Bible Studies List

God’s Eternal Plan (Ephesians 1:2-10) 
The Riches of His Grace
(For larger type, hold down Ctrl key and hit + sign -IE-8 and above)

Ephesians?  Is that any place to begin a study of the whole Bible?  Well, yes!  It is here that we find God’s Eternal Plan for us, and for the universe as well.  Isn’t it satisfying to know that we are not just here by chance?  That is what so many think in these early days of the twenty-first century.  Perhaps that is a factor in the moral breakdown and sense of purposelessness and hopelessness characteristic of our times.  In earlier days, nearly everyone believed in God or gods and that He or they created everything.  Hence, people had a sense of being a part of larger, meaningful order.  Among non-Christians in American and Europe, this sense of having a place in creation has been lost, and that has resulted in a great angst among many.  They may feel helpless and uncertain; “lost” is a good Biblical description.

 Often, people bring this sense of helplessness and uncertainty with them when they come to the Bible.  Usually people start reading in Genesis, follow the narrative pretty easily through the first 20 chapters of Exodus, and then begin to get bogged down when the story line is lost in the following books of law, poetry and prophecy.  It can seem like a mishmash, the kind of chaos unbelievers are already familiar with.  Unable to find an easily visible thread to follow, many readers give up and say “let’s leave it to the preachers,” an understandable but often disastrous decision.  When we see that God has made a plan for our lives, created heaven and earth to accommodate it and overseen history to assure its completion, we gain an understanding that brings reason and hope together to give us comfort and encouragement.

 Ephesians is addressed to believers, and begins with blessing:

 [2] Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

 This grace and peace come from God, the Father and the Son.  Here we see that God’s intentions towards us are very good and that we receive them in Jesus and that they are spoken of as being already given.  When?  Let’s read on:

 [4] 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:  [5] Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, [6] To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

 God has chosen us “before the foundation of the world,” before the events narrated in Genesis.  That’s why we have begun here.  We are not the product of a random process or of inert matter and unknown forces, we are the purposeful creation of God  chosen to “be holy and without blame before Him in love.”  What a wonderful, even glorious thought!  God did not “play dice with the universe,” as Einstein once famously said.  The Bible tells us that God chose and accepted us as His children in Jesus before matter, before creation, before time. 

 We see in verses 5 and 6 that the means of effecting God’s plan is Jesus Christ, by Whom and through Whom our adoption as God’s children is accepted.  Ephesians goes on to explain a little more:

[7] In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; [8] Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; [9] Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: [10] That in the dispensation of the fulness 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:

 Jesus is our Redeemer; it is through His blood that our sins are forgiven.  And all of this is accomplished “according to the riches of His grace.”  Wonderfully, “Grace” means “unmerited, sovereign assistance.”  It is given by God purely out of what the apostle calls “His good pleasure,” which God has “purposed in Himself.”  It stands in stark opposition to a right or to an accomplishment earned by its recipient.  God has predestined us to be His children through His grace because it is His “good pleasure” to love us.

 It is also through Jesus that God has communicated His Eternal Plan to “gather together in one all things,” in heaven and earth in “the fullness of times.”  We will see more about this in our next study.  Let’s take away three key points from this study to strengthen our faith and help us be holy and blameless before Him:

      1.       God has an Eternal Plan for us (those who believe and accept His grace).

2.       God’s intentions to us are characterized by blessing, grace and peace.

3.       Jesus is the One through Whom all the blessings of God’s Plans are effected.

 IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, GOD ONLY WISE

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth Thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all Thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart.

All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,
And so let Thy glory, Almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart. 
Walter C. Smith

 Study by Kenneth J. Kalis, February 20, 2010     kkalis@aol.com