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. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself 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.

Ephesians 1:4-6

As we considered yesterday, one of the main themes of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is to underscore the importance of God’s plan to redeem mankind. In these opening verses, He describes how the Ephesians and other faithful Christians are part of God’s redemptive plan!

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished 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.

Ephesians 1:7-10

It seems most churches shy away from it these days, but blood of Christ is essential to the plan. As the author of Hebrews tells us, ‘Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins”(Hebrews 9:22).

In the last part of verse 10 above we hear the echoes of Paul’s letter to the Romans – “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly”(Romans 5:6).

Let’s remember the power of God’s plan to redeem and celebrate that God would include broken sinful people like us.