"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:3-4).

The first three chapters of Ephesians have been referred to as the "Alps" of the New Testament because of their breathtaking view of our spiritual inheritance in Christ. The faithful student of the Word is ushered through this spectacular heavenly perspective by the continual use of the pronouns His and Him.

We learn that God has predestined us "according to the good pleasure of His will" (v.5), and that "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (v.7). We see that the "mystery
of His will" is "according to His good pleasure" (v.9) which "He hath purposed in Himself" (v.9). All of these blessings are to the "praise of His glory" (v.12) because it is only through the "exceeding greatness of His power" (v.19) that we are created as "His workmanship" (2:10) in the first place.

To keep our focus on Him and not on ourselves, God reminds us that we offer no contribution to His wonderful plan of salvation, that it is a gift from Him, "Not of works, lest any man should boast" (v.9). He intended that we understand His divine plan "which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (3:11), so that we "May be able to comprehend
. . . the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God" (vv.18-19).

The more we grasp "the riches of the glory of His inheritance" (1:18), the more we will fervently long to give Him the "glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" (3:21). MDR