A Plan for the Ages

Text: Ephesians 1:7-10

Declaration: You are involved in the greatest plan ever, so participate!

I. The effect of the plan (Ephesians 1:7a, 10).

Explanation: The third spiritual blessing that Paul addresses in this discourse is redemption. Verse 7a says that we have redemption in Christ and the forgiveness of sin. These two concepts are not to be conflated; rather, they are to be recognized as two distinct blessings that work together. Forgiveness rests on redemption. Redemption has the idea of being freed from sin’s power; whereas, forgiveness means God wipes clean our slate, so that sins no longer hang over us. It’s a cool word that is used for forgiveness in the Bible. It denotes a dismissal or release. Think of the Old Testament scapegoats. After the sins of the camp were put on the scapegoat, it was released into the wilderness, nevermore to be seen by the people. In this same manner are our sins released in forgiveness. What a truth! Redemption is also an Old Testament concept. Remember Ruth and Boaz? Boaz was the redeemer of Elimalech’s family. In the same way Christ is our redeemer. In the Old Testament, there were three qualities that a redeemer had to meet for him to be legit. (1) He had to be related to the one needing the redemption. (2) He had to be able to pay the price. (3) He had to be willing to pay the ransom price. Jesus met all these, so he can be our redeemer. Because of this truth and the effectual working of God’s plan, all things will be united under Christ, of things in heaven and on earth, at the consummation of all things. In other words, this great plan of God’s will be seen in its full effect at the millenium.

II. The cause of the plan (Ephesians 1:7b-9).

Explanation: God’s great plan of redemption to include both the Gentiles and Jews into His family has one catalyst: grace. We have redemption according to the riches of His grace. What does this mean? It actually doesn’t mean that we have redemption by means of his grace, though that is true. The end of verse 7 means that we have redemption in proportion to the riches of His grace. How much grace does God have? Infinite! We are redeemed in proportion to His infinite grace. This grace was lavished upon us, meaning it was poured on us so much that we were overflowing with grace continually and still are. One thing that I wish we talked about more is the infinity of God. This means that he cannot be exhausted. All of His attributed cannot be exhausted. You know what this means? God knows that He cannot exhaust Himself, so he lavishly, freely, exponentially, whatever other “ly” you want to put, gives. So grace is the cause for our redemption but it entails more. He made known to us the mystery of His will. Mystery just means something that was hidden in the Old Testament but is now revealed in the New Testament. The church is the mystery. It was God’s will all along to include Gentiles into the salvation promise. His will was accomplished according to his purpose. If God purposes something in His heart, it will happen. This purpose was demonstrated through Christ. He was the purpose worker.

So What?

God, in His grace, has revealed to you, through His Spirit, how you can be saved. That was something that He did in His divine purpose and will. You could not have called the Spirit to come reveal to you your sin while you were in your sin, God had to do that. Because of this, you now owe your life to Him. What is the ultimate plan of God as prescribed in this section: “to unite all things under Christ.” We can be a part of this plan. Like I said last week, election doesn’t mean we stop evangelizing. In the same way, even though God’s plan will be accomplished to unite all things under Christ, we still can and should participate. Live in praise of the grace that you have received from God in Christ and serve Him to your fullest capacity!