Ephesians 1:7-10

Hey everybody! HAPPY EASTER! I hope and pray that as we celebrated the resurrection of Our Lord, that He was raised up anew in each of you and you found yourself nearer to Him.

Ephesians 1:7-10...only 3 short verses...let's see what we can discern today.

Pray: Father God...I thank you for your Word which lightens my path and guides me according to your perfect Will. I raise up this time I have with you and ask that you have your way in me as I read through these sacred scriptures and as I strive to live them out in my daily life. Open my eyes that I may see you, my ears that I may hear you, my heart that I may receive you fully. Forgive me, Lord, for times when I look away from the things you want to show me or do in or through me. Help me to walk in your grace and to forgive as you forgive me. Strengthen my heart, Lord, that I may trust fully in you and that I may avoid whatever tempts me to sin. In your Holy Name I pray...AMEN.

Read attentively:

The scripture:

Ephesians 1:7-10
"[7] In Him we have redemption by His blood, the forgivness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of His grace [8] that He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, [9] He has made known to us the mystery of His will in accord with His favor that He set forth in Him [10] as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth."

At first glance...this passage is hard...there are some big words here--redemption, transgressions, lavished... anytime you come across a word in scripture that you don't understand, it's a good idea to LOOK IT UP, or else you will really not understand the passage very well. These words are hard, so here are some definitions to help us better understand.

Redemption--in the world of "Christianese" ...this word is common. It means to be delivered or rescued from our sin. The interesting thing about this word is that it also means to pay off a debt, which is exactly what Christ did when he "redeemed" us--He paid off our debt that we owed because of our sin. So it's saying "In Him, our debt has been paid by His blood..."

"by His blood" I love this wording here--it's a gentle reminder that it wasn't EASY for God to forgive us our sins--it COST HIM something--His own blood, his own LIFE. He DIED in order to give us that redemption!

"Transgression"--another big word. This word basically is a fancy word for "sin"..it's actual definition is "a violation of the law"...so it's referring to God's law here...sin is when we break God's law.

"lavished"--I love this word! It means "to use or give in great amounts or without limits" basically, when it says that "His grace that He lavished upon us" it's saying that God gives this forgiveness of sins in GREAT AMOUNTS--WITHOUT LIMITS...there is NO SIN that is too great for God's grace to cover. And when He covers us in His grace, He doesn't just cover us "just enough"...He LAVISHES it upon us--he POURS it on, fully and completely drowning our sin in His grace. This is an AMAZING PROMISE that God gives us!! And if we just let it soak in a bit...perhaps we will begin to understand how awesome our God really is!

"He has made known to us the mystery of His will" the wording here tells us that this is a promise. He HAS --> that means it is DONE. It is already available to us--there is no cost we must pay here to receive this...it is a promise. (A contract would be an "if/then" statement, where it says we can get something IF we do something else...a promise is different because it is something that God simply grants us). There is nothing we can do that will keep Him from giving this to us (of course, we can always choose to ignore it!)

"to sum up all things in Christ" ---> this starts off with that funny "to" word again. That "to" means "for the purpose of" ...so we know that it is saying that God has done all of this for a purpose--and that purpose--to sum up all things...to bring to a close all things, to wrap up all things...or just how it says it in the previous statement--for the fullness of times. The fullness--the completion...it is about COMPLETING what He began with the creation of the world--what He began in the garden of Eden when He said to Eve that the serpant will strike her offspring's heel and he will crush his head--prophesying about Jesus. Jesus' act of redemption by the spilling of His blood was to bring about the COMPLETION of that prophecy--to bring God and Man together once again. This brings me back to the words of Jesus on the cross--IT IS FINISHED.

I'm going to meditate on this a bit more and let it marinate a bit tonight.

I'll share my final thoughts on this tomorrow before jumping into Ephesians 1:11-14.

Comment on here and tell me what you think about all of this!