Ephesians 1:7-10
Being Lavished Upon
These verses are so full of wonder, one can only take in a few at a time. We left off verse six with the Father having “blessed us in the Beloved.” The “Beloved,” of course, is His Son, Jesus Christ. We may safely say from Scripture that the Father blesses no one apart from His Son. As the Mediator, the Son is the “go-between” between us and the Father; we cannot approach the Father in any other way. This is not because the Father is mean; it is simply the fact of our humanity meeting His divinity: One cannot see God and live. This is seen throughout the Old Testament. Then what were all those theophanies about where God appeared to Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the parents of Samson, and Isaiah? The Church has taught that these were manifestations of the pre-incarnate Son appearing as the “angel of the Lord,” and that makes perfect sense. So Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
And what is the substance of the blessing which comes to us through His Son? Redemption through his blood and forgiveness of our trespasses. Redemption speaks to our being ransomed from captivity to sin, the flesh, the devil, and even death and hell itself. And this redemption is through his blood which is the agent of our cleansing—the forgiveness of our sins. We cannot enter heaven unclean; we cannot be in God’s presence unclean. If we will appear before the Father, it will only be through His Son’s precious blood. And this is all “according to the riches of His grace, which he lavished upon us.” I love the ESV’s choice of words, “lavished,” the idea being to overflow without measure. God has overwhelmed us with his grace whereby He redeemed and cleansed us through His Son.
And none of this was on a whim. It is the very nature of God to plan, ordain, and bring to pass. All of this was according to His will. And please note: He set forth this plan in Christ with all wisdom and insight. And this is the mystery revealed to us, not that God’s plans can ever be fully comprehended by us, but that God is so gracious that through His Holy Spirit breathing through His word, He grants us some knowledge of His grand design whereby He shall unite (reconcile) all things to Himself. And it is only fitting that He should do so: He made it all and He wants it all back, but in a redeemed state, not the broken state in which we left it. And this union, or reunion, of God with us and His creation is effected through Christ. This is why God can say that all of this—creation and redemption—are according to His divine wisdom and insight. And all we can do is stand in awe.