This short passage of scripture is amazing! Read it and re-read it and notice the greatness of God’s gifts to those of us that put our faith in Jesus Christ.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. – Ephesians 1:3-14
In Christ, God has blessed us with every blessing in the heavenly realms. This is a done deal! It is already done in God’s eternal plan. It includes the amazing blessings God chooses to reveal to us here on earth but it also goes far beyond what we can see or imagine. I can’t even fathom what God has in store for me here on earth and even more when I enter His presence in heaven. Just the glimpse I’ve gotten so far in my life has been amazing!
God loves us and chose us even before he made the world! It’s unbelievable to know that God had me in mind, and he had you in mind, when he created the world. He already knew where on the great timetable of existence we’d show up. He already chose to include us in the great salvation plan he would unveil in Christ. We are here because God loved us and chose to give us life. We are saved because God chose to save us! I am eternally thankful that he chose me!
Our Salvation through the blood of his Son gave him great pleasure. Picture the smile on God’s face when you caught on and accepted his free gift. And as his adopted children, chosen in advance, he showers us with his kindness and adds to that all wisdom and understanding – which he revealed to us in Christ! And his plan is this: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth! (At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:10-11)
And there’s more! Because God chose us in advance to be united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from him. Again – a done deal! And we can be assured that we will receive our Godly inheritance because he makes sure everything works out according to his plan. Nothing takes God by surprise. Nothing messes up his plans. If God says it will happen – it will happen! No matter what our current situation may be, we have a heavenly inheritance coming!
The moment we believed in Jesus for our Salvation, God gave us his Holy Spirit. By this we are identified as his. That means that the devil can’t have us! He might be able to mess with us, but he can’t take away our identity in Christ or our guaranteed inheritance from God. (For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39) And why did he seal us with his Holy Spirit? So that we would praise and glorify him!
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! – 1 John 3:1