In verse 7 of Ephesians 2, Paul is finishing the statement that he begins in verse 4. But I want to back up just for a moment, all the way to the beginning of the chapter, and let’s refresh ourselves as to the progression of Paul’s address here.
He reminds his readers that they were dead in trespasses and sins. Not only that, but the proof of that statement; the evidence in their very persons, was that they walked ~ indicating a deliberation and a willingness on their part to do so ~ according to the course of this world, and even according to the prince of the power of the air, that being Satan himself, of the spirit, says Paul, that even now is actively working in the sons of disobedience.
Now if there is any doubt in the mind of the reader as to whom Paul is referring, and if any are exercising this tendency we all have to read or hear this sort of information and think ‘yeah, that sure does apply to these other people I know’. Or, even worse, to get some vague picture of folks in first century Ephesus, sitting around reading this letter about themselves and forgetting that the Holy Spirit has preserved it for us in the Holy Scriptures because it applies to us also... just in case it might escape our notice, Paul writes, “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”.
So just as clearly as in the first three chapters of his letter to the Romans, in just these first 3 verses of Ephesians 2, Paul has pronounced the condemnation of all mankind, calling them and us ‘children of wrath’, and in effect, signed the death certificate of us all.
If we understand all of this, if we are able to see ourselves in it and agree with Paul that this is so, and that the picture is very dark and bleak indeed, then we have to rejoice and give praises to God when we go on to his next thought and see:
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Whew! What a relief! Can you agree? If you meditate on these opening 6 verses and give conscious thought to the contrast between our utterly hopeless condition of guilt and death before a holy God, and his rich mercy and love and kindness toward us, in making us alive, and raising us up to a place of honor in the heavenly places in his Son, and if you truly understand that it is you, YOU, he is talking about, can you hold yourself back from rejoicing? If so, then you need to take another look. Meditate on it some more.
But we can’t linger here long. There’s something else I want you to see today, and it is far more important than what we’ve contemplated in verses 4 through 6.
You see, the phrase that begins verse 7 {and I think it’s interesting that those who made verse divisions chose this particular place to end verse 6 and begin verse 7}, “So that”, “That”, “In order that”, however your translation puts it, indicates that Paul is about to tell us WHY God did all of this in and through and for us. And I think the reason might surprise you a little.
Listen: “...in order that {so that} in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace...”
THE PURPOSE OF SALVATION’S PLAN, IS TO GLORIFY THE FATHER
We think of salvation as something for us. We think in terms of our sins and our need.
And that too, is in our nature, isn’t it? We always tend to begin our investigation of any new prospect with the question, “what’s in it for me?”, “what are the risks?“ “What will I get out of it?“ “How much of a commitment do I have to make?“ and the message of salvation is no different.
That’s how we present it to people, because it’s really the only way to get their attention. You have a need. Jesus meets that need, and here’s how. If you believe what I’m telling you, here is what you can have.
But if you pay attention to what Paul is saying here, first and foremost, the plan of salvation is to demonstrate the Father’s glory.
We can get a type of this in the account of the Exodus. If you study the account of the Israelites living in bondage in Egypt, and God’s deliverance of them through Moses, you can see a type of all mankind in slavery to sin and to Satan, and Moses as a type of Christ who, having confronted the enemy and defeating him, leads his people to a new life, as a new nation. So continuing with that type, and thinking of all the miracles God did in Egypt in the salvation of His people, what was God’s message to Pharaoh?
“For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth”. Rom 9:17 Ex. 9:16
This is only one place that this sentiment is expressed, but it is one of the best examples. In fact, as I was looking for this verse from Romans, I was amazed to discover that there are so many passages throughout the Bible that talk about God’s glory, and His acts being a demonstration of His power and might. There was no point in trying to list them for you. It would be easier for you just to go and begin at Genesis 1 and see them for yourself as you read through the Bible.
I’ll just offer you this for your meditation later. The first commandment God gave to Moses was that we were to worship no other god. Later, Jesus taught us that there are really only two commandments, and the greater of the two is, “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mk 12:30) And as you consider these, think about Philippians 2:10,11 which tell us that the reason every knee shall bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord, will be that the glory will go to God the Father.
You see, the reason we seldom make the connection between the Father’s glory and the intent of salvation, is because we see salvation as something solely done for us. We were in the mire. We sing it. “He brought me out of the miry clay”. “I was sinking, deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore”. “My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought; my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul”.
And we’re right to emphasize our need and His grace in saving us, of course. But we seldom focus the other way and see the grander reason for salvation.
We must learn to look, not at our individual sins, but at sin historically, and the original attack on God.
OUR SALVATION VINDICATES GOD’S NAME AND CHARACTER
The sinfulness of sin, is that it presumes to lift the creature to the level of the Creator.
Lucifer, one of the three archangels mentioned in scripture, himself a created being, like all other beings other than God Himself, decided he would be above God. Or at the very least, equal with God.
Think of the audacity of this prideful ambition. It’s as absurd as the newly baked, glazed and painted clay pot, saying, “I will now rise to the level of the potter. I will sit in his chair and rule over all the other vessels on the shelf”.
Ludicrous as it sounds though, that same pride and self-absorption is the basis for the sin of all human kind. We want to be our own gods. We want to be obligated and accountable to no other being above ourselves.
Even after we’re saved, the tendencies that arise from this condition still rear their ugly heads.
When we’re reviled, we revile in return. When we’re insulted, we’re hurt. Our feelings are hurt. Our self-pride is injured. We want retribution. We want an apology. And often, even when the apology has been offered and accepted, we hang on to the hurt for a long, long time to come. Because we are just so important to ourselves. We’re a legend in our own mind.
But in reality, The only Being in the universe...the only Person in existence who has a right to be offended, is God Himself.
He spoke all things into existence, and declared His works to be good. Then His works, His creation, turned on Him and willed to be above Him. Only HE has the right to be offended. Only HE is truly wronged.
Satan’s goal from the beginning, has been to discredit God. In the garden of Eden, when he deceived the woman and the man, do you suppose it really meant anything to him that they ate the fruit?
No! He didn’t care one bit for that fruit; he didn’t care one bit for them! The two of them meant little or nothing to him. They were only a means to an end, which was to corrupt the creation that God had called ‘good’, and turn creation away from its Creator.
In his deception of Eve, Satan implied that God was a liar, that He Himself was the real deceiver, and that He was simply jealous and afraid Adam and Eve would know as much as He knows.
You see? Satan was appealing to that pride of self; that sinful desire to be god.
But see how the plan of salvation reverses that process and vindicates God’s name.
First, as Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out, there are things about God we could never have known, had it not been for the Fall and the implementation of God’s plan of salvation.
Paul lists several of the primary ones, right here in Ephesians 2.
God is rich in mercy. How could we ever have known this about Him, if He had no reason to demonstrate mercy? But we were walking according to the course of this world. We lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. For these things we deserved death and eternal separation from a holy God.
But He is RICH IN MERCY. And He demonstrated His mercy in that He paid our penalty for us on Calvary’s cross.
Secondly, He loved us with a great love.
Now, I am confident that Adam knew of God’s love. And I am confident that the angels know of God’s love, and in a sense, both they and Adam knew His love on the same basis; although the angels probably understood it a little bit more than Adam.
But because of the Fall of man and God’s plan of salvation to redeem him back, now we know that God’s love is great! Only those who have been dead in sin, made alive in Christ, and seated with Him in the heavenly places can fully appreciate this great love. Now, even the angles will watch in wonder, as the glorified saints gather round the Throne and sing the song of God’s redeemed, and of His great love with which He loved us.
“Amazing love, how can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”
-C. Wesley
Another thing we never would have understood about God unless we had need of it, is His grace. The surpassing riches of His grace. “By grace you have been saved”.
MacKintosh writes, “Grace assures us that all our interests, for time and eternity, have been most fully provided for in the death and resurrection of Christ, and gives us to see that our only business now is to live to the praise of Him who died for us, and rose again.”
The marvelous, infinite, grace of God was most perfectly and grandly demonstrated in the death and resurrection of His only Son, for us. People, I have been a Christian ignorant of grace. The road to learning it was rough, and filled with pot holes and sink holes and ruts and false turns, and discouraging obstacles, mostly of my own making.
But having finally learned of the surpassing riches of His grace, I have to say that I would travel that road again and change nothing, if I had it to do over and knew that at the end of it was realization of God’s grace.
And this is why our salvation vindicates God’s name and character. Satan turned creation against the Creator, by casting aspersions on His motives and calling Him a liar.
But God’s plan of redemption demonstrates fully, His mercy, and His love, and His grace, all poured out freely on undeserving, rebellious, sinful mankind, and shows Him to be all goodness and kindness and compassion...and deserving of our highest praise forever.
THE MERCY AND LOVE AND GRACE OF GOD DEMONSTRATED IN SALVATION IS NOT JUST FOR THE MOMENT.
I want you to stop and contemplate this statement; “...in order that in the ages to come, He might show...”
I was curious about this phrase, “...the ages to come...” and what the implications were for us. Why would Paul word it in that way?
So I did a little word study, and what I discovered was that this word, ‘ages’, does not actually denote any specific time or duration. In fact, it is just the opposite.
Vine’s dictionary of New Testament words says that this Greek word we translate ‘ages’, denotes a time of undetermined duration. The ancient Greeks used this word by way of contrast with that which will come to an end.
So to put it in terms we can most readily understand, I might paraphrase the verse to say, “in order that forever and without end, He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
What are the implications of this? Why, they are endless!
But go to the book of Revelation with me for a moment, and turn to chapter 7.
Look on with me while I read verse 9 and 10 to you;
“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’.”
Now go to verse 13
“And one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and from where have they come?’”
Now when I read Ephesians 2:7, and see that forever and without end God’s rich mercy and great love and surpassing grace will be demonstrated in and through you and me, in Christ, I get a picture of all the principalities and powers...all the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies... and more... creatures that are out there somewhere of which we know nothing yet, but which we will rule and reign over in Christ... all of them, and forever, looking at this great multitude of the redeemed and asking, “Who are these? Where did they come from?”
And the answer going forth perpetually into eternity, “these are those objects of the Father’s pleasure...recipients of His great mercy and fathomless love, and the surpassing riches of His grace, whereby He made them alive from the dead, and raised them up to a place of honor, on the throne of His Christ.”
And forever and without end, God’s name will be vindicated through the glorified, church, triumphant.
Lastly, I want you to think about;
WHO YOU ARE IN THE LIGHT OF THIS SURPASSING GRACE
The first thing you must realize is that none of this has anything to do with your goodness, or your efforts, or your deserving.
If you think that way, then you have missed the point entirely. Worse, if you think that way, then you also have to think that you must continue to be a certain way and do certain things in order to maintain this status with God.
Nothing could be farther from the truth, or more harmful to the success of your Christian walk.
And if you’re not a believer; if you’ve never confessed your sin and received God’s gift of grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then thinking your salvation is in any part, to any degree, dependant on you, will only keep you from salvation.
You are saved by the surpassing riches of God’s grace and kindness, through Jesus Christ, alone. That’s all you can say. But if you can say that, then what you can say of yourself is that you are the demonstration of God’s mercy and love and grace; a demonstration that is perpetual and without end.
Think of yourself like this. You are a jewel that God has dug out of the deepest parts of the earth. He has extracted you from the foreign substances and minerals in which you were encased, and He has perfectly cut and polished you, and set you in settings of finest gold, and held you up to the light of His grace for all to see.
As one of His jewels, you will show forth His glory... put it another way, ... He will shine forth His glory through you, forever.
My prayer for you, is that God will open your spiritual eyes and give you a vision of what you really are, in Christ, now.
Somehow, Christians, we have to break away from our propensity to see all things according to the flesh, and be kept earthbound in our ignorance.
I will harp on this until God shuts my human mouth for the final time; Over and over again throughout scripture; in the words of Jesus Himself, and in the writings of the New Testament authors, God’s people and what His plan and purpose is in them is referred to either in PAST, or in PRESENT tense.
He MADE you alive together with Christ. He RAISED you up with Him, and SEATED you with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
What Satan accomplished in his deception in the garden ~ what came about from Adam’s failure; sin entering into the world and death through sin ~ we see as having terrible and long-term results. It’s the only world we’ve ever known. It encompasses all the history of mankind.
But look through the eyes of faith; look, not at this present life you are living, or the historical records of past decades or centuries, but adopt an eternal mind-set, and realize today that compared to eternity, the history of this world...the history of the slandering of God’s name...the history of sin itself, is a blink.
Can we wrap our brains around this? No, I think it’s too large. It’s too great. That the Holy, Omnipotent, merciful, compassionate, judge of all, would use us, His very enemies, as the instruments with which to vindicate His own name... and to do so by blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
When Jesus Christ accomplished your salvation by His death and resurrection, according to the Father’s rich mercy, and great love, from that moment on and forever without end, the Father’s Name is vindicated, and throughout the ages of eternity you and I, the recipients of His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, are a living demonstration of the surpassing riches of His grace.
Not at some future, far off date, Believer, but now. That’s what you are.
See yourself that way, Christian, and let God wean you away from this world and it’s trappings, and go on to glory.
