July 26 - Ephesians 1:4

July 26
Ephesians 1:4

In our Daily Devotions yesterday, we examined Ephesians 1:3 where God gives us the promise that we are blessed with many spiritual blessings all because of Christ Jesus. As we go through the first three chapters of the Book of Ephesians, we will look at nineteen spiritual blessings that we have as believers in Christ that are held in reserve for us in heaven, but we have the privilege of living within them even here on earth. Over the next 19 Daily Devotions, we will look at what those blessings are and how we can practically walk out those blessings in our life even today.

• These blessings are important to understanding the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.
• These blessings are ours for when we co-rule and co-reign with Christ for 1000 years.
• These blessings are ours to utilize in our life today.
• These blessings are our inheritance.

Ephesians 1:4  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,

To reiterated what was said yesterday, many millennials ago, God made a covenant with Abraham, and out of that covenant came the Jewish people - God's chosen people. When the Jewish people had Jesus crucified for not believing in Him as their long-awaited Messiah, God "temporarily" turned His back on His chosen people and turned His heart toward the Gentile people, offering them salvation to those who would believe in Jesus Christ as God's Son, the Savior of the world. This temporary time, however, is about to expire (at the rapture of the Church) and God will again return His heart back to the Jewish people in a last-ditch attempt to bring them back into their rightful relationship with God. That time is known as the Tribulation Period before Christ 2nd return. At that time, God will then finally fulfill the Abraham Covenant with the Jewish people. 

This verse then is written to a Gentile congregation, in this period of time known as the Dispensation of the Church or Grace, telling us that God was now offering the Gentile people the opportunity to accept Christ. For those who do, many spiritual blessings are available to them.

As we walk our way through the nineteen spiritual blessings as listed in the first three chapters in the Book of Ephesians, we will primarily concentrate on the verses that include “in Christ,” “through Christ,” “because of Christ,” etc. because it points out that these blessings are ours BECAUSE of Christ Jesus.

Blessing #1:  God chose us “in Christ” before the foundation of the world:  The Greek meaning of the word "chose" is to "select or know beforehand." So many Christians have misused the meaning of the word "chosen" to say that God chooses, or "foreordained" who will be saved and who will be damned to hell for all eternity. That leave out our ability of having a free will in choosing. God, however, before the foundation of the world looked down the corridors of time and "foreknew" who would and would not accept Him. Perhaps it would be more understandable if this verse said "God chose the Gentile people before the foundation of the world. Then for those Gentile, or anyone else, who would choose to come to Christ, God already foreknew all about their choices. God is all knowing, and as such, He then chose you individually before the foundation of the world.

Why then did God choose you before the foundation of the world? The Apostle Paul lays it out quite plain when he told us that we, as God's special people, in this dispensation of time, are to become holy and without blame before Him, and do it in love. How do we do that? Our lives 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 Whom we will be spending our eternity with forever and ever.

So then, as we have been called by God before the foundation of the world, our purpose on earth is to become more like Christ. What a blessings that is to us. Can you say "amen" to that?

Blessings,