Daily Bible Reading 5th September 2024 // Ephesians 1:3-12
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Paul mentions five fundamental and overwhelming realities in these verses: the predestination of God (4, 5); forgiveness and acceptance (6, 7); the adoption of children (5); the knowledge of His will (8-10); and the saints' inheritance (11). Predestination underlines the causeless and unconditional sovereignty of God in our salvation. Rightly understood it is the most comforting, and enriching, and thrilling of all truths. The words Paul uses here are 'chosen in Him before the foundation of the world', and 'having in love predestinated us unto the adoption of children'. The Psalmist says 'What is man that Thou shouldst be mindful of him?' in the contemplation of the vastness of creation. But man, as chosen and called by God, is not insignificant in relation to the majesties of the heavens, for the suns and stars in space are mortal and one day they will be no more; but a man in Christ will outlast all the suns and stars in space, for he is a redeemed moral and spiritual being, and as such is destined to share God's eternal glory forever and ever. What an answer this is to the rootlessness of life, for a man to discover that in Christ he is rooted and grounded in everlasting love. To get through to ultimate reality and find - not nothingness, not implacable absurdity, but - a smiling Father! Moreover, predestination is 'earthed' in the finished work of Christ, in His death and resurrection, by which our forgiveness and acceptance are accomplished and sealed to us through faith. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, dealing with the terrible thing that sin has done to us by a terrible manifestation of His love, grappling with it and destroying it forever. There is a great substitution at the heart of the divine redemption: He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Here is the way to peace.