Eph 3:13 | KingComments | STEP | . What Paul presented in the previous verses, what was highlighted by him, was in God’s heart from eternity. I mean by that, the time before creation, that you cannot call ‘time’, for in eternity every notion of time is missing. Eternity is timeless. God stands outside and above time. We now know something as time because God has created it. That you can read in Genesis 1. Before creation, there was already a purpose of God regarding the church. When the time started, God did not make known this “eternal purpose” right away. He hasn’t spoken about it in a prophecy anywhere or given a promise about it to people on earth. About this eternal purpose we also read in chapter 1 of this letter ( ). There it is about our personal blessings. Here it is about our blessings as the church, that all believers have received together. But whatever blessing is regarded, it is never apart from the Lord Jesus. God has “carried out” this eternal purpose “in Christ Jesus our Lord”. He is the center of it. It speaks of the wonderful pleasure that God has had in His Son from eternity. That pleasure has got an extra reason through the life and death of the Son of God Who became Man ( ; ). Everything that God purposes and does, points at His Son. The Son is mentioned here by His extended name: 1. He is the “Christ”, that means ‘the Anointed’, the Man of God’s pleasure, in Whom God finds His joy. 2. He is “Jesus”, the humble Man Who perfectly lived on earth to God’s glory and Who accomplished His work. 3. He is also “our Lord”, the Person to Whom we submit ourselves completely with pleasure, acknowledging His authority over our life. He, who knows Him, heartily agrees with God’s eternal purpose to make Him the Center of the universe and eternity. . The foregoing is not unfolded for ‘the enlightened eyes of your heart’ ( ) just to admire, how admirable everything is indeed. It invites to boldly stand in these blessings. That means that you may feel at home in the presence of the Father. Just think about what the basis is for this boldness. Until now you could have admired the amazing counsels of God. You were impressed that God has allowed you to glimpse into the mysteries of His heart that were there from eternity, and that He also made this known to you. It is all so great that it would make you become so shy that you would not even dare to put one foot on that holy ground. But what did you indeed also see? That the Center of all those counsels of God is ‘Christ Jesus our Lord’. If you would be too timid to put your feet on those counsels, then you may think: the center of all this is our Lord, isn’t it? Before there was time, before the angels fell into sin, before man fell into sin, He was already the Center. When sin came into the world, He came and solved the huge problem of sin. You entrusted yourself to Him. He is the One, Who came on earth for you and Who died for you, not only to redeem you from your sins, but also to give you these wonderful blessings. Of these blessings He is the Center. Then you don’t have to feel timid to stand in those blessings and to enjoy them. You may move and express yourself freely there. “Boldness” means something like having a free conscience to say everything that is in your heart. Without any burden on your heart you may reside there and enjoy it to the fullest. But even if you have the boldness now, it would not help you if you didn’t have access to those blessings. That is what the second part of this verse makes clear. You have “access” and even “confident access”. God took away all hindrances. The access is free. You have confidence that God loves to see you in His presence. It is not the case that He just tolerates you in His presence, but He really loves to have you with Him, as the basis is “through faith in Him”. You might be thinking here that it is about the faith in the Lord Jesus as your Savior. That surely has to do with it, but it goes a step further. It is about the faith in Him, in Whom God has achieved His eternal purpose, that is Christ Jesus our Lord. Sure, He is the One Who went to the cross to die there for your sins and in that way give you access to God ( ). But in the letter to the Ephesians you see Him as the Center of all the counsels of God. If you have learnt to know Him like that and accepted Him through faith like that, then you can enter God’s presence in full confidence to admire Him and worship Him for everything He had in mind for the church from eternity. That you may belong to the church, you owe to the work that Christ has accomplished on the cross. On the cross the perfect dedication to and glorification of God have reached their peak and crowning. On this basis God will achieve His plans. That you, as a member of God’s church, are involved in those plans, is a wonder of grace that is worthy of all worship. . Since He has paid the price to give you all this, then you should “not lose heart” at tribulations. In the previous verse your relationship with God is presented. In this verse you see how you are related to the world. To God you have boldness, access and confidence. From the world you may face tribulations. Even if you don’t understand why you have tribulations, you can accept through your confidence in Him that there is wisdom and love behind them. You trust that everything is just for your own good. To Paul that was the case. The word “therefore” with which this verse begins, refers to the previous one and gives the reason to what he askes. God could have rescued him from his imprisonment as He liberated Peter ( ), but He did not. What did the Lord do? He was with Paul, helped him and gave him insight of everything that we now have in his letters. The imprisonment, apparently the end of his ministry, became the crown of his work, the entire fulfillment of his stewardship. The reason that Paul was imprisoned and had tribulations there, was because of the truth he brought to the Ephesians. They shouldn’t be dis couraged by his imprisonment, but rather en couraged. To be related to a heavenly Christ and to live consistently according to that relationship, just creates hostility from religious people who adhere to an earthly or fleshly religion. Paul is not busy with his own situation. He is worried that all the wonderful truths would not have effect in the lives of the believers in Ephesus, because of his imprisonment. They could have been thinking: ‘We are not willing to pay that price.’ That’s why Paul points out to them that he was imprisoned just because of the practice of his stewardship that consisted of the preaching of the ‘unfathomable riches of Christ among the Gentiles’, to which the Ephesians also belonged. The tribulations were not an addition, but they go wholly together with the preaching of the truth. To him, tribulations were the earthly counterpart of the heavenly glory. The Christian who is aware of that will look at the tribulations that arise as a privilege and a glory because of his relation with a heavenly Lord. Now read Ephesians 3:11-13 again. Reflection: What are your privileges with regard to your connection with God and what is the consequence of that for your connection with the world?

‏ Ephesians 3:13

Boldness and Access

Eph 3:11. What Paul presented in the previous verses, what was highlighted by him, was in God’s heart from eternity. I mean by that, the time before creation, that you cannot call ‘time’, for in eternity every notion of time is missing. Eternity is timeless. God stands outside and above time. We now know something as time because God has created it. That you can read in Genesis 1.

Before creation, there was already a purpose of God regarding the church. When the time started, God did not make known this “eternal purpose” right away. He hasn’t spoken about it in a prophecy anywhere or given a promise about it to people on earth. About this eternal purpose we also read in chapter 1 of this letter (Eph 1:4 ; 11). There it is about our personal blessings. Here it is about our blessings as the church, that all believers have received together.

But whatever blessing is regarded, it is never apart from the Lord Jesus. God has “carried out” this eternal purpose “in Christ Jesus our Lord”. He is the center of it. It speaks of the wonderful pleasure that God has had in His Son from eternity. That pleasure has got an extra reason through the life and death of the Son of God Who became Man (Jn 10:17; Mt 3:17). Everything that God purposes and does, points at His Son.

The Son is mentioned here by His extended name:

1. He is the “Christ”, that means ‘the Anointed’, the Man of God’s pleasure, in Whom God finds His joy.

2. He is “Jesus”, the humble Man Who perfectly lived on earth to God’s glory and Who accomplished His work.

3. He is also “our Lord”, the Person to Whom we submit ourselves completely with pleasure, acknowledging His authority over our life.

He, who knows Him, heartily agrees with God’s eternal purpose to make Him the Center of the universe and eternity.

Eph 3:12. The foregoing is not unfolded for ‘the enlightened eyes of your heart’ (Eph 1:18) just to admire, how admirable everything is indeed. It invites to boldly stand in these blessings. That means that you may feel at home in the presence of the Father. Just think about what the basis is for this boldness.

Until now you could have admired the amazing counsels of God. You were impressed that God has allowed you to glimpse into the mysteries of His heart that were there from eternity, and that He also made this known to you. It is all so great that it would make you become so shy that you would not even dare to put one foot on that holy ground. But what did you indeed also see? That the Center of all those counsels of God is ‘Christ Jesus our Lord’. If you would be too timid to put your feet on those counsels, then you may think: the center of all this is our Lord, isn’t it?

Before there was time, before the angels fell into sin, before man fell into sin, He was already the Center. When sin came into the world, He came and solved the huge problem of sin. You entrusted yourself to Him. He is the One, Who came on earth for you and Who died for you, not only to redeem you from your sins, but also to give you these wonderful blessings. Of these blessings He is the Center.

Then you don’t have to feel timid to stand in those blessings and to enjoy them. You may move and express yourself freely there. “Boldness” means something like having a free conscience to say everything that is in your heart. Without any burden on your heart you may reside there and enjoy it to the fullest.

But even if you have the boldness now, it would not help you if you didn’t have access to those blessings. That is what the second part of this verse makes clear. You have “access” and even “confident access”. God took away all hindrances. The access is free. You have confidence that God loves to see you in His presence. It is not the case that He just tolerates you in His presence, but He really loves to have you with Him, as the basis is “through faith in Him”.

You might be thinking here that it is about the faith in the Lord Jesus as your Savior. That surely has to do with it, but it goes a step further. It is about the faith in Him, in Whom God has achieved His eternal purpose, that is Christ Jesus our Lord. Sure, He is the One Who went to the cross to die there for your sins and in that way give you access to God (Rom 5:1-2). But in the letter to the Ephesians you see Him as the Center of all the counsels of God. If you have learnt to know Him like that and accepted Him through faith like that, then you can enter God’s presence in full confidence to admire Him and worship Him for everything He had in mind for the church from eternity.

That you may belong to the church, you owe to the work that Christ has accomplished on the cross. On the cross the perfect dedication to and glorification of God have reached their peak and crowning. On this basis God will achieve His plans. That you, as a member of God’s church, are involved in those plans, is a wonder of grace that is worthy of all worship.

Eph 3:13. Since He has paid the price to give you all this, then you should “not lose heart” at tribulations. In the previous verse your relationship with God is presented. In this verse you see how you are related to the world. To God you have boldness, access and confidence. From the world you may face tribulations. Even if you don’t understand why you have tribulations, you can accept through your confidence in Him that there is wisdom and love behind them. You trust that everything is just for your own good. To Paul that was the case.

The word “therefore” with which this verse begins, refers to the previous one and gives the reason to what he askes. God could have rescued him from his imprisonment as He liberated Peter (Acts 12:7-11), but He did not. What did the Lord do? He was with Paul, helped him and gave him insight of everything that we now have in his letters.

The imprisonment, apparently the end of his ministry, became the crown of his work, the entire fulfillment of his stewardship. The reason that Paul was imprisoned and had tribulations there, was because of the truth he brought to the Ephesians. They shouldn’t be discouraged by his imprisonment, but rather encouraged. To be related to a heavenly Christ and to live consistently according to that relationship, just creates hostility from religious people who adhere to an earthly or fleshly religion.

Paul is not busy with his own situation. He is worried that all the wonderful truths would not have effect in the lives of the believers in Ephesus, because of his imprisonment. They could have been thinking: ‘We are not willing to pay that price.’ That’s why Paul points out to them that he was imprisoned just because of the practice of his stewardship that consisted of the preaching of the ‘unfathomable riches of Christ among the Gentiles’, to which the Ephesians also belonged. The tribulations were not an addition, but they go wholly together with the preaching of the truth. To him, tribulations were the earthly counterpart of the heavenly glory.

The Christian who is aware of that will look at the tribulations that arise as a privilege and a glory because of his relation with a heavenly Lord.

Now read Ephesians 3:11-13 again.

Reflection: What are your privileges with regard to your connection with God and what is the consequence of that for your connection with the world?