And after you have suffered a little while,
The GOD of
ALL GRACE
who has CALLED YOU
to
his eternal
GLORY in CHRIST,
will himself
RESTORE, CONFIRM, STRENGTHEN,
and
ESTABLISH YOU
And
Will Guide You into All TRUTH
Psalm 119:28
My soul melts with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your word.
Romans 16:25
Now to Him who is able to strengthen you by My Gospel
and by the
Proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to
the
revelation of the mystery concealed for ages past
1 Corinthians 1:9
God, who has called you into fellowship with
His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
1 Corinthians 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that all of you agree together, so that there may be
No divisions among you and
That you may be united in mind and Conviction
2 Corinthians 4:17
For our Light and momentary affliction is producing for us
an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
1 Thessalonians 2:12
encouraging you, comforting you, and urging you
to walk in a manner worthy of God,
Who Calls You into
His own Kingdom and Glory
What does 2 Corinthians 4:18 mean?
Paul is describing
the
REASON for his REFUSAL
to
Lose Heart
in the
Face of Suffering
for his
FAITH in CHRIST
He wrote in the previous verse that
his current suffering,
though nearly unbearable at times
(2 Corinthians 1:8),
CANT
EVEN be COMPARED
To The
FAR weightier
GLORY
of
ETERNITY
Now he adds that
this
Perspective requires a
focus on
What cannot be seen in this life,
meaning
The
Spiritual World
The things that are visible to humans
in this life
are here for just a moment and
then gone
Paul describes them as transient. This is
TRUE
in two senses.
Obviously, anything that Exists in this world
lasts a very short time
in comparison with those things that
Last Forever
Secondly, though, human lives are far shorter,
yet, than human history
What is visible to us
will come and go very quickly
The invisible God, though, is
Eternal
meaning
Outside of TIME
Whatever Exists with Him
in the
Spiritual world will Never End:)
Paul is able to keep his Focus on
The
GLORIES of Eternity
by keeping his
Inner focus on what Is Eternal
This
Allows him to Endure Suffering
in this life that is "light" and "short"
In comparison to the
GLORIES and Pleasures
of
Eternity to Come
(Hebrews 11:14–16)
Paul commanded believers the same in
Colossians 3:1–4,
Since, then,
YOU have been
RAISED with CHRIST,
Set Your
Hearts on Things Above,
where
Christ is SEATED
at the
RIGHT Hand of GOD
Set your Minds on Things ABOVE,
Not on earthly things
For
YOU DIED
and
Your Life is NOW hidden with
CHRIST in GOD
When Christ,
WHO IS
YOUR LIFE
APPEARS,
Then you ALSO will Appear WITH HIM
IN
GLORY
Paul GUSHES FORTH with DECLARATIONS of God’s BLESSINGS
without stopping for a BREATH. He begins,
“PRAISE BE to
The God and Father
of our
Lord Jesus Christ,
who has
BLESSED
Us in the HEAVENLY Realms
with Every
Spiritual Blessing in Christ
Every Spiritual Blessing Refers to
ALL the Conceivable GIFTS
of
REDEMPTION
that
Christians Receive by
BEING
UNITED with Jesus Christ
Paul draws an intentional reference to
THE TRINITY
in Ephesians 1:3–14 and again in verse 17
God the Father is the originator and
SOURCE
of
EVERY spiritual BLESSING
The REALM or scope of these GIFTS is
IN CHRIST
ONLY THROUGH our IDENTIFICATION
and
UNION with God’s SON
Are we Eligible to Receive His
UNTOLD BLESSINGS
And the nature of the Gifts is SPIRITUAL
The Holy Spirit is the
EXECUTOR
WHO
APPLIES the
WORK of CHRIST
to our hearts and lives
Paul goes on to outline “every spiritual blessing.”
First, we have God’s gift
of being
Chosen and predestined
for adoption to sonship
THROUGH Jesus Christ
(Ephesians 1:4–5)
Just as Yahweh chose Israel to be
His treasured possession,
He chooses believers to receive the great
honor and privilege of becoming
His beloved spiritual children through
the redemptive sacrifice of
Jesus Christ
Our heavenly Father LOVES US so VERY MUCH
That “he CALLS US his children, and that is what
WE ARE
(1 John 3:1, NLT)
Next, Paul features the gift of God’s
GLORIOUS GRACE
that He has
POURED OUT
on US who BEL0NG to his DEAR SON He is
SO RICH in KINDNESS and GRACE
that he
PURCHASED
our FREEDOM with the
BLOOD of his SON and
FORGAVE OUR SINS
HE
HAS SHOWERED his KINDNESS
ON US along with
ALL WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING
(Ephesians 1:6–8, NLT)
Our heavenly Father is RICH in
GRACE, KINDNESS, FORGIVENESS, FREEDOM, WISDOM,
and
UNDERSTANDING, and
HE
MAKES US RICH in the SAME,
IN
Jesus Christ, His Son For
THIS REASON,
Paul could say,
And MY GOD
WILL MEET ALL YOUR NEEDS
according to the
RICHES of HIS GLORY
in
Christ Jesus
(Philippians 4:19)
Certainly Not the least of God’s blessings in Christ
is that
“we HAVE REDEMPTION through HIS BLOOD,
the FORGIVENESS of SINS”
The Greek word translated “redemption” here refers to the
ACT of making
FULL PAYMENT
to FREE an
ENSLAVED PERSON
When we
BELIEVE in Jesus and RECEIVE HIM
as Lord and
SAVIOR
our sins are FORGIVEN,
PAID FOR by HIS DEATH on the CROSS
(Matthew 26:27–28; Colossians 1:14)
Christ’s DEATH SATISFIES GODS DEMANDS,
RELEASING US from SIN
AND
its associated death sentence (Romans 8:1–2)
MAKING US
HOLY
AND blameless in HIS SIGHT
Another spiritual blessing in Christ is that God makes
KNOWN TO US
THE MYSTERY OF
HIS WILL
according to his GOOD pleasure,
which he
PURPOSED in Christ,
to be put into effect
WHEN the TIMES
REACH their
FULFILLMENT
To bring UNITY to ALL things
in
Heaven and on Earth
UNDER CHRIST
(Ephesians 1:9–10). Paul is speaking here about
The DIVINE MYSTERY
of the
New Testament Church,
which was
Formally KEPT a SECRET but is
NOW
Revealed in Jesus Christ
(Colossians 1:26–27).
God’s PLAN
is for
Both Jews and Gentiles to SHARE
Equally
in the
Gospel of Salvation
and form
ONE NEW people UNITED
in
Jesus Christ
(Ephesians 1:12–13; 3:3, 5–6, 9)
Every spiritual blessing
also includes the
TRUTH
that
We have Obtained a
Heavenly Inheritance!
(Ephesians 1:11–14). For now,
We Are Sealed with the
Promised
Holy Spirit,
WHO is the
Guarantee
of our
Inheritance
until we
Aquire Possession of it,
to the
PRAISE of HIS GLORY”
We are MARKED with
God’s SEAL--the
HOLY SPIRIT
who PROVIDES us with SPIRITUAL SECURITY
and
PROOF of OWNERSHIP
In eternity, we will take
FULL possession of that inheritance
Every spiritual blessing
encompasses all the gifts of the
Holy Spirit
GIVEN by God the Father to those
who have EXPERIENCED
His
SALVATION in Jesus Christ
Peter affirms that God’s
DIVINE POWER has GIVEN US EVERYTHING WE NEED
for a GODLY LIFE
THROUGH our KNOWLEDGE of HIM
who CALLED us by his OWN GLORY and GOODNESS”
(2 Peter 1:3).
Believers in Jesus have
NO SHORTAGE of reasons to PRAISE God
for
ABUNDANTLY BLESSING US WITH
EVERY spiritual blessing
IN CHRIST
At the Last Supper, Jesus TOOK A CUP And said
This CUP
is the NEW covenant
IN my BLOOD,
which is POURED OUT FOR YOU”
(Luke 22:20).
Moments before, the Lord had BROKEN the BREAD and given it
to His DISCIPLED WITH the WORDS,
“This is MY body GIVEN for you;
DO THIS
IN remembrance of ME”
(verse 19).
With these symbolic actions Jesus instituted the
ordinance of communion,
THE
Lord’s Table
The
NEW Covenant
that Jesus spoke of is in contrast to the
OLD Covenant
the
conditional agreement
that
God had made with the
Israelites through Moses
The Old Covenant
Established
Laws and Ceremonies
that
Separated the Jews
from the
Other Nations,
DEFINED SIN, and SHOWCASED
God’s provision of forgiveness
through sacrifice
The New Covenant was predicted in Jeremiah 31:31–33.
The Old Covenant required
blood sacrifices,
but it could not provide a final sacrifice for sin.
The Old Covenant
required
REPEATED, DAILY SACRIFICES
of
ANIMALS as a REMINDER
of
The people’s Sin
But, as Scripture says, “ It is Impossible for the
Blood of bulls and goats to take Away Sins
(Hebrews 10:4).
Under the Old Covenant, the
Same Inadequate Sacrifices were
Constantly Repeated
For EVERY SIN the PROCESS was REPLICATED,
DAY after DAY
MONTH after MONTH, YEAR after YEAR
The Old Covenant NEVER PROVIDED a Full,
COMPLETE sacrifice for sin.
“For if that FIRST covenant had been FAULTLESS,
there would have been
NO
OCCASION to LOOK for a SECOND”
(Hebrews 8:7, ESV).
Jesus came to Establish a
Better Covenant
Hebrews 7:22
ANEW Covenant
that Jesus said was in His BLOOD
Jesus SHED His blood on
THE CROSS
to TAKE AWAY the
SINS of the WORLD
(John 1:29) and
Ratify the
NEW covenant between
God and Man
On the night He was betrayed, Jesus took the cup and said to
His disciples, “Drink from it, all of you.
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27–28).
By “this cup,”
Jesus referred, by metonymy, to the contents of the cup, which was the “fruit of the vine” (Mark 14:25). This was representative of Christ’s blood.
Jesus gave His disciples the cup,
infusing it with anew meaning,
and told them drinking it was to be a memorial of
His death: it was to be drunk “in remembrance of me”
(1 Corinthians 11:25).
Now, “whenever you
eat this bread and
drink this cup,
you proclaim
the
Lord’s death until he comes”
(verse 26).
The New Covenant is based on faith in the shed blood of Christ to take away sin, not on repeated sacrifices or any other kind of work (see Ephesians 2:8–9). Because Jesus is the holy Lamb of God, His one-time sacrifice is sufficient to atone for the sins of all who believe in Him.
We “partake” of Jesus by coming to Him in faith (John 1:12),
trusting that His shed blood (and broken body)
is sufficient to pay for our sins.
The elements of bread and wine commemorate
His death and the shedding of His blood.
When we eat those
elements in communion with other believers,
we affirm our faith
and
fellowship in Christ.
The gospels
contain an account of the time the
disciples and Jesus
spent in the Garden of Gethsemane,
just before Jesus was arrested. In the garden Jesus
prayed to his Father three times, saying,
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.
Yet not as I will, but as you will”—the KJV says, “
Let this cup pass from me”
(Matthew 26:39).
A little later,
Jesus PRAYS,
“My Father, if it is
NOT possible for
this
CUP to be taken AWAY
unless I drink it,
may
YOUR WILL BE DONE”
(Matthew 26:42).
These prayers reveal Jesus’ mindset just before the crucifixion and
His total
submission to the
will of God.
The “cup”
to which Jesus refers is the
suffering
He was about to endure.
It’s as if Jesus were being handed
a cup full of
bitterness with the expectation
that
He drink all of it.
Jesus had used the same metaphor in Matthew 20:22 when
prophesying of the future suffering
of James and John. When Jesus petitions the Father, “
Let this cup pass from me,” He expresses the natural human desire to avoid pain and suffering.
Jesus is fully God, but He is also fully human. His human nature, though perfect, still struggled with the need to accept the torture and shame that awaited Him; His flesh recoiled from the cross.
In the same context, Jesus says to His disciples, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mathew 26:41). In praying,
“Let this cup pass from me,”
Jesus was battling the flesh and its
desire for
self-preservation and comfort.
The struggle was intense: Jesus was
“overwhelmed with sorrow
to the
point of death”
(Matthew 26:38),
and Luke the physician observed that Jesus was
sweating blood—a
sign of extreme anguish
(Luke 22:44). If anything shows that Jesus was indeed fully man, this prayer is it.
Jesus knew of what was to come
(see Mark 8:31).
The agony He faced was going to be more than physical;
it would be spiritual and emotional,
as well. Jesus knew that
God’s will was to crush Him, to allow Him
to be “pierced for our transgressions”
and wounded for our healing
(Isaiah 53:5–10).
Jesus loves mankind, but
His humanity dreaded the pain and sorrow
He faced, and it drove Him to
ask His Father,
“Let this cup pass from me.”
Jesus’ prayer to “let this cup pass from me”
contains two important qualifications. First, He prays, “If it is possible.”
If there was any other way to redeem mankind,
Jesus asks to take that other way.
The events following His prayer show that
there was no other way;
Jesus Christ is the only possible sacrifice to redeem the world
(John 1:29; Acts 4:12; Hebrews 10:14; Revelation 5:9). Second, Jesus prays,
“Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus was committed
to
the will of God,
body, mind, and soul.
The prayer of the righteous
is always
dependent on the will of God
(see Matthew 6:10).
In Gethsemane,
Jesus conquered the flesh and kept it
in subjection to the
spirit.
He did this through earnest prayer and
intense, willful submission
to
God’s plan.
It is good to know that, when
we face trials, Jesus knows what
it’s like to want
God’s will and yet not to want it;
to act out of love yet
dread the hurt that often results;
to desire
righteousness and obedience,
even when
the flesh is screaming out against it.
This conflict is not sinful; it is human.
Our Savior
was
“fully human in every way, in order
that
he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest
in
service to God”
(Hebrews 2:17).
He had come “to seek and to save the lost”
(Luke 19:10), and
He accomplished His mission, even
though it meant drinking
the cup of suffering to the
bitter end.
In the beginning
God created the
heavens and the earth,
and He pronounced that everything was very good (Genesis 1:31).
Yet mankind sinned, marring God’s creation.
The world was “good” no longer.
From Genesis 3through Revelation 20,
the earth and everyone in
it experiences sin and death (Romans 5:12).
Yet something will change
after the
great white throne judgment.
After sin is eternally judged,
God promises
anew heaven and anew earth
where suffering, pain, sin, and death
cease for all eternity.
This future creation
gives believers hope and affects our lives on earth as we eagerly await for
this promise to be fulfilled: “Behold I make all things new”
(Revelation 21:5, NKJV).
In Revelation 21, John
recounts seeing the new heaven and new earth.
He sees a magnificent
Holy City,
where
God dwells among His people.
It is here that God promises to
wipe every tear from His people’s eyes.
There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain.
Finally, all creation will be free
from the reign and effects of sin.
After observing all this,
John sees Jesus seated on the throne declaring,
“Behold I make all things new.”
This new heaven and earth
is what believers long for, along with all creation
(see Romans 8:19).
When someone trusts in God for salvation,
the
Holy Spirit indwells him,
and he becomes
anew creation.
“Therefore, if anyone is
In Christ,
the
New Creation
has come:
The old has gone, the new is here!”
(2 Corinthians 5:17). The believer is no longer bound by sin; we become new creations, able to please God and live in His ways. Galatians 2:20
sums up our newness well:
“I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.”
No longer do we live for ourselves,
but we live for the One
who is life
(John 1:3–4).
A transformation occurs
in those who surrender to God, and of them it can also
be said, “Behold I make all things new.”
Becoming anew creation
affects the way we live.
God’s Word
reminds us to put off our former, sinful ways of life
(Ephesians 4:22–24, Colossians 3:9).
Instead of living in sin and for ourselves, we are called
to “put on the new self,
which is being renewed in knowledge in the
image of its Creator”
(Colossians 3:10, ESV).
Regeneration
happens at the moment of salvation,
but sanctification
continues as we grow in
faith and in His likeness
(2 Corinthians 3:18).
Some ways we grow
are
through studying God’s Word,
praying, having fellowship
with other believers, and
suffering.
“Behold I make all things new” is a statement that affects the way we live when we trust Christ for salvation.
“Behold I make all things
Anew!!!!!!!”
is a truth
anticipated from the beginning.
When Adam and Eve sinned,
God gave glimpses of this promise as He meted out
judgment on sin and
promised the Messiah
(Genesis 3).
The prophet Isaiah declares that
salvation is found in
God alone
and that He will certainly judge sin,
and he
prophesies of the
new heaven and new earth:
“
See, I will create
Anew heavens and Anew earth.
The former things will not be remembered” (Isaiah 65:17). This sinful, depraved world is not God’s ultimate destiny for those who trust in Him, and we, like Paul, long for the time when God will “bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).
Decay, destruction, death, and evil are all
part of our lives on this earth.
Even nature groans to be delivered from the curse
(Romans 8:22).
Yet Jesus’ declaration,
“Behold I make all things
anew,”
affords the hope
that one day we will be free from the consequences and effects of sin and will
live with Him in
anew heaven and earth.
This TRUTH
makes us live with eager expectation,
seeking to know Him more,
become more like Him,
and make Him known.
Our hopeful future is what changes how we live as we await
Jesus’ making all things anew.
At the Last Supper, Jesus took a cup and said,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is
poured out for you” (\Luke 22:20).
Moments before, the Lord had
broken the bread and
given it to His disciples
with the words, “
This is my body given for you;
do this in remembrance of me”
(verse 19).
With these symbolic actions Jesus instituted the
ordinance of communion,
or the Lord’s Table.
The “new covenant”
that Jesus spoke of is in contrast to the
Old Covenant,
the conditional agreement that God had made with the
Israelites through Moses.
The Old Covenant established laws and ceremonies that
separated the Jews from the other nations, defined sin,
and showcased God’s provision of forgiveness through sacrifice.
The New Covenant was predicted in Jeremiah 31:31–33.
The Old Covenant required blood sacrifices, but it
could not
provide a final sacrifice for sin.
The Old Covenant required repeated,
daily sacrifices of animals as a reminder of the people’s sin.
But, as Scripture says,
“it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to
take away sins”
(Hebrews 10:4).
Under the Old Covenant, the same
inadequate sacrifices were constantly repeated.
For every sin, the process was replicated,
day after day, month after month, year after year.
The Old Covenant never provided
a full, complete sacrifice for sin.
"For if that first covenant
had been faultless,
there would have been no occasion
to look for a second”
(Hebrews 8:7, ESV).
Jesus came to
establish a “better covenant”
(Hebrews 7:22), a “new covenant” that
Jesus said was in His blood.
Jesus shed His blood on the cross
to take away the sins of the world
(John 1:29) and ratify the
new covenant between God and man.
On the night He was betrayed,
Jesus took the cup and said to His disciples,
“Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out
for many for the forgiveness of sins”
(Matthew 26:27–28).
By
“this cup,”
Jesus referred, by metonymy,
to the contents of the cup,
which was the
“fruit of the vine”
(Mark 14:25).
This was representative of Christ’s blood.
Jesus gave His disciples
the cup, infusing it with
anew meaning,
and told them drinking it was to be a memorial of
His death: it was to be
drunk “in remembrance of me”
(1 Corinthians 11:25).
Anew Wine
Holy Spirit
Now,
“whenever you eat this
bread and drink
this Cup,
YOU PROCLAIM
the Lord’s death
UNTIL HE COMES”
(verse 26).
The New Covenant is based on
faith in the shed blood of Christ
to take away sin, not on repeated sacrifices or any
other kind of work
(see Ephesians 2:8–9).
Because Jesus is the holy Lamb of God,
His one-time sacrifice is sufficient to
atone for the sins
of all who believe in Him.
We “partake” of Jesus by coming to Him in faith
(John 1:12),
trusting that His shed blood (and broken body)
is sufficient to pay for our sins.
The elements of bread and wine commemorate His death and the
shedding of His blood.
When we eat those elements in communion with
other believers,
we affirm our
faith and fellowship in Christ
The Bible tells us that the mystery of God is
Jesus Christ:
“My purpose is that they may be
encouraged in
heart and united in love,
so that they may have the
full riches
of complete understanding, in order that they
may know the mystery of God,
namely, Christ, in whom are
hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge”
(Colossians 2:2–3).
A “mystery” in the New Testament is something that had at one time been hidden but is now revealed to God’s people. Jesus spoke of “the mystery of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11, NAS) that He was at that point revealing to His disciples. The apostle Paul used the word mystery 21 times in his Epistles. In each case, the “mystery” involved a wonderful declaration of spiritual truth, revealed by God through divine inspiration. A mystery is that “which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets”
(Ephesians 3:5).
The mystery of God’s will is that
“which he purposed in Christ,
to be put into effect when the times reach
their fulfillment--
to bring unity
to all things in heaven and on earth
under Christ”
(Ephesians 1:9–10; cf. 1 Corinthians 2:7; Revelation 10:7).
The mystery of God is
the
consummation of God’s plan
in bringing
His kingdom in Christ to fulfillment.
The kingdom had long been prophesied,
but the how and the when and the by whom
was not clear until the time of Christ.
It is in Christ that God has been manifested
to all of mankind.
As Jesus said,
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”
(John 14:9).
Paul said that he had been
commissioned to preach
“the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that
has been kept hidden for ages and generations,
but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people”
(Colossians 1:25–26).
That is, it is through the apostles
that we have been
given the capstone of Scripture;
their writings,
all of which point to Christ—represent the final disclosure
of
God’s Word to mankind
There is no understanding of God
apart from a personal
relationship with His Son
(Matthew 12:50; John14:23; 2 John 1:6).
Christ is the “mystery” revealed
to those who believe--
as is the mystery of
"Christ in you, the hope of glory”
(Colossians 1:27).
The key to having the “full riches of complete understanding”
(Colossians 2:2)
is to be born again
by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
"The Spirit searches all things, even the
deep things of God”
(1 Corinthians 2:10).
Paul tells us that,
“beyond all question,
the mystery from which
true
godliness springs is great.”
Then he records what may be an early hymn of the church:
“He [Jesus] appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory”
(1 Timothy 3:16).
In that short paragraph, the Bible
reveals the heart of the gospel,
the mystery of
"true godliness.”
The secret of being godly
was hidden
but is now revealed.
It is to those who believe in Christ
that the
mystery is made known
(1 Corinthians 2:7–14; Colossians 1:27).
We come to learn that we of our
own volition cannot please God;
we must depend on Christ
(2 Corinthians 3:5).
As a man, Jesus lived a perfect life
(2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:21),
and so He is a perfect example of how to live.
As God, Jesus gives us the
power to do what is right.
It is possible to live a godly life--
through the power of Christ
(Philippians 4:13)
God has revealed His complete Word to His saints
(Colossians 1:26)
who have
“heard and learned”
the gospel
(John 6:45; cf. Romans 10:17 and John 3:16–18), and it is
they alone who fathom
“the glorious riches of this mystery”
(Colossians 1:27).
In its fullest sense, the “mystery of God” is God’s plan of salvation
through Jesus.
We would never have been able to comprehend
the way to eternal life
without the coming of Jesus,
His death and resurrection.
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