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(c) That ye might be filled unto all the fulness of God.
We have called Ephesians 1:3-14 `the charter of the Church' because it includes some of the distinct features that
make this Church a unique company in the Scriptures. One way in which the teaching of Ephesians 1:3-14 can be
set before the eye of the reader is to take the recurring word `according' as the pivot, and make a simple alternation
as follows:
A Eph. 1:3 BLESSING
B Eph. 1:4 PURPOSE `According as He chose us'
A Eph. 1:5 PREDESTINATION and SONSHIP
B Eph. 1:5-8 PURPOSE `According to the good pleasure of His will'
A Eph. 1:9 REVELATION
B Eph. 1:9,10 PURPOSE `According to His good pleasure'
A Eph. 1:11 PREDESTINATION and INHERITANCE
B Eph. 1:11-14 PURPOSE `According to purpose ... will'.
This fourfold revelation of blessing beyond compare is interlinked with four statements of purpose, immutable
grace, irreversible will, unfaltering counsel, and unalterable purpose.
The sphere of blessing that pertains to the Church of the One Body is not the new earth, neither is it the heavenly
Jerusalem, but `heavenly places' `where Christ sits' `far above all principality' (Eph. 1:3; Col. 3:1; Eph. 1:21). This
church was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), whereas the early callings of the New
Testament are all dated as `from (or since) the foundation of the world'. There are but three passages which use the
word `before';
(1) With reference to Christ alone:
`Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world' (John 17:24).
(a)
`As of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
(b)
world' (1 Pet. 1:19,20).
(2) With reference to the Redeemed:
`Chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world' (Eph. 1:4).
REVELATION
Genesis tells us of the creation, the Serpent's deception, the loss of Paradise, the forfeiture of the right to the tree
of life, the entrance of sin, death and the curse. Revelation tells us of the new creation, the end of the Serpent's
deception, the restoration of Paradise, the right to the tree of life, and the blessed fact that there shall be `no more
death' and `no more curse'. Genesis three contains in a brief statement the great prophecy concerning the Seed of
the woman, and the seed of the Serpent. Revelation shows us in fuller detail the final and complete fulfilment of this
basic prophecy.
Coming to the New Testament we find in the opening book, the Gospel of Matthew, a striking and obvious
connection between this Gospel of the Kingdom and the Revelation. Matthew presents us with the coming of the
`Son of man' in lowliness, finally showing us His rejection by Israel as their King, His head crowned with thorns,
and the Gentile successor of Nebuchadnezzar's dominion preferred to the King of God's appointment.
The Revelation has an answer to this, just as it had an answer to all that was said in Genesis.
It is not until the seventh angel sounds his trumpet that:
`the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets ... And the seventh
angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever (unto the ages of the ages)' (Rev.
10:7 and 11:15).