BLESSED BE GOD
William Mealand

HOW EXPRESSIVE are these opening words of Paul's message to the Ephesian and other believers in Christ Jesus! The present tense is so impressive. And what an ascription of worshiping praise are the paragraphs that follow! They come from the apostle with such fervor and feeling.

That God should make Himself so knowable and so near to us, as the people of His choice is surely a constant wonder. And, as far as our worthiness is concerned, like Israel's, a groundless choice. Yet this makes it all the more wonderful. Even the Psalmist and his illustrious son Solomon, together with Israel's honored roll of prophets, never glimpsed a grace like this.

Their's was and remains an earthly blessing, though of heavenly character in its future unfolding. Here, however, blessing is not only intensely spiritual, while we are still bound to the earth by many ties, but gives us the great incentive of a celestial goal. We cannot, therefore, dissociate one from the other. Indeed, the ideal and celestial should govern our present terrestrial walk.

Now, this notable choice of us, as also its rare destiny, is in accord with God's "own purpose and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before times eonian" (2 Tim.1:9). It is in full keeping, too, with "The evangel of the glory of the happy God," with which Paul was entrusted. An evangel, indeed, of meridian splendor. Never, until Paul told it forth, was there such an evangel, and one of such far reaching effect. Blessed Father, beloved Son. And so distinctively written down, "He chooses us in Him."

What ineffable values are involved in such words, and to what great ends they point! The choice goes back to a past inconceivable by finite minds, yet the fact magnifies the wonder and character of it. Think of it. "Before the disruption." That great catastrophe which befell an order of things, a system, a world prior to our own. So we read, "and the earth became waste and vacant, and darkness is on the surface of the abyss" (Gen.1:2). Yet, even before that tragic occurrence, we were in the mind and the purpose of God. Staggering thought, but how it enhance the power and blessedness of the choice! What point it gives to our acceptance, our enrichment in the beloved One!

"We to be holy and flawless in His sight." So, for such an end did the Father purpose and provide. And, in due time, He reveals such benign regard. He views us as flawless. We may think of a diamond, well cut and absolutely flawless. Its facets are perfect. There is no unseemly streak to mar and lessen its lustre. It is just a thing of shimmering light and beauty--perfect as man can fashion such a stone. How flawless, then, when the blessed Father of glory is the consummate Fashioner!

Well may it be, to accord with such high estate, that in love, the blessed One is "designating us beforehand for the place of a son for Him, through Christ Jesus." How perfect a standing, and with what faultless title--the place of a son! All through union with the Son. The Father's very own, to belong to Him, to know and serve Him, to glorify Him, and to enjoy Him forever. How comes such distinction? It is "in accord with the delight of His will." And "in accord with the riches of His grace." Also, in a grand conclusive statement, it is "in accord with the counsel of His will, that we should be for the land of His glory, who are pre-expectant in the Christ."

What purpose and process of blessing! First to last, it is of God. And in, and also through Christ. The grand goal is "to head up all in the Christ--both that in the heavens and that on the earth--in Him in Whom our lot was cast also, being designated beforehand according to the purpose of the One Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will."

There is then to be a consummation which will indeed take effect in Him. And His "management" will at length lead the entire operation to a goal designed by God's own multifarious wisdom. Then will all the stages of God's rare deliverance and forgiveness attain their fullness in an actual result which shall correspond to the divine ideal. And what an ideal that will be! Hosts above and below, most truly finding in Christ their illustrious and glorious Head.

Great God of wonders, all Thy ways
Are matchless, godlike, and divine.
But the rare glories of Thy grace
More godlike and unrivalled shine.
Who is forgiving like to Thee?
Or Who has grace so rich and free?

What wonderful blessings are attached to the sonship which is ours through Christ Jesus! "Deliverance through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses in accord with the riches of His grace, which He lavishes on us." What release and freedom, what sense of nearness is imparted as we read such an announcement! Never before had language so brought to the heart and mind the majesty of divine love. There is such a chain of high and beautiful qualities. And all for the enrichment of the saints--God's set apart ones, His votaries, His devotees, as we might express the word. O! that we might the more live up to such a distinctive word!

There are many who do not like the expression "saints," though in Christendom they accept its wide and romantic use as applied to its "seven champions." But as Paul uses the word, it shines with a lustre as of heaven. The usage of Scripture, however, tends rather to attach it to the pilgrims of the Lord, in their sojourn down here. True, they may too often live below what, in Christ, they are. But we should not let this pull down the great word, as if it were a pale synonym for "a member of a community called Christian." Rather should we let it lift up the bearer of the title, to recollect its glory, and in Christ, to live it.

Now, behind all the grandeur of our believing and receiving, there is mystery we may not fathom. But we do know that our celestial status as set forth by the apostle, lies in the infinite and blessedly free will of God. And there we may consciously rest, leaving to the Father of glory "the unknown of the matter, as we gather strength, joy and peace from the known.

Paul leads us up and up in exultant thought and appreciation of God's rich bestowal, only to stress its value in a great prayer for all the saints, "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may be giving you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the realization of Him..." a realization which the remainder of this marvelous chapter vividly unfolds. Deep indeed is the apostle's desire that all the saints should enter into such enlightenment, perception, and expectation.

Philosophy would say, "Know thyself," but the evangel of our salvation meets us with the glorious and fruitful watchword, Know thy God! Moses, in the first forty years of his life, was learned in the wisdom and science of the Egyptians. But how much of it would be unlearned in the wilderness of Sinai? Yet, it is there he learns great lessons of God, even glimpsing His glory "in the flame of a thorn bush fire."

Yes, our God is, in a wonderful sense, "the Father of glory." And how much is comprehended in the title! He is the Origin of all expressions of divine glory, of all holiness, might, majesty, and beauty. Of "the Lord of glory," crucified and risen. Father of the true Shekinah, His effulgence. And of "Israel, My glory." Well may the evangelic anthem be, "Glory to God among the highest!"

Here, however, in Paul's grand prayer, we come to an incomparable expression of it. For, that we, so low and meritless, should be so lifted into its infinitude, is marvelous indeed. That, in the Christ of God, we should be raised to celestial regions, in true thought and outlook, is an undreamed of conception. And who compose this vast company? Whence come they? They have come from the births of time, from the circumstance of mortal life, and from the prosaic incident of everyday intercourse. From all conditions of humankind have they been drawn by the ever active spirit of God, to form a vast, distinguished company, though, in the eyes of many, quite undistinguished.

And for what high purpose are they so drawn and blest? True, it is that they should be reflectors of God's grace and glory as they walk in newness of life as true ambassadors of the Father of glory. But more than that, they are to cast a reflected glory upwards to the eyes of watchers above. For to them, in unique degree, do we make known "the multifarious wisdom of God."

This, then, is the high quality of our testimony, that not only to the dwellers of earth do we demonstrate God's grace, but to "the sovereignties and the authorities among the celestials" we exhibit the profound character of God's wisdom. So God has greatly purposed, and how divine the idea and its working out! Yet how far removed from the religious conception of the word "church." For God dwells not in stately buildings of stone, or in organizations intent upon worldly associations with the idea of bringing about the millennium, apart from the personal presence of Christ. Such conceptions fall far short of God's ideal, and the magnificence of His vast assembly wherein He is always in residence. That is a community which coheres, and is one thing with a unity and symmetry unimaginable now.

There all the millions of His saints
Shall in one song unite,
And each the bliss of all shall view
With infinite delight.

Are we not then, one with Paul in the acceptance of such an unfolding? And do we not perceive the majesty of it? It stands by itself, not needing support of authorities, but first asking alone for an exultant acquiescence, a breathing out of the grand expression, "Blessed is God!" So, then, we may well join with Paul in his impressive doxology. Such words are a fitting pause in the apostle's transcendent epistle to the Ephesians, and indeed, "to all the saints who are also believers in Christ Jesus."

"Now to Him Who is able to do superexcessively above all that we are requesting or apprehending, according to the power that is operating in us, to Him be glory in the ecclesia and in Christ Jesus for all the generations of the eon of the eons! Amen!"