Blessed with every spiritual blessing IN CHRIST
There are great verses all through God’s Word regarding what His will is for His people. There are verses explaining the duties of man, commandments to keep and laws to obey; but there are also incredible verses showing the will of God to bless, comfort, tenderly take care and love His people also. To pull one set of verses out and not look at the others breeds either legalism or mushy form of Christianity.
One of the truly GREAT verses in the entire Bible is one very few Christians have ever heard let alone know anything about. From my study of God’s Word, I would certainly place Ephesians 1:3 near the top of any list of verses to learn inside and out:
Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ.”
To shed a little more light on this verse, please look at the first part from the New Living Translation:
How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms...”
The reality of this verse is very simple. God is to be greatly praised because He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm in Christ. What does it mean to be blessed with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING? That question alone could take a lifetime to answer.
What exactly is the Apostle Paul really telling us in this verse? The simplicity of what is being communicated here is this:
God blessed us with every spiritual blessing [every possible blessing for time and eternity, which the Spirit has to bestow] in the heavenly places in Christ.
See, Christ is the center and the source of God blessing us. Everything God has blessed us with is in and through the work of His Son Christ Jesus. That is the profound difference between the New and the Old Testament. God no longer blesses when sacrifices and offerings are given or when candles are lit and incense burned. Now, God’s blessing to us is found IN CHRIST.
Just how deep is this, you may ask. This is as deep as it gets folks. We are talking here about the eternal purpose of God as manifested in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We are talking about the once and forever eternal redemption, sanctification, righteousness, reconciliation and blessing of God IN CHRIST.
What is the last thing Jesus could do for us? Was it not to willingly lay down His life? When Jesus uttered the words upon the cross It is finished”, he was referring to not only God’s master plan of redemption, but to all he could personally do acting as our Savior. Jesus did not pull Himself off the cross and place Himself in a tomb. Jesus did not raise Himself from the dead or ascend Himself into the heavenly places. The last thing He could do was to give His life.
On the third day, GOD raised Jesus from the dead. GOD raised Jesus from the dead with eternal life spirit. When Peter spoke to the multitudes on the Day of Pentecost, look at what he said in Acts 2:23, 24:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”
Peter goes on to say in verse 32:
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.”
Finally at the close of his sermon, Peter says this amazing truth in verse 36:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
There is the greatness of this whole thing. Wicked and godless men crucified Jesus. Jesus out of the love in His heart for us allowed Himself to be given in sacrifice for our sins. He died and was buried in the tomb for three days and three nights. Then, God took over and it was GOD who raised Jesus from the dead and when He did, God made Him both LORD and CHRIST! The resurrected Jesus is CHRIST and within CHRIST is everything God has blessed us with.
Where is Christ now? Yes, God did ascend Him into the heavenly places where He sits at the right hand of God. But, there is another dimension to this found in Colossians 1:26 and 27:
[Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”
There it is, one of the most exciting things to ever sit down and think about. As believers, after we are born again, we have CHRIST IN US, THE HOPE OF GLORY! Do you see what that says? We, little ole you and me, have CHRIST in us who is the hope of our future glory. Do you remember what 2 Corinthians 3:18 says?
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
When you look in the mirror, instead of seeing that tired old face, as we renew our minds to what God says about us and who we are in Christ; we are transformed to see the glory of the Lord. That glory of the Lord is none other than CHRIST IN US, THE HOPE OF GLORY! I don’t know how God could make this any simpler or more exciting. Even right now I am about to burst out of my skin!
God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places IN CHRIST. We have CHRIST IN US. Thus, we are the most blessed people on earth. It makes no difference whether we have an abundance of worldly possessions or none; what is important is the knowledge that God blessed us with every single spiritual blessing found in the heavenly places IN CHRIST and now CHRIST IS IN US.
Hallelujah!
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Author: blessings2you
Location: Warrenton Missouri USA
Gender: Male
Age: 57
Blog Entries: 828 (archive)
Blog Comments: 1357
god called me to serve him when i was 16 years old while on a church work trip in new mexico in 1969. in the 40 years since; i attended bible school/leadership training, been ordained to the christian ministry and worked full time for a non-denominational ministry for nearly ten...
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in 1969 god stepped in and transformed my life as a sixteen year old teenager. after a couple of years of intense emotional ups and downs, i decided i needed a firm foundation in my life that went beyond emotional experiences. it was the decision to become involved with a...
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(or prince)! It is good to be IN Him and have Him IN me!