(iii) SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS
John Burnett
I was impressed with the greatness of the spiritual blessings that we come into. They are centred in Christ. What an impression Paul had of the greatness of Christ! I suppose it never left him right from the beginning in Acts, “Who art thou, Lord?” (ch 9: 5). It never left him. How much is gained by us as we have an impression of Christ and His glory, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”. “In the heavenlies” – how wonderful that we can reach out, the Spirit helping us to reach out for these divine things that are found “in the heavenlies in Christ”. He is there, God has “highly exalted him” (Phil 2: 9), anointed him with the oil of gladness above his companions (see Hebrews 1: 9). Think of the greatness and glory of Christ, “chosen us in him before the world’s foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love”. What a challenge that is to our hearts that we should be maintained in all that Christ has maintained and strengthened – “chosen us in him before the world’s foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love; having marked out beforehand” – think of that being “marked out beforehand”, God’s thoughts for us before the world was, you and I brought into the blessings that are so full, “according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has taken us into favour in the Beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood”. Think of the cost of redemption through His blood, the greatness and glory of all that is for God, secured in Christ eternally, but we are brought into it. How wonderful these things are! “According to the riches of his grace; which he has caused to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself” – these are great things and how we may be encouraged in them and blessed and brought into the greatness of God’s thoughts for us and find in a fresh way what it is to be “blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”. Oh that we may be sustained in what is heavenly. There is so much here that would detain us, but God’s thoughts for us are for heaven. Paul reached and was brought into the wonders of the greatness and glory of what was heavenly and his desire is that we should also come into what is heavenly, in the enjoyment of these things for ourselves and to be found that we should be “holy and blameless before him in love”. That is the bond that we have together in love, “having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself”. How wonderful God’s thoughts are that He would have us brought to Himself in the wonderful way through Christ and the glory of redemption and everything that is there centred in Him so that we are maintained in life and sustained here until He comes. May we be in the enjoyment of these things. For His Name’s sake.
London
22 April 2003