Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:3-8,NASB)
Thankful today that John Davis came through his double bypass surgery well. Praise God!
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, excerpted above, he discusses some interesting doctrines of importance to the church of Jesus Christ. This portion is part of the introduction of his letter.
The first concept is predestination. Over the years I’ve heard two possible meanings of predestination:
1) That those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be adopted as sons or daughters of God, and will spend eternity with Him in heaven; or,
2) God has predetermined before the dawn of time, who would or would not be saved, and thus have the same privileges listed above.
Paul seems to point to the latter when he says, ” . . . He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” But what about free will? If God has already decided, why must we work to plant seeds that will result in the Holy Spirit bringing people into the Kingdom? I’ve heard it explained that we don’t know how a person will come to salvation. Jesus told us in the Great Commission to go to the ends of the earth to spread the Gospel. “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” God loves us so much that He sent His Son, so that by believing in Him, we’re adopted sons and daughters of the Creator of the universe!
The second doctrine is that of the salvation by the blood of the Lamb of God. The Old Testament documents that God requires blood for the redemption of sins. In the Tabernacle and Temple, the high priest was required to enter the Holy of Holies once per year to deliver the blood of an animal sacrifice for the redemption of his sins and those of the people. When Jesus came to earth, He lived a perfect life, free from sin, so He would be an acceptable sacrifice to God the Father. Jesus went to the cross to take the punishment we all deserve, and His blood sacrifice is good for all time, not to be repeated, so you and I can be saved from our sins. Praise God that He loves us so!
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” Because of God’s grace, we are saved by Jesus’ blood, and our sins are forgiven!
Praise God that He loves us so much that He made a plan of redemption so that we could be saved! Praise the Lord Jesus that He followed the Father’s plan and withstood horrific torture and crucifixion, so that by His blood we might be saved! Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?