. At that time, angels are there to take your hand and send you upward to be “caught up together…in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:17). Changed from a mortal, older body to a youthful “spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:44).

This is cosmic power, unlike power ever seen on earth. Power that can rob the grave of those who have died. In His timing, at the fulness of time, “when the times reach their fulfilment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Eph 1:10). This will happen everywhere, all over the world, promised by Jesus “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3).

All Things Under His Feet

Wherever Christ has been on earth or wherever he goes in heaven, He is above all things in authority. We need to take advantage of Christ's superior authority, supported by God the Father. Now by faith in God our Father and his risen Son Christ Jesus our Lord, we have access to all this power. But let’s be plain right here: it is not given to us. We have no power, even if we believe in God. We are always, as long as we are in our flesh—powerless, helpless, and weak as a hungry lion in front of a rabbit.

It is only as the “Holy Spirit of God” (4:30), who has been given to live and abide with us as a result of being born again—we have gained access to God’s incomparable great power in prayer requests. We can ask God to disperse darkness for “Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10).

“Now to him who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (3:20). The expression “to be able” in the Greek means to be empowered, to make it possible, to be enabled by God, either directly due to His love for you and His Spirit inside you. Believe this as you present your requests before God with His love in your heart. Through God’s unlimited power, He answers your prayer; in this respect, you can do all you could ask or think. This represents a boundless reach of God’s power in “prayer offered in faith” (James 5:15).

Is there someone in your life that evil shadows over them? Through the Spirit of God that abides in you by faith the justifies, by faith that has confessed all your sins, by faith that seeks the will of God without compromise with “selfish gain” (Ps 119:36). Then appear to our Lord, who has “all authority given to” (Matt 28:18) to Him, to awaken someone up with the love of God in their hearts.

“For God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he has loved us, made us alive with Christ” (2:4,5). God did this for us even when we were “dead in” our “transgressions and sins” (2:1), when we “were by nature deserving of wrath” (2:3). God does all this with His mighty power and strength, for we are privileged to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (6:10).

This is what Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer: "Deliver us from the evil one." For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen” (Matt 6:13 NKJV). And when Peter closed his letter to the church, he said, “To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Pet 5:11).

Appointed Head Over…Church

Where believers gather to praise, pray, and worship God in faith and love. As head of the church, Christ is to be followed through His Apostles. The “wall of the city [New Jerusalem] had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles” (Rev 21:14). This shows the utmost importance, the centrality, of teaching the gospel through the Apostles. Maybe Paul, who was an Apostle, will be one of the names on the city's foundation, taking the place of Judas.

The Church is His body.

“God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). As we are in Christ, through the Spirit that dwells in us, enabling us to abide in Christ. His life, his resurrection from the grave, becomes ours in assurance, for now “our citizenship is in heaven” as “we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:20). What a great privilege to be part of the body of Christ.

Every believer, wherever in the world, by faith is part of that body, made possible by the “Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:9). Now we are sheep of his pasture. We hear his voice, all the way from heaven, and follow him there. The church represents the universal body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom. Accept God’s will for you to be the sheep of His pasture, thus under His care, guidance, love, and friendship with much assurance and everlasting hope, undimmed.

Head Over Everything—the Church

This declaration that “Christ is the head of the church” (Eph 5:23; Col 1:18) is repeated three times by Paul. All church leaders should be very careful not to impose themselves as the head, the president, the chief in charge of everything, the pope, the head leader of the church. We know these terms can be viewed as just organizational and nothing more. Yet all church leaders who stand at or near the top of their organizations should be very deliberate in acknowledging Jesus as the leader of everything.

This means that the leader filters all their creeds and doctrines they demand of their followers through the lens of Jesus and his teachings. Just one new creed, not fully identified in the words of Jesus or the Apostles, is dangerous. It puts that leader above Christ. Mistake after mistake will follow in the other demands the church makes of its members.

Leaders Proclaim Christ as the Head

Jesus gave us a one-sentence parable. “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher” (Lk 6:40).

A “fully trained” teacher has spent time with the master teacher. They learn his ways and look to adopt their teacher’s lessons. No student has any right whatsoever to promote any added test not required by Jesus or his Apostles. Claiming it is needed before acceptance by Christ. They cannot create new rules, something not practiced by the Early Church.

A leader will not proclaim Christ as the head, then demand that they follow their leader, who is following Christ. Authority is rooted in Scripture, not the decrees of a church leader. Unless Jesus and His Apostles clearly teach it. Beware of any religious leader whose authority is based on their ideas that are not supported clearly by Scripture upon Scripture.

Age to Come

 Unlimited in authority, through which you, the redeemed of the Lord, as sheep of his pasture, share in ways unknown to us the universal authority of Christ. Because we are in Christ by faith and in love, “therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). Since there is no judgment against us here on earth, we are prepared to be, in the endless ages of wonder to come, with full approval of God the Father. Welcomed, as God’s “dearly loved children” (Eph 5:1), “chosen” and “predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Eph 1:11). There in heaven we will stand as God’s “elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matt 24:31). For God has set His “seal of ownership on us and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor 1:22). The best of life is yet to come.

Written by:  Brothers & Sisters in Scripture Fellowship

End of Ephesians  Chapter 1

Read More

Ephesians 2

Read & Study More

1 John 1

Colossians 1

Must Be Born Again

Worship God in Spirit and Truth

www.honorscriptures.com

honorscriptures@gmail.com 

Write us if you have questions

To Contact our Team