#DailyDevotion In Him Is The Greatest Two Words Ever Written

Eph. 1:9b-14 It was His kindly purpose in Christ ¹⁰ to manage everything in heaven and on earth in such a way that when the right time would come it would all be organized under Christ as its Head.¹¹He Who accomplishes everything just as He wants to plan it, long ago appointed us in Christ and chose us according to His purpose ¹² that we, the first to hope in Christ, should live to praise His glory. ¹³ When you heard the message of the truth, the good news that you were saved, and you believed in Him, you, too, were sealed in Him by the Holy Spirit — Whom He promised ¹⁴and Who is now the Guarantee of our inheritance — that He might free you to be His people and to praise His glory.

We saw in previous verse what the Father was doing ‘in Christ’ and this continues in these verses as well. The Father has a kindly purpose in Christ. That purpose was to manage everything in heaven and on earth so that at the right time it would all be organized under Christ as its head. We may think the world is in chaos and that evil is winning sometimes. People throughout the centuries have often thought this as well. But there is nothing that is happening in the world that is not part of God’s plan of redeeming you, preserving you in the faith, and placing all of creation under Jesus. There is nothing that happens which our Father in heaven is not using for the spreading of the Gospel, the perseverance of the saints and putting all things under Christ.

The One whose plan is coming to pass without fail appointed us in Christ and chose us according to his purpose that we who hope in Christ should live to praise his glory. Here again, we are not chosen willy nilly, nor are we chosen according to our great abilities, nor according to what our potential is, but we are appointed and chosen in Christ. If anything, if we take 1 Corinthians chapter one into understanding we were chosen and appointed in Christ because we were weak, foolish, and even accounted for nothing, if any attributes of ours were ever taken into account. But no, it was God’s choice of us in Christ Jesus that is a cause of our faith in Christ that according to his plans we would praise his glory.

Now we have two ‘in hims’ finishing this blessing of God the Father. When we heard the message of truth, the good news that we were by the work of God in Christ Jesus, his suffering, death and resurrection and we are given salvation freely in Christ, this message created faith in him, i.e. Jesus Christ. And coming to faith in him, Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ (read baptized into Jesus Christ) we were sealed by the Holy Spirit. Yes, when God baptized you into Christ, you were signed, sealed and delivered by the Holy Spirit. Being sealed means you have been made safe. You are one of those in Revelation upon whom the seal of God’s name has been placed (the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit). The LORD places us in time into Christ through baptism and preserves us in this salvation by the Holy Spirit through the Word and the Lord’s Supper, as well as absolution and mutual edification of other believers in Christ.

The Holy Spirit, who has us confess Jesus Christ is LORD, the LORD of the Old Testament, is our guarantee of our inheritance, in Christ. He has freed us in Christ to be his holy people to the praise of his glory. If Jesus is the LORD of the Old Testament is the belief of your heart and the confession of your mouth, you have the Holy Spirit.

Heavenly Father, you chose us in Christ Jesus to be saved to your glory. Continually give us your word and sacrament to preserve us unto life everlasting. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.