Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3
Those spiritual blessings
in heavenly places which are ours in Christ may be divided into three classes:
The first is those which
come to us immediately upon our believing unto salvation, such as forgiveness,
justification, regeneration, sonship to God and baptism into the Body of Christ.
In Christ we possess these even before we know that they are ours!
The second class is those
riches which are ours by inheritance but which we cannot enjoy in actuality
until our Lord returns. These include ultimate mental and moral perfection, the
glorification of our bodies, the completion of the restoration of the divine
image in our redeemed personalities and the admission into the very presence of
God to experience forever the Beatific Vision. These treasures are as surely
ours as if we possessed them now!
The third class consists
of spiritual treasures which are ours by blood atonement but which will not
come to us unless we make a determined effort to possess them. These are
deliverance from the sins of the flesh, victory over self, the constant flow of
the Holy Spirit through our personalities, fruitfulness in Christian service,
awareness of the Presence of God, growth in grace, an increasing consciousness
of union with God and an unbroken spirit of worship. These are to us what the
Promised Land was to Israel, to be entered into as our faith and courage mount.
No comments:
Post a Comment