We are on a journey of discovery in the first two chapters of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. We are searching for all the benefits that we gain by accepting the gift of salvation. We often recognize those benefits that impact our eternity, but many of these listed by Paul are for us to use to get us through this life. All these attributes constitute the definition of who I am in Christ, who he has made me to be.
This week we have come to the truth that we are “blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing”. We often think of the blessing of God demonstrated as providing our temporal needs such as food, shelter, clothing, health, strong relationships, etc. These truly are things to praise our Lord for and are blessings of his grace. However, the promise in Ephesians 1:3 goes far deeper.
“Every spiritual blessing” refers to everything provided for us through our redemption in Jesus. The primary gift is the assurance we have that we will spend all of eternity in the presence of God. If there was nothing else, this would be enough. We cannot fathom the perfection of the place our Lord had gone ahead to prepare for us. The Apostle John gives us the briefest glimpse into God’s heaven in Revelation 4:1-6, After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. He goes on to discuss these creatures and their purposes in more detail.
Heaven is also defined as a place with gates of pearl and streets of gold. I believe these descriptions are inadequate to fully define what heaven will be like because our human language has no words to describe its wonder and our minds could not comprehend.
But as we stated above, many of those benefits of our salvation are provided to get us through this life with purpose and joy. Paul spends the next couple of chapters outlining those for us and we will go over each of them throughout the coming weeks.
However, before we leave this promise, we need to take note of one more phrase. We are told that our blessing is in the “heavenly realms”. This has two important aspects we need to uncover. First, Paul is giving us the source of the spiritual blessings we have received. They come from heaven. These are good things we could not receive in any other way. They only come through the hand of God. Again, I am not minimizing the blessings of health, food, etc., but many pre-believers enjoy some of these same things. They are earthy blessings. God can provide so much more when he reaches into the storehouse of heaven.
The other truth of the heavenly realms is where our cache of riches is stored. Each of these blessings are guaranteed because they are safely tuck away in the vaults of heaven being guarded by our Lord and deposited in accounts with our name on them. They are secure and will be distributed under the direction of a God that loves us beyond our understanding.