Blessed in the Heavenly Realms Series: Truth, Judgment & Eternity Ephesians 1:1-4

Introduction Ephesus means ‘Full Purpose’ To study the book of Ephesians is to study and discover the full purpose for which you and I were created for. Many scholars consider this epistle to be the high ground of the NT. Ephesians tells us that we were chosen in God before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him. Ephesians also tells us that, “We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So we discover that God has predestined each and everyone of us – who would accept Him as Lord – to believe, we simply cannot believe in Jesus as Lord unless He foreordained us to believe. The megathemes of this book is a) God’s purpose, b) Christ as the center, c) the Church is a living organism, d) we are a family of believers as well as e) directions in Christian conduct.

Faithfulness Ephesians 1:1 PAUL, AN apostle (special messenger) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah), by the divine will (the purpose and the choice of God) to the saints (the consecrated, set-apart ones) at Ephesus who are also faithful and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus: (AMP) This letter is addressed to the Saints in Ephesus as well as to the faithful in Christ Jesus i.e. US. The faithful here are defined in the Amplified as consecrated and set apart ones, those of us who live with Him in mind according to His will and who are determined to be wholly devoted to Him. Paul indicates a quality of the Christian who he addresses in this book, he said those “who are also faithful and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus.” This is a good point to ponder, are we faithful, and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus?

Unmerited Favour Ephesians 1:2 May grace (God's unmerited favor) and spiritual peace [which means peace with God and harmony, unity, and undisturbedness] be yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (AMP) Here the Amplified amps up this verse and we now see according to the Greek the power of the verse. Paul prays for the unmerited favour of God, and His spiritual peace, harmony and unity to come upon us, as the Spirit of God reveals the depths of the wisdom within this book. This verse describes much of what is to be revealed in the passages which follow. The unmerited favour of God really is the favour that has been given us through the death and resurrection of Christ, and from this favour we find peace in Christ in knowing that in life or death, we are with Him and will live eternally.

Heavenly Blessings Ephesians 1:3 May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm! (AMP) To be blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms means that in Christ we have all the benefits of knowing God – being chosen for salvation, being adopted as His children, forgiveness, insight, the gifts of the Spirit, power to do God’s will, the hope of living forever with Christ, and all this we have now. (NLT Life Application) Rick Joyner said, “when we were born again we become a new creation, or literally a new species. We are a species that bridges the realities of the heavenly and earthly realms. We should actually be more at home in the heavenly realms that the earthly realms.”

Chosen in Him Ephesians 1:4 Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love. (AMP) Our salvation depends totally on God. We were hand picked by God, chosen before anything was created in the universe, He saw you and me and chose us. He saved us according to His plan, and not because of our goodness, and He did this through the blood of His Son. God sees us through the lenses of the blood of Christ, as His blood washes away all our sin, and because we humble ourselves before Him, He forgives us and therefore can enter Heaven.

Holy and Blameless Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. (NIV) God chose us to have a relationship with Himself, that is what we were created for. If we are having a true relationship with God, we will be holy and blameless before Him. To stay holy before Him, we must stay repent-full. We must remember that He chose us before anything was created, to be holy and to be blameless before Him. We must walk continually in this revelation. As we go through the rest of this week, remember that God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless, and let that change us.