Are you a fan of the book of Ephesians?  I am.  I love the promises of God found there, and I find security in knowing that God has so “sealed us up” that we cannot get loose from His redemptive power if we have truly entered into a salvation experience with Jesus Christ our Lord.

I want to share Ephesians 1:3-14, then ask you to consider some thoughts with me.  (Pay careful attention to the phrases emphasized in this passage.)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will,according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
[Emphasis mine]

Friends, look at His promises:

• He blessed us
• He chose us
• He predestined us
• He redeemed us
• He forgave us our trespasses (sins)
• He has made His mystery known to us
• He set forth the plan in Christ
• He gave us an inheritance
• He sealed us with the Holy Spirit
• The Holy Spirit guarantees our inheritance

What are those promises based on?  They are based on the great covenants God made with Israel!

God had a redemptive plan for the world and for Israel before the foundations of the world.  (Ephesians 1:4)  That plan did not begin when we were born.  It did not begin when the great patriarchs walked with God.  It did not begin in the Garden of Eden.  It began before time began!

So, God had a plan to redeem the world before the world was even created.  How did He know we would even need a plan?  After all, Adam and Eve were created without sin.  Thus, there was no “original” need for redemption at creation.  Yet, God in infinite wisdom, knew that created man would soon fall to Satan’s temptation that, “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  (Genesis 3:5)

Moreover, how would He deliver that plan to us?  He chose a vehicle of delivery, and that vehicle was Israel!  He called Abraham, then made a covenant with him.  Genesis 12:1-3 tells us that He promised Abraham land and descendants….and that ALL the families of the world would be blessed through Abraham and his descendants.  (Genesis 15 describes that covenant.)  They would be the vehicle of God’s redemptive plan!

One final thought: God does not have favorites.  He does not love Jews more than Gentiles.  He simply chose Israel and the Jews for a special mission: to be the vehicle through which the world would be redeemed through the Jewish Messiah, Jesus!  They are “God’s chosen people,” not because God loves them more, but because they are the chosen vehicle to deliver God’s redemptive plan to the world!

Indeed, all the families of the earth are blessed through Abraham and his descendants, if we only lay hold of those blessings!