Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
The Lord Jesus told us that the poor in spirit are blessed. We are told that it is the humble and the contrite who are blessed. Let us consider what it means, however, for the poorest of people (poor in spirit) are the richest of people. Since God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, those who are humble have the infinite riches of His grace. While we may have little or nothing on this earth, we are told that we can have treasure in heaven and that it can be stored up for us. While this could make our hearts proud, if we think of this only coming to us by grace, it should humble us more and more as we think and meditate on this. God, in His great mercy and grace, has bestowed riches upon His children in this life (spiritual riches) and then allows them to treasure more riches in heaven for all eternity.
Paul prayed for the people in Ephesus that they would know the hope of His calling and “what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” This passage has been disputed to some degree on the exact meaning, but what we can know is that this speaks wonderful things to the people of God. Whether it is the glory of His inheritance in obtaining the saints or whether it is the inheritance He gives to the saints, what it boils down to is that the glory of God is involved in the inheritance that the saints will obtain.
God has a provision of grace in Christ that we are to pursue here and seek His face for here and now, but in eternity there are riches of glory in His inheritance. We must not think of this glory in a selfish way, for these riches in glory are really all about God and His glory. God gives freely His grace to sinners and He has freely given Christ to satisfy His wrath and to give them a perfect righteousness, but we must never lose sight of the real issue is God and His glory. The salvation of sinners is never the chief and primary object in the mind of God, but rather His own glory is His chief and primary object. When God forgives sinners in and through Christ, what He is really doing is giving them Himself and that is what they should want more than anything. This is a vital point that modern Evangelicalism has left far behind.
When God forgives sinners according to the riches of His grace, sinners should behold the wonders of His grace and yet behold the wonders of God Himself. When God gives sinners grace, He is not giving them something apart from Himself, but He is giving them Himself. He gives them His beloved Son who becomes their life, yet the Son is always in perfect communion with the Father. When the Father communicates His love to the Son, the saints are sharing in the love the Father has for the Son. When the Son communicates His love to the Father, the saints are sharing in the love the Son has for the Father. In this way we see that by free-grace believers are loved beyond anything they can imagine and this is untold riches of grace.
True believers, which is to be united to Christ by the work of God, is to share in the very life of God. Christianity is not exclusively defined by certain doctrines, though doctrine is vitally important, but Christianity is defined by sharing in the life of God. What believers receive is eternal life and that is to share in the life of God. While it is true that eternal life never ends, it is also true that eternal life has a quality to it and not just a quantity. Jesus Christ Himself is our eternal life (I John 1:1-6; 5:18-20). Having this eternal life is riches beyond comprehension. Having Christ as our life and dwelling in us by His Spirit is infinitely more riches than owning the whole world and a million more worlds.
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