Daily Bible Reading 7th 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.
There is a tremendous wealth and sweep in this thought of the understanding of God's purpose. Indeed in the whole passage before us there is a massiveness in the apostle's thought that almost overwhelms us. To look back for a moment to 4, 5: there, what was in view was 'past eternity' so to speak, in the mists of 'before time began', with predestination and election; then, in 6, 7 it was 'the present', with forgiveness, acceptance and sonship; and now, in 8-10, it is the ultimate issues in the future 'the dispensation of the fullness of the times'. The whole of existence, past, present and future, is set before us. It is hardly possible fully to comprehend the wonder and the glory and the mystery of this reality - that we should see our lives immersed, encapsulated, held and kept in utter changeless security, in that comprehensive enterprise of divine grace. This is a thought echoed elsewhere in Paul's writings, as for example, in Romans 8:29-30: 'Whom he did foreknew, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified'. And in there, in that vast, mysterious chain of divine activity, our lives held fast and secure by His loving and omnipotent hand! Ah, what a salvation is ours!