Here is the next past of the Ephesians study. Hope you are blessed by it. Let me know.




Eph. 1:7-9


“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.”




In verses 3-6 we have been considering the work of the Father, His great purpose, the eternal plan of God. The plan that He set out “before the foundation of the world.” His plan for us is that we should be “holy and without blame before Him in love,” that we should receive “adoption as sons.” Now we will consider how that purpose is carried out in and through the Son.




Now because we are still on earth, we are still fallible, still sinful, the question before us then is, how can we ever be brought into such an exalted state and condition? The great obstacle to our ever reaching such a position is our sin. Sin in general and sin in particular. It is our sin that has come between God and us. The prophet Isaiah puts it this way: “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2) So before we can arrive at the predestinated position that god has purposed for us, something has to be done about this problem of our sin and sins. I was for this particular reason and for this special work that the Lord Jesus Christ – The Son of God – came into the world. God in His own eternal wisdom and foreknowledge, and according to His own purpose, had devised a way for man to be reconciled to Himself.




Notice again the phrase “in Him.” Paul reminds us once more of the source of all our spiritual blessings. It is in Him that we have “Redemption,” and that our redemption is “through His blood.” The Apostle Peter reminds us in the book of Acts that “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)




Redemption is “deliverance by the payment of a ransom.” There are many illustrations of this in the Old Testament. For example, if a man had become a slave by means of being captured or defeated in battle, a kinsman could redeem him by paying the required amount in ransom. The same was true if someone had been put in prison. It is used in the same way in the New Testament. It is also a term used about setting a slave free. It is this term that is used to explain the Doctrine of Salvation. The Lord Jesus Himself uses this term in Matthew 20:28 when He says this “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Paul in writing to Timothy says: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Timothy 2:6) So in Him we have been redeemed, but at what price? How much were we worth to God, rebellious and sinful though we are? How much was asked for in Ransom for us, and how much was the God of the Universe willing to pay?




The price of our redemption was the blood of Jesus. “In whom we have redemption through His blood…” Here in this short sentence we have the very heart of the Doctrine of Salvation, the very centre of our relationship with our Saviour. Be careful to recognise that it is not through His death, but through His Blood that we are redeemed. This is entirely consistent with everything that had gone before, because we must understand the death of the Lord Jesus in terms of the Old Testament sacrificial language. The Old Testament sacrifices and offerings always point to Christ. They have their meaning and fulfilment in Christ.




In the Old Testament times it was the blood of bulls and goats and the Paschal Lamb that was shed in order to atone for sin, so that the Israelite could be reconciled to God. Sin was placed upon an animal by the laying on of hands by the high Priest and then the animal was killed. The blood of the animal was then sprinkled on the mercy seat. God accepted it and the sins of the people were forgiven.




But this was but a shadow of things to come. Jesus came to fulfil the Law. The Law demanded a sacrifice for sin, a lamb without spot or blemish. The sacrifices of the Old Testament had to be repeated every year, but Christ’s sacrifice was “once for all.” Look at the words of the writer to the Hebrews:




Heb 9:11 - 14 “But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building nor by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered once for all into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ (who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God) purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”




The definitive teaching on salvation therefore can be put in this way – We are saved by Christ alone, not by His teaching, but by what He has done! By what He has achieved! By the shedding of His blood, He has opened the door for us to enter the Holy of Holies. “Therefore, brothers, having boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus.” (Heb 10:19)




Peter puts it this way “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1Pe 1:18-19)




Similarly the Apostle John writes in 1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” It is the blood that cleanses, nothing else, it is always and only the blood. Finally in the book of Revelation we find the same emphasis – “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and made us kings and priests to God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5-6)




Now let us look at verse 9, and as we do we will see here a most wonderful insight to God’s dealings with His children.




“Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.”


For a long time I thought that the “mystery of His will” was just that – a mystery, something that would be revealed at the last trump, when the Lord would return and we would no longer “see through the glass, darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12). This is why the ecumenical movement is becoming so successful, because they say you must avoid coming down to fundamentals – you must not insist on anything. As long as we all believe in Christ in any manner we think appropriate, then we are all one. There was an evangelical campaign some years ago and a religious paper at the time said “let us have a theological truce during the campaign.” All this, though, is based on the idea that Christian truth is mysterious in the sense that it is incomprehensible to the human intellect and that it can never be understood in fundamentals, and that the only thing that matters is that we should all vaguely believe in Christ. The word mystery in the New Testament however, does not mean something that is incomprehensible to the human mind, but is rather something that is undiscoverable by the unaided human mind. It is a mystery in the sense that man, with his unaided and fallen mind and intellect, can never understand it, but when it is revealed to him by God he is able to understand it.




The Apostle Paul refers to it as “God’s Wisdom” and as “Hidden Wisdom.” Paul says that the “princes of this world” did not know it because they were seeking to understand it with their unaided mind. “But” says Paul “we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which God has hidden, predetermining it before the world for our glory; which none of the rulers of this world knew (for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory). But as it is written, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard," nor has it entered into the heart of man, "the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, yea, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of man within him? So also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.”




Again we must remind ourselves that the “mystery of His will” has been made known to us “in Christ.” Verses 3 – 14 are one long sentence and we must never loose sight of that. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ………” So we can see then that the knowledge of the “mystery of His will” is a spiritual blessing made known to us “in Christ.”