Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ep 1.1 and following. Let’s already note that the epistle to the Ephesians considers the Christian in his heavenly position. For heaven is not only a future sojourn for the child of God; for he now possesses his dwelling there in Christ. Indeed, a head of a family who works outside his home does not think of confusing it with the factory or the office. Being away from home does not prevent him from having his “home”, where his affections, his interests, everything he owns. This is heaven for the redeemed: the familiar place where both his treasure and his heart are (Luke 12:22-34), because his Savior is there. Christ is in heaven and we are in Christ. This double fact ensures our right of access to the high and precious blessings that are his. For all that concerns the Beloved equally concerns those who are made pleasing in Him (Eph 1:6).
This is why the apostle develops the whole purpose of God in Christ (source of all blessing) in verses 3 to 14. Here we see a single and long sentence, because everything stands, everything is linked in the thought of God. Likewise, what He does for us is inseparable from what He does for Christ and must ultimately contribute “to the praise of His glory” and “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” It is also important to note that the Epistle to the Ephesians is the only one in the New Testament that presents in such a comprehensive way the heavenly position and spiritual blessings of believers. Like no other, this epistle exposes God’s eternal counsel toward Christ and those who believe in Him. Among the main subjects of this epistle, let us note the particularly privileged position of the Church, also considered according to God’s counsel. It is seen in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is his glorified Head at the right hand of God in heaven, and in his unity on earth.
In his prayer to the “God of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:17), the Apostle asks the Saints to know first what their position is and then what power is introducing them to it. “The fullness of our blessing comes from the fact that we are blessed with Christ. Associated in ruin with the first Adam, we are now associated in glory with the second man. As such, He possesses nothing without bringing us in; which is the sign of perfect love: glory (Jn 17:20-26), joy (Jn 15:10-14), peace (Jn 14:25-27), love of the Father (Jn 17:24-26). Because he will not take the inheritance without his co-heirs… Paul does not ask that the Saints share in these things (they already belong to them) but that they enjoy them.” And, let us notice, it is the eyes of our hearts that must be opened to these glorious realities. Love is the true key to intelligence (Luke 24:30-35). As we enlighten our affections, the Spirit makes us contemplate Christ, a risen man clothed with power and majesty according to Ps 8:1-10. His body, the assembly, completes him as a man. He is the glorified “head” in the sky. The Church is therefore the fullness of the One who fills everything in all.
But before we understand the detailed exposition of the Apostle’s thought, let us note that he begins here entirely with God, his thoughts and advice, and not with what man is. The truth can be grasped by either end: we can start from the state of the sinner, in relation to man’s responsibility, or we can start from God’s eternal thoughts and counsel for his own glory. It is through this last end that the Spirit makes us consider the truth. For redemption itself, however glorious it may be in itself, is relegated to second place as only the means by which we enjoy the effect of God’s counsel.
Indeed, it was necessary that God’s ways be considered from the point of view of his own thoughts, and not simply from the point of view of the means of bringing man into the enjoyment and result of those thoughts. Now, the epistle to the Romans, after saying that it is the goodness of God, it begins with the end of man; demonstrating evil and presenting grace to face it and to deliver it from it. For the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, having elected us in Him. In a word, we first have God’s call, what the saints are before Him in Christ; then having shown God’s full counsel for Christ, we have God’s inheritance in the saints; then comes the prayer that we know these two things, and finally the power by which we are introduced and enjoy them.
Thus, after a few words of greetings, the apostle directly addresses the heart of his subject in a spirit of adoration. We have been blessed so richly by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He blesses God in return, and in doing so He trains our hearts to do so with Him. Our blessings are characterized by three things. They are spiritual, not material as Israel’s blessings were under the old covenant, in areas such as abundant food, health, and peace under divine government. We will then be characterized by perfect holiness by nature, and we will no longer be subject to any blame for conduct. We will be forever in the presence of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in an atmosphere of perfect love. It will really be heaven.
Finally the culmination comes with the discovery that not only are we freed from slavery, but also that we are positively pleasing before God, and even pleasing in Christ, who is the Beloved. We are approved according to character and to the extent that Christ is. In Col 3:12, the saints are seen as God’s beloved, and this of course stems from the fact that they are pleasing in the Beloved. All of this, whether it is redemption or forgiveness [the remission of faults] is our part “according to the riches of His grace.” We were in the poverty of our sin, and this became an opportunity for the unfolding of the riches of His grace. In this, he acted like a guy. God acted according to the immense riches of His grace (Eph 2:7). The very forgiveness of the sins that He has granted us has been granted to us in a way and in a fullness worthy of the great and graceful God that He is.
Having therefore unfolded before us the blessings characteristic of the Individual Christian, Paul began to speak to the Ephesians about his thanksgiving and prayers on their behalf. We can rest assured that what He desired for the Ephesians is exactly what is highly desirable for us today. In these prayers, the apostle addressed himself to the “God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.” God is truly the Author and Source of all glory, and it is He whom our Lord Jesus, when He was here on earth the submissive Man, regarded as His God, according to the prophetic expression in Psalm 16. It is therefore fitting that our thoughts are directed to the position that the Lord Jesus has taken as Man, since it is as Man that He takes His place as the exalted Leader in the vast creation of blessing. Moreover, it is in Him as Man that we see the Model and The Fullness of all that we have in Him. Everything is expressed in Christ, and we have nothing outside of Christ.
Knowledge of the wonders of God’s purposes and work flows from the knowledge of Himself. As we know Him, we know what springs from Him. This is why the apostle’s first request concerns “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in His knowledge.” We can only know Him by revelation, for no search will ever come to discover Him; and let us repeat, on our side, there is a need for wisdom, for that spirit of wisdom that comes from the Spirit of God.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
A complete blessing in Christ:
- Praise to God, examples:
Nb 12:7 This is not the case with my servant Moses. He is faithful throughout my house. Nb 14:24 And because my servant Caleb has been animated by another spirit, and has fully followed my path, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his descendants will possess him. 1 Kings 19:18 But I will leave in Israel seven thousand men, all those who have not bowed their knees before Baal, and whose mouths have not kissed him. Ne 7:2 I gave my orders to Hanani, my brother, and to Hanania, head of the citadel of Jerusalem, a man superior to the many by his faithfulness and fear of God. 1 Co 4:17 For this I have sent timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord; he will remind you what my ways are in Christ, how I teach everywhere in all the churches. Col 4:9 I send him with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is of yours. They will inform you of everything that is happening here. Rev 17:4 This woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a cup of gold, filled with abominations and impurities of her prostitution.
- Accepted by God
Ex 28:38 She will be on Aaron’s forehead; and Aaron will be charged with the iniquities committed by the children of Israel by making all their holy offerings; she will be constantly on her forehead before the Lord, that he may be favorable to them. 2 S 24:23 Aravna gave everything to the king. And Aravna said to the king: May jehovah, your God, be favorable to you! Jb 42:9 Eliphaz of Theman, Bildad of Schuach, and Tsophar of Naama went and did as Jehovah had told them, and Jehovah had regard for Job’s prayer. Ez 20:40 For on my holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, says the Lord, the Lord, there the whole house of Israel, all who will be in the land will serve me; there I will receive them favorably, I will seek your offerings, the first fruits of your gifts, and all that you will consecrate to me. Ez 43:27 When His days are fulfilled, from the eighth day and in the future the priests will offer on the altar your holocausts and your sacrifices of thanksgiving. And I will be favorable to you, says the Lord, the Lord. Acts 10:35, but in every nation he who fears him and practices righteousness is pleasing to him. 2 Co 5:9 This is also why we strive to be pleasing to Him, either by dying in this body or by leaving it. Eph 1:6 in praise of the glory of his grace which he has granted us in his beloved.
- The Legacy of the Righteous
Ps 61:6 For you, O God! you grant my wishes, You give me the inheritance of those who fear your name. Ps 119:111 Your precepts are forever my inheritance, for they are the joy of my heart. Isa 54:17 Any weapon forged against you will be without effect; And any language that rises in justice against you, You will condemn it. This is the inheritance of Jehovah’s servants, such is the salvation that will come to them from me, says the Lord. Acts 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, to the one who can build up and give the inheritance with all the sanctified. Acts 26:18 that you may open their eyes, that they may pass from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive, through faith in me, the forgiveness of sins and inheritance with the sanctified. Eph 1:11 In him we have also become heirs, having been predestined according to the resolution of the one who operates all things according to the counsel of his will; Col 1:12 Give thanks to the Father, who has made you able to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light; Col 3:24 knowing that you will receive the inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Serve Christ, the Lord. 1 1:4 for an inheritance which cannot be corrupted, defiled or wilted, which is reserved for you in heaven,
- Kingship of Christ
Ps 2:6 It was I who anointed my king on Zion, my holy mountain! Isa 9:6 To give the empire of growth, And an endless peace to the throne of David and his kingdom, to strengthen and sustain Him by law and justice, Now and forever: This is what the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do. Isa 32:1 Then the king will reign according to righteousness, and the princes will rule with righteousness. Jer 23:5 Behold, the days come, says the Lord, where I will raise up to David a righteous seed; He will reign as a king and prosper, He will practice justice and fairness in the country. Dn 7:14 He was given dominion, glory, and reign; and all peoples, nations, and men of all tongues served Him. His dominion is an eternal dominion that will not pass, and his reign will never be destroyed. Za 9:9 Be carried away with joy, daughter of Zion! Shout with joy, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king comes to you; He is just and victorious, He is humble and mounted on a donkey, On a donkey, the little one of a donkey. Mt 2:2 and said: Where is the king of the Jews who has just been born? for we have seen his star in the East, and we have come to worship him. Mt 21:5 Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king comes to you, Full of gentleness, and mounted on a donkey, on a donkey, the little of a donkey. Mt 25:34 Then the king will say to those who will be at his right hand: Come, you who are blessed with my Father; take possession of the kingdom that has been prepared for you since the foundation of the world. Luke 1:35 The angel answered him: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with his shadow. That is why the holy child who will be born of you will be called the Son of God. John 1:49 Nathanael answered and said to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel. John 18:37 Pilate said to him, “Are you king? Jesus answered: You say, I am king. I was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth. Whoever is of the truth listens to my voice. 1 Co 15:25 For he must reign until he has put all the enemies under his feet.
From all the above, we note that the eyes of your heart: It is not a question of a cold intellectual understanding, but rather of the understanding of a living affection. Can something be cold when he has Christ at center? And the eyes of the heart are centered on Christ, for although the “his” of “his knowledge” in Eph 1:17 refers to God the Father, it can only relate to Christ, for He alone reveals the Father. To have the full knowledge of the Father, one must know Christ, the Son. The Apostle’s prayer was primarily concerned with the spiritual state of its readers. The things of God can only be discerned by those whose eyes of the heart have been enlightened. There are many things, both in the world around us and in our flesh within us, that, if we let it happen, inevitably form a kind of opaque film on our spiritual eyes, and hinder our understanding. Perhaps we could summarize “His call,” as the first verses expose, in a single expression: our relationship as sons. However, prayer is not simply that we know the call, but rather that we know what the hope of His call is. This apostle’s prayer is really not a secondary prayer. But in addition, we must consider all that He was raised in, as the end of this chapter tells us. We see here a greatness that is indeed “excellent”, in other words “that surpasses everything”. He has ascended to the heavenly places, and sits at the right hand of God, that is, in the place of the supreme administration. In this position, He is above any other name, and any other power, whether in this century or in the one to come. All things are subjugated under His feet, and He is given to be leader over all things. All these things are facts, although we do not yet see that all things are subject to Him. In all this, there is something that concerns us very intimately. In this place of supreme exaltation where He is leader over all things, He is head of the church which is His body. Every true believer belongs to this church. Adam was created to be the leader over all the other creatures that filled the garden, but he was the leader to Eve who was his body as well as his wife. The second primacy is much more intimate and wonderful than the first. For Christ is not only the leader over all things, but He must fill all things, so that all things may finally draw their character from Him. The church is His body, and therefore His fullness (the body in which He finds His proper expression). This passage obviously contemplates the church in its greatest and most expancable aspect, as the sum total of the saints of this dispensation, that is, the saints called from the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost until the coming of the Lord Jesus. Our prayers support you and accompany you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow about “man is saved and made alive by the grace of Christ.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.