Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (4) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, (5) having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, (6) to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.  (7) In Him we have redemption through His blood,the forgiveness of sins, according to The riches of His grace (8) Which He made to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence, (9) having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, (10) that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.  (11) In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, (12) that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.   (13) In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel,of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (14) who is the guarantor of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His  glory.

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul. In today’s verses, Paul tells us that through through faith in Christ, from the moment we are saved, God blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We, the faithful, have been chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Som and our salvation is sealed by the indwelling Spirit who gives us confidence and joy in our inheritance.

We have already been told why God has destined us to be saved – to being glory to God. The whole Bible is Gods word to us and His final revelation in Christ Jesus.   “Depart from me as I am a sinful man” says Peter to the Lord. This is true for all men but through Christ we are made right with God. It is all from God; there is nothing man can do to earn salvation – it is all a gift called grace. All glory comes from God through the saving merits of Christ

Spiritual blessings wait for the saved in heavenly places, not with physical and material blessings on earth and Paul writes the wonderful words of praise for God from prison. Paul is intent on eternal heavenly blessings, not on this world – And in this he teaches us how to handle suffering.  We need praise, adoration and gratitude to God in our daily lIves.  This is what God wants us to do.   Our text describes Gods purpose for human history – to sum up all things in Christ. The faithful exist through Christ and they exist for the glory of God.