“Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb!”

“Redeemed–how I love to proclaim it!  Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am.  Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed, redeemed, His child, and forever, I am.”

The  Apostle Paul had in Eph. 1:3 reminded his  readers and us that the Heavenly  Father, through the Lord Jesus, has  blessed  His children with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”

But before  we can  share  in these  blessings we must be   found “In Christ.”  There is no salvation outside of the Lord Jesus (Acts 4:12).  We are also told that without the shedding of blood there is  no salvation (Heb. 9:22)

In Eph. 1:7, Paul gives us  some great insights into the  love of  God for mankind. This  verse  mentions “redemption, forgiveness and  grace” among  other truths.  Verse 8  tells us that we  receive these things in abundance. Our Heavenly Father wants  us to live  a  full life in His  Son.

We sing  songs like “There’s Power In The Blood.”  We must  never forget  how  powerful the  shed  blood of the Lord Jesus is. He  left the  splendor of Heaven to  come down to  redeem us.  He went  willingly to the  Cross and gave  Himself for us.

The  results of  trusting in the  atoning death of the Lord Jesus show that, we, through  obedience to the Gospel, can  claim redemption and forgiveness of sins.  We can enjoy  living the  Christian  life. We must be  found living the “abundant  life” to the  fullest, helping  others  escape the  power of  darkness and  find their  way into the “kingdom of the Son of His love.” (Col. 1:13-14) Praise God for the  great love of the Heavenly Father, manifested in the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ!

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In Eph 1:3, Paul stresses first of all that we need to be praising the Heavenly Father above all things. God wants to bestow, yea, even lavish his love and blessings on His children. He is not up there in Heaven blessing us sparingly. Jesus said that He came that we might have an abundant life in Him. We must desire all that He has for us. We must want to live the Christian life to the fullest, learning more about Jesus every day. We strive for this because we want to “grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus,” as well as encouraging our fellow believers in their walk and reaching the lost with the message of salvation.

He has blessed us “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places IN CHRIST.” The same Greek words rendered here “heavenly places” are translated “heavenly things” in James 3:12. Since we are “citizens of Heaven,” (Phil. 3:20) we must look to the things above and not things on the earth. Our spiritual mindset must be honed in on Jesus at all times. We are but pilgrims and strangers here on earth. We sing “this world is not my home…,” and rightly so. But we are as John says in I John 2:15-17 “in the world but not of the world,” we have to have a heavenly perspective in life. That perspective comes from believing the words of Paul here in Eph. 1:3.

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The Writer and the Recipients (Eph. 1:1)

When people wrote letters back in Biblical times they put their name at the beginning of the letter. We do just the opposite. This is called the “salutation.” The Apostle Paul, at the beginning of this epistle, lets his readers know who he is, what his credentials are for writing the letter and to whom he is writing the letter.

All of this is included in Eph. 1:1. Verse 2 is his greeting. Paul was not one of the original 12 Apostles. His Apostleship is by special appointment from the Lord Jesus. He received this as­signment to be an apostle to the Gentiles. Thank the Lord that he took this privilege and honor seri­ously. If he and others whom he reached with the Gospel had not then we would not be here today en­joying the blessings of salvation.

“…By the will of God.” It was and is God’s will that all mankind be saved and He has provided a way through His Son that all may be saved. But we all know that the majority of mankind, both past, present and future will not accept that way of salvation. Paul was faithful in his ministry (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

Those whom Paul is writing to are named in the latter part of Eph. 1:1. The primary audi­ence of the writers of the Word of God was locally those in the first century, but we can share in these titles that Paul use for the Ephesian Christians on the basis of our faith and obedience to the Gospel.

The recipients of Paul’s letter were the Christians in Ephesus. Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. Paul give at least 2 names, perhaps 3 for Christians in verse 1. He calls them

1. “Saints
2. Faithful, and
3. in Christ Jesus.”

A “saint” in the New Testament, is not a sinless person, but a saved sinner. Faithfulness to the Lord is required if one wants to enjoy all that God has for him or her. Paul stresses that Christians are “in Christ.” As I said earlier in this devotion: Christians are saved by grace, through faith, in bap­tism, for good works. Let all of us strive to dedicate our lives to the Lord and His Church and help others find their way out of darkness into the marvelous light of the Gospel.Similar Posts:

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