All right, we are returning to Ephesians. We have covered the first six verses. So we will be looking in chapter one, Verses 7 to 10. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness 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. Okay, so verses three to six that we've covered now begin this praise section. Paul praises God for the blessings through Jesus Christ, beginning with the blessings of election to holiness, predestination to adoption, and those blessings come according to God's own purpose, His will from before the creation, before the foundation of the world. So those blessings come in Christ, and by blessings coming to us in Christ, we understand this to be particularly the work of Christ, the incarnation, so including His death to his return to reign in his kingdom. And these blessings also come by the riches of his grace. So Paul has made that known from the very start. And so as we read this with a thought of the theme of the letter We see that Paul is building up his foundation for the unity that is the theme of the letter. We see this as he continues to use this we and us emphasis. And really, these blessings that he's talking about, they truly are to every believer. But his audience is this local church in Ephesus made up of Jews and Gentiles in this same body in Ephesus. Every believer has this foundation and fundamental relation to Christ, whether Jew, or Gentile, or slave, or free, or rich, or poor, or man, or woman, or whatever the case may be. And so that is the foundation that Paul is using to urge unity among the actual membership of that body in Ephesus, and thereby within each local body by way of application. So in this age, Israel is temporarily set aside. We learn that particularly in Romans 9 to 11. And so God has designed that there be local churches, these little bodies of believers among all nations scattered throughout the world to be corporate witnesses of His grace. And this witness requires the unity of each body in its location, the unity of those members together. In other words, that unity is obviously a part of that witness of the gospel of Christ, and so without it, with disunity, with disharmony, with lack of love, and all of those sort of things, we're actually communicating a bad witness of the gospel through those actions, no matter what our doctrinal statement. might be. Now we'll see more about this as the letter unfolds, but I just mention it in a sense that we want to keep this in mind when you're reading through and studying a letter, and we're looking very closely at just a few verses at a time. And as you do that, it's easy sometimes to get sort of just lost in the weeds. You know, oh, well, here's a lecture, and then we just sort of run around all over the Bible. talking about election and talking about different things. But what does that have to do with this letter? We don't want to lose sight of that. So that's why I mentioned that. And obviously, Paul hasn't gotten to those points yet. He's building this foundation in this praise section. So we will see this more as we progress in this letter. Now, the next part of this praise section would be verses 7 to 10, where Paul speaks primarily of the blessings of redemption that have come through Jesus Christ, redemption and forgiveness of sins, which Paul connects in this section to God's eternal purpose. And we've already noticed in this section of the letter We already noticed an emphasis that Paul is making on God's eternal purpose, that what Paul is writing to them, it's not some novel new idea. It's not something that Paul and the other apostles came up with. It's actually God revealing his will. And he brings that out in this section as well. So we'll start looking here with verse number seven. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. So Paul is continuing to refer to these blessings that he referred to as all spiritual blessings in Christ earlier. And this, in whom, continues to be references to Christ, in Christ, through Christ, by Christ. We see this constantly in this section. And Paul, he stated it at the beginning in verse number three. that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, he stated that right from the very beginning, but he continues to reiterate, continues to emphasize that, that everything, every blessing, and we see that back there, that all spiritual blessings, every spiritual blessing comes from heaven, from the Father, and comes to us in, by, and through Jesus Christ, and just keeps reiterating that. So, in Christ. Now this in whom is also what we've used as sort of a marker as I've divided this section into kind of parts, because again, it's just all one long sentence, one long statement. But I've divided it into parts, and using that, in whom, it seems it's almost as if when you're reading it, you can almost sort of take a breath there, in whom, and it's just, again, it sort of seems a little bit of a natural place to break it. So this is the emphasis, in Christ we have these blessings. Now, here in particular, he's referring to redemption. Now the word for redemption, it means to something like release by paying a ransom price. So this is what the word refers to. There's some sort of cost. There's some sort of price of release. And so this word for redemption is what it refers to, the release obtained by paying a ransom price. Now, the word for redemption and the concept of redemption has usage both in the Old Testament, so it has usage and meaning in the Jewish context, but it also had usage and meaning in the first century Greek or Greco-Roman context as well. So in the Old Testament, Redemption was supremely exemplified in deliverance of Israel from Egypt. And we can get a statement here. Let's go back to Exodus chapter number six. Exodus chapter six. verse number six, I believe. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. So sort of The redemption of the Old Testament would refer to this God redeeming Israel from Egypt. Now, it's not only there, but the Old Covenant had various concepts of redemption that were a part of the Old Covenant. Just one example would be like the non-Levite families. They were to redeem their firstborn sons by paying the five shekels. That's Numbers chapter 18, verses 14 to 16. But there was redemption of certain sacrifices, and there was various redemption. Redemption of inheritances that plays a key part, like in the Book of Ruth. So there's numerous redemptions that were built into the Old Covenant, and that supreme redemption, obviously, was that deliverance from Egypt. So that was a word, this word for redemption, It's full of meaning for the Jewish audience that he's written to, those Jews that make up the part of that body. But then it's also a word that had meaning in the context of the Greco-Roman world because it was the term that was used to reference purchasing a slave's freedom. So under the Roman system, slaves could be bought and sold, and they could buy their own freedom. Another person could buy their freedom. Here's just an example reference in the Book of Acts. Acts chapter 22. And verse number 28, this was Paul here, Acts chapter 22, verse 28, and the chief captain answered, with a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, but I was free born. So he's referring to the fact that he was by birth, he was a free born Roman citizen. This captain that is that's talking here is one that had been in slavery But had at a great cost to himself had purchased his Citizenship his freedom so that he became a freedman in the Roman Empire So it was a again. It's it's a it's a term. It's a concept that had very vivid imagery associated with it for both those coming from the Jewish context and those coming from the Greco-Roman context. And so Paul says we have redemption, and redemption, we could say, primarily would refer to release from a state of slavery. That was the case with Israel and Egypt. That was the case with those in the Roman world as well. Now the next phrase makes clear that redemption was through Christ's blood. So that redemption is from, through His blood, from the slavery of sin. We'll talk a little bit more about sins there in a moment. That redemption, in other words, when Paul speaks of redemption, and he's talking about redemption in terms of salvation, When Paul talks about redemption or other writers talk about redemption in terms of salvation, it is a reference to redemption through Christ's blood from the bondage of sin or the slavery of sin. The writer of Hebrews, we were there not too long ago in chapter 9 and verse number 15, And for this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." So what that redemption is from is certainly clear. It is from sin or bondage or slavery to sin. The redemption price is the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood. That is the redemption price. This is the blood of Jesus in His death. Peter elaborates on this redemption price. 1 Peter 1, verses 18-21. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Under the old covenant, tradition received from your fathers, under the old covenant, men redeemed their firstborn sons with money. what Peter refers to as the corruptible things like silver and gold. They redeemed their firstborn sons with money. But God redeems all of His children with the infinitely valuable blood of Jesus Christ. Paul also points this out in, let's see, did I put this? No, I did not put that there. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. This poll highlights this redemption. Chapter 7. So verses 21 to 23, art thou called being a servant, care not for it, but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lord's free man. Likewise also, he that is called being free is Christ's servant. This, of course, is a slave. Ye are bought with a price. Be not ye the servants or slaves of men. you are bought with a price, and of course that price is the precious blood of Jesus Christ. So this is what Paul is emphasizing, this blessing that has come in Christ, it is redemption that is paid by the ransom price, which was the death of Jesus Christ, his blood shed, and being released from bondage is accompanied with or means the forgiveness of sins. And so the word that is used for sins here is the idea of a misstep or going sort of going astray. Forgiveness of sins accompanies that redemption. So the basis of this redemption is, we're told, according to His grace. The basis of this redemption is grace. It is redemption, which means release from slavery through His blood, which is the price and the forgiveness of sins. So, what does that tell us? That tells us that redemption comes to those who need it, who cannot affect it of themselves. It comes completely by God's grace. Now, this word for riches just as we'd imagine, wealth, abundance. But the bounds of God's, the riches of God's grace, what are the, what's the bounds, what's the measure of the riches of His grace? Well, it is seen in the priceless blood of His Son. So, in other words, this riches of His grace, we can say, is boundless. boundless, and so because it is boundless, it flows lavishly upon those whom He has chosen. This, again, this we and us that He keeps talking about, those whom He has chosen, which He said there in verse number four, He has chosen us in Him. and predestinated us unto adoption. And so, likewise, He has redeemed us through the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, this continues into verse number 8, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Now, this word for abounded has the idea of super abounded, super abounded, over abounded, aboundingly abounded, however that we want to put it. Some translations I noticed have used the word lavished. that he has lavished upon us. And it's a good capturing of the idea here. He has lavished his rich grace upon us, and that is what it's referring back to. And when we look at this grammatically, God has already lavished this grace. He's already super-bounded in this grace. because Christ has already died once for all time, like the writer of Hebrews mentioned in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 10. So that has been accomplished. And so God has lavished the riches of His grace. Now, the riches of God's grace in Christ are applied to us in a very particular way. in all wisdom and prudence." Wisdom here, the idea is skill and insight. We've spent some time talking about proverbs and the different words that are used. There's just sort of a group of words. Some of them are somewhat synonyms. Some of them are just related, and they sort of have their own little nuances. The primary word for wisdom in the Old Testament has to do with skill. Just like we saw in Exodus that God had given this spirit of wisdom to those craftsmen and artisans and builders that were able to make all the things of the tabernacle, They had the skill, the knowledge and the skill to be able to do that. Prudence has the idea of. of action, of acting, acting in a way that's not just random or that's just, you might say, just rash or reactionary, but in a thoughtful and a knowing way, acting in an insightful way. So God has lavished the riches of His grace on us skillfully with insight. Paul says something kind of similar in Romans chapter number 11, where he praises the wisdom of God's plan and action. So Romans chapter 11, verses 33 to 36. And so we went through Romans a while back, I'm sure you're familiar with it, but Romans 9 through 11. those chapters deal with the question of if Israel is supposed to be God's chosen people, then why are they primarily in unbelief? Does this mean that the word or the promise of God has failed so that they're not going to inherit these promises that were promised beginning with Abraham. That's what this whole section is about. How is it that all these Gentiles are believing in Jesus Christ and are being converted to Christ and all of these Jews are remaining primarily in unbelief? That's the question that Paul's taking up in these chapters. And so as he works his way through that, referring back to the Old Testament and all these sort of things, this is where he gets to where he just sort of breaks out in a doxology of praise. And he says, O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom, same word here, this knowledge is different than prudence. both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. And what else Paul talking about? He's talking about God's promises, His covenants, His dealings with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and then Moses and Pharaoh and God's purpose according to election and then His turning to the Gentiles and gathering in Gentiles and then also His turning again in the future that has been prophesied since all the way back in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. That in those last times that God is going to turn graciously to Israel, Israel is going to turn to Him in repentance, and Paul says in Romans 11, so all Israel's going to be saved. And he says that if the setting aside of Israel has meant such riches to the Gentiles, what will the gathering of, what will the restoration of Israel mean? In other words, Paul's saying it's beyond comprehension. It's beyond our comprehension. And this is where he begins then to praise the wisdom and the knowledge of God in planning in purposing all of this from before the foundation of the world, and in carrying it out in time according to his will. He goes on, for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever, amen. So every part of God's plan is of Him, and it's through Him, and it's to Him. All things in order for His glory to be praised forever. Paul has said some very similar things in Ephesians chapter number one. So we certainly can take those together and understand what Paul is saying here when he says that God has lavished upon us the riches of His grace in wisdom and prudence. Now what else might that mean? Well, what else it tells us is that God acts according to plan. Now, we wake up sometimes and we have a day planned out and mapped out and I shouldn't say sometimes, for me it's a lot of times, that plan never works out. That map is thrown out by early in the morning and we're going a different way. That happens a lot. Sometimes things happen to us that we have no idea. that it was coming. And in those moments, we sort of just react and respond in certain ways. Could be good, could be bad, could be sinful, could be not, but we react. We had no idea that this was happening or this was coming. We had no idea we was gonna hear this or encounter this and on and on it could go. But that is not ever the case with God. As Paul is continuing to emphasize, He's doing everything skillfully with insight to execute his plan from before the foundation of the world. So he's also telling us here that the election, the predestination, the adoption, the redemption, all these things he's talking about, they're not afterthoughts. They're not plan B. They're not reactions. God is skillful in conception and insightful in execution of all His purpose. And that is what Paul is continuing to praise. Now we see verse 9. Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. So God is making known. So in all these things that he's speaking about in Christ, through the election, through the predestination, the adoption, the redemption, the forgiveness of sins, through Christ's blood, all of these things that he's talking about, God is making known the mystery of his will or plan or purpose. Now he's referring immediately back, obviously, to the redemption and the forgiveness of sins, that God acts through wisdom to lavish upon us, upon those who believe. The word for mystery can mean secret, hidden, unknown, something like that, and can be used sort of, in common usage, could refer to things that are unknowable. And that's usually, I think even in common speak, we would say that. We would use mystery to talk that way. That's just a mystery. I don't know. I don't know. We'll never know. Who knows kind of thing. But this word is, the way that it is used is very consistent. And it refers to something that was previously hidden. Something that was concealed. but is revealed or will be revealed. So think about Jesus explaining the mystery of the kingdom. Matthew chapter number 13, not too awful long ago that we went through Matthew, verse number 11, he answered, this is when the disciples had asked him, verse 10, said, why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. In other words, Jesus says in giving these parables, he's doing two things simultaneously. He is hiding the mystery of the kingdom from those unbelievers, those that don't have faith to hear, and he is revealing the mystery of the kingdom to those who do have faith, who do have ears to hear. So we studied that, we saw this mystery of the kingdom is being revealed, and the mystery of the kingdom is that the kingdom did not come with Christ's first coming. And when you go through the Old Testament prophecies, It's really difficult to discern any difference there. That there would be two comings, and that in the first coming, Christ would come and suffer and die, and then in the second coming, He would bring His kingdom and He would reign. Now, it's there in the Old Testament. You can see it now in some places. It's there. But it was very, very hard to discern because it was concealed. But Jesus was revealing that to his disciples. So that's the use of this word mystery. And again, it's very consistent how that this word is used. So Paul talks about that God is revealing His will in Christ. So in other words, as Christ came into the world in the incarnation, God's will is being revealed. We're seeing what it is that God's doing. And then when Christ ascends to heaven, And Peter starts quoting from Psalm 110. Why? Because that was understood. That was being revealed that he would return to heaven for a time until he would come back. So we can see it. We can know it. This idea of mystery occurs in chapter 3. I think three times here, verses three, four, and nine. Chapter five, verse 32. Chapter six, verse 19 here in Ephesians. So it's somewhat thematic in this letter that things are being made known. And God has done this according to his good pleasure. which has the idea of delight or satisfaction or what God is pleased to do. And ultimately when we see this coupled with the rest of this, Paul is again referring to God's free choice. His free choice. He's not constrained by anything outside of himself. It's his free choice. This is according to his free choice. And that free choice was purposed, and it was purposed in Now the word for purpose here means to set before, like to set before you. Figuratively, it would be used more to refer to determine. So the fact that it is in himself emphasizes God's will and choices to be entirely his own, just like we read in verse 11, in whom also we've obtained inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will. So this was purposed in himself. Paul is continuing to emphasize God's will and his choices to be entirely his own. And when in His will and purposes, He acts in some way of blessing toward us, it's by His grace. It's not because of anything that we have done. It's not anything that we are putting Him under obligation to do. It's by His grace. Now we go to verse 10. That in the dispensation of the fullness 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. So God's purpose within Himself, what Paul is referring to in this verse is God's purpose within Himself for this creation. And His purpose within Himself for this creation from before the foundation of the world necessarily involves the fall and the need for redemption and forgiveness of sins, which is what he just has been talking about in this immediate context. So this is, he's referring to God's plan for the unifying of everything, gathering together in one all things, whether they're in heaven or in Earth, the unifying of everything. And ultimately, what that means is the restoration of creation under Christ. Christ has the divine human king on the Earth. So that's what he's referring to, God's cosmic plan God's purpose for this creation. Now, this word for dispensation, it means administration, stewardship, something along that line. So God is revealing his plan for the redemption of the creation, the redemption of God's predestinated children is important in God's purpose for redemption of the creation. So Paul refers to this. Let's see, Romans chapter eight, verses 18 to 23. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation, waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. These are the adopted children. In this manifestation, refer to them possessing their inheritance and glorification. For the creature, that's the creation, was made subject to vanity. I like how the consistency of this word in the King James, because vanity is constantly spoken of in Ecclesiastes, and it's the same. And so it's very nice that it is consistent, that it is same. the vanity of this creation. There's a curse, there's a futility to life on this creation. Paul's referring to this. I personally believe that Paul probably has Ecclesiastes somewhat in mind as he writes this part in Romans. Nevertheless, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. He subjected the creation to vanity in hope, meaning that it wasn't that the creation would just be destroyed and just go away, but that it's going to be restored one day. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, this is the vanity that he's talking about, into the glorious liberty of the children of God, those adopted sons and daughters. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also." And this is children of God. Also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, which Paul's gonna talk about in Ephesians, that earnest of the spirit. Even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our bodies, that glorification. that is spoken of. So he said that the redemption of the creation is waiting for this manifestation of the sons of God. And we are waiting on the redemption of our bodies, this restoration of the creation. This is what Paul is talking about. here in verse number 10, talking about this cosmic plan, cosmic eternal purpose of God. So he is in his administration of the fullness of times. Now this word for fullness has the idea of fill up. And so therefore, the idea is complete. The word for times means It could be like seasons or occasions. In other words, the word for times refers to a measure of time. It's a specific period of time, not just time in general. It's a specific period of time. Paul uses this in Acts chapter 17, one of those verses that we memorized. which I guess I could just call on somebody to recite. Acts chapter 17 verse 26. And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. the times, the same word here. And what Paul's talking about is those nations that come and go. God raises up kings and He tears kings down. They're like a drop in the bucket. He has appointed their times, the period in which that nation will exist and it will thrive or whatever that He has appointed and bounds that territorial possession goes back to Deuteronomy and back to Genesis and the table of nations and so on. So the point is is that these times, these are our specific periods of time. That doesn't mean that we know what the specific period of time is because we don't, but they are specific. So in God's plan, so in God's plan, these are specific specific periods. And so in the fullness of those, which means the completion of those, or the fulfillment of those. Paul uses this same phrase a couple different times. Romans chapter number 11, Romans chapter number 11 and verse 25. For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Until that time is fulfilled, this age, this present age we live in, until that time has been fulfilled, this blindness will remain on Israel. He used it in another place in Galatians chapter number 4 and verse number 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. when that time, when that time period came, when the time of that fulfillment came, that's when God sent Christ into the world. So what he's saying here, what Paul's saying is that this will be done when the time for fulfillment comes. This gathering of all things together in Christ That right there, that is going to happen when the time for that fulfillment comes, is what Paul is saying. And this will be this gathering together in one, again, is the unifying of everything in Christ, which would refer again to His exaltation both in heaven and in earth, His exaltation as King, which is a time that will be marked by peace and order in his millennial kingdom, a time that Peter spoke of in Acts chapter 3 and verse number 21. They're on Solomon's porch. Speaking of Jesus Christ, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. So it's the same time that Paul is talking about here, this gathering together in one of all things in Christ. And so that will happen when the time for that fulfillment comes. Alright, so in this we're continuing to see Paul praising God for His blessings, and we have seen a continued emphasis on God's own eternal purpose and His free choice, and that God's plan, with all wisdom and insight, includes everything. There's nothing that exists that is outside of God's plan. And everything has its place, you might say, and its purpose. And all of that's going to be summed up together under Christ throughout the Messianic age to come, and then the eternal ages to follow. So that also means for us, for the us, the we that Paul keeps talking about, that also means for us that there is a future. Just like he said in Romans 8, the creation was not subjected to futility that wasn't in hope, but it was in hope because there is a redemption to come. So the next part begins to talk a little bit about that. future as he starts to talk about that inheritance and such.