The Guarantee of Our Inheritance (Eph. 1:13b-14a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/23/2018 9:56 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus: The Guarantee of Our Inheritance

 

Bible Reading & Mediation                                                              Reference:  Eph. 1:13b-14a

 

            Message of the verses:  “you were sealed in Him with the Holly Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance.”

 

            “The Guarantee of Our Inheritance” is the second main section in the outline from John MacArthur’s commentary.  In this second main point we will find two sub-sections, and in today’s SD we want to look at the introduction and then perhaps begin to look at the first sub-section “God’s Seal.”

 

            In the world that we live in we would like guarantees when it comes to things in our life.  However even if we are given a guarantee from men, and even if they swear to it, or take an oath to fulfill the agreement, or even give us their assurance that what they will do will happen it does not always happen for various reasons, and some of those reasons are outright lies.

 

            When we look at God’s Word we know for sure that what He says He will do because God cannot lie.  As MacArthur writes “His graciousness He makes His promises even more certain—if that were possible—by giving us His own guarantees.  Here the Lord guarantees His promises with His seal and with His pledge.  This is reminiscent of Hebrews 6:13-18, in which God gives His promise of blessing and then confirms it with an oath to provide what the Holy Spirit calls ‘strong encouragement’ (v. 18) to all who hope in Christ.”  I think that we will take the time to look at Hebrews 6:13-18 at this time: 

“13  For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, "I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU." 15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”

 

            We will now begin looking at the first sub-section “God’s Seal.”

 

            As we looked at the passage from Hebrews we saw that the writer of Hebrews was writing at first about Abraham, and the promises that God gave to Abraham.  Now we know that in Abraham’s life time he did not receive the promises that God gave to him, and many of those promises have yet to be fulfilled, but we know that because God was the One who gave those promises that they will one day all be fulfilled.  In the same way when we become a believer in Jesus Christ, when we are born from above that all of the promises that God gives to believers will not be fulfilled while we are on this earth in this human body we occupy.  Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:3-4 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.”  The highlighted portion is what we want to focus in on for our purposes today in looking at many of the promises that God has given to us which will be fulfilled for us “in heaven.”  I suppose that because of this truth that there are times when we sort of loose faith, and even think that these promises of our inheritance will not ever be fulfilled, but that is not the case as all of the inheritance we have that we have been learning about will all be fulfilled.  MacArthur writes “While we are still in this life our redemption is not complete, because we still await ‘the redemption of our body’ (Rom. 8:23).  Because we have not yet received full possession of our inheritance, we may question its reality or at least its greatness.”

 

            We can see from the first portion of our verse today the following items which gives us hope “you were sealed in Him with the Holly Spirit of promise.”  Every believer, at the moment of His salvation has been given the Person of the Holy Spirit of God as Paul declares in Romans 8:9 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”  Notice that only those who truly have been born-again are given the Holy Spirit.  This is an incredible to think that every believer has the Holy Spirit making them “the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in [him]” as seen in 1 Corinthians 6:19.

 

            We will continue looking at this amazing truth in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for those many promises that have to do with my salvation that I will receive as an inheritance when I hopefully meet the Lord in the air (1 Thes. 3:13-18).

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Holy Spirit of God to guide me, especially as I study His Word, so that He can show me the truths that He wants me to see so I can learn by them and also pass them onto those who read my blogs and who are in my Sunday school class.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He raised him from the dead” (2 Kings 4:18-37).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “What does James 4:17 call the circumstances of ‘Knowing to do good and doing it not’?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

11/23/2018 10:46 AM

PT-2 "The Human Perspective" (Eph. 1:12, 13a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/22/2018 11:18 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-2 “The Human Perspective”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 1:12a, 13a

 

            Message of the verses:  “to the end that we who were first to hope in Christ…In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed.”

 

            In the United States of America today we celebrate “Thanksgiving Day,” a day that was designed to give thanks to the Lord that actually dates back to when the pilgrims landed on our shore and found themselves in trouble until some friendly American Indians helped them survive by instructing them to grow food.  As the harvest came the new settlers along with the Indians were thankful, and they gave thanks to the Lord. 

 

            As we have been looking at both the Divine and Human perspectives on our salvation I can think of nothing better to do on this Thanksgiving Day than to praise the Lord for the wonderful gift of salvation that He has offered to us.  We will now continue to look at the human perspective in today’s SD.

 

            In the first part of our verses today, that is verse 12a we see the word hope, and that word actually comes after the word faith in the chronological and the theological way we are saved, but Paul is actually using this word hope as a synonym of faith in this passage.  The first to hope in Christ were the first to believe in Him.

 

            Now we move on to verse 13a where Paul continues “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed.”  The Apostle Paul explains in his letter to the Romans “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”  MacArthur writes “Faith comes from a positive response to the message of truth, the gospel, the good news that God has provided a way of salvation through the atoning work of His Son. To ‘as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name’ (John 1:12).  Man-made systems of religion, which rely on ritual or works or both, not only do not lead to God but can become great barriers to finding Him.  The only way to come is through His Son, ‘10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’ ‘Having also believed not only stresses the means by which salvation is appropriated but also the uniformity of such means by the use of ‘also.’”

 

            In conclusion to this section we can say that faith is man’s response to God’s elective purpose.  God chooses men through election, and then man’s choice of God is faith.  In election God gives His promises, and by faith men receive those promises.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to wish all a very happy Thanksgiving Day in the truest sense of the meaning of this wonderful holiday.  I am so very thankful for the salvation that God has given to me and my prayer is that all who read this SD will also have that wonderful hope that all true believers have.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will continue to unlock the great truths that are found in this great book of Ephesians.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Christ.”

 

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Elisha do for the Shunammite woman’s son?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

11/22/2018 11:45 AM

PT-1 "The Human Perspective" (Eph. 1:12a, 13a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/21/2018 10:25 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-1 “The Human Perspective”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 1:12a, 13a

 

            Message of the verses:  “to the end we who were first to hope in Christ…In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of you salvation—having also believed,”

 

            In this SD we move from the divine perspective of inheritance to the human perspective of inheritance.  Once again I need to quote from John MacArthur for us to understand the Greek in this section:  “In the Greek text this passage is continuous, the last part of verse 12 leading directly into verse 13.  Here we see the believer’s divine inheritance in Jesus Christ from our own human perspective. 

 

            In earlier SD’s I have mentioned the tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s will and we come upon this tension more than once in this book of Ephesians.  I have stated that early on in my Christian life that I felt that it was man who was the one to determine whether or not he becomes a believer in Jesus Christ for salvation, and then a bit later I began reading books on the sovereignty of God and then totally believed that it was all up to God who would be saved.  Now later on in my walk with the Lord I began to believe both views, that is that God chose me before the earth was formed, and that I was the one who had to accept the effectual call of the Holy Spirit in order to be saved.  Yes both are true, and yes we will never be able to understand it while we are in our earthly bodies.  John MacArthur writes “We know the truths are in perfect accord in God’s mind, and that knowledge should satisfy us.”  He then tells the story of what someone versioned when they got to heaven and saw a sign as then entered which read “Whosoever will may come,” and after you enter heaven you look back to the same sign and read on the other side, “Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.”

            “Whatever God’s reasons for designing such humanly irreconcilable truths, we should thank and praise Him for them.  For the very reason that they are completely true while seeming to be contradictory, we are humbled in His presence as we stand in awe of that which to us is incomprehensible.  To the trusting believer such truths are but further evidence that Scripture is God’s doing, and not man’s.”  I suppose this one truth among many which shows that it was not man who wrote the Word of God, but that is that it was not man’s idea as Peter tells us that men were moved along by the Spirit of God to write His Word.

 

            “To the end we who were first to hope in Christ” is the first statement given here about the human side of our divine inheritance in Christ.  MacArthur writes that “The Greek has a definite article before Christ, and a more literal translation is ‘hope in the Christ.’  The meaning is not changed, but the definite article emphasizes the uniqueness of our hope:  it is in the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ.  It also stresses the idea that the apostles and other first-generation Jewish believers were the first to receive the Messiah.”

 

            This is a very heavy portion of Scripture and so I think that this is all that I can write about today and will hope to finish this section in our next SD.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jehu” (2 Kings 9:20).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “What does Matthew depict not only as the greatest prophet and lawgiver, but also as fulfilling the Law and the Prophets?

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

11/21/2018 11:02 AM

           

PT-2 "The Divine Perspective" (Eph. 1:11, 12b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/20/2018 10:48 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-2 “The Divine Perspective”

 

Bible Reading & Mediation                                                          Reference: Ephesians 1:11, 12b  

 

            Message of the verses:  “having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we…should be to the praise of His glory.”

 

            In our last SD we mentioned why these verses are out of order, that is because the way we read them in this SD is the way they were in the original Greek.  Also we stated that “The Divine Perspective” is a sub-section under the main section “The ground of our inheritance,” and in our last SD we looked at the first sub sub-section “God’s predestination.”  Now in today’s SD we want to begin by looking at the next section “God’s power” which comes from “who works all things after the counsel of His will.”

 

            When we look at the Greek for the word “works” we come up with the following meanings:

 “1) to be operative, be at work, put forth power

1a) to work for one, aid one

2) to effect

3) to display one’s activity, show one’s self operative.”

 

            The English words that come from this Greek word include energy, energetic, and energize.  MacArthur writes that “God’s creating and energizing are one in His divine mind.  When he spoke each part of the world into existence it began immediately to operate precisely as He had planned it to do.  Unlike the things we make, God’s creations does not have to be redesigned, prototyped, tested, fueled, charged, and the like.  They are not only created ready to function, they are created functioning.”

 

            We may not think a lot about the energizing aspect of God’s creation, none the less it is very important and is an indispensable part of His creative plan and work.  MacArthur adds “God works out what He plans.  He energizes every believer with all the power necessary for his spiritual completion.  It is not sufficient to think that God only makes the plan.  He also makes it work out.”  Paul speaks about this in Phil. 1:6 where he wrote “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  This plan of God for believers is a part of His wonderful grace as God chose us to be His children, citizens of His kingdom and joint heirs with His Son, and that sounds too good to be true, however every word of it is true.  I pray that we can wrap our arms around this truth and live like we are in God’s eyes.  I once heard a sermon a very long time ago entitled “Becoming what you Are,” and the point of the sermon is to live like God sees us, as it is a part of being heavenly minded.

 

            God’s preeminence:  “should be to the praise of His glory.”  I mentioned this above that this phrase in verse 12 should be first as it is in the Greek text, and that order fits logically with what Paul has been saying about God’s perspective on our inheritance. 

            The following is a rather long quote, but it is the only way that I can do justice to what this section is about:

 

“The Lord’s perspective and working are seen in His predestination, in His power, and as we see here, in His preeminence.  Man is redeemed for the purpose of restoring the divine image marred by sin.  Because God’s intention in creating men was that they should bear the divine image, salvation’s goal is creation’s goal.  God desires creatures that will give Him glory by both proclaiming and displaying His glory.  For that reason He redeems men.

            “Scripture always presents salvation from God’s side, in order that He should have full credit.  In our humanly-oriented society, God’s wanting exclusive credit seems inappropriate—but only because men have no concept of His greatness, holiness, and glory.  What views they may have of Him are simply projections of themselves.  The praise and glory that men so much desire are totally undeserved, and their motives for wanting them are purely sinful.  But God seeks glory for the right reasons and because He alone is deserving of it.  His seeking glory is a holy desire of which He is supremely and singly worthy.

            “Our predestined salvation, including our attendant eternal and boundless blessings, are therefore designed that ‘they should be to the praise of His glory.’”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I am studying in the past month things that speak of God’s great gift of salvation along with all of these wonderful blessings that He has given to us and wondering what to make of them I think that in this last section the light has finally come on and all of these gifts, including the greatest gift of salvation is to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ who has provided all of this to me as a believer.  As MacArthur states that they are designed that “they should be to the praise of His glory.” 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be determined to live my life to the praise of His glory who deserves it all.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Upon the sun.”

 

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was noted for fast driving?”  (This is a difficult question as it surely stumped me, and so the clue I will give is that this man was a king in the divided nation of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.)

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

11/20/2018 11:38 AM

 

 

 

The Divine Perspective (Eph. 1:11, 12b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/19/2018 9:14 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  PT-1 “The Divine Perspective”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 1:11, 12b

 

            Message of the verses:  “having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we…should be to the praise of His glory.”

 

            John MacArthur writes the following to show us why we are looking at the makeup of the verses as seen above:  “Our discussion here will follow the order of the Greek text of verse 12, in which (as reflected in the King James Version) should be to the praise of His glory precedes ‘who were the first to hope in Christ’ (which phrase will be discussed below in relation to the human perspective).”

 

            God’s perspective on our inheritance which is in Christ is here shown in His predestination, along with His power, and also His preeminence.

 

            We will first look at God’s predestination where we read “having been predestined according to His purpose.”  Predestination is one of those words that has given a Christians much trouble, but we have to look at it because it is here.  “To predetermine, decide beforehand “To foreordain, appoint beforehand.” “In the NT of God decreeing from eternity.”  These are the definitions for the English words “having been predestined” that are in the Greek as one word.

 

            As believers in Jesus Christ we are what we are because of what God chose to make us, and this happened before man was created.  Even though we are vile, rebellious, useless, and deserving only of death, from eternity past God has declared every elect sinner, the ones who have trusted in His Son would be made as righteous even as the One in whom believers have put their trust in.  We looked at this subject before in verse four where we read “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”

 

            John MacArthur quotes William Hendriksen on this passage which is helpful to us in order to better understand the passage.

 

“Neither fate nor human merit determines our destiny.  The benevolent purpose—that we should be holy and faultless (verse 4), sons of God (verse 5), destined to glorify Him forever (verse 6, cf. verses 12 and 14)—is fixed, being part of a larger universe-embracing plan.  Not only did God make this plan that includes absolutely all things that ever take place in heaven, on earth, and in hell; past present, and even the future, pertaining to both believers and unbelievers, to angels and devils, to physical as well as spiritual energies and units of existence both large and small; he also wholly carries it out. His providence in time is an comprehensive as is His decree from eternity.”

 

            We have a few more sub, sub-sections to look at before we finish “the divine perspective” and Lord willing we will look at them tomorrow.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today: When I look at the words that describe humanity as seen above I can’t help but think of a few things.  God’s love, sovereignty, and grace are just a few things that I think of along with if God was going to do this as He has; He only has these kinds of sinful people to work with.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to make me able to walk in the Lord in order to fulfill the purposes that He has for me while on planet earth.

 

Answer to our last Bible question:  “Jacob” (Genesis 25:31).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did the forth angel in Revelation 16:8 pour out his vile?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

11/19/2018 9:45 PM

PT-2 "The Ground of Our Inheritance" (Eph. 1:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/17/2018 10:05 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                   Focus: PT-2 “The Ground of Our Inheritance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 1:11

 

            Message of the verse:  “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,”

 

            The following quote from John MacArthur speaks to what I said we would look at in our Spiritual Diary for today:  “We have obtained an inheritance’ translates a single compound word in the Greek (eklerothemen).  When something in the future was so certain that it could not possibly fail to happen, the Greeks would often speak of it as if it had already occurred (as here, where Paul uses the aorist passive indicative).”

 

            There is a similar Greek word in chapter two which speaks of “seated us with Him in the heavenly places” (v-6) however this word is in the aorist active indicative tense of the verb, but means something similar in that God views us as already there “seated us with Him in the heavenly places.”  This is future, but because God says it will happen I believe He sees it as happening.  One of those things we have to take by faith, knowing that one day it will happen.

 

            John MacArthur writes:  “The passive form of the verb in 1:11a allows for two possible renderings, both of which are consistent with other Scripture.  It can be translated ‘were made an inheritance’ or, as here, ‘have obtained an inheritance.’  The first rendering would indicate that we, this, believers, are Christ’s inheritance.  Jesus repeatedly spoke of believers as gifts that the Father had given Him (John 6:37, 39; 10:29; 17:2, 24; etc.)  Jesus won us at Calvary—as the spoils of His victory over Satan, sin, and death—and we now belong to Him.  ‘And they will be Mine, ‘says the Lord of hosts ‘on the day that I prepare My own possession’’ (Mal. 3:17).  From eternity past the Father planned and determined that every person who would trust in His Son for salvation would be given to His Son as a possession, a glorious inheritance.

 

            “Translated the other way, however, this word means the opposite:  it is believers who receive the inheritance.  Peter speaks of our having been ‘born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for [us]’ (1 Pet. 1:3-4).”

 

            Now if both of these are grammatically and theologically legitimate true, then how do we know which one is the best in verse 11:1a?  We know that we are “In Christ” as we have been looking at throughout this very long sentence in the Greek as it is repeated many times.  We see in Scripture that believers are spoken of as belonging to God, and He is spoken of as belonging to them. 

 

            MacArthur concludes:  “The practical side of that truth is that, because we are identified with Christ, our lives should be identified with His life (cf. 1 John 2:6).  We are to love as He loved, help as He helped, care as He cared, share as He shared, and sacrifice our own interests and welfare for the sake of others just as He did.  Like our Lord, we are in the world to lose our lives for others.

 

            “Although either rendering of eklerothemen can be supported, Paul’s emphasis in Ephesians 1:3-14 makes the second translation more appropriate here:  ‘we have obtained an inheritance.’  Our inheritance with Christ is yet another of the amazing magnificent blessings with which the Father has blessed us in the Son.”

 

            One more quote before we end this SD which has to do with where we are going after finishing this first main-section and move onto the first sub-section under it.

 

            “Jesus Christ is therefore the ground of the inheritance that we have obtained.  Paul first shows that inheritance from the divine perspective and then from the human.”  In our next SD, Lord willing, we will begin to look at the Divine Perspective from 1:11, and 12b.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can’t help but remember when I was studying John 17 that Jesus said “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”  It seems to me that I, as a believer, am in Christ and He is in Me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to give me insight into the 13^th chapter of Revelation as I teach from that chapter tomorrow.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus came riding on the colt of a donkey” (Luke 19:29-35).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘Sell me this day your birthright’?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

11/17/2018 10:42 AM

The Ground of Our Inheritance (Eph. 1:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/16/2018 10:37 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  The Ground of Our Inheritance

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 1:11

 

            Message of the verses:  “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,”

 

            As we begin this SD there are a couple of things I want to point out before we jump into this verse.  First of all the “In Him” is at the end of verse ten, but fits better at the beginning of verse eleven.  Second the title of this SD “The Ground of Our Inheritance” is actually the first  main point and covers verses 1:11-13a, but there are going to be two sub-sections that follow our discussion on verse eleven.  It is unlikely that we get through this first section today, but we will see.

 

            We have gone over this phrase “In Him” in earlier SD’s and said that it means that all believers are in Christ, but there is another side to this and that is that He is in us, something we will write about later on.  We have mentioned that because we are In Him that we have what He has.  As far as in verse eleven begin In Him speaks of Jesus Christ being the ground or source of our divine “inheritance.”  The following quote from John MacArthur should make all of us who read it think:  “Apart from Jesus Christ, the only ultimate and eternal thing a person can receive from God is condemnation.”  We have talked about what can be described as “common grace” which all people on planet earth receive from God, things like sunshine, rain, and many other things that all men receive, however the spiritual blessings that come from God are bestowed only on those who are “In Him.”  There are some verses that we have already looked at that go along with this theme:

 

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:1).” 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him (Eph. 1:3-4).” 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace (Eph. 1:6-7).” 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth (Eph. 1:10).”

 

            In the sixth chapter of the book of Romans Paul gives the spiritual biography of every believer:  “1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection (Romans 6:1-5).”  These verses show us what happened to us when we were saved, and all that we have is because of Jesus Christ, and the fact that we are “In Him.”

 

            John MacArthur writes the following as he comments on these verses from Romans six:  “By a marvelous miracle that only God can comprehend, every believer has been to the cross of Calvary, been nailed there spiritually with the Savior, and been buried and raised with Him.  Jesus Christ not only was crucified, buried, and raised for every believer but with every believer.  Not only that, but ‘we know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is’ (1 John 3:2).  On that glorious day we will finally and fully ‘become conformed to the image of His Son’ (Rom. 8:29).”

 

            I will just give a little preview of what we will be looking next as we look at verse eleven and it has to do with the words “We have obtained an inheritance,” and these five words are actually one compound word in the Greek language: “Eklerothemen.”  We will look at this word and see two different possibilities of how it can be used in verse eleven.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Understanding or should I say better understanding of the inheritance that I have “In Christ,” has caused me to think about it and to praise the Lord for all that I am “In Christ.”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to cause me to better understand what I am studying in this first chapter of Ephesians.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “All things” (Hebrews 2:8).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “How did Jesus come into Jerusalem at His triumphal entry?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

11/16/2018 11:14 AM