The Book of Ephesians

Chapter 1

It is somewhere between the years of 62-63 A.D. and the Apostle Paul is sitting in a house prison in Rome.  He is writing a letter to the Church at Ephesus.

Greetings

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 from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

By the will of God, the Pharisee Saul of Tarsus, and persecutor of the early Christians, was destined to become an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ when he met Jesus in an open vision on the road to Damascus, as seen in Acts, chapter 9.  His life was radically changed from that of a Jewish unbeliever of Jesus Christ to the Apostle Paul, an ambassador of Jesus Christ to spread the Gospel to pagan Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire.

The Apostle Paul opens his letter with his signature greeting to the saints in the Church at Ephesus who are faithful in Jesus.  His greeting begins by saying "grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 

Jews often greeted other Jews with the word "Shalom," which means "peace."  If they greeted one another on the Sabbath, the greeting would be Shabot (meaning Sabbath) Shalom.  He is now greeting primarily Gentile believers in this letter, but he want to continue to use the word peace, but also adds the word grace to his greetings.  Little did they know and little do we know what the grace of God all entails for us.  So the Apostle Paul is speaking grace and peace over these Gentile believers - a grace that comes for God the Father and their LORD Jesus Christ His Son. 

This would be his signature greeting in every letter he wrote to the Churches.

I like to think that once we understand the meaning of Paul's signature greeting of grace, we can get a better grasp what God means when He speaks of His grace upon us as we study the next verse regarding spiritual blessings that we have in heavenly places.  You see, these are our keys to the Kingdom of God.

Blessed, Blessed, and Blessings

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, 

Let's center on the two words of "blessed" and then the word "blessings" and excrete some deeper meanings here.  Let's look at the two words for "blessed" first.  

Blessed (1):  In this introduction, the Apostle Paul speaks out a blessing TO God, our Father, meaning he is acknowledging God's glory and honor first, and as such, he is giving God his best by praising Him for Who He is - as our Creator, the giver of love, life and eternal life, protector, and our God Who never, ever leaves us.   The Apostle Paul is giving God the honor that is due to Him first and foremost of all.  That is the highest acknowledgment that we can give to God - to worship and praise Him with our whole being.  We were created to worship God - that's our blessing to God!

• So many Christians forget to give God the blessing that is due Him before anything else.   First thing in the morning is a perfect time to begin our day with worshiping the Lord, along with praises of blessings that He most certainly deserves.  God IS worthy of all the glory and praise and love that we are able to give to Him.  And then throughout the day, whenever our hearts lean toward Him, can we then praise and worship Him again and again?  That is our blessings to Him!
• Worship and praise - praise and worship - all day long - that is what pleases the Lord!   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed (2):  God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places that is available to us at all times.  The "us" consists of both Jews and Gentiles, however, this letter is primarily written for and to a Gentile audience.  The Jews already knew they were blessed by God because they have a covenant with Him through Abraham and the Mosaic Law; but now the apostle is assuring these Gentile believers that they too have been chosen to be blessed by God with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places - all because of what Christ Jesus has done for them.  That's our covenant with God. 

So then, what are these spiritual blessings poured upon the Jews and the Gentiles who are in covenant with God through Jesus Christ?

• The spiritual blessings that believers in Jesus Christ have in heavenly places are far greater than any material blessings that are part of this world.  If we don't get a revelation and appreciation for God's spiritual blessings offered to us, we will have missed it - and as such become no different than anyone without God in their lives.  
• We've been not only created in the image and likeness of God, we are called by Him with a plan and purpose in this life.  As such, God watches over His people, to deliver them from the forces of evil, giving them - us - salvation, love and protection.  He takes care of His people, transforming them, giving them His favor and grace, empowering them to love and to serve Him -and a whole lot more. 

This is only a portion of what is called our spiritual blessings that are laid up in heavenly places for us.  These blessings just don't lay dorment in heaven waiting for us to get there, but they are ours to be utilized here on earth as well.  In fact, to fully utilize these blessings while here on the earth, we must know and understand that these blessings are available to us - here and now.  These blessings are our support as we fulfill God's plans and purposes for our lives while we live upon the earth.

Nineteen Blessings
Our Keys to the Kingdom

For the next three chapters, we are going to look at 19 blessings that we have in heavenly places for us to utilize here on earth in this life to not only help us here, but help others as well.  Then, our rewards in heaven will be the blessings we incur while living our lives for the Lord here on earth. The Apostle Paul lays out our spiritual blessings out systematically so that we can understand them and then hopefully, apply them to our life.

These blessings are so very important to understand because that is part of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God that are laid up in heaven for us - here and now, as well as in the age to come - meaning the Millennial Kingdom when we co-rule and co-reign with Christ for 1000 years.

• In other words, these blessings are our keys to the Kingdom of God in which every Christian needs to get a full understanding of what God has given us - what is available to us as Christians as we live out our lives here on the earth. 
• They are foundational and there are 19 of them found in the first three chapters of Ephesians.
• While there are other blessings listed in the Scriptures for us, it is the Book of Ephesians that gives us the majority of them listed in one book.

What I am asking you to do is underline these 19 blessings (or keys) in your Bible as we go over them one by one.

• I am going to concentrate on what the Book of Ephesians tells us of what blessings we have "in Christ," "through Christ," "because of Christ" in the first three chapters.  I will point each one of them as we walk through them.

Let's begin!

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, 

#1  God chose us "in Christ" before the foundation of the world:

While Christ did choose each one of us individually before the foundation of the world, it is more precise to say that God chose the Gentile people before the foundation of the world.  For more precise information, let's go to #2. 

#2  God predestined us "in Christ" before the foundation of the world:

⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 

Some Christians take this passage of Scripture to mean individuals are chosen and predestined by God before the foundation of the world to be saved or damned to hell.  This scripture passage, however, has been long misunderstood by so many Christians, but one that needs to be understood in its proper context.  As Adam Clark, an old biblical scholar and commentator from yesteryear claimed in his commentary, of which I so totally support, let me paraphrase:

• Knowing this letter was written to a Gentile audience and the Church of Jesus Christ, God, from the beginning of creation, even before the fall of Adam and Eve, foreknew and predestined (planned) that a time would come when He would bring a Savior (Messiah for the Jews) for the sins of mankind (Gen 3:15).  God also knew that His own people, the Jews, would reject His Son as their Messiah when He came to earth.  Because they rejected Jesus as their Messiah, God then turned his face toward the Gentiles, giving them an opportunity to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.  As such, this verse - in its original meaning and context was meant to say that God foreknew and predestined before the foundation of the world that the Gentiles would one day come to believe in Christ.  It was God's original intention to adopt the Gentile people into the Kingdom of God as they chose to individually come to believe in Christ.
• While this scripture passage does apply to individuals - being given the right to come to Christ - it was in God's mind that the Gentiles, as a people, were now predestined to receive Christ.  God then gave each of us as Gentiles the individuals right to choose or reject Christ for ourselves.

Having offered salvation to Adam to the time of those under the Law, then offering to the Jews under the Law, God is now including the Gentiles for salvation.  As such, it gave God great pleasure to include the whole world in His plan of salvation.  For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten Son - that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16.

We were all called to be chosen not only for salvation, but also chosen for holiness before God.  As such, God has equipped us to be empowered to be that kind of person before the Lord.  Our lives then need to reflect Jesus Who is our living example of love and righteousness while He lived upon the earth and He is our eternal Lord Who we will be spending our eternity with forever and ever.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

 #3  "In Christ," God created us to be made acceptable in the beloved:

⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Since we, as believers in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, God knew us before the foundation of the world.  As He looked down the corridors of time, He knew exactly who would accept and received Jesus as their Messiah and Savior and He also knew who would rejected Him.  He knows our heart.  As such, for those who would chose to follow Jesus, God has created us to be made acceptable in Him.  We belong to Him.

• God loves us, and we belong to His family - the family of God.
• We are part of the Kingdom of God, and as such, God lovingly gives us all of the inheritances that come with being a part of His family - His Kingdom.
• How blessed we are!  We are truly lovingly accepted by God - all because of what Christ did for us - and all we had to do was believe and accept Jesus as our own, following Him in His ways!

#4  "In Him (Christ)" we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

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 

Redemption:  Strongs G629  apolutrosis = "deliverance" from G575 and G3083 (the act) ransom in full, that is, (figuratively) riddance, or (specifically) Christian salvation:  Deliverance, redemption."

I am not a Jew, but an old Scandanavian Swede, coming out of the Gentile nations.  Most of you probably can claim something similar - where your heritage goes back to some place on the earth other than Israel.  In other word, I am talking to you as having a Gentile heritage.  That means, this most wonderful promise belong to you as a believer in Jesus as well.  I know that I am so grateful that through Christ Jesus that I have this most wonderful inheritance - redemption through His blood, which gives me forgiveness of my sins.  Arn't you grateful as well? 

Because we, in Christ, have been chosen before the foundation of the world, God has given us deliverance - His redemption -  through the blood of His Son Jesus.  There is no possible deliverance outside of Jesus and His redeeming blood.  His blood has been a gift to us and has the power to save us from our eternal condemnation, cleanses and cover us from our sins, heal us from diseases, and delivers us from the power of Satan.  Jesus paid the ultimate price with His blood shed for us.

This deliverance/redemption and forgiveness of sins that has been given to us is according the riches of God's grace upon us...and that's only the beginning!

• And to think that God in His wisdom and careful planning God chose to pour His grace upon us Gentiles. God had it all planned that we too can receive the grace of His salvation.   We mean that much to Him.

God doesn't pick and choose who will have eternal salvation with Him - He choses everyone; however, not everyone chooses to receive Christ, missing out on these wonderful blessings.  And not every believer understands these most basic principle that are the keys that opens the door to God's world of heaven, earth and eternity.

#5 - "In Himself (Christ)," God made known to us the mystery of His will.

⁹ having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 

Accepting Christ opens up a door for everything that God is and what He has done for us - and as such, those who accept Christ now belong to the family of God.  We then, as members of His family, God has made known to us the mystery of His will.  It's like we have been given the keys to know and experience the secrets of heaven, earth, and eternity.  How that pleases God to bestow not only the endless measures of His grace upon us, He chooses to show us the mystery of His will as well.

• This mystery is God's great plan for the ages and is now being shown to believers in Christ.  As we examine the Book of Ephesians, we are looking at not only God great plan for this age, but how WE fit in with God great plan from the beginning.  We belong to the family of God - the Kingdom of God, having a home in heaven reserved just for us.  Then in the ages to come, we are promised that we will co-rule and co-reign with Christ for 1000 years during the Millennial Kingdom.  In addition, we are promised that we will be with Christ forever and ever. 
• Over these six chapters of Ephesians, we will discover the mysteries of God's will toward us.  Those keys to the Kingdom of God will be revealed as we delve into God's truth.  How exciting is that?
  

#6 "In Christ" Jesus will gather together in one all things in the fullness of the times. 

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. 

"Dispensation:"  Strongs G3622 - From G3623 administration (of a household or estate); specifically a (religious) "economy:" -dispensation, stewardship.

PaulVanNoy.com

We learn here that the word "dispensation" is a divine period of time or a way of life in which God was dealing with mankind, similar to that of a owner managing a household - having a way of doing things.  God is dealing with the Family of God.

• There are basically seven dispensations throughout the Bible from the beginning of Genesis until the end of the Book of Revelation, which are sandwiched in between Eternity Past and Eternity Future,  of which the Bible gives us almost no information about.  God only wants us to know what goes on in this world and the next age of the Millennium - not the world of the past eternity or the world of eternity future.  Both eternity's remains in the mind of God - and not for us to know, but will be revealed in its right time.  God does give us the promise, however, that we will remain with Christ forever and ever. 

Each dispensation of time and its purpose shows us how God dealt with people in the earth.  Within each dispensation God deals a little differently to fit the needs and ways of the people and God's purpose within that dispensation.  In this 10th verse here, it begins to tell us what will happen in the dispensation of the fullness of time - let's discuss that!  But to do that, let's look at each dispensation of time first! 

• Dispensation of Innocence - From Gen 1:26 - Gen 3:24.  This dispensation covers the period of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden until they sinned by eating of the forbidden fruit and were expelled from the Garden.  This dispensation ended with a curse upon Satan, the earth, as well as Adam and Eve - which has affected all of mankind even today because sin entered into the world.  Adam and Eve were then forced to leave their beautiful garden and go out into the earth that was cursed and Satan became the god of this world. 
• Dispensation of Conscience - From Gen 4:1 - Gen 7:23 until the flood of Noah.  This dispensation shows us what mankind did when left to his own will and conscience, which was tainted by the inherited sin nature within man.  From the time of the beginning until the Noahic flood, it consisted of 1656 years.  This dispensation ended with a curse (flood) that covered the whole earth and everyone died with the exception of Noah and his family because they were righteous in the eyes of God.  
• Dispensation of Human Government - From Genesis 8 - Gen 11:9, God had destroyed life on earth with a flood, saving just one family to replenish the human race.  God had commanded this family to scatter and fill the earth, yet their scattering was very limited.  About 325 years later, the earth’s inhabitants began building a monumental tower of Babel to reach the heavens.  Their reasoning was so they could make a name for themselves, reaching the heights of heaven.  This dispensation ended with a curse when God brought the construction of the tower to a halt, creating confusion in their language, and as such, man stopped their project and were scattered throughout the earth.
• Dispensation of Promise/Law:  Whereas some biblical scholars consider this to be two dispensations, it began with the call of Abraham around 1850 B.C. and God covenanted with him with many promises for him and his descendants.  God promised Abraham that a great nation would come from him.  His name would become great, God would bless those who bless his descendants, and all of the families of the earth would be blessed because of him. (Gen 12:1 -Ex 19:25). The sign of the covenant was circumcision, and was to be repeated from generation to generation of his people.  It seemingly came to a halt when Abraham's descendants left Canaan to go to Egypt as they were starving in their land.  They ended up in slavery for 430 years until God used Moses to bring them out of Egypt to re-establish His covenant.   God re-established His covenant with Moses and His people with the Law to be observed and obeyed as they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years, and their descentdants came back into the Land of Promise.  It then continued on into part II with the Exodus of the Israelite people from Egypt.  During this dispensation, God dealt specifically with the Jewish nation through the Mosaic Covenant, or the Law as found in Exodus 19-23.  These were God's people, and the Mosaic Law was used to teach them the ways of God to become righteous in His sight (Ten Commandments).  Due to the people's disobedience to God's covenant, the 12 tribes of Israel eventually lost their promised land and became subjected to bondage in other nations again.  Seventy years later, they were able to return to their land of promise in small numbers.  This dispensation, however, ended with the cross when most Jews rejected Christ and their eyes and ears were blinded to the truth of God's Son as their Messiah (Rom 11:8).  They are blinded even to this day.
• Dispensation of Grace:  This is the dispensation of today.  It is also referred to the Dispensation of the Church or the Dispensation of the Gentiles.  It began on the Day of Pentecost following Jesus' resurrection and ascension back into heaven.  On this beginning day, the Holy Spirit came to enter into the hearts of those who would believe in Jesus as the Son of God.  Because most Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah, God was now reaching out to the Gentiles, giving them an opportunity to come to God through their belief in His Son Jesus.  This dispensation has lasted for almost 2,000 years, and we do not know for certain when it will end, but we do know the time is drawing close.  

        -  God gave humanity from the time of Adam and Eve to Abraham approximately
            2000 years to come to God, and only a remnant received Him as their God.                  -  God then given the Jews 2000 years to come to Him and when he came, they
            rejected Him. 
        -  Now God is giving the Gentiles their 2000 years, and for all those who have
           rejected Christ, there has been or will be a curse put upon them as well. 
        -  After every dispensation some curse or tramatic event has taken place.  In this
           case, God is now removing all believers in Christ before that terrible event takes
           place.

In the fullness of the dispensation of the times, Jesus will gather together in one all things in Christ - that is the Rapture of the Church before the time of the curse of the Tribulation Period.  

Rom 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.  nkjv

While a small portion of Jews throughout time would come to believe in Jesus during this dispensation of grace (Church or Gentiles), which the Bible refers to them as the "real" or "true" Jews, they are considered believers in Christ (Christians) and heirs to all of these promises along with the Gentile believers.  All other Jews are those who have rejected Jesus as their Messiah - the Son of God. The time is running short to when this dispensation will end.

And when that happens...

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  NKJV

Jesus will come down in the cloud and gather all of His believers to Him - and the dead in Christ will arise first (their souls in heaven will now be joined to their immortal bodies) and those alive on the earth will be caught up (raptured) together to meet Jesus in the air.  Then we will all be escorted to our heavenly heaven (John 14:2-3)

God will take those seven years to judge the earth for mans' disobedience in rejecting Christ.  Everyone upon the earth will be greatly affected.  This time, however, has specifically been set aside by God with the purpose of reaching the Jews in various ways to return to Him to fulfill His promise to them.  It will be their last chance to come back to God.  This time will be a horrible time upon the earth for Jew and Gentile alike.  Everyone left behind after the rapture of the Church must suffer God's judgment upon the earth, but God will bring 144,000 Jewish evangelist and two witnesses to Israel to plead with the Jews to come back into right relationship with God - for them to believe that Jesus is their true Messiah.  During this horrible time, many Jews will come to Christ as a result.  This horrible time will end with the Battle of Armegeddon at the 2nd coming of Christ to the earth for those who still rejected Christ.

That event opens up the curse that is about to come upon the earth...

What is the purpose of God bringing on this terrible event of the Tribulation Period? God's ultimate purpose is to wake up Israel to Whom Jesus really is.  God made a covenant promise to Abraham and Moses and God will fulfill His promise.  God is ultimately giving one last chance for Jews and Gentiles alike to come to Christ.  Those seven years of the Tribulation Period will be beyond belief as to the horrors that will happen. Those who do come to Christ in desperation will probably be martyred for their faith. This dispensation will end at the end of the seven years when Jesus comes back to earth (with His saints and angels) at the Battle of Armeggedon when all unbelievers in Him will be cast into the Lake of Fire for all eternity.  Any believing survivors (Jew and Gentile alike) or those who did not have knowledge of Christ will remain upon the earth as Christ set's up His Millennial Kingdom.  

In those seven years while the Tribulation Period is going on upon the earth, the believers in heaven will stand before Christ at the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive their rewards for their faithfulness while on earth and then presented with Christ to God as His bride.  There we will celebrate our marriage feast to Him.  

The Dispensation of the Millenium:  This period of time will last for 1000 years as Christ wins the Battle of Armegeddon and set up rulership in Jerusalem as King over the whole earth.  He will rule with a rod of iron over all the nations of the earth.  Jesus will now fulfill His covenant with the immortal Jewish saints and all Jewish survivors upon the earth at the end of the Battle of Armeggedon.  They will enjoy celebrating their feasts as the Jewish people will be a superior race upon the earth.  All nations will come to celebrate the feasts yearly and Jewish holidays will be honored.  The Church, as the Bride of Christ, will come back with Christ in their immortal bodies to co-rule and co-reign with Christ as King for the full 1000 years over all the earth.  The Body of Christ will then use their gifts/inheritances as they co-rule and co-reign with Christ.  Life will continue among the morals upon the earth, multiplying like the sands of the sea.      

Satan will be bound in the Bottomless Pit in hell in the core of the earth for the full 1000 years, to where evil upon the surviving mortals will be strongly diminished.  While they will still have a sin nature, the tendency to sin will have lessened greatly because Satan will be bound in the Bottomless Pit.  There, will however will be those who will choose to disobey.  Sadly, death will be their penalty.  There will also be those who will be remain obedient during the 1000 reign of Christ, but in their hearts rebellion remains. 

Shortly before the end of the 1000 years, God will test all mortals upon the earth as to their allegience to Him.   Satan will be released from the Bottomless Pit to gather any surviving mortal upon the earth who will choose to change their allegiance over to Satan.  They will be gathered like the sands of the sea - those who were once obedient to Christ, but their hearts were not given completely over to Him.  Satan and those whom he gathers together will end up in Jerusalem to fight God in that final battle.  God will quickly come down with fire and Satan and all of his new followers will be cast into the Eternal Lake of Fire for all eternity.   

This will conclude (Rev 20:11-14) when all unbelievers throughout the Old and New Covenant whose spirits are awaiting judgment in hell will arise from the dead to stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment.  There will be no rewards - only punishment.  Their punishment will be to be cast into the Eternal Lake of Fire to join those who had turned their allegiance over to Satan at the end of the Millennial Period.  How their punishments will be carried out in the Eternal Lake of Fire is only known in the mind of God.  This judgment in the Eternal Lake of Fire is forever - for all eternity. 

Following this judgment will come the time when God will burn up the earth and the surrounding heavens (atmosphere) to bring on a New Heaven and New Earth as we read in Rev 21 & 22.  There all immortal saints (Jew and Gentile alike) - those who remained faithful in their hearts toward Christ will spend eternity with God/Christ forever and ever.  All curses will have ended!

So, now we can see what verse 10 is telling us: 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.  For thousands of years all of creation has groaned (Rom 8:18-22) and everything wrong will be righted - all according to God's holy love and justice.  God is pulling all these dispensations of times together into one dispensation in the fullness of His timing - all culminating together in the Dispensation of the Millennial Kingdom both for believing Jews and Gentiles.  It will be a time of rejoicing as God pulls everything together - all under Christ.  Hallelujah!

#7  "In Christ" we have obtained an inheritance.

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, 

I want to point out something important here.  While God's commands of right and wrong, righteousness versus wickedness is given to God's people in the Decalog (the Ten Commandments) and throughout the Old Testament, many people want to dismiss the Old Testament writings as being irrelavant today.  That is so wrong!  The Mosaic Law, and what God wrote to us under the Old Covenant has been like a teacher to all of God's children, both under the Old and New Covenant to teach us right from wrong.  They are foundational and will never change.    In no way am I dismissing the Old Testament Scriptures.  They are our foundational to our whole belief system.  It is HOW God handles people in each dispensation that differs.  

God foreknew everything, past, present, and future, and He knew how people would react under all circumstances throughtout all dispensations of time.  As such, He began all of this with His purpose in mind even before the foundation of creating this world. 

We have learned from verse 10 that God will, at the end of time, gather all dispensations of His people together into One - and that One is under Christ Jesus.  Throughout the Old Covenant, believers looked toward the Day when their Messiah would come, so their understanding of Christ Jesus was very different than us believers today who live after the cross.  We, the Church, look back at the cross to when Jesus shed His blood for our sins.  Our understanding of Him brings us so much closer to Who He is and what He has done for us, which was more than the Old Covenant saints could comprehend.   

This final joining together of all these dispensations were done according to the counsel of His will, meaning the Godhead - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit concured and agreed together that this is the way it must be done.  God has been deliberate in His planning and the carrying out of His will.  In that, He deals differently with people in every dispensation.  He works with the Church differently than He has worked with the Jewish believers under the Old Covenant dispensations in how He deals with righteousness and sin, rewards (promises/inheritance) and penalties.  

The Old Covenant Jewish believers will have the promises/inheritance of their land in this final gathering, as well as all of the promises given in the Abrahamic Covenant, but we the Church will also be given our promises/inheritances from our Father God as well.  They differ, however, from each other in that our inheritance (promises) under the Dispensation of the Church/Grace and how God rewards us. 
 

• When us believers from the Church Age stand before Christ at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we have His promises that because we have faith and trust in Jesus, we will be with Him forever, but how we are judged for our rewards while we spend our eternity with Him will depend on how we obeyed the Mosaic Law - meaning the righteousness and purpose of God.  Those rewards are our inheritance.

We, the Church, need to fully comprehend our inheritance as we walk our way through the Book of Ephesians.  So then, let's continue on with these promises/inheritance as we slowly travel through this letter. 

• Again, while this letter does not give us ALL of the promises of our inheritance, we must remember that the Letter to the Ephesians is the most powerful letter of the New Testament, in that it covers the core doctrine of the Church, which differs from the doctrines given to the Jews under the Mosaic Law.  As such, a lot of our promises, or inheritance, is listed in the Book of Ephesians. 
• We will also examine other New Testament books as well to help us understand the doctrines - or promises given to the Church so that we can understand in a deeper measure the magnificience of our inheritance that we have in Christ.

¹² that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

The whole of the Millennial Period will be the development of the Kingdom under Christ Jesus Who will be displayed to the world as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  In that, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord - to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:10-11). 

• While God will bring all of the believers from all dispensations together in One under Christ, it is those who first trusted in Christ Jesus (Christians from the Dispensation of the Church) who will lead the way to bring the praises of His glory to all those dwelling within the Millennial Kingdom of Christ.  Believers in this present dispensation have the privilege of being part of the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27).  As such, we will be co-ruling and co-reigning with Christ.  We will lead the way to assist Christ in any way to make sure that Jesus remains the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to all the survivors of the Tribulation and those descendants after them that have remained upon the earth.  How we lead will depend on the rewards we receive at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
• God wants us to be prepared for our Millennial task by experiencing those blessings - or the keys of the Kingdom even here on earth.  As such, God wants us to live the life that will be a blessing to God, a blessing to others, and a blessing to ourselves as we prepare for our eternal mission.  Therefore, we need to be that example of holiness and godliness here on this earth as we continue to become more Christ-like in every part of our lives. 
• We have a big task at hand, and Jesus wants us to be not only ambassadors for Him on this earth, but fully prepared to becoming co-rulers with Christ for the next 1000 years of the Millennial Kingdom. 
• As such, we need to grasp what those keys to the Kingdom of God really are.  

#8  "In Christ" we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

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.

Believers under this Dispensation of Grace/Church - that's us - when we heard, we believed, and put our trust in Jesus, which is the message of our whole salvation, something miraculously happened.  By the counsel of God's will - as agreed upon by the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, all of us believers have been sealed in our human spirit the presence of the Holy Spirit.   

The indwelling Holy Spirit was given as a promise or prophecy to come in Ezekiel 36:27 which tells us:  Ez 36:27  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.  As such, we believers in this dispensation of the Church have the miraculous privilege of having the third person of the Godhead - the Holy Spirit living within us.

• That never happened to anyone under any of all the dispensations before our dispensation.  What a privilege we have - to have God living inside us to teach, guide, protect, empower, and live the righteous life while we live upon this earth.

Who Is a True Believer? 

Who then is a true believer in Jesus Christ in this dispensation?  In other words, we didn't become a Christian by attending church.  Nor did it come by claiming to be a Christian because our parents were Christians.  It came by the surrendering of our will - knowing that we are sinners saved by the grace of God.  As such, we yield our heart over to believing...

Seal of the Holy Spirit

When that happens, you then, as a now believer in Jesus Christ, have become part of His Body and the power of Jesus' Spirit - the Holy Spirit - comes to indwell your human spirit, so that He can comfort, guide, strengthen and empower you to become all that Jesus has called you to be (Rom 8:11).

The Holy Spirit's presence is our guarantee in our life that we belong to Jesus - that we are a part of His body.  In other words, God now owns us - we belong to Jesus.  The Holy Spirit's seal is also a promise that He will never, ever leave us nor forsake us.   We can, therefore, completely and fully trust that the Lord will always be there for us, watching over us, taking care of us.  We have the seal of God as a guarantee and promise in our lives. 

• The indwelling Holy Spirit is like a down payment that we belong to God.  
• We have been completely purchased by God through Jesus' redemptive work on the cross.  All He asks of us is that we believe, trust, and follow after Him.

We have learned that God in His great mercy and love chose the Gentile people to be a part of the Kingdom of God - those who would believe and accept His Son Jesus as His Son.  Even when we were still dead in our trespasses and sins, He still chose us.  We saw from Ephesians 1:4 that God chose us before the foundation of the world.  Yet, when He looked down the corridors of time, He knew we, as a Gentle people, as well as individuals, would sin against Him, yet He still loves us and calls us back to Himself.

To show His greatest love and grace to humanity, God sent His Son to earth to die for the sins of mankind - all who were dead in their trespasses and sins.  Jesus bore on Himself our sins upon the cross so that we have been delivered from the depths of hell and have become alive unto Christ.  God rose Jesus from the dead, and because Jesus rose from the dead, so will we.

When we came to Christ, our citizenship changed from earth to heaven.  Philippians 3:20 tells us that our citizenship is now in heaven.  This is our new position as believers in Christ.  We are part of the Kingdom of God, being a part of the Body of Christ.  Our life and identity now belongs to Christ.  

This wonderful guarantee of the indwelling Holy Spirit will always be there until we get to heaven - when the full manifestation of our redemption of our promises or inheritance is given to us in heaven.  

• Our lives then, as we live for Jesus should give praise to Jesus of His glory throughout the earth.
• Our lives are meant to be a walking example of Jesus upon the earth - remember, we are His body, meant to be holy and blameless before God.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

So then, you may be asking the question of what if I sinned?  What if I choose to walk in sin, yet still claim to be a Christian?  I know a lot of people like that!  That's called carnality or fleshly living.  I'll say this:  God loves you so much, and His desire is that everyone go to heaven.  Eternity in heaven is free - you don't have to do anything but believe in Jesus.  God's grace extends that far for you.  How you spend your eternity, however, will depend on how you live your life for God AFTER you believe.  Your righteous behavior here on earth is how you will will receive your rewards once you get to heaven.  Yes, there are many who believe in Jesus and do go to heaven by the skin of their teeth simply because they chose to live by their own flesh.    

• The Lord tells us in Ephesians, chapter 4 to not grieve the Holy Spirit.  Our Bibles also tell us in Galatians 6 that God will not be mocked.  Sin is still sin, and when we choose to fall into sin, regardless of what it is, God looks for a repentive heart - one who is sorry for the sin or sins committed.  He expects us to humbly come before Him in repentance, asking for forgiveness, just like 1 John 1:9 tells us.  He then forgives us and it is as if we never sinned.

• But when we repetitively and rebelliously sin over and over again, without repentance, that is where the danger comes in.  Choosing to sin is rebellion against God.  You see, even though God will never leave us nor forsake us, we can grieve the Holy Spirit so much to where we literally push Him away and out of our lives.  It isn't that He left on His own, we have pushed Him out to where He had no choice but to leave.  Galatians, chapter 5 tells us to walk in the Spirit and not fufill the lusts of the flesh.  We don't ever want to fall in the sin trap of fleshly, or rebellious carnal living.  It's destructive and only leads down the path of our hearts getting harder and harder to the things of God. 
• The Bible tells us in Galatians 6 to examine ourselves - not to be deceived.  God will not be mocked - in that whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  If we reap to the fleshly desires, corruption will automatically happen in our lives.  
• By our very own sins, we can literally get to a point to where we force the Holy Spirit out of our lives by the hardening of our hearts to sin and unbelief.  Little by little, we can chip away at our faith by our fleshly living to where one day, we no longer believe in Jesus.  And, we only get to heaven because we believe in Jesus. Our Bibles tell us that when we force the Holy Spirit to leave because we no longer believe in Him, He can never return because our hearts will have become so hardened to the things of God.  The end result is eternal condemnation.  This is called Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit according to Mark 3:29, meaning the conscious and hardened resistance to God's truth leads man away from humility and repentance, and without repentance, there can be no forgiveness.

So, let's purpose to walk by the direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives - not our fleshly desires.  The indwelling Holy Spirit gives us direction on how to live and lead our lives.   As promised, He will never leave us nor forsake us unless we force Him out! He wants to be the sustaining force in our lives as we purpose to grow in our relationship with the Lord.

Remembering the apostle's beginning statement of blessings given in this chapter, Paul has given these to dear friends that he came to know and love.  He had spent almost three years in Ephesus some years earlier, leading many to the Lord and developing a church within the city, and it gave him great joy knowing how the church was growing in the Lord.  He loved those believers.

• Now, in this letter, The Apostle Paul had much to say to these believers, as it has always been his desire to share the revelations of God as has been revealed to him.  As we learned in our introductory study in this book, the Apostle Paul's three years away in Arabia with the Holy Spirit gave him so many revelations of truth, which is what he taught to the churches, and have become the core doctrine for the New Covenant Church.

¹⁵ Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶ do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 

The Apostle Paul tells these Ephesian believers that he is thankful for them and he makes mention of them in his prayers.

• When Paul said he makes mention of them in his prayers, he is not saying a simple God bless the Ephesian believers, but he gets more into depth as we will see.

What we have now is a prayer that the Apostle Paul prayed over these believers that he once led to the Christ.  This prayer is a wonderful example of how we too should be praying for other believers as well.   This has become known as the first of the Pauline prayers.  I so encourage you to pray them over yourself as well as over other believers.

¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 

As the apostle has received revelation upon revelation of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, he so wants those whom he shares those mysteries with to also comprehend and understand what those mysteries are.  As such, he is asking that they receive  a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus so they too can understand those mysteries that first begin by understanding Who Jesus really is. 

Some questions to ask of ourselves:

• Do we want a deeper revelation of Who Jesus is?
• Do we want a spirit of wisdom and revelation in Christ?
• Think about it.  There are no depths in God!  We can go as deep as we want with God - and it is totally up to us how deep we want to go in Him.

¹⁸ the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

 Now we are going deeper - praying that the eyes of our understanding are enlightened.

• I recently finished a study on the Book of Proverbs here on Believersbibleschool.com where Proverbs continuously tells us that we have to gain knowledge of God and His Word first - then purpose to understand that knowledge by meditating on it.  And then when we apply our understanding of that knowledge to our lives, we can then walk in wisdom - God's wisdom.
• That same principle hold true here as well.  God wants us to meditate on Him and His Word day and night as Joshua 1:8 tells us to begin to understand what God is telling us. 
• The apostle uses the words of the "eyes of our understanding being enlightened."  Then we CAN know - truly know and understand the hope of God's calling us to Himself, and all of the riches or His inheritances that He has promised us.

Have you also considered that we, as God's people, are His inheritance?  He created us for His pleasure, and He delights when we give ourselves to Him.

• So in essence, God gives us His inheritance and we give ourselves back to Him as an inheritance to Him.  How that pleases God.

God is calling out to each one of us, and He has so much for us - so much to where we can't even begin to comprehend all that awaits us until we get to know Jesus in a deeper way.

• God calls out to our heart, not just our minds.  Our heart is the very core and center of our life, and God wants to go deep into our heart.

¹⁹ and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 

Most Christians have no idea of the power of God toward us who believe.  The apostle wants us to get a grasp on what it means to fully understand that we serve a loving God of power who continuously shows His strength to and for His people. 

• God loved and protected His people throughout the Old Covenant, and now under the New Covenant, we need to also fully understand God in the same way the Old Covenant believers did, but understand His power in an additional way through the power and resurrection of His Son that He has given to us His saints.  You see, as believers in Christ Jesus, we became part of His Body, He gave us His indwelling Holy Spirit, and a day will come that just as Jesus was resurrected from the dead, so will we.  And when we do, we will have at our disposal all the treasures/inheritance that God has given to us because of His Son.  That's a lot to take in!

²⁰ which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

The power of the Holy Spirit is so powerful to where He raised Jesus from the depths of hell back to earth for 40 days, and then ascended Jesus up to heaven and seated Him at God's right hand in heaven.  The Holy Spirit's power was so great that when He raised Jesus up to heaven to sit next to God upon the throne in heaven, this power placed Him far above all angelic beings who roam in the heavenly places - principalities, powers, dominion, might and whatever name they call themselves, and what ever age they roam the heavenlies, the power of the Holy Spirit raised Jesus above them all. 

• Romans 6:10-11 tells us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us - meaning the power of the Holy Spirit.  And it will be that same power of the Holy Spirit living within us that will raise us from the dead as well - far above all angelic beings who roam the heavenlies.  The power of the Holy Spirit is so powerful and mighty working in all believers.
• That power - that mighty power - that raise Jesus from the dead dwells in you - in me - as believers in Jesus Christ.  Are you beginning to grasp that?

²² And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Jesus now sits next to God on His throne in heaven, and Satan and every demonic host under him is under the feet of Jesus, meaning He has dominion over them.  That means Jesus is head over all things, including the Church here on earth. 

This was a powerful chapter of the Bible - one that calls us to keep meditating upon over and over again.  Please, go to your Bible and take what I have taught today, and mediate again on this chapter - it so powerful!  We will continue with our 19 promises of our inheritance that we have in heavenly places - all because of Christ in the next chapter.  These promises of our inheritance are our keys to the Kingdom of God that we must know and understand so that we can become all that God wants us to be - because remember we will be co-ruling and co-reigning with Him for 1000 years in the next age to come.

I will join you again in chapter 2 of the Book of Ephesians. 

Click here to go to Ephesians, Chapter 2
l

Pastor Joyce Erickson
Believersbibleschool.com