Ephesians 1:1-14.
It was never the intention of God eternally to bless men in connection with the first man. It was necessary to put him on trial in order to show the impossibility of his being a channel of blessing, but the trial did not imply that it was the intention of God to bless men through him. Furthermore, it was necessary that the sons of the fallen first man should have the opportunity to show whether they possessed the power to recover themselves. The trial of this question has been a fair one. There has been no hasty conclusion of it, nor an insufficient number of cases put to the test. One after another has been given the opportunity to show the suitability of his being a channel of blessing; but not one has ever done so. Long and varied as the trial has been, it does not at all mean that God ever expected or intended to bless men in connection with the first man or any of his sons. The purpose of the trial was to show man's unfitness to be a channel of blessing.
God's thought all the time has been to bless men in connection with the risen Second Man. More than this, it was His purpose to do so before ever He made the worlds. Before ever He exerted His power to create, He had planned to put a Man at the head of all things. The Man who was before His eye and in His mind was the risen Second Man. It was His thought even then to bless men in connection with Him.
The Second Man is brought in and subjected to the severest testing to show that He is worthy of being the channel of blessing to men. He is proved to be a Man with whom God can link His name. We read that God was not ashamed to be called the God of Abraham. But God did not link His name with Abraham as a man in the flesh:it was as a man of faith. Speaking of men as men simply, there never was a man with whose name God could link Himself. Not until the Second Man appeared could God do that. In a sense in which it was not true of Abraham, God is not ashamed to be called the God of the Second Man.
But if God links Himself with Him, is not ashamed to be called and known as His God, it means that He is the channel of blessing to men-that blessing which was in His heart and mind for men before ever the worlds were. It is as the God and Father of the risen Lord Jesus Christ that He has blessed us. It is in this character that He has given us all our blessings. How this does away with boasting! If every blessing comes to us through Him how impossible to glory in ourselves! If all is bestowed because of Him how every thought of self-merit or worthiness is excluded! It is to Christ we are indebted for everything. To realize this is but to make Him the theme of our praise and join with the apostle in saying, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
But what are the blessings of which the risen Second Man is the channel? They are all spiritual blessings.
First. We are holy and without blame before God in love. This is absolutely true of Christ, but it is not true of us except as we are covered by Him. What an inestimable blessing! It was planned for us "before the foundation of the world." It was God's thought then to put Christ upon us. This is one of the blessings He had in mind when He determined to bless men in connection with the risen Second Man. His intention was to put us in the same position in which that Man was to stand. His thought was to associate us with Him in His place of Son. It is a position to which we have no title, either natural or acquired. Indeed it is impossible for us to acquire a title to such a place-a place that belongs by right to only One. He must therefore be the channel through which the blessing is conferred upon us. But if we are to have His place as Son -the place of the Son of God in manhood, we must be suited to the place. Christ Himself is the only possible fitness. It is only as in Him-covered by what He is-that we are suited to the place. We are graced-adorned-in Him. Oh, what a blessing!
Second. In Him "we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." How good to realize that our sins have not thwarted the purposes of God. The blood of Christ is the ransom paid for the right to redeem. He has title to forgive sins. It is His right to exercise grace. The right being founded on the shedding of His blood, there is no limitation to the grace. Whatever the measure of our guilt it cannot exceed the measure of the grace He has title to show. The redemption we have in Him implies therefore the forgiveness of all our sins. The forgiveness is free and full.
The grace He has title to show is not limited to the forgiveness of sins. It includes also the revelation of His counsels concerning the Man with whom He links His name. He has, therefore, abounded in grace up to the measure of making known to us His purpose to put that Man at the head of all things. The redemption we have in Christ implies not only the forgiveness of sins, but the knowledge of what He has planned for the glory of the One whose God and Father He is. How great a blessing this!
Next, believers-whether Jews or Gentiles have in Christ an inheritance. They inherit along with Him. They possess jointly with Him the things that God has put into His hand-things heavenly, things earthly-whatever He is made Head over. It is an enduring inheritance. Who can compute its value ? What untold wealth and glory! But let us remember Christ is the channel through which it comes to us. The title to it is vested in Him. He does not surrender His title, but holding that in His own hands, eternally, He takes us into joint possession with Himself.
Finally, in Him we have the Spirit of God-the seal or mark which God has put upon us as witnessing that He has claimed us for the day of glory, and the power for present apprehension and enjoyment of the things to which we are heirs-joint heirs with Christ, while yet we wait to be put in possession of them.
These are our blessings-the blessings with which we are blessed in Christ. Everything is included. It is a broad, comprehensive view of them-not a detailed enumeration, the point here being to emphasize the essential fact that Christ is the channel through which all flows to us. He is the One with whom God has linked His name. He is not ashamed to be called and known as His God and Father. It is in this character that He has blessed us. He has blessed us richly, but it is all in connection with Christ.
If, then, Christ is the channel of all our blessing, what place ought He not to have in our hearts and thoughts? Does He get His due from us? C. Crain.