Does it seem mysterious to you to say that we have “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”? (Eph. 1:3) ESV. This idea has seemed very abstract and fuzzy to me, especially the part about the blessings being in heavenly places. Why does it say the blessings are in heavenly places instead of in our hearts? And if the blessings are in heavenly places and we are living on earth does that mean we are separated from our blessings somehow? Do we have to wait until the next life until we have them?
As we look at Ephesians 1:3-14 we can see that Paul lists the heavenly blessings he refers to in verse 3. If we look at these blessings perhaps we can answer some of our questions.
Verse 4:
God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world
He chose us to be holy and blameless before Him
Verse 5:
He predestined us to adopt us as His children through Jesus
Verse 6:
He blessed us with His glorious gifts in Christ
Verse 7:
He delivered us by forgiving our sins through the blood of Christ
Verse 8:
He lavished His grace on us with great wisdom
Verse 9-10:
He revealed the mystery of His purpose in Christ to one day sum up all things in Christ
Verse 11:
We have a predestined inheritance
Verse 12:
We bring praise to His glory
Verse 13:
God sealed us with His Holy Spirit, which He had promised through the prophets
Verse 14:
His Spirit is the guarantee of our coming inheritance
This is quite an amazing list and in it we can see that we do have tremendous spiritual blessings, some are for the future but most of them we have now. He chose us before the world began to be pure, to adopt us as His children and since we are His children we will receive an inheritance. He did this through His Son Jesus Christ who died for us and who will one day be the head of all creation. He put His Spirit inside us and this gift proves that we do have an inheritance. Thus, our lives bring great praise for His love and generosity.
But if we have most of the blessings now then we must be connected to the heavens now. Biblical scholars tell us that the New Testament describes the heavens as a place that is around us now. Believers live in the midst of the heavens. So heaven is another dimension of some kind that we experience now in these blessings. Our mission is to live a life true to these realities.
So reflect on this list and insert your name into the blessings and trust and enjoy the grace He has given us!
