In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
Ephesians 1:7
The experience of salvation—the forgiveness of our trespasses—is the experience of being in Christ. It seems that we’ve a tendency to think of salvation as a gift, bought and given by Christ, while not realizing that He is the very gift of salvation. Whether we refer to it as redemption, forgiveness, salvation, or eternal life, it’s all Him! There’s no discovery or experience of any of God’s gracious works as entities in and by themselves—it’s all related to being “in him.”
Paul stated that as follows: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). We’re either “in him,” experiencing God’s salvation, or we’re separated from Him, “having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12).
Whenever we consider the reality of being “in Christ,” we have to go back till eternal ages, which Paul mentioned a few verses before: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph. 1:3-4). When Jesus was born, “he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham” (Heb. 2:16 KJV)—those who had been chosen “in him before the foundation of the world.”
Therefore, when we consider Jesus’ righteous life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection, we also have to see ourselves in Him. Paul stated: “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). We were (and are!) fully involved in His great work of salvation, being “in him.”
This is all “according to the riches of his grace,” both the choosing and the glorious benefits of being in Christ. It will be our eternal enjoyment: “So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). That’s the beauty, excellence, and glory of the gospel—of Jesus Christ.
Jan Blonk
The Devotional Writer
www.devotionalwriter.com