After Paul's brief introduction, he jumps right in to doxology, or praise and blessing, unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This doxology is trinitarian - referencing and praising all three Persons of the Godhead. Paul gives a glorious presentation of who God is and what He has done.
It would be of great benefit to all believers to spend the rest of our lives meditating and musing over the reasons that Paul lists for why the LORD should be blessed, which are as follows:
1. His blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ!
2 His choosing of us in Christ before the foundation of the world!
3. His predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself!
4. His redeeming us through Christ's blood - the forgiveness of our trespasses!
5. His making us heirs in Christ!
6. His sealing us in Him by the Holy Spirit of promise, given to us as a pledge of our inheritance!
Each of these result in doxology - "to the praise of His glory"! Over the years, volumes upon volumes of books have been written addressing each of these topics. Maybe one day, if the Lord is willing, I could possibly write about these.
We could study each of these glorious truths for thousands of years and never plumb the limit of them! How marvelous are His ways! Each one of these mentioned above are gifts of His marvelous grace! It is His unmerited favor toward the ill-deserved!
If we pay the slightest attention to the list above, we would note that there is a common theme - "in Christ." Jesus said in John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." Paul will end what we mark as the first chapter of Ephesians with this union with Christ - and oh the path by which he takes us there - it is rapturous delight! But before we get there, let us consider how we may abide in Him. According to Paul, it is by the Word and the Spirit - both working together. Paul's prayer for the Ephesians is "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to them [us] a Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe." Simply put, Paul wants us to know God better. Not just facts about God (which could result in a knowledge which puffs up), but to know Him by experience, through a personal relationship of daily communion with Him. That the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, transcendent God of the Universe would search out those who would worship Him in Spirit and truth is sometimes hard to comprehend!
I have also been reading and rereading Knowing God by J.I. Packer. He starts off the book with an exerpt from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon from January 7, 1855, which I would like to quote:
It has been said by someone that "the proper study of mankind is man." I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with, in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, "Behold, I am wise." But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with solemn exclamation, "I am but of yesterday, and know nothing." No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God...
But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe...The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.
And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in His immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief, so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.Let us get to our study of our great God and Father, then!
Oh yes, back to this rapturous delight. As Paul expands his prayer for the Ephesians (and all believers in Christ), he wants them to know the surpassing greatness of God's power toward us who believe, which is in accordance with the working of the strength of His might - get this - which He wrought in Christ in His resurrection and exaltation! What Paul is saying is that the greatest demonstration of God's power is in the resurrection and exaltation of His Son Jesus - and God has this same power toward us who believe! How amazing is that! How humbling is this! How awesome is the thought of this! Paul explains that God's mighty power not only raised Jesus from the dead, but exalted Him - seated Him at God's right hand - the position of power and authority! As Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." Jesus rules and reigns now! He is King now! God seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come! So there is the already and the not yet. Make no mistake, Jesus is King now! Jesus rules and reigns now! While it may seem like things are out of control in our world, Jesus rules the cosmos. Paul exults in Christ's exaltation. To exult is to rejoice greatly, be jubilant, be caught up in "rapturous delight"!
We should take some time to consider the practical implications of Christ's exaltation! How does this affect our worship? Our praying? Our marriages? Our work? Our life?
One final thought from this passage in Ephesians. In the last two verses, Paul says that all things were put in subjection under Christ's feet - and God the Father gave Him (Jesus) as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. This is something that my mind has trouble taking in - that God would give Jesus to the church. This Jesus who is exalted far above everything, this Jesus who has been given all authority, this Jesus who is our prophet, priest and king! And notice the union - the reference to the head and body. This will also be a topic to explore further - but that will be part of our homework for now.
I pray that we will rejoice in God our Savior. I pray that we will know God better!
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