The purpose of God's blessings
Throughout the first chapter of Ephesians, there is a pattern that presents itself repeatedly. First God states a blessing, then He gives the standard by which the blessing is given and then gives the purpose of the blessing. Whenever you read the words according to”, what follows sets the standard by which to measure what is given or done.
Just look at the blessings God has bestowed upon us in the Ephesians 1:3-5:
1. Blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
2. Chose us in Him that we should be Holy and without blame before Him in love
3. Predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself
Those are some BIG TIME blessings to say the least. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing there is in the heavenly places. God chose us to be holy and without blame before Him in love. God decided eons of time ago that we would be His children through Jesus Christ. I don’t think to many of us really have much of an idea how awesome these things really are. To be spiritually blessed, able to stand in God’s presence holy and without blame as His children is too amazing and too huge to grasp, yet these are our rights as sons of God!
All of these blessings God has bestowed upon us are measured from a set standard. This standard is, according to Ephesians 1:5 the good pleasure of His will”. In other words; God blessed us, chose us to be righteous in His presence and predestined us to be His children ACCORDING TO what would PLEASE HIM. The standard set for all these blessings is HIS GOOD PLEASURE.
Now, the big question is WHY. Why did God bless us so much? What was His purpose in so abundantly blessing us? The purpose for why God did these three things we are looking at is found in Ephesians 1:6 from the Amplified Bible:
[So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
God blessed us with every spiritual blessing so that we might be to the praise of His glorious grace which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (Jesus Christ). God chose us to be holy and without blame before Him in love (righteous) so that we might be to the praise of His glorious grace which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (Jesus Christ). God predestined us to adoption as sons so that we might be to the praise of His glorious grace which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (Jesus Christ).
God did not bless us with all He has just so that we can sit around and be blessed. His purpose in blessing us was so that in all we do and say, we give Praise to Him and for His glorious grace He freely gave us in Jesus Christ.
God did not declare us righteous so that we have access into His very presence so that we can pester Him night and day for more toys and candy. No, He did make us holy and without blame in His presence so that we can PRAISE HIM directly with no fear or condemnation for His glorious grace he gave us in Jesus Christ.
God did not make us His children so that we run all over town acting crazy and getting hauled into detention all the time. No, He made us His children so that we can come sit on His lap and look into His loving eyes and cry Abba, Father”. So that we can be loved by Him and freely give Him all the love in our hearts in appreciation for the glorious grace which He freely gave us in Jesus Christ.
Please look at Ephesians 1:7 in light of what we have just seen:
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”
In Jesus Christ, we have redemption through His blood which is the forgiveness of sins. This is the blessing, and what a blessing it is. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, the eternal payment was made for sin and its consequences. Through the atoning death of Jesus Christ, God was able to redeem us from Adam’s curse and grant us remission and forgiveness of our sins. This is what allows us to stand in God’s presence holy and without blame. It is because of the blood of Jesus that we able to be God’s children.
This blessing of redemption and the forgiveness of sins is the blessing. The standard set for this blessing is the riches of His grace”. How rich is God’s grace? Of course His grace is limitless and its value is beyond appraisal. Our redemption and forgiveness of sins is according to the standard of God’s amazing grace.
Now the question is why did God redeem us and forgive us our sins? The answer is found in God’s purpose set forth in Ephesians 1:8-10:
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:”
I won’t even try to explain all of what is found in these three verses, but obviously God had a very specific purpose in mind in redeeming us and forgiving us our sins. This purpose is only partially fulfilled in this life. The great reality of God’s purpose, which He purposed in Himself is wrapped up in what is coming when God gathers together in one all things in Christ”.
As you will see, if you stick with this ongoing study of Ephesians, much of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus is yet to be fulfilled. God had to redeem us and forgive us of our sins in order to be able to plant within us His Spirit which we will see later is the token of our inheritance” and the proof that we have eternal life. There is so much to look at and so little time to look at it. Until next time; walk in God’s blessings and PRAISE HIM!
|
|
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...
view full biography
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...
view full testimony
An answer to that legitim...
Putting Washington's ...
Entitlement mentality--fr...
A very legitimate questio...
The need for separation o...
What is the REAL news...
I can do ...(with a littl...
The mystery of me...
I STILL have a dream...
Is gambling really just e...
|
Log Into Chatroom 
