I am looking at Ephesians 1:9-12 of 3-14, where we find this little word used an applied in the following, "in one all things in Christ; to unite all things in Him; or the summing up of all things in Christ," depending on Bible translation used. These passages is loaded with all sorts of interesting subtopics that are due our attention but that is not at all unusual now is it? If there remains room I will add "the divine purpose" of all these things.
Believers Unity, In Christ,
Romans 12:5 of 3-8 "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that GOD has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."
1Corinthians 10:17 of 14-22 with 2Corinthians 12:12 "Therefore, my beloved, flee from [religions] idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table (alter) of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?"
2Corinthians 12:12 of 11-13 "I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!"
Galatians 3:28 of 23-29 "Now before faith came, we were held captive under the Law, imprisoned until the coming of faith was revealed. So then, the Law (the Mosaic Law) was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of GOD, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's [seed], then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."
Ephesians 4:13 of 7-16 "For grace is given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high He led (Matthew 27:51b-54) a host of captives, and He gave gifts (Acts 2) to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He Who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes (of religions making and designs). Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him Who is the head, into Christ, from Whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
Divine Purposes:
Irresistible,
Isaiah 14:26-27 of 3-23, 24-27 "When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution. The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing. The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.' Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. All of them will answer and say to you: 'You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!' Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day [Hebrew Helel; dimly shinning one] Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You having said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of GOD I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?' All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot. You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. "May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named! Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities." 'I will rise up against them,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity,' declares the LORD. 'I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,' declares the LORD of hosts.
The LORD of hosts has sworn: 'As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke will depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder.' This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?"
Sure of Fulfillment,
Jeremiah 51:29 of 24-26, 27-32 "'I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion,' declares the LORD. 'Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,' declares the LORD, 'which destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out My hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain. No stone will be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation, but you will be a perpetual waste,' declares the LORD.
'Lift up a standard on the earth; blow the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her; summon against her the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts. Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion. The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD's purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken. One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side; the fords have been seized, the marshes are burned with fire, and the soldiers are in panic.'"
Seen in His Choice of Instruments,
Acts 26:16 of 12-18 (Paul is speaking) "In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ME? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' To this I said, 'Who are You, LORD?' And the LORD said, 'I am Jesus Whom you are persecuting. But arise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen ME and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to GOD, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in ME.'"
Revealed in the Gospel,
Ephesians 1:11 of 3-14 "Blessed be 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. In love, HE predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His Will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which HE has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which HE lavishes upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His Will, according to His purpose, which HE set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. For In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him Who works all things [in us] according to the counsel of His Will [plan and purposes], so that we who (were the first to) hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. For In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed Him, were sealed with His promised Holy Spirit, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of His fullness, to the praise of His glory."
Eternally in Christ,
Ephesians 2:1-10, 3:11* of 11-3:13 "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which HE loves us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages HE might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of GOD, not a result of works (the requirements of the Law), so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which GOD prepared [established] beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without GOD in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For HE Himself is our peace, Who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility (the old temple curtain, Matthew 27:51a) by abolishing the Law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that HE might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to GOD in one body through the cross, thereby killing the [emnity of the flesh's] hostility. And HE came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of GOD, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in Whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the LORD. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for GOD by the Spirit. For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of GOD's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of GOD's grace, which was given me by the working of His power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages by GOD Who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of GOD might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. *This was according to the eternal purpose that HE has realized in Christ Jesus our LORD, through Whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory."
Involves the Overthrow of Satan (the evil of mans flesh),
1John 3:8 of 4-10, 11 "Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that HE appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as HE is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this reason the Son of GOD appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of GOD makes a practice of sinning, for GOD's seed (Spirit) abides in Him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of GOD. By this it is evident who are the children of GOD, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of GOD, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."
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