“To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6)
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3) has made us accepted in the beloved. The beloved is Jesus. When Jesus was baptized, the voice of God came from heaven. “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) And when Jesus was transfigured and spoke with Moses and Elijah, the Father spoke out of the cloud. “While He yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.” (Matthew 17:5) He is the beloved bridegroom in the book Song of Solomon.
What Paul points out is that it’s a work of God the Father. It was not anything we did to be accepted. It wasn’t our goodness. It wasn’t our position in life. It wasn’t anything that we did. It was God’s grace, His unmerited favor shed on us because of His love and His mercy. And as Paul wrote, “To the praise of the glory of His grace...” And in Romans he wrote, “What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He saith also in Osee, I will call them My people, which were not My people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. (Romans 9:22-25) God displays His glory and power in His mercy, in His acceptance of our repentance and in His acceptance of us in the beloved.
The work of salvation in which God shows His glory and power works the fruit of righteousness in us. We know the mechanics of it. How we are snatched from the kingdom of hell into the kingdom of Jesus and changed into a new person with the character of God. And now we can live righteously which if we even wanted to before were unable to do. But now, it’s our desire. And the Lord helps us to want what He wants and gives us the ability to do what is right. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13) And we bear fruit in Jesus. It’s the fruit of righteousness. It’s a product of being close to Jesus, spending time with Him, listening and obeying Him, pleasing Him in thought, word and deed. “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”
(Philippians 1:11)
The Father worked His mercy for us to His glory. “For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.” (2Corinthians 4:15) It’s our thanksgiving and gratitude for His love and mercy that bring abundant glory to Him. In our private time with Him, our praise and thanksgiving is joined with the praise and glory given Him in heaven. It’s continual in heaven. Here on earth, we make time to be with Him and to participate with the praise and worship of heaven, before the Throne. We are welcomed in His presence. We are there with Jesus and in Jesus, the past, the present and the future. David knew this and wrote, “Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy.” (Psalms 99:5) When we praise and worship God, we come before His presence in the congregation of heaven, joining their continual worship of our God.
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