"..according to His good pleasure.." Ephesians 1:7-10 (NIV)

I have heard the question asked of me before “what is the purpose of Jesus Christ?  What are we saved from?”  Sure, we are saved from sin, but for what purpose?  What is the end game in God’s plan for us?  Paul addresses that question in the above passage. 

To start with we have been given redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus, “redemption is the repurchase of captured prisoners; the act of procuring the deliverance of persons from the possession and power of captors by the payment of an equivalent; a ransom; a release; as the redemption of prisoners taken in war.”(Websters 1829 Dictionary)

We were repurchased by the death of Jesus who paid the ultimate cost for us on the cross.  He bought us back from Satan who laid claim on us because of our agreement with him from our rebellion back in the garden of Eden.  Jesus literally paid a "King's ransom" to release us who were caught like prisoners of war taken in battle, for we are literally at war with the enemy of our soul who has formed plans against us from the beginning to destroy us and God's plan for our future.

The repurchase (or redemption) bought our forgiveness, the Father does not hold our rebellion against us and it restores us in the right relationship with Himself once again.  

This was grace, what is grace?  Grace is the application of the righteousness of Christ Jesus, not our own.  It is the Father’s affection and favor given to us freely, without strings attached, or the disposition to oblige another as a free gift made as an act of grace.

The Father has so much grace, His grace is detailed in the above passage as the “riches of God’s grace”, another way to describe this is the Father’s grace was ‘expended profusely’ upon us. 

This was done to reveal wisdom and understanding.  Jesus is the source of all wisdom, and understanding comes from the Holy Spirit residing within us revealing what Jesus wants to do in our lives and in this world in general.  

The indwelling Christ becomes our source of all awareness of the Father’s purpose for our lives which is His ‘will’, and His ‘good pleasure’ is what brings Him delight and Joy as His purpose is acted upon. 

There is a matter of timing to allow all things to be brought into alignment or become ripe as Jesus put it:

"Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together." John 4:35-36 (NIV)

This was the mystery which was hidden since the beginning of recorded time, that Christ would reside within us to become our righteousness, this is what brought joy and a delight to the Father that He would have many sons who all were perfect as Jesus was perfect because He would see Jesus in all of us.

The Father wanted all of creation to be in ‘unity’ with Christ Jesus in Heaven and on Earth, and this will happen in time.  We are presently in the overlapping of one age closing and a new age dawning, it is not a ‘biblical’ age, but better said a ‘Christlike’ age where Jesus is bringing all things together in unity under Himself.  What does that look like?  It looks like love, Paul spoke about it in Galatians 5:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

A Christlike world is what is missing from the Father’s fulfillment of creation, it is what He intended all along and it is what is happening right now in the world which is why there is so much upheaval. 

We are at war with unseen enemies which are literally hell-bent on deconstruction, the dismantling of everything that we have established for many generations.  While the battle rages on, at the center of it is a remnant that knows who Jesus is and what He came to do which is to restore mankind to their intended purpose of creation.  These people know who they are in Christ and stand in the face of the enemy and will not bend or bow to the evil all around them but stay committed to the voice of the Lord as He instructs them on a daily basis about how to stand in love and not let the enemy distract them.

In the end ‘love wins’, there will be casualties along the way, but we have been given such a great gift of grace which transcends this fallen world and reveals this new world which is to come.

King David comments in his prayer to the Lord below, which reflects his heart of humility:

"Compared to all this cosmic glory, why would you bother with puny, mortal man or be infatuated with Adam’s sons?  Yet what honor you have given to men, created only a little lower than Elohim, crowned like kings and queens with glory and magnificence.  You have delegated to them mastery over all you have made, making everything subservient to their authority, placing earth itself under the feet of your image-bearers." Psalm 8:4-6 (TPT)

The writer of Hebrews quotes this passage above in Hebrews 2:5-8, but ends with this last thought:

“…This means that God has left nothing outside the control of his Son, even if presently we have yet to see this accomplished.”

The reason that God even bothers with us is because He loves us and is passionate to connect with us on a deeply personal level, which is why He sent His Son to rescue us from ourselves. We were also meant to become the Father's sons and daughters through Jesus. 

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett