God's masterpiece of His purpose

Date and Place of Writing

Paul mentions that he is a “prisoner of Christ” (3:1), a “prisoner in the Lord” (4:1), and “an emissary in chains” (6:20), which is not merely a metaphor (cf. 2 Cor 11:23; Phil 1:7, 13, 17; Col 4:3, 10, 18).

This suggests that Paul was actually being detained when he wrote this epistle.

Paul was detained around 58-59 AD in Cesarea. During his trial before Festus he appealed to the emperor and was sent to Rome where he was placed under house arrest. Therefore, most scholars hold the date of Ephesians around 60-61 AD before his first trial in Rome.

The Recipients

First, they are the saints. Paul is not referring to some spiritual elite within the congregation, a minority of exceptionally holy Christians, but rather to all God’s people.

Secondly, they are also faithful. The adjective pistos can have either an active meaning (‘trusting’, ‘having faith’) or a passive (‘trustworthy’, ‘being faithful’).

Thirdly, Paul’s readers are in Christ Jesus. The key expression of the letter is expressed in the the first verse. To be ‘in Christ’ is to be personally and vitally united to Christ, as branches are to the vine and members are to the body, therefore, also to Christ’s people.

Fourthly, readers are in Ephesus. Originally a Greek colony, Ephesus was not the capital of the Roman province of Asia and a busy commercial port. It was also the headquarters for the cult goddess Diana (or Artemis) whose temple, after being destroyed in the middle of the fourth century BC, had gradually been rebuilt to become one of the seven wonders of the world.

They are saints because they belong to God; they are believers because the have trusted Christ; and they have two homes, for they reside equally ‘in Christ’ and ‘in Ephesus.’

All Christian people are Saints and Believers, and live both in Christ and in the secular world, or ‘in the heavenlies’ and on earth. Many of our spiritual troubles arise from our failure to remember that we are citizens of two Kingdoms.

Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

We tend to either pursue Christ and withdraw from the World, or to become preoccupied with the world and forget that we are also in Christ.

Illustration

Long Rope with a small part of one end painted red. We spend so much of our lives focused on this small time span, and we give remarkably little thought to what really counts - eternity.

NEW LIFE: Ephesians 1:3-4:10

Key Theme of Ephesians 1:3-14: God’s Masterpiece of His Purpose displayed in every Spiritual Blessing.

1. The purpose of His masterpiece is from Eternity to Eternity

Main Purpose: From Eternity to Eternity God works all things according to His perfect plan and for His own glory.

BLESSED (write on white board)

Ephesians 1-6

BLESSED: Eulogy (Doxology): Praising someone, or something highly, typically someone who has just died. What do you usually include in a Eulogy?

1. a brief overview of their life, including milestones.

2. Your favorite memories with them including a specific anecdote or two.

3. Details about their relationships with close family and friends.

4. Any significant accomplishments related to career, interests or hobbies.

Note: At my Uncles funeral to my surprised I looked down at the order of events and realized right before the family was to walk in that I was to read the obituary. I quickly scanned the page to insure that I had all the facts about my uncles life that were summed up on a couple of paragraphs.

When it comes to Eulogizing our God their are not enough pages in all the books of History to do it justice.

All History, all people, all that exists in heaven and on earth are included in his purpose. Past, present and future are all embraced in the text according to the working of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Beginning of this paragraph starts with the word, Blessed (Eulogetos) this expression is used only of God.

Blessed: to be made holy; consecrated; held in reverence, honored in worship, of or enjoying happiness; bringing pleasure, contentment, or good fortune.

Blessed in the NT

In the NT we see the strong spiritual content, as revealed in the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-11) however, eulogetos is used only of Christ and God.

*The source of all blessings is not of the world.

SOURCE (WRITE)

Main Idea: The source of all blessings comes the transcendent God.

Transcendent: God is outside and beyond humanity’s full experience.

“With every Spiritual Blessing”

This is to be conceived of as one continuous flow of blessings, and is not to be conceived of as material gifts of which we think most readily, but in terms of the spiritual blessings that transcend but include the material, for the true appreciation of the things we see is dependent on our enjoyment of the things of the Spirit.

Therefore, God initiated it set forth for himself the subject of almost every main verb in these verses.

v. 13-14 gives all the attention and focus on what God has done in Christ at the beginning of the periods: in so far as he chose us… In love he predestined us… which he bestowed on us … which he lavished upon us,” etc., and at the end of the periods: “In Christ… before him … glory of his grace … with the promised Holy Spirit … to the praise and of his glory.”

*The place of blessings is not of this world.

PLACE (WRITE)

Key Idea: The Place of all blessings is in the Heavenly Places

We know that He existed before the foundation of the world.

The Heavenly Places

Now Paul leads us into the invisible spiritual environment, as contrasted with the visible, tangible environment we call earth. It is the realm of all unseen forces, good and evil, which struggle to dominate the individual and corporate life of humanity.

“In the Heavenly Places,” this phrase is used 5 times

1:20 “that he worked in Christ according to the working of his great might.”

Christ is said to be exalted and to be in the heavenly places.

The place that Paul is talking about is neither sky, nor grace, nor glory, nor any literal spatial abode, but rather the unseen world of spiritual reality. The five uses of heavenly in Ephesians indicate that ‘the heavenlies’ are teh sphere in which the ‘principalities and powers’ continue to operate, in which Christ reigns supreme and his people reign with him.

Ephesians 3:10 ESV

10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

*The Cause of all Blessings is not of this World.

CAUSE (WRITE)

Ephesians 1:4 ESV

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

ELECTION: is the first Foundational cause of all blessings.

“He Chose is an ordinary term for choosing, or selecting something or someone.” For example, Jesus “chose” twelve men to be his disciples; they did not”choose” him. Throughout the whole process it is God initiating in redeeming His people from transgressions, and that this is only accomplished in union with Christ.

ELECT (WRITE)

The Doctrine of Election

The doctrine of election thread runs throughout all of scripture. Israel was the chosen race not for any merit, but to be the means of the fulfilling of the eternal purpose of God (Deut. 7:6-8; Isa. 42:1; 43:20-21).

In the NT. the principle of election is confirmed, but there is no longer any national limitations - a truth that later develops and expounds. This doctrine of election, predestination, is not raised as a subject of controversy or speculation.

It is not set in opposition to the self-evident fact of human free will.

It involves a paradox that the New Testament does not seek to resolve, and that our finite minds cannot fathom. Paul emphasizes both the sovereign purpose of God and our free will.

PROBLEMS WITH FREE WILL

Spontaneous Choice

This view is called the Humanist view of free will, which is the most prevalent view of human freedom that we find in our culture and the church as well.

This view is defined as our ability to make choices spontaneously. That is, the choices we make are in no wise conditioned or determined by anything other than our own spontaneous action by the person. Thoughts on Free Will are as Follows.

No Moral Significance: If our choices are purely spontaneously, without any prior inclination or disposition, then in a sense we are saying that there is not reason for the choice. There is not motive for the choice; it just happens.

A Rational Impossibility: Alice in Wonderland when Alice, in her travels, comes to the fork in the road, she asks the Cheshire Cat, “which road should I take?” And the Cheshire Cat replies by saying: “That depends. Where are you going?” Alice says, “I don’t know.” Then what does he say? “Then I guess it doesn’t matter.” If you have no intent, no plan, no desire to get anywhgere, what difference does it make whether you take the left or the right?

The Freedom of the Will(Johnathan Edwards) Edwards says that free will is “the mind choosing.” What he is saying is that, though he distinguishes between the mind and the will, the two are inseparably related. We do not make moral choices without the mind approving the direction of our choice.

The Strongest Desire Free moral agents always act according to the strongest inclination they have at the moment of choice. We always choose according to our inclinations, and we always choose according to our strongest inclination at a given moment.

Therefore, anytime you sin, this action indicates that, at the the moment of your sin, your desire to commit the sin is greater than your desire to obey Christ. If you desire to obey Christ is greater than your desire to commit the sin, you would not sin. But at the moment of choice, we always follow our strongest inclination, our strongest disposition, our strongest desire.

Free and Determined

I would like to make this statement: in my opinion, every choice that we make is free, and every choice that we make is determined. Again, every choice that we make is free, and every choice that we make is determined.

If my choices flow out of my disposition and out of my desires, and if my actions are effects that have causes and reasons behind them then my personal desire in a very real way determines my personal choice.

Sinners want to Sin

The problem with the sinner is not that the sinner has lost the faculty of choice in his fallen state. Sinners still have minds, sinners can still think, sinners still have desires, sinners still have wills, and the will is still free insofar as it is able to do what the sinner wants to do.

The problem is in the root desire of the heart in fallen man: because he has and evil inclination, a desire for sin, he sins. Sinners sin because they want to sin. The Bible speaks of fallen men as being in bondage of sin.

There is none who does good. There is none righteous. There is none who seeks after God, no not one. (Romans 3:10-13)

We find these 2 reasons for election linked in the following verses.

John 15:16 ESV

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Romans 8:29 ESV

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

2 Timothy 1:9 ESV

9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

1 Peter 1:2 ESV

2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

1) We need to realize that our faith rests completely on the work of God.

WORK OF GOD (WRITE)

Our faith does not rest on the unsteady foundation of anything in yourselves. It is all the Lords work, and in accordance with his plan, a plan that reaches back before the foundation of the world. There is therefore, now no place for human boasting.

2) God has chosen us that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

HOLY (WRITE)

Election is not simply to salvation, but to a Holy Life. Colossians 1:22

Colossians 1:22 ESV

22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

We were created in Christ Jesus, for Good Works. Ephesians 2:10

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Note: Which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. We were ‘predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.’ Romans 8:29

Romans 8:29 ESV

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Note: The Doctrine of Election is an incentive to holiness, not an excuse for sin.

We know that doctrines give us a strong assurance of eternal security, since he who chose and called us will also surely keep us to the end.

Problem: Some people may start to say to themselves I’m one of God’s chosen people, safe and secure. So there’s no need for me to bother about holiness. I can behave as I please. Such an appalling presumption finds no support in the true doctrine of election, however, the reverse should be true.

Paul writes the opposite, God chose us in Christ that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Blameless: in the OT this was an unblemished sacrifice.

THE IDEAL GOAL OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, IS PERFECT HOLINESS

Ephesians 1:5 ESV

5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

ADOPTION (WRITE)

“in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”

He Destined us in Love to Be His Children.

Being completely conformed to the likeness of God's Son is something that we look forward to in the future, although the transformation is happening now gradually.

Our adoption means we are loved like Christ is loved. We are honored like he is honored—every one of us—no matter what. Your circumstances cannot hinder or threaten that promise. In fact, your bad circumstances will only help you understand and even claim the beauty of that promise.

The more you live out who you are in Christ, the more you become like him in actuality. Paul is not promising you better life circumstances; he is promising you a far better life.

You were Created for a Life with God.

Genesis 1:26 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Acts 17:28 ESV

28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

By sin that privilege was forfeited, but by grace, in and through Christ, restoration to sonship is made possible. John 1:12

John 1:12 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Adoption is the best way to describe and wrap our minds around God’s election. Romans 8:15

Romans 8:15 ESV

15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:23 ESV

23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Galatians 4:5 ESV

5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Adopted Children have their position by grace and not by right, and yet are bought into the family on the same footing as children by birth.

2. The purpose of His Masterpiece is purchased in the Great Exchange.

Ephesians 1:6b “Blessed us in the Beloved”

Note: Paul is linking where believers are predestined “in love” to adopted sonship - here we are told that this grace is bestowed “in his beloved.”

Main Idea: Grace motivated and empowered by God’s love and mercy to exchange His own son for our Salvation. (The exchange is made clearing our debt)

REDEMPTION: the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.

Redemption Stories

Everyone loves a good redemption stories.

Shawshank redemption, the pursuit of happiness, It’s a wonderful life, Inception, Toy Story, Skyfall (James bond), Black panther, or even most recently the “Maverick Move,” where Maverick has to redeem himself to the son of “Goose” who died in the original “Top Gun”

Why are we so endeared to the redemption story? We feel enslaved or in bondage to something or someone. We are all enslaved and in bondage to sin and this world.

Redemption Theology

In the OT there was a provision made for the redemption of lands or persons that had passed from their original owner to become the property of another. The people of Israel were themselves a redeemed people. They had been slaves in Egypt, and later, through their own sinfulness, in Babylon as well. Yet God had redeemed them, and by redemption they were made his people.

The heart of Christ’s mediation is expressed in v. 7 which “redemption”, which was most commonly used in Ephesians world either for redemption of kidnapped people or of slaves into the status of freedmen through payment of a ‘ransom.”

In both kidnapping and slavery concept their is an expectation or assumption that one’s family was obligated to pay the ransom. The same is true in the OT world, and the preeminent case of redemption is the exodus from Egypt at Israel’s founding as a nation.

NOTE: Now you have the Lord acting as the mediator, or the great kinsman redeemer to redeem his people. Notice that the text goes a step father in signifying forgiveness from “our transgressions.” (or our sins) this is an integral part to our redemption because the bondage in transgressions and sins is the rule of death which humans cannot free themselves without God’s initiative and grace.

The fundamental principle of redemption is that of the setting free of a thing or a person that has come to belong to another.

*The Cost of our Freedom

Paul gives the payment that must be made for our freedom which is through His Blood.

THE OBJECT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SACRIFICE

The people would have had an indelible picture of the cost that sin required in the daily sacrifices that were set aside to pay the penalty. The cost always came at the shedding of BLOOD. Hebrews 9:22

Hebrews 9:22 ESV

22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

*The Richness of our Freedom

FREEDOM (WRITE)

The forgiveness Paul say’s is according to the riches of his grace, grace which is rich beyond human understanding and infinitely beyond earthly wealth.

Six times in this letter Paul mentions the riches of God, revealed and made available, the wealth of his grace and mercy and glory.

The Richness of God’s riches are always according to His riches in glory. When our minds go the riches we receive from God many times it focuses on the earthly riches that are available. However, I would assert that we should think of the riches we receive for God as an eternal reward.

God’s giving is not merely out of these riches but according to their measure. Philippians 4:19

Philippians 4:19 ESV

19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1:8 “Which He lavished on us.”

The Lavished Grace of God

This refers to the super abundance of God’s giving, the well that never runs dry. This is a fountain that is so deep, and so abundant that it never runs dry.

Refers to the quality that can be expected in the Christian life.

*The Mystery of our Freedom

MYSTERY (WRITE)

Note: God not only receives and forgives. Those whom he has reconciled to himself as children he also enlightens our minds minds with the understanding of his purpose and will.

The Mystery of our Salvation

Paul writes in Colossians 2:2-3 that the mystery of God is Jesus Christ: “My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

A mystery in the New Testament is something that at one time had been hidden but is now revealed to God’s people.

The mystery of God’s will is that “which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment - to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”

God’s people depend on God’s will

How did we become God’s people or possession? There can be no denying Paul’s reply. It was by the will of God alone. He destined us to be his sons according to the purpose and will of God.

All of Ephesians is full of passages that refer to God’s will.

HOW DO YOU KNOW THE WILL OF GOD

Become what you Are

Those who believe in Jesus Christ are already blood-bought new creatures in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17). But now we must become what we are. “Cleanse out the old man that you may become new.” (Romans 12:2) You have a new knowledge, new nature, new desires.

THE TWO WILLS OF GOD

WILL OF GOD (WRITE)

(1) God’s will of Decree, or Sovereign Will

This is God’s sovereign control over all that comes to pass. One of the clearest pictures of this will is displayed in Jesus prayer in the garden of Gethsemane when he was praying he said, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” What does the will Jesus is praying refer to? It refers to the sovereign plan of God that will happen in the coming hours.

(2) God’s will of Command

His will is what He commands us to do. This is the will of God we can obey and fail to do. The will of decree we do whether we believe in it or not. The will of command we can fail to do. For example, Jesus said, “Not everyone who say’s to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) Not all do the Fathers will, not all will enter the kingdom of Heaven. The world is passing away along with it’s desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:17). Not all abide forever. Some do. Some don’t. The difference? Some do the will of God. Some don’t. The will of God in this sense does not always happen.

* God’s will of command is revealed with final, decisive authority only in the Bible. And we need the renewed mind to understand and embrace what God commands in the Scripture. Without the renewed mind we will distort the scripture.

*God’s will of Decree is set forth in Christ according to his purpose as a plan that was set forth in history with the purpose to unite all things in Him.

Set Forth: enacted and realized

(1) In Christ: Jesus Christ is the key focus of all his plan entails in History and Eternity. This is the mystery that has been set forth for our Salvation.

(2) As a Plan: oikos means household or administration. (the household of God Galatians 4:4) “But in the fullness of time had come God sent forth His son, born of woman, born under the law.”

(3) To Unite: This means the way in which he bring into a restored unity the whole universe that has been disordered by human rebellion and sin.

“All Things” - The whole of creation both physical and Spiritual. The Heresy of our times is to divide the sacred and secular. Christ is concerned in all things, and all will find their true place and unity in him. Unfortunately this verse has also been used for Universalism that all people will be saved in the end. It does not imply that in the end everything and every being in existence will be under his authority.

3. The Purpose of His Masterpieces is for the Praise and Glory of God.

Knowing the God of the Bible, Not the God of Our Imaginations

In his book Soul Searching, Christian Smith summarized perceptions about God that are prevalent in the church and in contemporary culture. He said that most young evangelicals believed in what could best be described as "moral, therapeutic deism" (we could also call this viewpoint "the Santa Claus god").

Moral implies that God wants us to be nice. He rewards the good and withholds from the naughty.

Therapeutic means that God just wants us to be happy.

Deism means that God is distant and not involved in our daily lives. God may get involved occasionally, but on the whole, God functions like an idea not a personal being actively present in our world.

According to Smith, this is the version of God that's prevalent in our culture and in our churches. Often without realizing it, every culture quietly molds and shapes our views of God. But we can't grow in our relationship with God when we insist on relating to God as we think he should be.

It's the same way in our human relationships: if I demand that you just meet my needs and conform to my assumptions about you, you will probably feel cheapened and manipulated.

That's why our surrender to God-as-he-is, as revealed in the Bible, is so important. Otherwise, we will have a god of our own imaginations—and, embarrassingly, our American god is an obese, jolly toymaker who works one day a year.

YOU WERE CREATED TO DISPLAY THE PRAISE AND GLORY OF GOD

“The How and Why of God’s People”

Question: How did we become His people?

Answer: ‘According to the Good will of His Pleasure of God.’

Question: Why did He make us His people?

Answer: ‘For the Praise and Glory of His Grace.’

Note: Everything we have and are in Christ both comes from God and returns to God. It begins in his will and ends in his glory. For this is where everything begins and end.

Note: They are Destined, Marked out ahead of time to have a part in his purpose.

Colossians 1:16–18 ESV

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

‘Have obtained an inheritance’ - The way this comes about is God’s Sovereign predestined will.

‘For adoption to himself as sons’ - God becomes our inheritance

What are we Giving Praise and Glory to God for?

‘YOU WERE SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT’

(1) Heard the Word of Truth

(2) Believed in Him (who gives the word of Truth)

Note: We are not sure which of these comes first in the process of sealing. We do know that it is in Christ we are sealed and with the Spirit we are Sealed. “Believed in Him” God the father sealed us in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 1:21–22 ESV

21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Who are Sealed? All Christians, Gentiles and Jews, all who have an inheritance, those who heard the word of truth and believed.

What is the Seal? The Holy Spirit of promise sealed us. Joel 2:28-29 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see vision. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”

Esther 8:8 “But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king and seal it with the kings’ ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.

Something that has the seal of the king’s ring cannot be changed or revoked.

What is the Down-payment? it is the security; certification; validation. This is the purpose of God to bring to pass the final redemption of the possession.

2 Corinthians 5:4–5 ESV

4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

CONCLUSION

‘The Redemption of the Possession’

Note: The purpose or aim of the sealing is unto the redemption (release by purchase) that he bought with His blood.

Revelation 5:1–5 ESV

1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

We see the mighty throne where the one sitting on it is holding a scroll with 7 seals that are not to be opened and complete the redemption process.

Our bodies are going to be raised from the dead and our body is going to be like His resurrected body.

SEALED BY GOD (WRITE)

The Question you must ask today, Are you Sealed in the Lambs book of Life?