Plainer Words since 1968
July 14, 2015
Issue #398
PLAINER WORDS ONLINE… ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).
We are not given much insight into what “all spiritual blessings” precisely are. I think, probably, the key to them is rooted in the word, “Blessed,” which is the Greek word, “eulogia,” from which we get our word, “eulogy,” or “eulogize.” The meaning is to praise, acclaim, admire, honor, or pay tribute to. In many instances, the greatest blessing would be words of praise, especially, if the words come from the Creator of the Universe Who is also the Head of the Church.
I can’t really begin to imagine what our Lord might be praising us about to His Principalities, Powers, Mights, Thrones, and Dominions other than attributes He has bestowed upon us. The Epistle to the Ephesians enumerates many praiseworthy attributes we have, like such things as—Blessed us (1:3), Chose us to be holy and without blame before Him in love (1:4), Predestined to the Adoption (1:5), Accepted in the Beloved (1:6), Redeemed through His Blood (1:7), and etc.
Another aspect of the spiritual blessings that the Lord Jesus Christ bestowed upon us, His “Church of the Mystery,” is to whom is He conveying our praises to? Is His praising of us to the “stenographers,” the “court jesters,” the “door-keepers,” the “ushers,” the “dishwashers,” the “waiters,” or the “bus-boys?” No indeed!
He is praising us NOW (Present Tense), and we are not even privy to His words of praise. His audience is in awe of us because in this present world-order, we are the “no-bodies.” He speaks of “our glory” to the Hierarchy in Heaven’s Government—His angelic rulers, i.e., the Principalities, Powers, Thrones, Mights, and Dominions who are “in Christ.”
The Ecclesia [Church] which is His Body is the Creation of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:3). Biblically, He praised all of the Six-Days-of-His-Genesis One-Creation by saying, “And God saw every thing that He had made, and, ‘behold, it was very good’” (Genesis 1:31). We, who have had the eyes of our understanding enlightened, have been chosen to form His Creation of—THE CHURCH OVER WHICH CHRIST JESUS IS THE HEAD! As such, we are very good!
If I were to put Ephesians 3:10 in plainer words, I would say something like this: “It is now the intent of Jesus Christ to make known His manifold wisdom to His Heavenly Angelic Rulers [i.e., the Principalities and Powers, and etc.] through His Church.”
Our continuing job during the Day of Christ will be to teach, tutor, instruct, and train Heaven’s Hierarchy the multitudinous facets of God’s Wisdom.
We are to praise Him and speak well of Him because He thinks so highly of us. There are times when I praise the Lord because He is praising me, and I know I have not one single attribute that is praiseworthy. I don’t see any Scripture that indicates that the Lord Jesus speaks well of “us,” by name, to the Angelic Rulers “in Christ.” But, just in case He does, I praise Him (even though it may be presumptuous on my part). Mr. Robert Briggs, a friend of this work, died on July 3, 2015. His daughter notified me of his death since he appreciated “Plainer Words.” I did not know him personally, but I felt a friend had been wrenched-away from me, and I hurt. After all, as members of the same Body, “our hearts are knit together in love” (Colossians 2:2).
I know of no Christian organization that can, truthfully, say that Christ is praising them to the heavenly Aristocracy. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ did not praise the Wilderness Church, or the Church of God.
The Wilderness Church had the “gainsaying of Korah” and 250 men of the Wilderness Congregation who followed Korah. They were jealous of the position Moses and Aaron held. After their contention with Moses and Aaron, Korah and his 250 followers were swallowed alive into the earth as the Lord opened it under their feet. “All that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit; And the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation” (Numbers 16:33).
The Church of God had its Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). There was continuous antagonism between the Jewish and Gentile believers during The Acts of the Apostles.
The high and holy calling of the Ecclesia over which Christ Jesus is the Head has not had any contentions among its members. Every member is subject ONLY TO CHRIST JESUS—OUR ONLY HEAD.
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4).
These two verses present truth for us, the members of today’s called-out Ecclesia. We are to reckon upon our present position—we are dead, and our real life is hid with Christ—in God. This tells us that we are not, now, in our position of authority as we will be—when Christ shall appear, then, shall we appear with Him in glory.
When we have our “vile” bodies, “fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21), we will enter into our positions of the Pre-Millennial Government of God. We will be the only ones of the human race during the Day of Christ who will have put on immortality. Our new nature will be like that of Christ. Our High Calling of God in Christ Jesus will work in harmony with all other members of the Church [Ecclesia] Whose Head is Christ. Our position in Christ’s Government will be that of great authority—far above all of Heaven’s creatures which will include all Principalities, Powers, Might, Thrones, and Dominions.
“Blessed be” is another way to say, “Worthy of adoration, or admiration, or worship” is
“the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings …” In plainer words, He is continually extolling us in every spiritual eulogy among the heavenly rulers in Christ Jesus.
Let’s not forget that during the Day of Christ, Satan will have been dethroned from his heavenly position as “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). He will be roaming the earth, like a roaring lion, with his horde of fallen angels.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
Jesus Christ, as “the Son of God,” is “Heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:2). As “the Son of Man,” He is the Heir to that dominion in the earth which was first entrusted to Adam, and forfeited by him when he sinned. Satan took the opportunity and stepped in to fill the void created by Adam. The One who now directs “the course of this world” is “the prince of the power of the air [Satan], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Satan is the present interloper. During the Day of Christ, he will act as a poacher of mankind.
~~THE END~~
Copyright© 2015 by Thomas L. Ballinger
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