The first chapter of Ephesians expresses two glorious spiritual concepts which belong to the church right now. Verse 10 mentions how God is going to sum up all things in Christ: the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth are to be summed up in Him.
Then it says in verse 11a: In whom also we were made a heritage, The purpose of God; we were made a heritage. Now, there’s a dual thought, so don’t miss it—we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all thing after the counsel of his will; to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, (We are God’s heritage; we’re to be to the praise of His glory throughout all eternity.) … we who had before hoped in Christ: in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, —in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance. Ephesians 1:11–14a.
Two thoughts: We’re God’s heritage; and He gives us the Holy Spirit as the earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of His glory.
Now, let’s see what has been said. This will help you a great deal. First of all, understand that God is doing no little thing in the earth. He is bringing forth people, not just to save them from hell because He accidentally made a slip in the garden of Eden and let the devil in. God didn’t make any mistakes: before the foundation of the world, the Scripture says that His son was the Lamb slain (Revelation 13:8). This was in the heart of God before one person, or this world that you dwell on, was created.
The whole thing was not an afterthought with God; He knew you. The 139th psalm said that God wrote your name in a book before you were ever formed or brought forth in the lower parts of the earth. Do we understand what God is doing? Do we know that He foreknew us? For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His son. Romans 8:29a.
We’re going to be to the praise of His glory, the heritage of God, an exhibit of His grace. You say, “That is beautiful”, but also God said, “I want you to know that you have quite an inheritance; and in order to help you understand that, I am going to give you the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the earnest of your inheritance.
But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.… But we received, not the spirit of the world, Paul writes in I Corinthians 2, but the Spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.
The Moffatt translation, concerning this earnest of our inheritance, says that the Holy Spirit comes as a first installment of heaven. You have a great heritage laid up, and the Holy Spirit comes Himself to be the earnest of it, the first step, the first payment. Do you like that idea? We don’t have to die in order to go to glory, but He gave us the Holy Spirit, and day unto day he will take the precious things of the Lord and reveal them to us. “All things are Mine,” Jesus said, “therefore said I, the Holy Spirit shall take of Mine and shall show it forth, shall manifest it unto you.” (John 16:15). The Holy Spirit comes Himself as the first installment of it, then He keeps bringing successive installments all the way along.
I don’t think anybody realizes what we’re going to be as God’s heritage through eternity. And there isn’t one of us that realizes what God has laid up as a precious inheritance for us. And this I give to you because there is a tendency right now for people to bog down into one or two circumstances and say “Oh, if this only would be removed, then I would be able to serve God acceptably. If this circumstance would be changed, if God would meet this need in my heart, then everything would be taken care of.” Don’t look at it that way, because there are so many things God has for you. Keep your eye upon the greatness of what God has.
We conclude with one passage, starting with verse 19, part of a prayer in which Paul was praying that a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the Lord would come and the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened, so that we would know what is the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (the very thing we’ve been talking about), and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. Ephesians 1:19–23.
What has Paul said? “I pray God will give you wisdom and real revelation, that you will know what God has in mind for you, and that you will understand the greatness of His power that He has beamed toward you.” The same power that is beamed at every one of your hearts is the great power that took His own Son out of the abyss, raised Him up from the grave, exalted Him to sit at His own right hand and gave Him dominion over all principalities, powers and rule and made Him the head over all things to the church which is His fullness, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
Do you realize what is beamed toward you? The arm of God that raised Jesus from the grave and exalted Him so high and gave Him that authority, then turned loose that power and authority through Him, making Him the head over all things to the church, so that it might come down to you. You know, if we took this knowledge and believed it with all of our hearts, we’d say, “Oh, Heavenly Father, what You have beamed at me.” Get out from under that shelter that you’re in; take your umbrella down, open your heart; stop living in that hole and get out in the sunshine of His love! Do you know what He has beamed toward you? Don’t underestimate it. It is more glorious than the prophecies that are coming in this house for we’re only prophesying a little part. Every time you begin to bog down in your own problems and circumstances, go back and say, “Oh, how great is this power that is beamed toward me, this power that was manifested when He raised Christ from the dead and exalted Him so high with all authority, rule and all power under His hand.”
“I don’t understand that. The world is filled with a lot of problems, difficulties, war and everything else, and you tell me that Christ has been exalted that way? Then why isn’t the world filled with it?”
The answer is very simple: He made Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His fullness; and until we get the impression that we’re the channels through which this authority and power is to be manifested, we’re the ones that are slowing it down. We’re the bottleneck. God has it there, ready, and it’s beamed to usward, but we aren’t drawing as much of it as we should, I believe that with all my heart. I doubt if there are any in this walk, so far, that have the complete control of their thoughts and faith, until they are really accepting the greatness of this thing, as it really is. We just aren’t grasping it yet. I’m determined that we’re going to declare war on our unbelief. We’re going to come into the full expression of all that God has for us. Lord, let it flow!
Have you ever thought, “I need more blessing. There just isn’t enough beamed my way: I don’t get enough ministry. I don’t get enough of anything around here. Oh, poor me”? Have you ever felt that way? Whom the devil would destroy, he makes feel sorry for themselves. Everything starts with self-pity; woe be unto the man that’s given to self-pity. God is no respector of persons. If God has a man that He wants to bless in a special way, He kicks him in the teeth, throws a mountain in his way, and says, “Son, I’ve chosen you! Go after it!” There isn’t any greater thing that God can do to any man on the face of the earth than to put him in a situation that’s beyond his own resources, beyond his own capabilities, then commission him to go do it. You can find some stammerer, stuttering on the back side of the desert, waiting for a bush to burn up, and God said, “Look what I’ve chosen you for.” “Oh, not me, Lord!”, he begins to protest, but God never does pick a man because he has enough ability in himself. He picks the weak things to confound the mighty, the foolish things to confound the wise. No flesh is going to glory in His presence. This is the way our God moves. What do we say to all of these things? “How much you’ve beamed toward us, Lord!”, when you begin to feel like, “I just can’t handle it, I’m just not up to it.” That’s a lie! By the grace of God, you can do it. You can do all things through Him who strengthens you.