25 And I will make with them a
covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and
they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the
places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down
in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. (Ezek 34:25-26)
8 The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence
it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John
3:8)
In the sub-continent of Asia, the land is bathed by an abundance of rain during
certain seasons of the year in India and the nations of Indochina such as
Vietnam. The rains arise suddenly out of a sky that just moments ago was clear
and sunny. The rains may cause flooding at times and are a detriment to
pleasure, but a blessing to the abundance of crop production. It is the rain that
is often cursed by the people and not the winds that have caused the rain. The
southwesterly winds build over the sea of the Indian Ocean bringing the
moisture-laden air masses over land where they discharge that moisture in
torrential rains. It is the wind that brings the blessings of the rain, for the
rain is not the cause of itself – IT IS THE WIND – the Monsoon!
The blessings accruing to the Elect of God are not the Giver of themselves, but
the gift of the Giver. Those blessings often come in torrential floods in the
Monsoon Season of God. It may seem awkward that we seldom wonder from when
blessings come – we may not even acknowledge them but rather consider them
well-deserved. But when hardship and affliction occur, we always wonder why God
is doing this to us. We are fickle and our natures are sometimes like the
will-o-the-wisp. The Winds of God (by way of His Holy Spirit) are the means by
which God sends showers of blessing upon us, but we often believe that the
blessings are delivered either by happenstance, or by the simple and routine
workings of nature. But God is the Giver of all spiritual blessings and graces
as well as those of the temporal need of the Elect. God not only blesses the
Elect with temporal blessings, but all people and creatures of His good earth.
But the spiritual blessings are broadcast upon the Elect alone since they are
the only ones able to receive them.
Today, I ask each of us to take a moment to consider what a blessing is life
itself – to have opened our eyes on the day of our birth to the blinding beauty
of God’s green earth. Do you ever wonder why the earth is covered with green
vegetation? According to scientists, green is the most relaxing and peaceful of
colors. So God puts the best before His creatures – a color with which we will
never become bored. Many are heart-broken at the loss of a loved one, a pet, or
a small son or daughter. They question the loving god who gave the gift. Even a
child is a temporal gift that is time-dated. But a child is also a spiritual
gift through which we propagate the family, the church, and the nation. If a
precious little daughter is taken by the Lord at the tender age of six years,
should we mourn so much more deeply the loss of future years of the gift, or
should we give profound thanks to our Father in Heaven who gave us those six
years? But not those six years only, for the child is even presently enjoying
eternal bliss with the Father as we speak.
It is important for us to remember that God is not only the Giver of blessings,
but the Father of every blessing and is the personification of BLESSED! Let us
review, briefly, many spiritual blessings revealed in Ephesians 1 & 2. But
before I began, I wish to thank God for His blessings in allowing me to daily
meditate and share my commentary on His beautiful Person and Word. He gives me
the greatest joy and comfort when I am studying His precious Word. I hope you
will feel the same blessing.
We read in Ephesians how The Giver of Blessings and the blessed are so jointly
partakers of that state of Blessing that God is: 3 Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Eph
1:3) Please note
some of the profound blessings we enjoy in Christ:
1) We are chosen and elected in
Christ in eternity and not temporarily, of without the security of future
promise. Christ did not lose a single soul placed in His hands by the Father,
except that son of perdition’ who was Judas. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love: (Eph 1:4) Can you see what an amazing
gift salvation is to you, having been chosen in Christ before the worlds were
made?
2) The soul’s security in Christ in
a covenant inviolate. God never breaks His Word even if we are weak in faith at
moments of distress or sore temptation. Having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will, Eph 1:5 (KJV) There is further confirmation of this great
promise in 2nd
Timothy: For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am
not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. (2
Tim 1:12)
3) It is the work of Christ that
has made us acceptable to God – not any of our own works that are as filthy
rags. 6 To the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Eph
1:6) We could never
clean our hearts of sin – only Christ could do so through His imputed
righteousness.
4) We have a grant and title that
can never be annulled. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. (Eph
1:7)
5) There is no shadow of turning
with our Lord. (James 1:17) James is making reference,
before the Pope realized the earth was a sphere, to the turning of the earth on
its axis bringing the shadow of night upon the earth. Jesus has no night – only
brilliant Light of Day! Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for
ever. (Heb 13:8) We have redemption in reality
and not a ‘maybe.’ God will not do as our friends do – forgive us our sins one
day and remind us of them the next.
6) The union of the Christian with
his Lord is an indissoluble union. 10 That in the dispensation of the
fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Eph
1:10) Becoming One
with the Lord means to take His Mind upon us and surrender our own disparate
wills to His. Then are we One with Christ, One with the Church, and One with
God the Father & God the Holy Ghost!
7) There are times when the
treasured gift of a friend is a thing of cherished beauty, but age blemishes
the luster, and we view the gift as a lesser treasure; but the blessings of God
actually mount in value as time passes since they are eternal in nature. In
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (Eph
1:11). But wait, we
have already received that inheritance, have we not? When the Testator dies, do
the recipients not receive His grant of inheritance at that moment? YES!
8) The salvation we have received
cannot be disowned by us, why? Because we are sealed by the Royal Seal of God.
The seal of Pontius Pilate was not sufficient to keep the stone over the
entrance to the tomb of Christ. But the seal of God on your life cannot be
broken. 13 In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Eph
1:13)
9) That seal of God is a bond
floated as our earnest on the wings of the Holy Ghost to stand as earnest of
our everlasting hope and salvation in Christ. 14 Which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise
of his glory. (Eph
1:14)
10) I
love the second chapter of Ephesians for its clarity in describing our total
lack or ability to amend our lives and come to Christ, and stresses that it is
Christ whose works have brought us to the exit of the tomb. Even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved; (Eph 2:5) A dead man can do NOTHING to awaken himself from the dead,
Neither could Lazarus. He lay dead and putrifying in the tomb for four days ere
his cold, dead heart heart the Voice resounding from one wnd of Eternity to the
other saying, Lazarus, come forth! And Lazarus came forth from the
dead, as you and I have done at the moment of hearing that same Voice. He came
forth trailing the filthy rags of his own sin, but Christ commanded them to loose him, and let him go! (John
11:44) He has done
the same for us while we were the walking dead (dead in trespasses and sin).
Being unable to awaken ourselves from that death, Christ called, and we heeded
the Voice.
11) When the devil has recognized his ancient defeat and
capitulates leaving the field to the Victor, there will be that continuing peace
that passeth all understanding. That peace is not a truce, or an armistice,
but a permanent and eternal peace resulting from the unconditional surrender of
the Enemy of our Souls. 14 For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall
of partition between us
(Eph 2:14)
12) That permanent peace will rest
upon that Rock of our Salvation – a Foundation that can never be removed. And
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner stone. This is only short list of blessings.
Count your blessings and see what the Lord hath done!
