SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS. Ephesians 1:3. The doxology from verses three through fourteen lists spiritual blessings bestowed on those who experience them in the heavenly realm of our lives with Christ. We have been redeemed, adopted, granted knowledge of God’s will, and given an eternal inheritance. We praise God when we worship Him for who He is and His blessings to us. Spiritual blessings refer to the special relationship and position believers have been brought into. Christ offers salvation and eternal life, not necessarily health, wealth, and prosperity.
From heavenly realms, the glory of God has bestowed blessings I would never have known without knowing Him. The eternal life given to me when I first trusted Christ as my Savior has enabled me to know God and Jesus Christ intimately—able to communicate with them as friends, love God, and share my life with Him. This was no accident because all the benefits of this new life began with His directing His interest and love toward me. A spiritual awakening by the Holy Spirit has transformed me from being spiritually dead to knowing God and being alive in Christ. This was no chance or coincidence.
The Ephesian believers did not receive any spiritual blessings from the goddess Diana. Before God saved them, they could only give themselves and what they had to that false idolatry. Their morals were sacrificed to that evil god. Their possessions were sacrificed to that empty idea. The beneficial principles of normal living were forsaken in pursuit of fleshly gratification. The same problem persists today among many religions that people follow.
The religion of materialism is never satisfied with what it receives. The pursuit of pleasure can be followed worldwide and will never stop trying to claim the time, attention, and possessions of those who seek it. The false gods created by the imagination of strained minds cause people to kill each other in their pursuit, giving all they have and even their lives to promote it. Poverty, anger, discontent, malice, and nearly every evil known to man are claiming the minds and hearts of those who are dead in trespasses and sins.
To those who know God, a blessing has come from His heavenly throne—salvation from sin and salvation for heaven. Now, as children of God "by faith in Jesus Christ," we are no longer strangers but sons and daughters of God because we have "received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father." No wonder we praise God! Moreover, we have been forgiven of our sins, which have been legally dealt with—past, present, and future—through the sacrifice of Christ, who was substituted in our place. He bore the punishment for our sins so that God is satisfied that justice has been served. Our sin problem has been justly resolved, and we have been "justified freely by His grace." No wonder we praise God!
Since coming to Him by faith in response to His grace, we are forgiven, enlightened by the riches of His grace, and have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has given us gifts to use in our lives for God. Not only has He convicted us to awaken us and bring us from death to life, but He also reveals Christ to us, guides us through life's events so we can do God's will, and even teaches us about the future. No wonder we bless God! We have been empowered to do good things we could never accomplish on our own. We live in hope through this life of faith. We are assured of being with Christ forever. We have received eternal blessings that far surpass the temporary blessings we've been given. No wonder we bless God!
None of this has come to us because we deserve these blessings, nor because God is obligated to us in any way. It is all because of that wonderful blessing of being "in Christ." We are accepted in Him. We live, move, and have our being in Him. The emptiness of natural human life has been filled with abundant spiritual blessings because we are "in Christ." "The God," the Source of all things, the Giver of all spiritual blessings, has directed His love to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Every "good and perfect gift" comes from above. The new birth, our new nature, the new life we have, the new family we belong to, and the new home in heaven are ours because we are "in Christ.” A new power has been given to us to overcome sin and to live for God because we are "in Christ." The new nature we have received enables us to enjoy what God delights in because we are "in Christ." We possess a new character that causes us to live consciously for eternal things, not just temporary things, because we are "in Christ."
As a new creation "in Christ Jesus," we share our life with Him, who is our peace, has made peace, and gives us peace. As our Lord, He embodies our peace. As Jesus, He is the means by which we have received peace with God. As Christ, He is the Object and the Center of our peace. What great and abundant blessings we have received from the heavenly realms because we are "in Christ!"
The Father knows, chooses, and plans from before creation with a specific purpose in His mind and heart. He desires a special people, a family that is unique and faithful to Him—holy, blameless, and pleasing to Him. He wants sons and daughters who are mature, responsive, and delighted to be accepted by Him. This has become true for those who have been raised, made new, seated in heavenly places, identified, dignified, and glorified with Him. These are THE SELECTION OF THE FATHER.
The Son has come; it was in God’s plans that His own blood would pay the redemption price by His own providing. He had to come to earth and be found in fashion as a man so that the needed sacrifice could be carried out. We’ve been brought near to God; His blood has applied sin-cleansing power on our behalf. We are freed from our guilt of sin; legal wrath has been appeased, forgiveness is granted, and His blood imparts justification. God is satisfied; Christ entered the presence of God on our behalf, and we too can come into the holiest—by His blood. THE SACRIFICE OF THE SON has satisfied the just claims of a holy God.
The Spirit works by convicting, convincing, revealing, regenerating, and making the Word of God real to us. He then saves, indwells, keeps, empowers, fills, seals, and guides us through God's Word, giving us direction. In life situations, the Spirit impresses us by the interpretation and application of the Word of God when we read it. As we learn from the scriptures of truth, He enlightens our mind, gives the meaning, and is our intercessor; we learn by the Word of God because of THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT.
With the Holy Spirit in us, the Father and the Son with us, and the Word of God to teach us; with the saints of God sharing with us, the family of God having fellowship with us, the church of God participating with us – we have “all spiritual blessings.” Although much of what we receive is unseen, its reality is no less true. The joy of the Lord, the peace He gives, the power He imparts, the grace He bestows, the light He uses, and the truth He teaches – these are “all spiritual blessings.” The scriptures recounting the past, the guidance of the Word of God for our present life, and the prophecies of the future are “all spiritual blessings.” Thanks be to God!