Scripture Reference: Ephesians 1:3-14

All Spiritual Blessings – Continued

The revelation of God’s purpose in history. Now Paul reaches the greatest heights of wonderment and rapture when he speaks of God’s great purpose in history, namely, to “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” Paul lived in a very broken world, just as we do today. He saw Greek pitted against Roman, Jew against Gentile, rich against poor, aristocrat against commoner. He saw people struggling for themselves and, above all, struggling against God. “Is this to go on forever?” he might have asked. Fortunately, Paul knew the answer to that question. The disharmony of the world is not to go on forever, for the same God who has predestined us to salvation in Jesus Christ has also predestined all things to be brought together in submission to Him.

Paul wrote to the Philippians: “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

Sealing by the Holy Spirit. Seals authenticate documents and declare that the promises contained in them are good. This is what the Holy Spirit does for Christians. So when Paul says, “Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,” he is saying that God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is an authentication that believers are truly God’s and that none of the promises God has made to them will fail.

An inheritance. The Holy Spirit, though a seal on a document, so to speak, is actually more than certification of God’s promises. He is Himself a portion of our inheritance. Paul speaks of this when he terms the Holy Spirit, “the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” I love the way the New International Version expresses this same principle: “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession” (NIV). This, to me, is a great turn of phrase. According to this verse, Christians are God’s inheritance. But the Holy Spirit, who is God, in essence, has been given to us as a down payment on the fullness of the inheritance which is already ours in Jesus Christ!

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Where noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.