Let us turn to the letter to the Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 3 through 14. We will read it in Chinese, and my brother will read it in English.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ;
According as He has chosen us in Him before the world’s foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love;
Having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has taken us into favour in the Beloved;
In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of His grace;
Which He has caused to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence,
Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
For the administration of the fullness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth; in Him,
In Whom we have also obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of Him Who works all things according to the counsel of His own will,
That we should be to the praise of His glory, who have pre-trusted in the Christ;
In Whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation, in Whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Who is the earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory.
Please give particular attention to verse 9:
Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.
Let us pray. We praise You that we can gather here in Your name. We praise and thank You that we have already read Your Word. We look to Your own Holy Spirit to open Your Word, so that we can truly see the mystery of Your will and be drawn into Your own will, that Your glory may be praised.
We look to Your own Spirit, so that no matter the speaker, the translator, or the hearer, we may all be anointed with Your Holy Spirit, so that Your will may prevail. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
We thank the Lord that He gives us this time together before Him. The subject of our sharing this morning is God’s eternal purpose.
We all know that in the epistles written by Paul, two letters speak specifically concerning the eternal purpose of God. These two books are the high-water marks of the revelation of His truth: Colossians and Ephesians.
Although the viewpoints of these two books are slightly different, the theme is one: the eternal purpose of God. Colossians tells us how Christ is the Head in the eternal purpose of God. Ephesians particularly tells us how the church is to be the Body of Christ in the eternal purpose of God.
If we compare Ephesians with Romans, we find that Romans starts with the condition of man and then goes toward the will of God. Ephesians begins with the will of God and then goes to the way man receives grace.
Usually, Romans is easier for us to understand because it starts from the standpoint of man. Ephesians is more difficult because it begins from the viewpoint of God. Man is usually self-centred, but man is not the centre. God is the centre.
The will of God is the beginning of all things, the process of all things, and the consummation of all things. Yet man always thinks that he is the centre. We may even think that God is surrounding us and working for us.
In this way, we can easily fall into the trap of humanism. Humanism is man-centred; man becomes as god, essentially denying the position of God. This violates the will of God.
If we are self-centred, we may think that man is nothing but a small thing in the universe. Then we lose the honour that should belong to us, and we think that our life has no meaning and no purpose. Not only do we come short of the glory of God, but we also lose the purpose for which God created us.
Therefore, it is extremely important to understand the will of God. If we can truly understand the eternal purpose of God, then we can be saved out of ourselves.
In our spiritual experience, the greatest danger is ourselves. It is the self in the flesh. No matter what it is, it is self, and this is the major hindrance to our spiritual growth.
Only if we can see the eternal purpose of God can we see the position that we should have in His will. We are not everything, but neither are we nothing. We can find our right position in the purpose of God, so that we may walk with our Lord.
It is exceedingly important to understand the eternal purpose of God. We can put it this way: this is the secret of our spiritual growth.
How can we grow from a baby in Christ to a mature man in His measure? This has to do with whether we can understand the eternal purpose of God.
The eternal purpose of God has a controlling effect on all things that He has done. All that God has done is according to His eternal purpose.
We know that God has many specific purposes. For example, after we are saved, perhaps the first thing we ask is whether a particular matter is in the will of God.
Before we are saved, we take no attention to the will of God. But after we are saved, very naturally we begin to ask questions. If I am going to do something, I ask whether that particular matter is in the will of God. If I am going somewhere, I ask whether it is the will of God for me to go there. When I am about to decide something, I ask, “Is this the will of God?”
Of course, it is natural and reasonable for a Christian to ask such questions. If we do not ask those questions, we are in trouble. We should indeed ask whether this or that is the will of God.
But although on the surface the will of God seems to encompass all things, the Bible tells us that God has one eternal purpose. Our God does not have many unrelated purposes. God has purposed in Himself only one purpose.
That one particular purpose controls all the specific purposes. If we do not see that eternal purpose, it is not easy for us to understand the specific purposes.
Oftentimes brothers and sisters ask, “Brother, what do you think about this matter? Is this according to the will of God? Please tell me, so that I can follow.” But if we can touch the eternal purpose of God, the specific purposes become easier to understand.
In Romans 12:2, it tells us that we are to prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. The word “will” in the original language is singular.
When we have committed ourselves to the Lord and offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our intelligent service, our minds are renewed and transformed. Then we may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.
Let me emphasise this: that will is singular. This singular will is what the Bible calls the eternal purpose of God. It is the will God predestined before the foundation of the world, and it is what God purposed in Himself.
Because our God is good, His will is good. Because our God is perfect, His purpose is perfect. And because our God is acceptable and pleasant, His will is also acceptable.
Sometimes we may think that God is not so pleasant and acceptable. That is because we do not know Him. If we know our God, we know that He is truly acceptable. There is no other will more perfect than the eternal purpose of God.
If we can truly know that will, we shall know that it is most acceptable, and it will draw from us a heart of worship.
Oftentimes we think that the eternal purpose of God is far away because it is a mystery. When we think of the word “mystery,” we think of something mysterious that we cannot touch. We may think that if we try to touch it, we cannot understand it, or that if we touch it too much, we will be overwhelmed.
So we like to keep our distance from the eternal purpose of God. But, brothers and sisters, we must know that the eternal purpose of God has a personal relationship with us.
If we want to know God, we have to know His eternal purpose. If we want to know ourselves, we have to know the eternal purpose of God. If we hope to be saved from ourselves, we have to understand the eternal purpose. If we hope to grow in our spiritual stature, we have to know the eternal purpose of God.
The eternal purpose of God not only has much to do with God; it also has a very close relationship with us. Therefore, I hope that we may first have a change in our attitude.
We should not think that the eternal purpose of God is something we can see from far away but cannot touch. We have to change our attitude. We should pursue an understanding of the eternal purpose of God.
In Ephesians 1, there are four aspects concerning the eternal purpose of God:
Our God is a living God, so He has His own will. If something is lifeless, it has no will. But if there is life, there is will. Our God is a living God; therefore, He has His will.
That will was predestined before the creation of the world, before the universe was created by God. God purposed this will in Himself, and He predestined it according to His own good pleasure.
We do not know why God has purposed this will. But we know one thing: He predestined it according to His own good pleasure, not according to our pleasure, because at that time we did not exist.
If we can know the pleasure of God, that is the most blessed thing. Often we ask, “Why does God do it this way? Why does God do it another way?” We do not understand. Sometimes we do not want to cooperate. Sometimes we murmur, and sometimes we rebel.
But if we can truly see that God has His own good pleasure, and that His good pleasure surpasses all things, then we can say, “If He likes it this way, may it be accomplished.” If we have such an attitude, we can walk the path.
You remember Matthew 11. When our Lord was working in the world, He did many things and said many things. But the people in those cities refused Him. They did not accept what He said, and they were not moved even when they saw the wonders He did.
If it were us, we would question: “I have worked so hard. I have poured out Myself. Why are these people so ignorant and stubborn? Why do You allow these things to happen? Why do You not bless Your own word? You sent Me here to do this work, but why has the work turned out this way?”
But when our Lord was in such a situation, He did not explain anything. Such a condition cannot be explained. Yet our Lord had one explanation. He said, “Father, I thank You, for this is Your good pleasure.”
If this is Your pleasure, I like it too. No matter how this matter turns out, I willingly accept it. Thus, even in that condition, our Lord could worship the Father.
Brothers and sisters, if today we can see the true centre of God and recognise that He has His own pleasure, then, if this is His pleasure, no matter how I feel, I can rejoice. Then I can worship Him.
Today God is seeking worshippers. How can we become worshippers? We need to see His good pleasure. He predestined His will according to His good pleasure. Therefore, we must rise up to receive that eternal purpose with joy.
Our God not only has His own will; He also has His plan. This is not too clear in the Chinese translation, but we see it in Ephesians 1:11:
In Whom we have also obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of Him Who works all things according to the counsel of His own will.
“According to the counsel of His will” means according to His plan. God not only has a will; according to His will, He has a plan. Our God works with a plan.
Oftentimes we do things just as they come. We have not given them thought or made a plan. When something happens, we simply do what seems right. But God does not work this way. After He established His will, He made His plan. He has His counsel.
This is also the administration mentioned in Ephesians 1:10. In English there are several translations: “administration,” “dispensation,” and sometimes “economy.” In Chinese, it means arrangement.
God has His own arrangements regarding His will. These arrangements differ at different times. When we read the Bible, we sometimes feel that God does things in different ways at different times.
He worked one way in the time of Adam, another way in the time of Abraham, another way in the time of Moses, and another way in the time of David. In the fullness of time, when Christ came, He worked in another way. When our Lord returns, He will work in yet another way.
God has His own counsel and His own arrangement. We need to understand how He makes arrangements to accomplish His will.
God not only has His counsel; He also has His way. He has His work. He works out His will according to His counsel.
Sometimes we have a will but no plan and no counsel. In that case, the will cannot be accomplished. Sometimes we have both the will and the counsel, but we do not act, or we have no strength to carry it out. Then it cannot be accomplished either.
But God not only has His will and His counsel; He also has His work. Our Lord Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17). Our God is a working God.
Do not think that God is sleeping. Some think that after God created heaven and earth, He fell asleep, that He does not care for anything, and that He lets things evolve by themselves. No. He keeps working.
Although His work of creation was accomplished, He still has work to do. He wants to accomplish His eternal purpose. His eternal purpose was not accomplished in creation. When He created heaven and earth, it was only the beginning of His work.
He keeps working until His own will is accomplished. We thank and praise God: our God is mighty, and He can do all things.
Therefore, we can believe that God will work out His will according to His counsel. The accomplishment of His will does not depend on us. Although He uses us, He does not depend on us. If He depended on us, His will could not be accomplished.
We have the assurance that His eternal purpose will be accomplished. This is the strong faith within us. When His eternal purpose is accomplished, His glory will be praised.
After all this, we must ask: What is the eternal purpose of God? In Ephesians 1:9–10, we read:
Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
For the administration of the fullness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.
The mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, is for the administration of the fullness of times: to head up all things in heaven and on earth in Christ.
Different English translations render this expression in different ways: “to head up all things in Christ,” “to gather together all things in heaven and on earth in Christ,” or “to sum up all things in Christ.” The meanings are all included in the original language.
What is the eternal purpose of God? It is to sum up, head up, and gather up all things in Christ—to make Christ the Head of all things, so that Christ may be all and in all.
Our God loves His Son. Because He loves His Son, He wants to give all things to His Son. He wants all things to magnify the glory of His Son. He wants His Son to be the Head of all things and to fill all things.
This is the eternal will of God, and this is the good pleasure of God. And how about us? He wants to give us to His beloved Son as the bride for His Son, as the helper for His Son.
Brothers and sisters, the eternal purpose of God is for His Son to have the first place in all things, and also for His Son to have the first place in each one of us.
A Bible scholar has pointed out that the phrase “to head up all things in heaven and on earth in Christ” has three meanings.
The first meaning is renewal. When God created heaven and earth, all things were created for His Son. The book of Job tells us that when God laid the foundations of the earth, the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy. All things were for the Son of God, and He was the Head of all things.
The whole universe was one in Him and all for Him. But in history—not only human history, but even history before human beings—we see rebellion in the universe.
In the earlier creation of God, the angels were highest. Among the angels there was rebellion. The archangel Lucifer, the son of the morning, became proud because God had given him many gifts, beauty, and power to rule.
Very possibly, this archangel was the highest among all the angels, just under God. But he was proud and wanted to grasp the position of the Son. He was not willing to remain a created angel. Only the beloved Son of God can be equal with God, but Lucifer wanted to grasp that position.
He wanted to be the centre of all things. He did not want to see the Son of God exalted. God did not create Satan; Satan means “opposer.” God created a beautiful archangel, full of gifts, position, and power. But this archangel turned himself into Satan.
Thus there was a great change in the universe. The universe became disintegrated, and it became purposeless. But God did not give up.
When we read Genesis, we see the Spirit of God hovering. He began the work of recovery. On the sixth day, He created man. The man created by God was His masterpiece.
God created man according to His own image and likeness. He did not create angels according to His image. Why did He create us according to His own image? Because He wanted us to be united with Him.
Angels can worship Him and serve Him, but they cannot be united with Him. Man, however, can become one with God in life.
God also gave man authority to rule over the things in the heavens, upon the earth, and under the earth. He told Adam to subdue all things, because God wanted to use man to bring all things under the feet of Christ.
Man was not only to be the bride of Christ, united with Him in life; man was also to be the helper of Christ, bringing all things under the feet of Christ.
The rebellion of Satan did not hinder the eternal purpose of God. God went one step further to accomplish His will. But man sinned, and man interrupted the purpose of God.
Man was no longer worthy to be the bride of Christ. We could not eat of the fruit of the tree of life. Not only could we not subdue all things; we ourselves were subdued.
But God did not give up. Although Adam failed, and all men in Adam failed, God raised up the second Man, Jesus Christ.
The Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth. In Adam all died, but in Christ all are made alive.
The plan of God was interrupted in Adam, but in Christ the whole counsel of God is realised. To head up all things in Christ first means to renew.
All things became subject to vanity and corruption. They were disintegrated, purposeless, and without proper connection. But today, in Christ and through the cross, our Lord has brought renewal.
Colossians tells us that by the blood of the cross, He has reconciled all things in heaven and on earth to God. Through His broken body on the cross, He has brought us before God so that we may be reconciled to God.
This reconciliation is unto the fullness and abundance of God. It is a recovery to the original purpose of God. This is the meaning of renewal.
The second meaning is quite similar: to collect all things. All things were disintegrated, and all of us were going our own ways. But God has now gathered us together in Christ. He has gathered us together under Christ.
The third meaning is that all things in heaven and on earth are included in Christ. This is the meaning of “to sum up.”
This word is used in Romans 13:8–10:
Owe no one anything, unless to love one another; for he that loves another has fulfilled the law.
For, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not lust; and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Love works no ill to its neighbour; love therefore is the whole law.
There are at least ten commandments, and in the Old Testament there are many other statutes and ordinances. But no matter how many commandments, statutes, and ordinances there are, all are summed up in one word: love.
If there is love, all these things are accomplished. Love is the basis of all the commandments, and love is also the accomplishment and perfection of all the commandments. If you have love, you will not kill, because all is summed up in love.
When the lawyers came to test the Lord, He said that the first and greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. The second is to love your neighbour as yourself. Upon these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
This word “summed up” is the same word used in Ephesians 1. All things are summed up in Christ. Christ is the basis of all things, the explanation and interpretation of all things, and the summing up of all things.
In other words, Christ is all and is in all. If we can see Christ, then all things are no longer a question. This is the eternal purpose of God in its threefold meaning.
Simply put, the eternal purpose of God is His Son. Let us turn to Colossians 1:15–19.
Here we see that the purpose of God is for Jesus Christ to have the first place in all things. In all things, He must have the first place.
The first place does not mean that He is first and I am second. No, He is the first, the second, the third, and the last. He is all. This is the purpose of God for His Son.
God has put the whole riches of His deity in Christ. He has put all His fullness in His Son. Outside of His Son, there is nothing else. All the fullness is in His Son.
Who is His Son? First, we see the relationship between the Son and the Father. The beloved Son is the image of the invisible God.
Our God is invisible because He is Spirit. We cannot see Him. In earlier years, when Russian astronauts went into space and returned, they said, “There is no God,” because they looked around in space and could not see God.
But they could not see God in space, and neither can men see God on earth. God is present, but we cannot see Him because He is invisible. Therefore, men try to understand God according to their own imagination.
It is like blind men trying to touch an elephant. One touches the trunk and says, “This is an elephant.” Another touches another part and says, “The elephant is like this.” But none of them has understood the whole elephant.
But we thank God: the Beloved is the image of the invisible God. The word “image” in the original language does not merely mean outward likeness. It speaks of character and inward nature.
When our Lord came to earth, He took the likeness of man, but He revealed the character of the invisible God. He said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).
When we see God in Christ, we see that our God is a loving God, a holy God, a righteous God, and a God of goodness. Today we can know God because the Son of God reveals and expresses Him.
This is the relationship between Christ Jesus and His Father. Besides Him, there is no other who can express God in this way. He is the only begotten Son of God.
Therefore, if we want to know God, we must know this beloved Son. Philip asked the Lord, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” The Lord said, “Philip, have I been so long a time with you, and thou hast not known Me? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
Then we see the relationship between our Lord and creation. Here it says that He is the Firstborn, before all creation.
Does “Firstborn” mean that He was the first created? No. There has been such heresy, saying that our Lord was the first creature. But that interpretation does not work, because the passage immediately says that He is before all creation. If He is before all creation, He is not created.
Why, then, does it say that He is the Firstborn? The word “firstborn” has two meanings in the original language. The first concerns order in time; the second concerns order of position.
For example, Isaac had two sons. According to the order of time, Esau was the firstborn and Jacob was second. But later there was an exchange of position. Jacob received the birthright and the blessing of the firstborn. Esau lost both the birthright and the blessing.
Thus, the first order is according to time, but the second order is according to position. In Exodus 4:22, God said to Pharaoh, “Israel is My firstborn.”
According to the nations, Israel was not even a nation at that time, while Egypt was already an ancient kingdom. According to time, Egypt would seem to be first. But God said, “Israel is My firstborn.” This is the order of position.
The word “firstborn” therefore carries the meanings of priority and sovereignty. In nature and character, He has priority; and He has sovereignty.
Psalm 89:27 says concerning David:
I also will make him My firstborn,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
Even in Israel, Saul was king before David. Before Israel had kings, other nations already had kings. Yet God said that David was His firstborn, above all other kings. Again, it speaks of priority and sovereignty.
In terms of creation, our Lord has priority and sovereignty, because all things were created in Him, through Him, and for Him.
All things were created in Him, through Him, and for Him. In the Chinese translation there is some difficulty in verse 16. It says that all things were created by Him, but the original language says that all things were created in Him, then through Him, and finally for Him.
Whether things are in heaven or on earth, visible or invisible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or authorities, all were created in Him.
What does this mean? If one is going to build a house, he first has an architect and a blueprint. Because the architect has a sense of beauty, the house that he will build will be beautiful.
When God created all things, who was the designer? The designer was His beloved Son. He designed the whole creation according to His own character, so that all things might display His glory.
He is not only the designer; He is also the builder. He builds all things. And all things belong to Him. He is the One who inherits all things.
How glorious is our Lord! He truly has the first place in all things.
The third relationship is His relationship with the new creation. The new creation refers to us.
Here it says that He is the Head of the Body, the assembly. The church is His Body, and He is the Head of the church. We will return to this later.
He is the beginning. This beginning refers to the beginning of the new creation, because He brings in the new creation. He was the first to be resurrected from among the dead.
In Old Testament times, there were people who were raised from the dead, but their resurrection was not the resurrection of the new creation. Christ is the beginning of the new creation and the Firstborn from among the dead.