Eph 1:7-12 | KingComments | STEP | . In these verses we see the following steps that God made to realize His purpose. We have already seen that God has ‘made us accepted in the Beloved’. Now we are reading what more we have received in that Beloved. In Him we also have “redemption” and “the forgiveness”. You could say that these are the means by which the will of God could be accomplished, regarding us. Redemption as well as forgiveness have been accomplished through the work of Christ and were necessary because sin has come into the world. ‘Redemption’ was necessary because we were totally imprisoned by the power of sin. We could not deliver ourselves, but by the blood of Christ redemption has been achieved. This is beautifully illustrated in Exodus 12. The people of Israel are in bondage in Egypt and God is going to redeem them. The basis for this redemption is the blood of a lamb that had to be slaughtered. In Exodus 12 you can read what the Israelite had to do with that blood and what that meant to God ( ). On the basis of the blood the judgment passes by the Israelite and their redemption from the power of Egypt takes place. It must be clear to you that the lamb in Egypt is a picture of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus. What you have deserved He underwent in your place. In Him you are redeemed, you have received redemption. Apart from redemption also ‘forgiveness’ of your trespasses was necessary. You were not only under the power of sin, you also lived accordingly. Your deeds made that clear. Whatever you were doing, it was in every way a trespassing of what God had said. Trespasses always ask for punishment. But how amazing it is that God did not punish you for that, but punished His own Son in your stead. In Him you have received forgiveness. Although redemption and forgiveness brought what was necessary for you, your need is not the main thing here. No, it is the purpose of the Holy Spirit to emphasize in the redemption and the forgiveness “the riches of His [i.e. God’s] grace”. In this way God’s heart and mind are being exposed. In this verse, where we are involved with our sins, “ the riches of His grace” is being exposed. In , where God is centered, it is “ the glory of His grace”. The riches of His grace is in contrast with the poverty of our sins in which we found ourselves. Actually, it is not only grace that provides in our needs. God doesn’t measure His grace to our needs, but to a lot more than that. He provides to His riches. . Those riches are expressed in the . There you see a dead, impotent sinner (you!) being exalted to such a great height that he (you!) obtains insight in the mysteries of God’s heart so that he (you!) can share them with Him. This is also about the eternal counsels in God’s heart that are yet to be achieved. So this is quite different to what you have seen until now, namely, what God’s purpose was for you and what He has also realized. You share in it: you are blessed with all spiritual blessings; you are chosen; you are holy and without blame before God; He has adopted you as a son; you are made accepted in the Beloved; He has redeemed and forgiven you. That is all said in . All really and totally true. But, as if there is no end, besides that He has still more blessings ready for you to which we will give attention now. Also in those blessings He wants you to partake so that you already now may enjoy what is to come. In order to enable you to share with you what is in His heart, He has, in the abundance of the riches of His grace, made available to you “all wisdom and understanding”. How would we be able to understand anything from God’s purposes and deeds if He Himself doesn’t help and enable us to do that? Also here you find abundance: God doesn’t give a little bit of wisdom and understanding, but “all”. He knows exactly what is necessary to lead us into the purposes of His heart. That’s why He first made us sons. As you will remember, He did that in order to share His thoughts with us. As sons He has ‘exalted’ us to a position where He can speak to us at His level. Besides He supplied us with ‘all wisdom and understanding’. You may want to proclaim something, but if your ‘target group’ doesn’t understand anything of what you are talking about, it’s no use. That is not what God did. . He gave us wisdom and understanding because “He made known to us the mystery of His will”. This is what God wanted to share with us. It is about things that He has never told anyone, not even anyone of His people in the Old Testament. What this mystery involves is dealt with in . It is about the reign of the Lord Jesus over all things. Now you might say: ‘But that was no mystery at all; that was also known in the Old Testament.’ And you could for example refer to Psalm 8 ( ). That is true, but that is not the mystery at issue here. The mystery is about the reign of the Lord Jesus over all things together with the church . That has not been made known in the Old Testament. The apostle Paul is the one to whom this particular ministry was given to unfold this mystery. In chapter 3 he will clarify this. The mystery of the unity between the Lord Jesus and the church is still a mystery to the world. In 1 John 3 you read the same thought: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is” ( ). John means that the world doesn’t see a thing of the fact that we are children of God. The world will see that only when the Lord Jesus returns and we with Him ( ; ). The mystery has been only made known to them who belong to the church. Unfortunately, even to many members of the church this unity is still a mystery. All who think that the church is a continuation of Israel, do not realize that the origin and the purpose of the church are in heaven. Because their focus is on the earth, these Christians ignore the ‘pleasure’ of God. God finds His pleasure in these things in this time to share with all His own. Just take a look at again where you have read about the kind intention or the pleasure of God. There it is His joy to have sons before Him, even now already. Here it is His joy to make known to those sons what He will do with Christ and the church. God was not obligated at all to share this secret “which He purposed in Him” ( ) with us, but He wanted that very much. Again the emphasis here is on the fact that all His purposes find their origin in Him. He had no obligation to anyone whosoever to make them known. He could have kept them to Himself as well. Nevertheless He came out with His purposes and made them known to a group of people selected by Himself. Isn’t it a great wonder that you and I may belong to that group? Now read Ephesians 1:7-9 again. Reflection: Consider once again the steps God has taken to achieve His plans and thank Him for every step.

‏ Ephesians 1:7-12

The Mystery of God’s Will

Eph 1:7. In these verses we see the following steps that God made to realize His purpose. We have already seen that God has ‘made us accepted in the Beloved’. Now we are reading what more we have received in that Beloved. In Him we also have “redemption” and “the forgiveness”. You could say that these are the means by which the will of God could be accomplished, regarding us. Redemption as well as forgiveness have been accomplished through the work of Christ and were necessary because sin has come into the world.

‘Redemption’ was necessary because we were totally imprisoned by the power of sin. We could not deliver ourselves, but by the blood of Christ redemption has been achieved. This is beautifully illustrated in Exodus 12. The people of Israel are in bondage in Egypt and God is going to redeem them. The basis for this redemption is the blood of a lamb that had to be slaughtered. In Exodus 12 you can read what the Israelite had to do with that blood and what that meant to God (Exo 12:2-13). On the basis of the blood the judgment passes by the Israelite and their redemption from the power of Egypt takes place.

It must be clear to you that the lamb in Egypt is a picture of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus. What you have deserved He underwent in your place. In Him you are redeemed, you have received redemption.

Apart from redemption also ‘forgiveness’ of your trespasses was necessary. You were not only under the power of sin, you also lived accordingly. Your deeds made that clear. Whatever you were doing, it was in every way a trespassing of what God had said. Trespasses always ask for punishment. But how amazing it is that God did not punish you for that, but punished His own Son in your stead. In Him you have received forgiveness.

Although redemption and forgiveness brought what was necessary for you, your need is not the main thing here. No, it is the purpose of the Holy Spirit to emphasize in the redemption and the forgiveness “the riches of His [i.e. God’s] grace”. In this way God’s heart and mind are being exposed.

In this verse, where we are involved with our sins, “the riches of His grace” is being exposed. In Eph 1:6, where God is centered, it is “the glory of His grace”. The riches of His grace is in contrast with the poverty of our sins in which we found ourselves. Actually, it is not only grace that provides in our needs. God doesn’t measure His grace to our needs, but to a lot more than that. He provides to His riches.

Eph 1:8. Those riches are expressed in the Eph 1:8-9. There you see a dead, impotent sinner (you!) being exalted to such a great height that he (you!) obtains insight in the mysteries of God’s heart so that he (you!) can share them with Him. This is also about the eternal counsels in God’s heart that are yet to be achieved.

So this is quite different to what you have seen until now, namely, what God’s purpose was for you and what He has also realized. You share in it: you are blessed with all spiritual blessings; you are chosen; you are holy and without blame before God; He has adopted you as a son; you are made accepted in the Beloved; He has redeemed and forgiven you. That is all said in Eph 1:3-7. All really and totally true.

But, as if there is no end, besides that He has still more blessings ready for you to which we will give attention now. Also in those blessings He wants you to partake so that you already now may enjoy what is to come. In order to enable you to share with you what is in His heart, He has, in the abundance of the riches of His grace, made available to you “all wisdom and understanding”. How would we be able to understand anything from God’s purposes and deeds if He Himself doesn’t help and enable us to do that? Also here you find abundance: God doesn’t give a little bit of wisdom and understanding, but “all”.

He knows exactly what is necessary to lead us into the purposes of His heart. That’s why He first made us sons. As you will remember, He did that in order to share His thoughts with us. As sons He has ‘exalted’ us to a position where He can speak to us at His level. Besides He supplied us with ‘all wisdom and understanding’. You may want to proclaim something, but if your ‘target group’ doesn’t understand anything of what you are talking about, it’s no use. That is not what God did.

Eph 1:9. He gave us wisdom and understanding because “He made known to us the mystery of His will”. This is what God wanted to share with us. It is about things that He has never told anyone, not even anyone of His people in the Old Testament. What this mystery involves is dealt with in Eph 1:10-11. It is about the reign of the Lord Jesus over all things.

Now you might say: ‘But that was no mystery at all; that was also known in the Old Testament.’ And you could for example refer to Psalm 8 (Psa 8:4-7). That is true, but that is not the mystery at issue here. The mystery is about the reign of the Lord Jesus over all things together with the church. That has not been made known in the Old Testament. The apostle Paul is the one to whom this particular ministry was given to unfold this mystery. In chapter 3 he will clarify this.

The mystery of the unity between the Lord Jesus and the church is still a mystery to the world. In 1 John 3 you read the same thought: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is” (1Jn 3:2). John means that the world doesn’t see a thing of the fact that we are children of God. The world will see that only when the Lord Jesus returns and we with Him (Col 3:4; 2Thes 1:7-10).

The mystery has been only made known to them who belong to the church. Unfortunately, even to many members of the church this unity is still a mystery. All who think that the church is a continuation of Israel, do not realize that the origin and the purpose of the church are in heaven. Because their focus is on the earth, these Christians ignore the ‘pleasure’ of God.

God finds His pleasure in these things in this time to share with all His own. Just take a look at Eph 1:5 again where you have read about the kind intention or the pleasure of God. There it is His joy to have sons before Him, even now already. Here it is His joy to make known to those sons what He will do with Christ and the church.

God was not obligated at all to share this secret “which He purposed in Him” (Eph 1:9) with us, but He wanted that very much. Again the emphasis here is on the fact that all His purposes find their origin in Him. He had no obligation to anyone whosoever to make them known. He could have kept them to Himself as well. Nevertheless He came out with His purposes and made them known to a group of people selected by Himself. Isn’t it a great wonder that you and I may belong to that group?

Now read Ephesians 1:7-9 again.

Reflection: Consider once again the steps God has taken to achieve His plans and thank Him for every step.

Summing Up of All Things in Christ

Eph 1:10. In the verses we have now before us Paul is telling what the mystery of the previous verse means. Eph 1:10 clarifies that God will sum up all things in Christ as the one Head. In Eph 1:11 we learn that we are predestined to be heirs in Christ.

God will fulfill this purpose in “the administration [or: dispensation] of the fullness of the times”. The word ‘administration’ or ‘dispensation’ here means: the way God reigns and leads something in a particular period of time. You might have heard of the ‘doctrine of dispensation’. This is about the classification of the history of humanity in different ‘dispensations’ or periods.

The first dispensation is ‘the dispensation of innocence’, this is the period of time from the creation till the fall of man in sin. Then God ruled over the creation through Adam before the fall. A following dispensation is that without law. That is the period from Adam after the fall till Moses. Then the period of the law follows, that is the dispensation from Moses to Christ (Rom 5:13-14).

Every dispensation has its own characteristics. They all lasted a certain time. During that time God ruled over man and creation in a way that was adjusted to that time. In all dispensations man had become disobedient to God over and over again. In this way man also lost again and again the blessings that God promised if he would be obedient.

But here God presents a dispensation which is mentioned ‘the fullness of the times’. That is the period in which all previous dispensations will find their fullness and fulfillment. By the way, this is not the same as what is mentioned in Galatians 4 “the fullness of the time” (Gal 4:4). There ‘fullness’ means the passing (become full; ripen) of a particular time after which the big event, the birth of the Lord Jesus, happens. There it is just about the length or the duration of time.

Here in Eph 1:10 it is not about the duration of the time, but about the characteristics, the content of this dispensation that will dawn. It is about what is characterizing the coming period. In the previous dispensations man has spoiled everything again and again. That will not happen in the coming dispensation. This assurance lies in Him to Whom God has entrusted the government in that dispensation: Christ.

As said, the government of Christ was of itself not a mystery. But the mystery that will be revealed will show that the government is in the hands of Christ and the church. Then Christ and the church will rule over “all things … things in the heavens and things on the earth”. This will be seen in the millennial reign of Christ; then Christ will be the Head.

In Genesis 1 and 2 you can already see a picture of God’s purpose. There we see how God in the beginning entrusts to Adam, as the head of creation, the rule and reign over creation. After that He gave Eve as his wife to support him. Together they form the man (Gen 1:27). Adam became unfaithful, but Christ will remain faithful. He will reign in a way that will be fully to the glory and pleasure of God and a blessing to creation.

The government of Christ will therefore embrace more than that of Adam. Adam ruled over the earth; Christ will rule over the heaven and the earth. In Hebrews 1 you read that God “appointed” the Lord Jesus as “heir of all things” (Heb 1:2). He has received the right for the inheritance through His work on the cross at Calvary. In Revelation 5, where you see Him as the Lamb standing as slain (Rev 5:6), the time has come that He will indeed demand the right to the inheritance. He is worthy!

Eph 1:11. But what do we see here to our surprise in Ephesians 1? That we “in Him we also have obtained an inheritance”! That exceeds our highest expectations! How amazing! We have not ‘become an inheritance’. That would mean that we are a part of the inheritance, but that doesn’t meet with God’s plan. What we have received is much more wonderful. We will not be objects of blessing, but givers of blessing, together with the Lord Jesus.

We have not become an inheritance; we have received an inheritance together with the Lord Jesus. We are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). We even read of “having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will”.

We have already come across the expression ‘predestined’ in Eph 1:5. There it was about the adoption as sons. This shows how much according to God’s purpose ‘heirs’ and ‘sonship’ belong together. This relation you also find in Hebrews 1 (Heb 1:2), where it is about the Son, and in Galatians 4 (Gal 4:7), where it is about us. You can also read that in Luke 15 (Lk 15:11-12).

In the ‘adoption as sons’ here you especially see the relation to God, you can say the private side. After all it was for Himself. In ‘heirs’ you especially see the relation to the inheritance, you can say the public side. After all, soon the world will be publicly ruled by the Lord Jesus, together with us. Then He “comes to be glorified in His saints …, and to be marveled at among all who have believed” (2Thes 1:10).

This is included in “the counsel of His will”. In Eph 1:5 Paul writes about ‘the kind intention or the pleasure of His will’ in relation to the ‘adoption as sons’, and in Eph 1:9 about ‘the mystery of His will’ in relation to the government of Christ and the church. Now you see that there is also ‘the counsel of His will’. These three expressions show together that God in His pleasure (Eph 1:5) works out the mystery (Eph 1:9) according to His counsel (Eph 1:11).

His counsel is fixed; nothing or no one can stop Him in carrying it out. You can firmly count on it that it will happen just as He wants it. We need to have this assurance because it is about something that is yet to come. You already share the adoption as son and the mystery has already been revealed to you, but the inheritance still has to come.

Eph 1:12. And when we have taken possession of the inheritance, together with Christ, we will be “to the praise of His glory”. In that time we will be one great song of praise on His glory. We will reflect God’s glory. God’s glory indicates all His excellent features. They will be exposed in us, in all that are sons and heirs. In every person from that countless group something will be visible of God’s glory and His excellencies. How great He must be to have such a glory! How great must be the praise to be given to Him.

Now there is yet the question who are being meant by “we who were the first to hope in Christ”. Here Paul means the Jews who believe in Christ and who trust in Him before He will appear publicly. In this ‘we’ Paul includes himself, because he was also a Jew from his birth. In the following part I will give more attention to this.

Now read Ephesians 1:10-12 again.

Reflection: So the mystery is made known. Put in your own words what this mystery means.