SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/14/2018 10:25 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 Intro to Ephesus
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesus
Message of the
verses: In our last SD we were
talking about the letter of Ephesians being a book about Christian riches, and
stated that many believers today do not take advantage of the riches that we
have in Christ Jesus. It is my prayer as
I study this letter that Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus that I can
learn about the riches that I have in Christ Jesus and also help others who
read my blog to learn how to understand about the riches we have in Christ
Jesus and this in turn will help us grow up in Christ.
One of the things that I am trying to understand as I
walk with the Lord is to better understand how I can receive things from the
Lord. What I am trying to say is that I
am not sure that something that was taught to me many years ago when I first
became a believer is true, and that was that we can appropriate all of the
promises that are found in the Word of God by just asking for them. For instance if we can’t sleep at night that
we go to the book of Psalms and read from Psalm 4:8 “In
peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell
in safety.” There are many times when I
can’t sleep at night when I have tried to appropriate this promise and still do
not go to sleep. I have to believe that
there are other factors involved that cause me to stay awake, and perhaps the
Lord has something that He wants to bring to my mind and that is why He has
caused me to stay awake. So as we go
through this letter of Ephesians I don’t want to just claim the promises or
spiritual riches that are found in it unless my heart is right and the Spirit
of God is leading me to claim what I am reading in this letter.
John MacArthur writes “In this book
the word riches is used five times; grace
twelve times; glory eight times; fulness,
filled up, or fills six times; and the key phrase in Christ (or in Him)
fifteen times. Christ is the source, the
sphere, and the guarantee of every spiritual blessing and of all spiritual
riches, and those who are in Him have access to all that He is and has.
“In our union with Jesus Christ, God
makes us ‘fellow heirs with Christ’ (Rom. 8:17) and to be of ‘one spirit with
Him’ (1 Cor. 6:17). When we are ‘in
Christ,’ He is not ashamed to call us brothers (Heb. 2:11) and will share with
us all that He possesses, ‘an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled
and will not fade away, reserved in heaven’ for us (1 Peter. 1:4).
“Our riches are based on Christ’s
grace (1:2, 6-7; 2:7), His peace (1:2), His will (1:5), His kind intention
(1:9), His purpose (1:9, 11), His glory (1:12, 14), His calling (1:18), His
inheritance (1:18), His power (1:19), His love (2:4), His workmanship (2:10),
His Spirit (3:16), His gifts (4:11), His sacrifice (5:2), His strength (6:10),
and His armor (6:11, 13).”
Another
thing that is prominent in this letter is what is “The Mystery of the Church,”
as this also is an important theme found in this letter. I have heard it stated that if one once to
understand the doctrine of the church they have to read and understand this
letter to the Ephesians. “Ephesus
focuses on the basic doctrine of the church—what it is and how believers
function within it.” (MacArthur) “1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of
Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles- 2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of
God’s grace which was given to me for you; 3 that by revelation there was made
known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. 4 And by referring to this, when you read you
can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known
to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the
Spirit (Eph 3:1-5).”
The
church was never heard of until Christ came to earth and because the children
of Israel had rejected Him the church began as seen in Acts chapter two. One has to understand the last part of the 9th
chapter of the book of Daniel where we see a prophecy of 490 years that began
in the second chapter of the book of Nehemiah when Nehemiah was told to go into
Israel and rebuild the temple and also the walls around Jerusalem. This started the prophecy which is about
Israel. It ends in the 19th
chapter of Luke with seven years left on it when Christ came into Jerusalem to
offer Himself as the Jewish Messiah, but the Jews rejected Him and then killed
Him. There are seven years left on this
prophecy and this leaves what is called a gap between when Christ came into
Jerusalem and when the last seven years begin on this prophecy. During this gap the church began and will end
when Christ comes back in the clouds in what we call the Rapture. This ends the church age, which Paul calls a
mystery, something that was not spoken of in the OT even though some say it
was, but they are wrong. Another reason
that the church is a mystery is because in the church there are both Jews and
Gentiles, and one has to understand the prejudice found between Jews and
Gentiles to understand how this is a very big deal.
We
will talk more about this mystery in our next SD.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Israel or Jacob [the same
person])” (Genesis 45:28).
Today’s Bible question: “People of what place thought Paul was a
murderer because a viper attached to his arm?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/14/2018 11:04 PM
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