All Things United in the Son's Blood
Notes
Transcript
Notes:
Notes:
Call to Worship: Deuteronomy 32:3-4
3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! 4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
Benediction: Psalm 90:16-17
16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!
Introduction
Introduction
Two lines of the song we just sang said:
“No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven
The future sure, the price it has been paid”
Do we really believe that?
Please open up your Bibles to Ephesians 1 and follow along as I read verses 7-10.
“...to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”
What does that even mean?
Last Sunday, a very gracious gift of helium balloons was given to my daughters. Someone must have observed just how much they love balloons. They received three balloons each, with the ends of the long ribbons of the balloons tied together. Three separate sets of balloons with long ribbons hanging down and tied together at the bottom.
So, of course, to get the balloons home we crowded them into the back of the minivan and drove off. No problem. Except, when we got home, they were no longer three separate sets. A few ribbons had gotten crossed over and under a few balloons, so Soraya and Ellie urgently called for my help. Well, you just grab the strings by the bases where they are tied together, and sort of pull them apart, and the balloons should come free from each other, right?
Not quite. So, this balloon needs to go under that ribbon tied to the balloon floating up there… and that one is looped through that hole and twice around those other two… So anyway, not only did the girls get some awesome balloons, but I got some practice untangling long and complicated things.
And that’s good, because of what I didn’t know when I chose the book of Ephesians for us. Perhaps you’ve heard of the legend of Paul’s run-on sentences. Well, this morning, we’re right in the middle of the longest sentence in Paul’s letters—actually the longest in the NT, and maybe one of the longest written at that time. It runs from verse 3 through verse 14
It feels as complex as a tangle of long balloon ribbons—though unlike such a tangle, it is a sentence of profound beauty.
Of course, to make it easier to digest, thankfully, English translators have inserted periods in a couple places. But it is also helpful to know that it is actually one, long sentence. Last Sunday, we left off with the phrase, “he has blessed us in the Beloved.” It almost seems as though Paul could have put a period there—he had just said so much. But in his eye, these truths were so magnificent, so filled with glory, that now was not the time for a period! And so the transition from verse 6 to verse 7, literally, reads, “he has blessed us in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses...”
And so, thinking back to last Sunday, we contemplated the richness of God’s blessings toward us in his choice to predestine us from before all time to be adopted as his children—and so we have been adopted. We saw that the ultimate purpose behind this adoption is God’s glory, and the ultimate attribute of God behind this is God’s love. But how was it actually brought to pass? How was God able to justify, to cleanse, and to bring his enemies near to him, changing them into his children?
Scripture answers clearly, vs. 6-7: “[The Father] has blessed us in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins...”
“No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven
The future sure, the price it has been paid”
Again, do we really believe that? In the face of all the world’s darkness, do we believe that? The lines of this song are very wise: not just, “I know I am forgiven,” but also, “The future sure,” because the price has been paid. After watching the news cycle, do you still believe that—that the future is sure? I know you struggle. Who doesn’t? So, let’s soak ourselves this morning in what the Word reveals to us—wisdom about which the world, with its division, cruelty, wars and rumors of wars, and despair—wisdom about which it is utterly clueless.
What is the weight of saying that we have redemption through the blood of the Beloved, as it says in verses 6 and 7? Long before the Beloved Son was born into the world, Abraham had his own beloved, only-begotten son, Isaac. In fact, in Jewish tradition, Isaac was known as Abraham’s “beloved son”. But in his mysterious providence, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice this beloved son, this offspring of God’s promise. And not only was this a terrifying command, that he had to sacrifice the beloved son of is old age, but there was an even deeper darkness in the command: Isaac was the promised offspring in the family line of God’s promise. He was the current standard bearer, at that point in biblical history, for God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 that an offspring of Eve would some day crush the serpent. Abraham knew that it must either be Isaac, or some decedent of Isaac, who would preform this great redemption for the world.
So what happens if he is sacrificed? Here is what Abraham supposed in faith:
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,
18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
In the case of Isaac, the beloved son of Abraham, he was only a type of the Beloved Son to come. In Isaac’s case, God provided a sheep, whose horns were caught in the thicket, so that Abraham could offer up that ram to God as a sacrifice, in place of Isaac.
Then, more than a thousand years later, he gave a second lamb, his Beloved Son, who unlike Isaac was not spared. In this lamb of God, this Beloved Son, we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, and of Isaac’s and Abraham’s sins, through this lamb’s blood, according to the riches of his grace.
As it happens, the New Testament grows right out of the soil of the Old Testament. And the God who providentially orchestrated the almost-sacrifice and the rescue of Isaac, did it as a type and a shadow of what he would do when he gave his own Beloved Son for our redemption. The God who redeemed us is the God of history past, the God of the present, and the God who effortlessly is bringing all history to its glorious future conclusion in Christ.
“No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven
The future sure, the price it has been paid”
But it is not only Abraham and Isaac that foreshadowed this redemption in Christ. Redemption is an Exodus word. In the Bible, the first great redemption is God’s rescue of Israel from slavery in Egypt:
6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.
Someone might ask, “But is this word redemption in Ephesians really connected to the redemption of Israel from Egypt? Isn’t this a completely different kind of redemption from that—a spiritual redemption, while that was a physical redemption?”
Certainly, it is good to be cautious about drawing connections in Scripture where they do not actually exist. But look at verse 11. It begins, “In him we have obtained an inheritance…” This pair of ideas—redemption and inheritance—are strongly present in the story of Israel’s beginning. They were redeemed out of Egypt not just to be left wondering in the desert, but to be given an inheritance—a land where God would dwell with them.
So, when Paul uses these words—redemption and inheritance, he is signaling to us that what God did for Israel then was a type and a shadow of what he has now done for us through his Beloved Son, Jesus.
But then, what kind of redemption is it that we have? A far greater one than Israel. Like Israel, we were captive: the word redemption in verse 7 implies a prior captivity. We were captive to sin and guilt, to death, and to the dark spiritual forces. And in Ephesians, Paul talks about all of these. But he talks about them for this purpose: to tell you, you have been broken free.
But it is important to note, here, that in our captivity, the ultimate chain was our guilt. This is why Paul describes redemption in verses 7 as, “the forgiveness of our trespasses.” And if you have not turned to Christ for mercy, you are still in the guilt of your sins, still chained to sin, death, and darkness. But Christ—through his blood, it says—has broken these chains, and will break them for all who come to him.
And, so, this is how our adoption was brought to pass—on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus. As he hung on the cross and died, he bore our sins and thus removed our guilt, the record of our rebellion against the Father.
But now that Paul has explained how the Father turns enemies into sons, he returns back to the ultimate foundation of why. Starting at the end of verse 7, “according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us...”
“Riches, and the corresponding word, lavished… are intended to give us large views of divine grace. The apostle feels himself unable to celebrate, in a proper manner, the goodness of God, and desires that the contemplation of it would occupy the minds of men till they are entirely lost in admiration.” - Calvin
In other words, Paul is going back to his whole reason for writing this sentence. He wants us to join him in saying, in believing, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for causing the riches of his grace to overflow toward sinners like us!
Now, the next phrase is very interesting. It says that he lavished this grace on us, “in all wisdom and insight.” Meaning, as he gave us this grace in Christ, he was also giving us an ultimate kind of wisdom and insight.
Probably, Paul mentions this wisdom and insight because those congregations he was writing to were tempted to think that the greatest wisdom lay elsewhere. Perhaps the greatest wisdom lay in the sophisticated Greek philosophers—the academic elites of Paul’s day. Or maybe it lay in the ancient mystery cults or the gnostics, with their emphases on salvation through secret knowledge. Or perhaps the greatest wisdom and insight were to be found in the military and political power of Rome. Or even in the religious traditions of those who had rejected Jesus as Messiah.
We face similar temptations in our day. Perhaps the greatest wisdom is that which tells you how to get rich and live comfortably. Or maybe it is in the sciences—our society tends to treat scientists in lab coats as if they were divine priests in vestments, handing out unquestionable knowledge. And we may be tempted to feel foolish when academic elites of our day throw shade on God’s Word, and dismiss his gospel.
Or—and this one has been huge in the past couple of years—perhaps the greatest wisdom is to be found in a particular political crowd or political philosophy. If only we could do government right, then suddenly the world would be put right. We are so strongly tempted, as American Christians today, to buy into that kind of thinking. “Oh yes, I believe in Jesus, but let me tell you what is really wise: the political opinions I’ve been reading on Instagram and Twitter or hearing on the radio.”
But against all of these things, and many other false claims to ultimate wisdom, Paul says, “No! All wisdom and insight is to be found in God’s mystery revealed in Christ.”
Look at verses 8 and 9 again (read). So why is it important, at this point, for Paul to mention that God made his mystery known to us? We’ve seen that the blood of Christ—his death—is the means by which we are forgiven and thus adopted into God’s family. But what is the catalyst actually that makes this happen in an individual life? Christ died 2000 years ago. But you were dead in your sins until… what? Until you really knew about Christ—until you believed in his death and victory over death.
So, the catalyst of redemption is coming to grasp the truth about Jesus. That is when you become redeemed. But in verse 9, this same catalyst is seen from God’s perspective. The focus is not on you finding out, but on God making known to you. So God makes Christ known to you by the work of his Spirit, and in response you trust in Christ, are forgiven, and become God’s child.
But why does it call this kind of wisdom a mystery? What exactly is this mystery which has been revealed to us by God? Well, ultimately, it refers to all that Christ is for us—the whole work of his redemption and triumph. But in this context, there is a special focus on the forgiveness of sins through his blood, and the way in which this turns the world’s wisdom on its head.
In verse 9, it tells us that the grace of the Father came to us through the blood of the Beloved Son because this was according to Father’s “purpose, which he set forth in Christ.” This word “purpose” is the same word we encountered last week in verse 5—the purpose of his will in choosing and predestining us. And so, before creation, our God laid out the path of our redemption—that it would be through the blood of Christ. As Peter preached in Jerusalem:
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
And so this wisdom is a wisdom that existed before even the world was created.
And verse 10 says that this mystery was a plan for the fullness of time. In other words, God, in his wise sovereignty over all things, prepared the world until it was ready. Then, at the right time, Christ was lifted up on a cross. And so, the wisdom of God was revealed.
And what happened when Christ bled for us? When he was so unjustly and violently killed? The world rejoiced (John 16:20). They loved darkness; they thought they had won. They did not know that even as the nails were being driven into his hands, the scull of the snake was being crushed.
They hurled abuse and insults at him as he hung on the cross:
43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
And the world will speak this way to you as well: “You’re say you’re a beloved child of God, so why hasn’t he healed you? Why hasn’t he provided for you? Why hasn’t he removed the darkness? Why did he destine you for this suffering?” Whatever that suffering may be.
How should you answer such accusations?
Chrysostom, an early church father, wrote about the wisdom of God’s mystery like this:
New Testament VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians He Sacrificed His Beloved Son for Those Who Hated Him
The wonder is not only that he gave his Son but that he did so in this way, by sacrificing the one he loved. It is astonishing that he gave the Beloved for those who hated him. See how highly he honors us. If even when we hated him and were enemies he gave the Beloved, what will he not do for us now?
So then, it is not for lack of God’s love or power that suffering persists. And this does not make it easy: but just as the path to glory for Christ was through suffering, so also it is for us.
But then, we must return to our text, and ask: for Christ, exactly what kind of glory did his suffering accomplish? Verse 10: the unity of all things in him: things in heaven and things on earth.
Isn’t this, in some sense, what the world actually strives after? As humans, we have this sense that things are fractured, that the world is not as it should be. And so we have an organization called the United Nations which has tried to repair the fractures between nations and people groups, but in human power and on human terms. It is a noble desire in some sense. But just recently, they voted to ignore the genocide of the Weger people. This attempt to the heal the world has spectacularly crashed and burned.
And we have many political philosophies,—some better than others—whose goal is to set the world right. And the bible doesn’t teach that nations shouldn’t get together and talk, or that political thinking is all a wash. This is not political commentary. But what I mean to say is that, for better or for worse, human politics have utterly failed to heal or united the world. So has all human wisdom, be it demonic wisdom, neutral wisdom, or even good wisdom.
Consider the idea that dominates our culture, and infects our own minds: that through individual-self expression, wholeness can be achieved. In modern thought, the greatest virtue is to express what you feel, while the greatest sin is to deny your self-expression, or to advise someone else to deny their self-expression. The world will finally be whole, we think, if everyone just has the space to “be who they are”—meaning, to behave according to what they feel they are, or to change themselves accordingly. This, too, is vanity, and chasing after wind.
The fracturing of the world is a result of our rebellion against God in Adam. We broke it, you might say, so we need to be the ones to fix it—except that we are also part of what is broken. We ourselves are broken. Therefore we cannot fix it. We cannot restore unity to a fractured cosmos. The only hope is that God himself would employ his infinite power to heal and to restore. And this is not hard to make sense of.
But what is astonishing—the mystery which has now been revealed—is that God would give himself, that the Son would give himself in human flesh, to be slaughtered for the redemption of God’s enemies—us. And what is also unexpected is that, in redeeming us, as it says here, Christ did not merely assure our own, personal eternities. He accomplished the uniting of all things: things in heaven and things on earth.
First, on earth: by redeeming us, Christ has made himself the head of a new humanity. And when our adoption as God’s children is finally completed—as we saw last Sunday, when Christ returns—then not only we, but all creation shall be freed from the curse, to live under the glorious reign of the risen king forever. There is no stopping it. No human government has any power against it. As God revealed to Neuchadnezzar:
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
When Christ was raised from the grave and enthroned in heaven, or even when he was enthroned on the cross with a crown of thorns, that kingdom began. And one day, when he returns, it will be fully realized. The only question left to you, if you have not surrendered to this king and trusted in his mercy, is will you? On that day, when he returns to judge the living and the dead, will you be exalted to incomprehensible glory, or will you be crushed with all the kingdoms of the earth?
But it does not say merely that he has united all things on earth under his kingship through his blood, but all things in heaven as well. Heaven, in this verse, probably doesn’t refer to God himself, or directly to his presence, as it does in some scriptures. But rather it refers to the unseen realm. As we move through Ephesians, we’re going to see that Christ has been seated:
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
This is referring to demonic powers—authorities in the kingdom of darkness. Evil spiritual forces. Here again is the unexpected wisdom of the gospel: how did God, who could instantly wipe out all resistance to his rule, how did he chose to triumph over the kingdom of darkness? By giving his Beloved to hang on a bloody cross! As Christ hung dying in darkness and pain, the weight of God’s unexpected lovingkindness toward his enemies—the weight of the power of a king crowned with thorns—was crushing Satan!
Let all mortal flesh keep silence
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly minded,
for with blessing in his hand
Christ, our God, to earth descended,
Our full homage to demand.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
spreads its vanguard on the way
as the Light from Light, descendeth
from the realms of endless day,
That the pow’rs of hell may vanish
as the darkness clears away.
And so in Christ both the visible and invisible worlds are summed up and unified, and he reigns over them forever. And one day his reign will come to full fruition. The kingdom of darkness, which was dealt a mortal wound at the cross, will finally be destroyed forever.
“No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven
The future sure, the price it has been paid”
Compared to the wisdom of God in Christ, the wisdom of the world is just about worthless. The price he paid for your forgiveness has guaranteed the victory of his kingdom over all things. And in his kindness, the Father has given us this wisdom to be our own wisdom by revealing to us this great mystery of his will in Christ.