OUR FATHER WHO BLESSED US WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING

Ephesians chapter 1 verses 1 - 14 begins our look at Apostle Paulˋs letter to the believers in the town of Ephesus. 

Paul introduces himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ as appointed by God and decribes the ones he is writing to as ˋsaintsˋand ˋfaithfulˋ in Christ Jesus. Paul also blesses them with a pronouncement of grace and peace upon them as an expression of his love for them.

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

2 Grace to you and peace fromen God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul then declares that the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is blessed and that we, through Christ,  have been blessed by God with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.  

Paul then reveals that in the same way that we have been blessed by God, from before the foundation of the world, He has also chosen us to be in Him as ones who should be holy and blameless in love. 

This attainment of holiness and blamelessness, Paul explains, is made possible when we are adopted as sons unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ according to Godˋs own pleasure. This provision that God made for us showcases the glory of His grace which brings Him praise and this same grace made us accepted into the family of God.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation 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. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

Paul, in this densely-packed passage, summarized the composite gift of Christ that escalates us up from the depths of enslavement in sin ( through His shed blood and His grace), to being among those being gathered together in Christ and then we find that above all that, we have obtained an inheritance as part of what was predestined for each of us by Godˋs personal intention. 

Those who first trusted in Christ and expended themselves for the dispensation of His gospel are then able to be for the praise of Godˋs glory because of how lavish and valuable the gift of salvation actually is and anyone receiving it would praise the Lord forever.

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

The Apostle Paul goes on to explain a mysterious principle where he tells the Ephesians that they who trusted the word of truth and believed in the gospel of salvation that was given to them, they were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. Here, the word 'seal', carries the meaning of 'protected from tampering or contamination like preserving food in a sealer jar'. This keeps our new born-again spirits from being contaminated by living in the world and it is also a deposit or downpayment made on each of us until the day that we are redeemed by God as a precious possession and all this to the praise and honor of His glory.

Amen.

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