Cause Enough for Rejoicing

Paul says, “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” (Ephesians 1:3). Paul is telling us, in essence, “All who follow Jesus are blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, where Christ is.” What an incredible blessing.

Paul wrote this epistle to “the faithful in Christ Jesus” (1:1) — believers who were sure of their salvation. The Ephesians had been well trained in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope of eternal life. They knew who they were in Christ and were assured of their heavenly position in him. They fully understood that God had raised Jesus from the dead and set him at the Father’s right hand (1:20); they knew they had been chosen by God from before the foundation of the world (1:4); and they grasped that they had been adopted by Jesus Christ to himself (1:5).

When the Ephesians heard the word of truth, they believed and trusted it. Indeed, they were grounded in the truth that they were made to “sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6). In other words, they had been well trained in sound doctrine and they knew how to enter into the joy of the promises of God. I trust that you are like those Ephesians: faithful, well-taught believers, accepting the victory that comes by faith alone and not by works.

You may not feel like you are in a “heavenly place,” but the moment you placed your trust in Jesus, he came and made his abode in your heart. Paul tells us that God has made us to sit together with Christ so that “He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us” (2:7). He is emphasizing that the effect we will see in our daily lives is God’s loving, warmhearted kindness. Therefore we can wake up shouting, “Hallelujah! God, Christ and the Holy Spirit want to be near me.” That is certainly a cause for rejoicing!