I would take up in measure one special subject I have in my mind in reading this chapter—the place in which God has set us. I would first remark, this epistle has this distinct difference from Romans: it begins with the counsels of God; Romans begins with what man is, takes him up as a sinner, in the condition of man, and shows how God has met that condition by the blood of Christ, the question had been, how can a man be just with God? Romans shows that man is a sinner, and it shows also how in the gospel God’s righteousness meets man’s sin. In Ephesians, the apostle begins with the counsels of God, and therefore he can open out far more fully what the blessings of the children of God are. Consequently, the Epistle to the Romans as to doctrine takes the fact of Christ’s death and resurrection, in virtue of which man is justified; here, in addition, he not only dwells on Christ’s ascension, but shows that the Holy Ghost has come, and unites us with Christ as members of His body, which is not found in the doctrinal part of Romans at all.
In Ephesians you get the unfolding of God’s whole thought towards man, in view of His own glory, but nothing of justification. Man is looked at as a new creation, and does not want to be justified; he is looked at in Romans as living in sins, needing justification. Here he is looked at as “dead in sins,” and the largeness and fullness of the blessing is brought out. It is not so much what we need, as the blessedness of God towards us, and it does give in a wonderful way the place we are given “in Christ.”
I will go through it a little. We shall see while we get this place with God, it is by His “calling”—God’s. When he speaks of the “calling” it is without any unfolding of the future; when he speaks of the “inheritance” he does look on to the future, and the Holy Ghost is given to us meanwhile as the earnest of the inheritance.
We read in some hymns of the “earnest of His love,” but you do not get it in scripture. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us,” (Rom. 5.) We are objects of His love. We have nothing of the inheritance now, so we have the earnest of it, the presence of the Holy Ghost in us, “sheds abroad the love of God” (it is God there) “in our hearts,” We know it by the Spirit given to us, it is “shed abroad” now, but we shall enjoy it more when we are done with these poor earthen vessels, which will not be till we dwell in the Father’s house.
The apostle speaks of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Another thing he adds in his prayer is, that we should understand that the same power wrought in putting us, who believe, into our place with God in Christ, as He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. It is the same mighty power. We were dead in sins—Christ has died for us,—the holy, blessed, sinless One. We might have tasted death in sin, He tasted, it in grace. The mighty power of God takes us up and puts us in heavenly places in Him; therefore he looks at us as an entirely new creation. The exceeding greatness of His power wrought in raising Christ from the dead. We were lying in sins, Christ conies to die for us in grace; and the same mighty power takes us up, quickens us together with Christ; and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We shall be with Him, but we are now in Him.
Turning to the beginning of the chapter, we get the “calling,” and then the “inheritance” in the end. Nothing can be more blessed than the way he unfolds the place into which the Christian is brought. Looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, He has a double character: He is perfect Man before God, but the Son with the Father, and He puts us into the same place with Him. After the resurrection He says to Mary Magdalene, Go tell my brethren “I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.” I have accomplished redemption, and have brought you to the same place as myself. She thought He was going to bring the Kingdom, but He says, no, do not touch me, “I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren,” &c. This is the first time He calls them brethren. It was the literal accomplishment of Psa. 22:21,2221Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. 22I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. (Psalm 22:21‑22), “Thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns: I will declare thy name unto my brethren.” He tells Mary to declare it now in virtue of His having accomplished redemption. He drank’ the cup of wrath for us: He had to go through it all, and drink it Himself; and having done so, He can bring us into the place He now has Himself. He now having glorified God perfectly, having come as a Man and wrought redemption, can, bring many sons to glory, and gives us in that sense His own place. “God over all” cannot be given, of course, but there is no communicable blessing He does not share with us.
The more you search Scripture, the more you find that it is not only blessedly true that we are saved through Christ, but blessed with Christ—that is the essence of what is in His heart. The world can give generously when it pleases, but it, never gives all the blessings and privileges that it has—it gives little if it loves little, much if it loves much, but it is not so with the Lord, He gives us His peace. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you (John 14:2727Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)). He gives us His own joy, “That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” (John 17:1313And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. (John 17:13).) His own glory, “The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them.” (John 17:2222And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (John 17:22).) His own words, “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me” (John 17:88For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. (John 17:8)); and His own love, “I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:2626And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26).)
Whether you take one or other He shares it with us, and gives us a place with God and the Father. “My Father and your Father, my God and your God.” “As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” We are predestinated “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” and “we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
The nearer you are to Him the more you will adore Him. If I am near a man I shall soon find out his weakness, but the nearer you are to God the more you find out His greatness, and that makes nothing of you; and therefore you need never be afraid of being near to God, as if you would be puffed up by, it; believe me you will there soon find out your own littleness. People say, “It is not well to be always on the mount,” but it is a great mistake; when there we never think of ourselves at all. Paul was not puffed up when he was in the third heaven, but when he came down the thorn was sent to keep him from being so. We may be puffed up if we talk of the experience we had while near the Lord, but not while we experience it; poor wretched flesh will puff itself up about anything!
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he adds, “who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” I pass rapidly over this just to give the general idea upon ‘it. You cannot get more than this; it is the fullest and highest blessing you can ever get; the highest kind of spiritual blessing, in the highest place. “Blessed,” characterizes it, not among angels but “in Christ.” With all spiritual blessings! Not some. We are blessed with all in Christ. God is showing the exceeding riches of His grace. How? In His kindness towards us. That is the way, showing that He is exceeding rich in mercy, and He must act in a way worthy of Himself. That now unto Angels and principalities might be known by means of the church the manifold wisdom of God. It is in us, and to the glory of God by us. (2 Cor. 1:2020For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. (2 Corinthians 1:20).) That, we find, is the uniform language of the Holy Ghost, taking up all the saints, “by us.”
Then he takes these two names, the God and Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love,” That is God’s character and nature—in the blessing, perfect blessing, “holy, blameless in love,” a nature capable in its nature of enjoying God. If I am according to God, I have no need of a conscience, I am in the presence of God, and have perfect delight in Him. The apostle does not speak here of the future, but of the calling—our place now; we are poor earthen vessels, but that is our place before God.
Take Christ Himself, that was what He was down here as a Man, He is now at God’s right hand, and we are brought into this place in grace—it is His place—it is ours in the mind of God. “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.” He might have servants, but here you find another element in it. He is a Father, and He wills to have sons; showing that the perfectness of His love was not satisfied till. He brings us in as sons. That is the calling—His calling—God’s calling. He has a double character as God and as Father, I get the love of His nature, He delights in what is holy, and without blame before Him in love. I get the two characters, one a nature that delights in what He has made me, and the other that it is “the good pleasure of his will,” we not only are united to Christ, but objects of His love as sons.
You get a character of election here which is very important to know: Suppose, for a moment, that God was to take ten people out of this room now, it would be just as sovereign as if He had chosen them before the foundation of the world; but the whole expression shows that we were chosen in the thoughts of God before the world existed. “He hath chosen us (individually) in him before the foundation of the world,” that gives a character to it. There we see the true character of the saints of God—the mind of God concerning us, before even the world was. Under law this was not known, but now the previous thoughts of God come out; and the apostle speaks of, “The hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began, but hath, in due times manifested his word through preaching.” (Titus 1:2,32In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; 3But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; (Titus 1:2‑3)). This is the heavenly calling, the saints are not merely a people in the world—not even as Israel, but they are totally unworldly, they are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and have nothing to say to the world at all. “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” This He does, taking our hearts and faith out of it; “while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:1818While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)).
“Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” (2 Tim. 1:99Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (2 Timothy 1:9).) “To the praise of the glory of his grace.” God’s thought about us is according to “the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved,” the expression being the stamp of God’s mind, He hath chosen to have us in the beloved, and He has made us accepted in Him. What a place that is; not merely among angels, but in Christ the eternal Son of whom He said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;” I am accepted in Him, and therefore He says, “that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them and I in them.”
This is hard to believe, you say—well, I can understand that, if you take your own thoughts and not God’s. Faith takes God’s thoughts not its own. He hath not spared His own Son but gave Him up for us all. I am silent before such love, and believe it! If we were to talk of such grace and such glory of ourselves I should say it was simply madness, but when I get Christ I can look at God’s love, and measure it by Him. The glory I can partake of with Him in grace, the cross I never could. There is more in the cross than in the glory—there is that in the cross which the blessed Son of God alone could do to glorify God. It stands alone, the moment that is done, anything is credible, the moment you get the Son of God dying on the cross, the rest is but the natural consequence.
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.” Now the apostle comes back to the point, and tells us the result. We first get the counsels of God; if I speak of them they bring out His own thoughts “the praise of the glory of his grace.” Now we get the fact of how we are brought into the blessing “according to the riches of his “grace.” I can believe in the glory of His grace, because I believe in the riches of His grace; it could do anything!
There we have redemption according to the intention and purpose of God—we have it, remember that, it is not a thing to talk of only, we have it in these poor earthen vessels: my place with God is not the effect of my sin, but the effect of Christ’s redemption. God has dealt with my sins on the cross, the very things He would have had to judge and condemn in us, at the throne of judgment, He has judged in Christ at the cross. Christ gave Himself for me, and I now wait for Him to receive me to Himself.
Then He speaks of “the redemption of the purchased possession.” Having put us in this place of acceptance, having adopted us as children, He can now treat us as friends. “He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will.” He is telling us His intention about us—and more than that, about Christ. “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.”
I know no more wonderful words in scripture than those the Lord spoke to His disciples: “If ye loved me ye would rejoice, because I go unto my Father.” He expected them to be interested in His happiness, He tells them how He came down in grace to give them a place with Himself, and He looks for their delight in His happiness. The Son of Man was going through toil and suffering and anguish, that He might give us His place in glory. O, what a thought, that it should be given to such as we are! We have poor, wretched, cold hearts to get into it. He tells us the consequence here: “He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will.” His counsels now are, “To gather together all things in Christ.” This is the ground the apostle takes in Col, 1:16: “All things were created by him and for him;” He has become a Man, and associates us with Himself. “He is the head of the body,” and God will put everything under Him. He has title as Creator, and as Heir, and there is nothing that is not put under Him except the Father. It is the purpose and intention of God to put us in this blessed place: “We are joint heirs with him;” “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance.” We have not an atom of it yet; but we shall have it with Him.
“That we should be to the praise of his glory.” “He will come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” When He takes the inheritance, we shall be glorified with Him. The whole universe, when filled with glory, will belong to Him, “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.”
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom, also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” This is, not merely being born of God, but sealed with the Spirit it totally different thing; and you cannot be in heaven without it. You do not necessarily receive the Holy Ghost when born of God. Who is born of God? An unbeliever, an unconverted man, a sinner in his sins. Is God going to seal an unbeliever No; he has to be born again. A converted man has to be sealed. The Comforter was promised to those who were clean through the word Jesus had spoken to them.
Take the blessed Son of God Himself; the Holy Ghost was seen to come down upon Him who was truly Man, and truly God. The Father sealed Him by the public testimony given by the. Holy Ghost coming upon Him as a man. “He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him,” and it “anointed” him “with power,” (Acts 10:3838How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38).)
Be clear about this: how it is I am sealed? I am first quickened-the word of God reaches my conscience. I get a little hope, and I say, “make a servant of me, only let me in, any corner will do me, if I can only get in, I am not worthy of a good place.” But “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” and I could then stand in His presence. At first it was, if I could only get in, if He only makes a servant of me. There is no knowledge of redemption, there, if you are thinking of your fitness, and if you get the least light you will see that if you are to be dealt with at all, as to what you are, you had better stay out, for you have no corner at all.
When did the Prodigal then say, “Make me as one of thy hired servants?” when he was quickened and converted, and set of to his father; but not when he met Him. It brings him to his father in his rags, and it brings us to a point—we see what God is to a sinner in his rags. The son does not say it, but he confesses his sins. Quite right. He does not say, make me a servant, it would be shameful to say it then, when he gets what never was his before, “the best robe.” My sins are gone, I get my place consequent upon what He is for me, not what I am for Him. If I have never met God at all, I may say I wonder how He will receive me; but I have met God in Christ, and he has accepted me in the beloved.
Mark the consequence of this: it is through the blood of Christ which has glorified God, it is not that I am only quickened and sometimes hope because He is good, or fear because I am bad; I have the value of the blood of Christ upon me in the eye of God, and the effect of it is the Holy Ghost can come down and dwell in us, because we are as clean as the blood of Christ can make us! In the Old Testament the leper was washed with water, typical of the washing of water by the word; afterward he was sprinkled with blood, then anointed with oil, i.e., the Holy Ghost. When I believe, or having believed, I am sealed. “Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost!” It is one of the characteristics of the Christian state. It is the ministration of righteousness and the ministration of the Spirit. “This spoke he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” But He is glorified now, and has sent the Holy Ghost, and it is the seal of that in my heart.
Again, take Galatians— “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son then an heir of God through Christ.” (Gal. 3:26;426For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)
26But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. (Galatians 4:26). 4-7). “He which stablisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Cor. 1:21,2221Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. (2 Corinthians 1:21‑22)).
While a man might be born of God he requires what will make him spotless and righteous before God; and when he has got that, he is sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. He has Christ for him in God’s presence, by whom He has been redeemed, and the Holy Ghost in him by whom he has been sealed! Paul asks the disciples at Ephesus, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19:22He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (Acts 19:2).) If quickening was sealing, they had, of course. How could he say, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost,” if quickening was the same thing It is consequent on the efficacy of the blood. “Know ye not that your bodies”— not your hearts— “are the temple of the Holy Ghost?” How can you go and connect them with sin, if so How did you get the Spirit? By giving up all trust in yourself, and being justified by faith in the Person and work of Christ; there is no question about that. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty;” “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
We are justified by faith, through the redemption God has wrought for us in Christ, of which the Spirit is the earnest and the seal. I know the value of it, and thus I know any relationship to God. He has “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.” “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” (John 14:2020At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (John 14:20).)
Do you all know it, beloved friends? I address myself to those who love the Lord. Can you say, I am accepted in the beloved—I know my place before God? You have it, then, from the lips of Christ Himself. “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” Do not let anything dim it, beloved; do not let any pretense of humility lead you to say, “Make me a hired servant.” You wrong God if you say it. The prodigal said it before he met his father; it would be a shame to say it after; it would be robbing his father of the grace in which he was acting. Could he have taken him into his house in such a position? No; he must come in with the dignity of his father on him!
Have you, though humbled as to yourself, the consciousness of your dignity, have you bowed to the sovereign love and grace of God? Do not talk to me of your, state, it varies in each of us. I speak of the ground we are all on, “Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children.” That is the ground. “Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost?” How can you use them for sin if so? This gives the greatest possible power for conduct. I expect you to go through the world as a child of God—as one whose body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. As you would say to your child, “you must not do such a thing because you are my child.” There are other motives, “ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor. 6:2020For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:20).)
We know this blessed truth that when Christ went up on high He sent the Comforter down that is the difference between our state and the state of Old Testament saints. The veil was not rent then; the way into the holiest of all was not made manifest; now we have boldness to enter through the veil. We have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father.” Whoever claims fear and uncertainty as to the love and favor of God, is doubting the efficacy and distrusting the love that caused Him to give His Son, and caused His Son to die upon the cross. “Hereby perceive we the love, because he laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:1616Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16).) You cannot believe it without saying, doubtless, “But I am such a sinner.” That makes the love the more wonderful. What did He give Him for? Was it for your virtues What part had you and I in the accomplishment of Christ’s work upon the cross? As to the fact, our sins. That was all the part we had as to the work that saves us, the only part we could have. And therefore it is all grace, full, blessed, and holy grace. God could not bear the sins, and He put them away according to His holiness, but. He did not put us away; thus I am in His presence not merely cleansed, but He has sent the Holy Ghost to dwell in me.
He is the earnest of the inheritance, “after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” The Spirit was acting in Old Testament times, but till after the cross there was only the promise that He would pour, it out, not only that He had, done so. When Christ had gone up on high as a Man at the right hand of God, the Holy Ghost came down, to dwell in those who believe. The Comforter came down, so that the gospel is the ministration of the Spirit as well as the ministration of righteousness. He is the seal that God puts upon us until the redemption of the purchased possession.
His counsels concerning us were “to the praise of the glory of his grace,” now the earnest of our inheritance is “unto the praise of his glory.” He desires in his prayer, addressed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that we may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We know we are in Him and He in us, if so, I say if you are in Him, He is in you, now let me see Christ, and not anything but Christ in you, “Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ,” the world ought to read Christ in us, graven in our hearts, just as they read the ten commandments written and engraved on stones-for that is the comparison. Let us live Christ. Blessed, joyful is the heart that knows Him, it has conflict with self, with Satan, and with the world, plenty of conflict, and the more faithful we are, the more we shall have, but it has the conflict along’ with God, with Him we have peace!
The Lord give us to see that when we were proved bad, God proved Himself good, and good according to the majesty and holiness of Himself. The best thing He had was given to the vilest thing in the world. He “was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do believe in God that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.” (1 Peter 1. 21.) What I know about God is, that He gave His Son to die for a poor wretch like me! It is His view of the blood; not mine, that gives me peace, His estimate not my own; God’s estimate in righteousness. The God I have offended is satisfied not one of us values it as we ought—God does. We see what sovereign grace can do for creatures like us, making us joint-heirs with Christ. How can we talk of such a thing? Looking at myself I would call it folly-madness! But when I look at Him, I see the one who is God’s delight in glory, I get the fruit of God’s dealings with Him and that explains it. “He will come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.”
We have the consciousness that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. The Lord keep you, and make you most watchful never to dishonor God, nor to put a slur upon the efficacy of Christ’s blood, by thinking that God could allow of anything like sin resting upon you for His name’s sake.