Ephesians 1:10-11
(Bible Study Time 4-24-05)
(Bible Study Time 4-24-05)
The Apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians, Chapter 1, that God takes great pleasure in those who believe in Jesus Christ. It was according to the good pleasure of His will that He predestined us to adoption as sons. It was according to His good pleasure that He revealed to us the mystery of His will, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He will gather together all things in one. Whether things in heaven or things in earth, all things will be gathered together in Jesus Christ.
God has already started this reconciliation process. In Colossians Paul wrote:
Col 1:19-21 (NKJ)
19 For it pleased the Father that in (Christ) all the fullness should dwell,
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, . . . whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
We who believe in Jesus Christ have the distinct privilege of being among the first of all creation to be reconciled to God, and as such, we have obtained an inheritance which was predestined according to the counsel of God’s own will. We have already seen that we were predestined to adoption as sons before the foundation of the world, and now we find that our inheritance was predestined as well. What is that inheritance? Verse 12 of Ephesians 1 says,
Eph 1:12 (NKJ)
12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
Back in verse 3, Paul said, "Blessed be God," and this literally means to speak well of God or praise and exalt Him. The heavens declare the glory of God, and His invisible attributes are clearly seen in the creation itself, but we have to turn to the word of God to find out about His marvelous grace.
John 1:14 (NKJ)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
When Jesus Christ, the living Word, was taken up into heaven, God completed His written word. The Bible is God’s written declaration of Himself. In it, God declares not only His righteousness, but His love, His mercy and His grace. It was by His grace that God gave us an inheritance: that we should be to the praise of His glory.
The glory of God is magnificent and overwhelming. When Isaiah stood before the throne of God, he said:
Isa 6:1-3
1 . . . I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
2 Above it stood seraphim; . . .
3 And one cried to another saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"
King David saw the glorious works of the Lord and said,
Ps 34:1-4 (NKJ)
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
When David gave the ark a permanent home in Jerusalem, he appointed a group of Levites to continually sing praise to God before the tabernacle. It was their job to praise the Lord in song. We today have this inheritance, that we should be to the praise of His glory.
When Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees, he knew not where he was going, but by faith, he went out to the place where he was to receive an inheritance from God. When Abraham got to Canaan, God said:
Gen 12:7
7 . . . "To your descendants I will give this land." And there (Abraham) built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Later on, God spoke to Abraham again and said:
Gen 17:2,6 (NKJ)
2 "And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."
6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
I can imagine that Abraham was starting to get pretty excited about this time. God had promised him all of this land as an inheritance, and now God was saying that nations and kings would come from him.
In Genesis 22, God told Abraham:
Gen 22:18 (NKJ)
18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
The fact is that Abraham was very excited about this inheritance which God had promised to him, but Abraham did not take these promises to mean that he should go out and conquer the world. He did not even try to conquer the promised land. Abraham was smart enough to realize that he could not build the kind of kingdom God was talking about, the kind of kingdom in which all of the nations of the earth would be blessed. That kind of a kingdom could only come by the power of God.
As a matter of fact, God actually told Abraham that he would die and be buried at a good old age, and his descendants would serve the people of another land for 400 years before the promised kingdom would come. Did Abraham shrink back in unbelief? Not at all. Abraham knew that the promise of God was worth waiting for. Hebrews 11 says:
Heb 11:9-10
9 By faith (Abraham) dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
It was never revealed in the Old Testament scriptures, but Abraham had been told that God was going to send a city from heaven down to the earth, and Abraham was willing to wait patiently for that city realizing that what God had promised, He would provide. Hebrews goes on to say that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Heb 11:13-16 (NKJ)
13 . . . all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.
15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
Abraham was not called to build a city. He was called to wait for a city, that city from heaven.
When the Lord Jesus began His earthly ministry, He went preaching, as did John the Baptist, that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Their call to the people was to repent. That heavenly kingdom for which Abraham had patiently waited was near at hand, but the hearts of the people were not ready to receive it. The Messiah had come. The kingdom was at hand. But the nation of Israel rejected the blessings of God.
As a result, God told the Apostle Paul that it was time to reveal the mystery of God’s will. The fact that Israel rejected the Messiah did not take God by surprise at all. He knew all along that the Jews of Jesus’ day would reject Christ, and He knew that the promises which were made to Abraham could wait for a time when the nation of Israel would be ready to receive her inheritance.
Accordingly, God set Israel’s inheritance aside and began calling out the Church which is the Body of Christ. This Church is specifically revealed in Ephesians, Chapter 1, where Paul says:
Eph 1:22-23
22 God has put all things under Christ’s feet, and has given Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
As we look at this Church in Ephesians 1, we see that we, as members of this church, are not waiting for the heavenly city to come down from heaven to the earth. We are not waiting for the kingdom of heaven to come to earth. That inheritance which was given to Abraham has been set aside, and the hope and calling of the Church which is the Body of Christ has come to the forefront.
Paul says that the inheritance of this Church is simply this, that we should be to the praise of God’s glory. How beautiful! How marvelous! Our inheritance is that we are what God has made us, and we will be what God is making us. Our inheritance in Christ does not relate to any earthly possession, but it is all about what we are and what we are becoming in Jesus Christ.
I would like to ask you today how you define your self. How do you define who you are? Is your concept of who you are wrapped up in your family? Are all of your hopes and dreams wrapped up in your family? As much as we honor and revere the family, our family is not to define who were are.
Is your definition of self determined by your job? Would people look at you and say, "He lives for his job" or "She lives for her job?"
Is your definition of self determined by your possessions? When people think of you do they think of the car your drive or the house you live in?
If you define yourself in these ways, please consider that these things are temporary. These things will pass away. Those of you who know the scriptures know that Job was one who found out just how temporary these things are.
God knows that who we are and what we are is so much more important than the earthly things to which we so often cling. If we get a clear mental picture of our inheritance in Jesus Christ, that our inheritance in Christ is that we should be to the praise of His glory, our rejoicing will be continuously in Him, and our rejoicing will never fade throughout all of eternity.
Eph 2:4-7 (NKJ)
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
6 . . . raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Our citizenship is in heaven. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. Our inheritance in Christ is that we should be; that our very being should be to the praise of God’s glory now and forever more. It is what we are, not what we have or expect to have that is important.
What’s so special about what we are? Well, there is nothing special about our old nature. But in Christ, we are holy, we are without blame, we are accepted in the Beloved One, we are predestined to adoption as sons of God. What a rich blessing it is to meditate upon and rejoice in all that God has made us in Christ. We have an eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ, and it’s all about who we are in Jesus Christ.
Next week we are going to examine the significance of the fact that this inheritance belongs to those of us who first trusted in Christ. We will see that we first heard the word of truth, then we believed, and then we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
I see out time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening and be sure to tune in again next week at this same time for Bible Study Time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
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