EPHESIANS: ETERNALLY ENCLOSED IN GOD’S PLAN

Part II: Eternally In Union With God The Son

(Ephesians 1:7-12)

I. Introduction

A. Paul wrote Ephesians in his first Roman imprisonment as an encyclical letter to be read by the churches of Asia Minor (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1672: “Introduction to the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians”).

B. It was evidently written to edify believers who would be concerned over Paul’s imprisonment that they might be confident in God’s sure work to establish and complete the Church regardless what happened to Paul, Ibid.

C. Ephesians 1:7-12 thus provides a comforting focus on every believer’s eternal union with God the Son:

II. Eternally In Union With God The Son, Ephesians 1:7-12.

A. The apostle Paul declared that God the Father is to be praised for blessing us believers in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ, Ephesians 1:3 NIV. There thus exists no blessing for a believer in Christ yet to acquire that he does not already possess when he believes in Jesus as his Savior!

B. These blessings are based on “the work of the three Persons of the Trinity: the selection of the Father (vv. 4-6), the sacrifice of the Son (vv. 7-12), and the seal of the Spirit (vv. 13-14)” (Bib. Know. Com., N. T., p. 616).

C. The sacrifice of God the Son as clarified in Ephesians 1:7-12 graciously placed us believers in Christ in eternal union with God the Son (as follows):

1. Through means of the substitutionary atonement of Christ’s death on the cross, that is, “through his blood,” we have redemption, what involves three provisions (as follows), Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Eph. 1:7a:

a. Christ purchased us from bondage to sin so that we belong to God, 1 Corinthians 6:20; Revelation 5:9. We thus do not have the right to do with ourselves as we want, but we are bound to yield to God’s will for us, and the fact that we belong to God at an infinite price means that God securely sustains us in Jesus!

b. Christ purchased us from the curse of the Mosaic Law, Galatians 3:13; 4:5. We have no reason to sense any guilt or divine punishment because of what the Law might level at us, for Christ completely removed us from the Law’s requirements through His redemption of us.

c. Christ purchased us from bondage to sin into the freedom of God’s grace, 1 Peter 1:18. Because of this provision, we no longer need to submit to sin to do its lusts, but we are at liberty to live righteously.

2. Through means of Christ’s substitutionary death for us on the cross, we have the forgiveness of sins, Ephesians 1:7b; Colossians 1:14. All of our sins are positionally forgiven in Jesus Christ.

3. These provisions are in accord with the riches of God’s grace. “The cost of Christ’s blood is the measure of the wealth of God’s unmerited favor to every believer” (Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 618; v. 7c).

4. God then “lavished” His grace on us in Christ by granting us all wisdom and understanding that we might know the formerly hidden truths of His will according to His good pleasure that he purposed in Christ. That knowledge involves our awareness that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, i. e., the Millennial Kingdom, God will gather together all things in Christ, be they in heaven or on earth, Ephesians 1:8-10.

5. In our spiritual position in Christ, we have also obtained an eternal heavenly inheritance, being predestined according to God’s purpose Who works all things after the counsel of His will, Eph. 1:11; 1 Pet. 1:4.

6. The goal of God’s extensive predestining work regarding us believers in Christ is that we who have trusted in Christ might be to the praise of God’s infinite glory, Ephesians 1:12.

Lesson: Through Christ’s substitutionary atonement on the cross, we believers have redemption – no longer belonging to ourselves, but to God, no longer being under the curse of the Mosaic Law, but removed from it, no longer bound to have to commit sin, but liberated to live righteously. Christ’s work on the cross also provides us forgiveness of sins. These blessings are given to us in accord with the infinite wealth of Christ’s death for us that God lavished on us in Christ, granting us the wisdom and knowledge to know formerly hidden truths of the coming Millennial Kingdom when all things in heaven and on earth will be gathered together in Christ. Also, God has given us believers an eternal, heavenly inheritance in Christ, having predestined us according to His purpose that He sovereignly fulfills in accord with His plan that we should be to the praise of God’s infinite glory.

Application: (1) May we rejoice in the great spiritual blessings that God has poured out on us in Christ’s substitutionary death for us not only to release us from sin, the Law, acts of sin and bondage to sinful living, but to provide us an eternal, heavenly inheritance and rich blessings in Christ in the eternal future. (2) May we then rely on the Holy Spirit to live holy, righteous lives (Galatians 5:16) in line with God’s blessed purposes for us in Christ.