Ephesians 1:1-10

(Ephesians 1:1-10)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:  Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

What was God predestined before the creation? Without understanding this, it is not easy to understand the whole Bible. What happened in the kingdom of God and what happened in the Garden of Eden are the same. God is to realize the work of heaven through the work of the earth. What happened in heaven was that Satan sinned against God, so that the evil spirits who followed him were made into a material world and confined to humanity. So it was before the creation of God that God created this world, enclosed humans in the world, and foreordained Christ, to repent and return those who returned to the kingdom of God.

People think, "God knew in advance that humans would sin in the Garden of Eden, and predestined Christ before the foundation of the world, so Christ came into the world to save humans and died on the cross." God knows everything in the past, present and future. So people are simply trying to substitute what God intended for the consequences of human sin. It is really a contradiction. The spirits in the human body were originally God's sons in the kingdom of God. But Satan's temptation, that is, Satan's deception that the spirits can become like God, was put in the dust by God. As mentioned in Jude 1:7 and 2 Peter 2:4, he was imprisoned. Prison is the body of soil. That's why Jesus came to free the prisoners and the blind.

God created this world, and humans in Genesis 2:8. The human is not a spiritual being, but a creature (soul). In other words, the spirit is dead because it is trapped in the body. Humans have lost their relationship with God. So God made the Garden of Eden to eat the fruit of the tree of life. If this world is beautiful and good, why would God have created the Garden of Eden? However, humans have sinned in the Garden of Eden. They fell into the temptation of the serpent (Satan).

 

These are the same things that happened in the kingdom of God. God is telling you to realize through what has happened in the world. Those who realize this and find a way to return to God are the ones who receive grace. The way back to God is to realize the sin of leaving God because you want to be like God, repent, and die with Jesus Christ. Only the dead can return to God. It is the death of the old man (old snake: greed) hidden in the flesh.

『Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world』 The meaning that God gives the land of Canaan to the Israelites is to promise the kingdom of God. In Hebrews 4:8-9, 『For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. "It is not that Canaan is true rest, but that the kingdom of God is true rest." God is not concerned with this world. Satan rules the world. So, God told people not to love this world. God's blessing is not a blessing on earth, but a blessing in heaven. The blessing in heaven is that the believer is saved because he believes in the Son (Christ).

Those who receive the divine blessings of heaven are those who believe that Jesus Christ died for the ransom, and become one with Jesus Christ who died on the cross, and that he is predestined in Christ before the creation. The reason for “being holy and without blemish before him in Christ” is because it is not holy and has blemishes. So, if you go into Christ, you will be sanctified in the sight of God. To enter into Christ, we must be one with Christ who died on the cross. This was planned before creation, but what is not holy before creation? It is because of the sin of Satan in the kingdom of God, and the spirits who were in the kingdom of God were deceived by Satan and sinned against God, so they were not holy.

In Jude 1:6『And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 』 Since the unholy angel took off the garment, the spirit of the angel was trapped in the earth. Darkness is the world. The spirit became trapped in the soil and became human. But God gives them a chance to recover again in Christ. Restoration means becoming sons of God in Christ and returning to the kingdom of God. In order to explain this, Jesus spoke various parables in the Gospels, and the representative is the parable of the prodigal son. The spirit died because the spirit was trapped in the earth, leaving the kingdom of God. It is said that human beings are born as souls. So all humans have been Satan's servants since birth. God has allowed this. However, we cannot return to the kingdom of God until we change from Satan's servant to the Son of God.