Every Spiritual Blessing
I’ve been meditating on Ephesians 1:3 this week (Ephesians rocks, by the way).
“Praise be to the God and Father of our lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
What does “every spiritual blessing mean”. Note what Paul says about these spiritual blessings…
1. God is the source, provider, and ultimate cause of spiritual blessings. The Gospel begins with God, not me. God keeps his promises, he delivers. God doesn’t give you a little and then demand you fill in the rest. He doesn’t point you in the right direction and leave you on your own for the rest of the journey. God does it all – from start to finish.
2. These blessings come because I am “in Christ”. It is “in Christ” that I receive what I desperately need, not Abraham, not Moses, not the Law, etc. The tense and voice of this phrase indicates that what Christ has done for us happened in the past but continues now and will continue on into the future – talk about security!
3. These blessings are in regard to our salvation. In the following verses, Paul enumerates some of our spiritual blessings God has provided for us: he chose us (vs 4); he made us holy & blameless (vs 4); he loved us (vs 4); he predestined us (vs 4); he adopted us (vs 4); he redeemed us (vs 7); he forgave us (vs 7). Wow.
4. These blessings are heaven-based. The antonym for heaven is earth. The New Covenant God has made with us in Christ is heaven-based, not earth-based. The Old Testament/Covenant Law was earth-based – temporary. What we have in Christ is heaven based – eternal. The Old Testament Covenant was based on the temporary sacrifice of animals. The New Covenant is based on the once-for-all offering of Christ on the Cross. Again, we are secure in Christ.
5. These blessings are based on the grace of God. Verse 7 says, …the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.”
There is nothing we really need that we don’t already have in Jesus Christ. We can stop asking God for what we already have.
PRAISE BE TO THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST!
jackpickel 