The Coming Ages
Ephesians 2:4-11
As dads, we often say that we are doing things now for the good they will bring in the future. If you turn your young one over your knee, you say “I’m doing this for your own good”. When we teach our kids to save, we want them to be good stewards of what God gives, and teach them what they need to know for the future, the coming ages.
I think we’re kind of conditioned so that when we see the words “coming ages” in scripture, we automatically think of heaven. After all, we’re familiar with the Patriarchal age, the Mosaic age, the age between the testaments, the Church age and other ages that scholars over the years have assigned to history. And we all know that the age to come is the one that follows the second coming, when judgment occurs and we spend eternity with the Father in heaven.
But this is different.
What are the coming ages? And what is it that God wants to show us in them? Is Paul referring to heaven, or something else? Let’s take a few minutes to examine this passage, and see what Paul may have meant when he said these things.
First, verse four starts with the word, “but”. “4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy… ”
Many, many times in my life I’ve heard people say, “I can’t come to God right now, because my life is a mess”. Paul starts this great passage on the grace and mercy of our loving Father by telling us just how awful we are without Him.
Paul doesn’t attribute this state to anything in particular; no specific sin is included. Paul simply states that we are dead in sin because of the absence of God. No matter how we might be able to straighten up, if we’re without God, we’re dead in sin.
Take another look at those first three verses:
1. “Dead in transgressions and sins”
2. “Followed the ways of the world”
3. “and the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Satan)
4. “following the sinful nature”
5. “all of us”
Nothing in these verses refers to specific sins. The point in these three verses is what “all of us” were following. If you’re following anything other than the one true God, then you’re dead. So no matter what condition your life is in; even if its appearance is good, who are you following?
So even though we may have once been children of wrath, God, who is rich in mercy, and because of His great love for us:
• Verse 5, ASV: “even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved)”
• NKJV: “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)
• NIV: “made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
Even though we were children of wrath, or in other words our heritage was wrath; even though we followed the prince of the power of the air, God made us alive “together with Christ”. The NIV misses the point here just a bit. What it says is true, that God made us alive in Christ, but that’s not the whole point. This is an allusion to Ephesians 1:5, in which we are adopted sons, and verse 14 which describes us a heirs; we were children of wrath but now, by the grace and mercy and great love of the Father we have a new heritage, a new father who has replaced wrath with love.
Verse 6 then takes on a new perspective when we look at the new Father we have. This phrase “raised us up” now takes on three different applications: first, it refers to the resurrection; we are raised up with Christ; second it refers to being raised up to sit next to Christ in the heavenly places; third, it refers to being raised up as a father raises up his children. We have been raised up to a new life by the resurrection, raised up to sit in a new dwelling place by virtue of a new father (after all, when you’re adopted you don’t stay in the old house), raised up as a brother of the king; following Him instead of being a child of wrath and following that parent, the prince of the powers of the air.
Do you see how this is establishing the new heritage we have in Christ? We have new relationships because our new Father has adopted us away from that old parent because of His great love mercy and grace for us.
And now here comes verse seven. “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus:”
The NIV says it this way, “…in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
Consider the word “show” in this verse. Other possibilities for translating ‘show’ here are ‘exhibit’ or ‘prove’. If we follow the line of reasoning that Paul is demonstrating our adoption to a new heritage, and if we believe that in heaven there will be nothing left to ‘prove’, so to speak, then we can reasonably apply this to succeeding generations. In the first Christians we see the first generation of those who exhibit or prove or show the great love, grace and mercy of God. In each succeeding generation, or in other words, the ages to come, God intends to continue to show his mercy, grace and love “expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” We are the spiritual ancestors of the first Christians, charged with exhibiting the great love of God to the world. God’s mercy, grace and love are expressed, to the world, in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
On to verses eight and nine: “For by grace have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast”.
Once again Paul warns his readers that this new found heritage is not because of anything man can accomplish. It is not of works, so that no one has any reason to glory in his ability to believe or behave. When we express to the world the His kindness, grace, mercy and love it is for His glory, not our own.
Think about what Paul is saying. A former Pharisee of the strictest sect of the Pharisees, of great education, a former persecutor of the Way and an up-and-coming force in the political spectrum of the Jews, Paul was destined to spend his life glorying in what he was and in his works, just as so many Pharisees did. Now this same Paul tells the Ephesians and all who read his writing, by the Holy Spirit, that no one can earn this new heritage. It is the gracious, merciful gift of a loving adoptive Father who paid a terrible price for the right to have us as his own. The experience on the road to Damascus was greater than any past preparation or any future glory for this Pharisee. Paul saw the value of being in the heritage of God.
In verse ten he concludes the thought by saying, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” The word “workmanship” is the Greek word “poiema”, and can be translated “a thing made,” or “poem”, or a masterpiece. We are God’s poem, his masterpiece. His truth is revealed in his heritage, the church. That is, after all, what a masterpiece is. It is the piece by which you judge all other pieces of its type. He has intended all along to, generation after generation, show or exhibit or prove his great love, mercy and grace to the world through us, the peak of all he planned throughout the ages. All other religions must be compared to the masterpiece that God has set forth in His church.
You see, if we limit this passage, referring only to the afterlife, we miss all it means for this life.
So let’s review:
1. We were formerly children of wrath, following the Prince of the Power of the Air
2. “But God…” Because of His great grace, mercy, and love for us, God adopted us away from that former heritage
3. “together with Christ”, we are brothers of the King, children of the Father, adopted sons; we have a new heritage, and a new inheritance
4. We are raised up:
• To a new life
• To a new dwelling place
• With a new Father to follow
5. We have new relationships
6. We prove, exhibit, or show the world as the succeeding generations of those first Christians, the great love, mercy and grace the Father has given us in Christ Jesus.
7. None of this belongs to us; we can take no credit for it; the glory belongs to God.
8. And the purpose of it all is so that we can be God’s poem of grace, mercy and love to the world.
So, what kind of life should that inspire in us? Knowing that we are God’s Poem of Grace to the world, how should that change the way we live? God has entrusted the future of succeeding generations, the coming ages, to us, just as he trusted our generation to those before. How should we then live?
What does a poem do, anyway?
Poetry, more than any other form of writing, shows us the heart of the writer. Prose isn’t set to music, poetry is. Look at the poetry of David in the Psalms, and how it lays out his heart to all those who read it. It displays his heart, filled with anger, desperation, contentment, love, awe, and every other emotion to all who are willing to read.
Can the world read the poetry God in us?
When Barnabas went to Antioch in Acts 11, verse 23 says “23When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.”
The believers in Antioch were living evidence of God’s grace.
Look at 2 Thessalonians 11-12; “11With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 12We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The things we do prompted by our faith display the grace of God.
Titus 3:7-8 says “7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”
If we trust God, we display his grace by devoting ourselves to doing good.
I Peter 1:10 says “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
Think about that! Grace is not some intangible thing; it is something to be administered. We administer God’s grace by serving others using the gifts God has given us.
In II Corinthians 8:7 Paul says we show God’s grace in our giving.
In Colossians 4:6 our conversation is to be full of grace. We often think of that as the absence of bad stuff in our speech, but that is empty, not full. Our speech is to be full of grace, displaying God’s grace, not the absence of sin.
In James 4:6, God’s grace is displayed in humility. Are we living with humility toward one another? Or are we busy enforcing our own will in the God’s family, demanding our own way or puffing ourselves up as righteous?
Finally I want to read some verses from Jude to you.
Verses 3 and 4; Jude is contending for the faith delivered once for all, a heritage to be passed down from generation to generation among believers.
Verse 10; People without faith condemn everything they don’t understand.
Verse 16; these people are characterized as murmurers and complainers. They are people who find fault with those who are acting out of faith.
Verse 19; Grace is not divided. People who are not displaying God’s grace cause divisions.
Verses 20-23; by contrast, those exhibiting God’s grace are building up their faith, praying in the Spirit, keeping themselves in love, looking forward to the eternal mercy of Christ, having mercy on others and snatching people from the fire.
In Conclusion:
Has your live been a living poem of the grace of God?
Make the change today that will show God’s grace in your life, whether it is loving your brothers, humility, promoting peace in the family, or whatever it may be, with God’s help this family and each of us individually can become poems of the grace of God.
Are you in the grace of God, or standing on the outside looking in? Turn to him today.
