Dear Friends,
There is no greater exercise laid upon Christians than to praise God, bless God, and thank God; and there is no better way to promote that exercise than by remembering the Lord’s grace and lovingkindness towards us. It is this “device” that the apostle Paul employs in his introduction of his epistle to the Ephesians, when he pronounces, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” “Let us bless God,” he is saying, “because God has blessed us.” And the two points of remembrance that he especially sets before us there are – one, Who God is for us; and two. What God has done for us.
He is “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;” which simply means that He is our Covenant God, and our Covenant-keeping God.
One of the great Old Testament phrases is, “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.” It was a title often invoked on the part of the Children of Israel as a reminder that they would, indeed, come into all of those blessings that God had promised to give them through His covenant made with Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob. The blessings of receiving a land to be their possession, and so forth. And so, whenever they spoke about, “the God of Abraham,” they were speaking about the God who had promised to Abraham, and in Abraham, and through Abraham, to bless them, and to grant them those temporal and earthly things (and others besides, of course).
Now then, when Paul speaks about our God as being “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “he is not simply speaking about that relationship that they have one towards the other in the Trinity as Father and Son; but he is speaking about that “covenant” relationship whereby there is guaranteed to us all the blessings of redemption for ever and ever. Thus, Paul speaks about us being, “blessed” “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” The “outer shell” of the covenant of old, if you like, was the land of Canaan; the eternal fruit of the covenant is Canaan above, and all the blessings that lead us to that “Land of pure delight,” and which we enjoy when we arrive there. And these blessings we have, because we have a God who keeps covenant” with His people, because of the covenant He has made with His Son and through His Son.
“The God of Abraham” was a great title for the people of Israel of old; it still is for us, now that we understand and know something of the fulness of it. But the greatest title of all is, “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The God who has not withheld His only Son from us, but has given Him, as He himself says, “a covenant for the people.” When we remember who God is for us, then we have ample cause, and ample reason to “Bless” Him, to thank Him, and to praise Him. What has God done for us that might serve as a basis for our thanking Him, and praising Him, and blessing Him? It would be easier to answer, what has He not done for us? For there is nothing that He has not done for us. And so, Paul gathers up every true covenant benefit for us when he says that God has blessed us “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” The greatest blessings are spiritual blessings; those that will last as long as heaven itself lasts; and those that are in Jesus Christ our Lord. Blessed be God for these, says Paul.
It is these “spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” that the apostle then goes on to enumerate and deal with, of course, in the verses that follow in Ephesians chapter one: - “according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world … having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself … in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,” and so forth. “Spiritual blessings”! And what a heap of spiritual blessings that first chapter of Ephesians sets before us. As the hymn-writer has it:
“Blessing abound, where’er He reigns.”
And where Christ reigns in our hearts by faith, then we see those blessings as we ought to do, and we thank God – “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” – for them. As old Samuel Rutherford expressed it, “He has engaged us hand over foot to free grace.” “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever.” There is no better way to glorify Him than by remembering who He is for us; there is no better way to “enjoy” Him than by remembering the “gracious benefits” He has bestowed upon us. He is the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” who has “blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”