JESUS – ABOV David Hathaway My father always used to tell me the most spiritual book in the New Testament is Ephesians, and what I want to say to you will bring a spirit of joy and blessing and thanksgiving – which is needed very much at this time! Paul begins his letter saying, ‘Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the Will of God.’ This is an amazing thought: to replace Judas, the eleven cast lots, but the one who realistically replaced Judas was Paul – an apostle of Jesus Christ BY THE WILL OF GOD, rather than by the choice of man. Paul continues his letter, v3, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ’! Jesus’ WHOLE message was about the Kingdom of God. As I write, there has just been an American election, in Britain we’re going through Brexit – but we need to be reminded that the message of Jesus was focused on the coming Kingdom, the blessing of the Kingdom! Not the kingdoms of this world! Jesus said, “My Kingdom is NOT of this world!” It’s a heavenly Kingdom. And Paul is reminding us that God has already blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places. As we experience the blessing and the love of Jesus through our relationship with Him in our hearts, that translates us into a spiritual, heavenly place – even while we’re still here! It’s true! I’m moved with the sense of the wonderful relationship we have with Jesus, how strong and how powerful and precious that is! If we understand what Paul is saying, our spiritual blessing is not through ‘Church’, through ceremonies or formalities – our real spiritual blessing is ONLY in Jesus Christ! We read on in v4, God chose us in Christ – BEFORE the foundation of the world! That we should be holy before Him in love, having ‘predestined’ us to be adopted by Jesus Christ, as children of God Himself, according to the good pleasure of His Will. This is remarkable! We were
chosen BEFORE the world began! Jesus Himself is referred to as the ‘Lamb slain from BEFORE the foundation of the world’! 1 Peter 1:18-20, Revelation 13:8. Only God, as a Heavenly Father, could make a way of escape BEFORE we commit the offence! It gives me such a sense of joy and blessing! BEFORE we sinned, the way of salvation was made!
governments – I’ve just been watching a documentary series on ‘Hitler’s War’ and the terrible things that were done – when you look at all the terrible things in history – God DIDN’T PREORDAIN that this would happen. But He prepared, IN ADVANCE, the Glory of the Kingdom that is to come! From the beginning God saw the desperate need!
BEFORE I was put in prison in 1972 by the communists, God had ALREADY made the way of escape! We have to understand the foreknowledge of God! BEFORE we were born, when we were in our mother’s womb, God had foreordained a plan and a purpose for our lives!
We can’t see this future, we live one day at a time. But what I love, as believers, is the certainty that we have, our confidence in God. I cannot overemphasise the peace that I have, and the peace that you should have – and this peace is based on God’s foreknowledge! God knew before I was born what would be happening in my life, that I would become the evangelist, and I can look back on the things that led me in this direction. God was and is in control! Our confidence comes from His foreknowledge!
To most people what happens to us and around us is by accident, or by chance. Maybe we don’t understand why. But God does. When we look at the idea of ‘predestination’ we have to be a little bit careful. Some misinterpret it to believe that God has predestined us, either to be saved, or to be lost, that He has decided, rather than us, whether we become a Christian or not... But this is how my father described predestination to me: it’s like a father on a cliff top having a wonderful time with his son, kicking a football – but now the ball is going towards the edge of the cliff, and the young boy, in his lack of knowledge, is running to save the ball – but the father is crying out “Stop!!!” – because he knows, if his son follows that ball, he will fall off the cliff! The father hasn’t ‘predestined’ the son to fall off the cliff, he’s seeking to stop what he knows in advance will happen! God has not ordained that you fall off that cliff! But He knows that if you carry on in your present way you will! He’s doing everything in His Power to stop you!!! Paul is saying here in vv4-5, that God has prepared and chosen us from the very beginning! This makes me so full of wonder and blessing when I think about it – when we look at the sin of the world and the corruption, and the battles between
What is clear from Paul here, is that everything comes from and is dependent on – not ‘Church’, an organisation – but on Jesus! The person of Jesus Christ! All our hope, all our glory – everything is through Christ! Personal experience, personal relationship with Jesus Christ! Church is ‘collective’. Yes, we need the collective support, thank God for the Church, which is the Bride of Christ! But each one of us within that ‘collective’ is an individual. It’s as an individual, through the personal relationship we have with Christ – that we’re predestinated, v5, to be adopted, to be the children of God! It’s by JESUS CHRIST we’re accepted in the Beloved, by the Glory of His Grace, v6! According to the pleasure of His Will! It was His Love, His choice! We have, v7 says, redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins – according to the riches of His Grace! He has abounded to us all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the (previously unknown) mystery of His Will, of His good pleasure, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time (still in the future), He might gather together ALL THINGS IN CHRIST – vv8-10 – AND MAKE US ONE IN HIM! Paul continues in v11 to speak of the ‘inheritance’ we have received in Christ, being predestinated according to the Purpose of Him who works all things according to His Will! In other words, God ALWAYS INTENDED, from the beginning, from the very foundation of the world, before God created Heaven and earth, God had ALREADY PLANNED – ANOTHER KINGDOM! A far more glorious world! Here is only our training school, our preparation... Jesus taught us that, for what we do, we will receive a reward! There are rewards in the Kingdom of God based on our faithfulness here on earth!
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