I stood infront of crowd and began to prob the scriptures keenly .I finally got to Ephe 1:3 and as i began to explain,(stating what i thought spiritual blessings were ) ,i realised some distortions.
Just like many ,perhaps based on our background regarded everything called "Blessing " to mean wealth .I was overtly a baby in the woods when it came to understanding what these blessings truly were .
Just before i continue ,i would like to indicate that "Blessings does not only mean monetary wealth" . Yes ; i know you did not like the sound of that ,but it's the blatant truth .
I only came by this "revelation " after reading this scripture again some two years after . The spiritual blessings we have in Christ Jesus does not refer to money or wealth alone .
What i mean is ,if a pack of pizza is the blessing and there are 8slices in it ,only 1 slice may form the monetary aspect ,which forms 1/8 of the slices of pizza .
I have come to the realisation that God has truly blessed us in Christ .He did not just call us to bless us with money but he called us for something much more greater than that . Jesus came to accomplish the purpose of God for our lives,His death gave us more than just monetary wealth .
THE DEATH OF JESUS CAME WITH A 'PACKAGE' .
Ask yourself ,"why would Jesus Christ who is God come and die for men like us?"It was all in the plan and Will of God,He had predestined us to be in Christ .He was the lamp of God who was slain for donkeys like us. The book of Exodus speaks of redeeming a donkey with a lamb and if it is not redeemed then its neck was broken .
Exodus 13 :13 And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.
All human beings deserve to die ,our necks must be broken!!We all deserve to go to hell because of our sins, none of us is good enough to go to heaven. We are like donkeys ,very stubborn,donkeys are law breakers ;they barely take instructions .
If you want a donkey to turn left ,you must hit the right side and if you want it to turn right you must hit the left side .
If you stand in front of a donkey and call it towards you it wouldn't move unless you slap its back .They just don't follow instructions .
That's exactly how human beings are,very stubborn and our necks deserve to be broken .This is why Jesus Christ had to come and die for us so our sins would be forgiven .His death has redeemed donkeys like us!
The bible said the wages of sin is death ,so he became the lamb ,to redeem us from death .
Now we have salvation in him,not only that ,but also grace ,forgiveness ,eternal life , just to name a few .
It would have been an aberration for Jesus to die just for us to obtain material wealth,His death was far more than that .
The sad news is that, many are still hoping and praying for these blessings when in actual fact we are already enjoying them .
SALVATION .
The first spiritual blessing i would like to talk about is salvation .
I believe salvation is one of the spiritual blessings Paul was talking about .
In Christ we have redemption of sins .To redeem means to buy back or pay off a dept.
We are bought by the blood of Jesus and we are now counted among the saved . When Jesus said "it is finished ",He meant the war between man and God is over .Indeed he has finished his work .
In the book of Genesis,God created man and gave him authority,He handed over his ruling to him .Man now in its most restrictive sense became the General overseer of the earth.
God did not only give man the power to rule but also gave him the opportunity to name all the animals He had created . It was such a great power that was given to man ,no wonder we are created in his image . However after the fall of man ,he lost his power to the devil and became joint heirs with him.
When God saw this he cursed man and the devil and then banished man from Eden .
Before He did this God killed an animal to cover the nakedness of man .
Here it was God demonstrating how he was going to deliver man from sin .
Today our sins are covered from the blood of the lamb that was slain .Through the death of Jesus we receive salvation .
GRACE AND FORGIVENESS .
Grace and forgiveness are also part of Spiritual blessings we have in Christ .
Grace is the love and mercy given to us by God because he wants us to have it ;not because of anything we have done. It is a gift from God to man which is free and undeserved .
It is an exceptional kindness of God towards man in making their forgiveness and salvation possible .(Eph 2:8 ).
Through Grace our sins are forgiven, we receive acquittal for our sin .(For more on grace read my article "GRACE EXPLAINED ".
The word forgiveness means to cease to blame someone or something ;To grant pardon for a mistake ,to free someone from the obligation of debt and penalty.
Since wrongdoing terminates a relationship ,forgiveness needed to restore the relationship .
Just like grace ,forgiveness is undeserved .This means nobody merits forgiveness because none of us has the right to forgiveness .
It is sorely because of God's grace.
ETERNAL LIFE.
Everlasting life was also another reason for the death of Jesus (John 3:16 ) .
Sin was a barrier that stood between God and man ,and it had to be removed .That's exactly what Jesus did and we now have a relationship with God .
In John 17:13,Jesus defined Eternal Life as "knowing God".Eternal life does not only refer to the realm in which we live after death.
Eternal life is a present tense possession;Eternal life is knowing God .
It is generally said that eternity is a state of being in which Christians live upon physical death.
In actual fact nobody ceases to exist when he/she dies ,whether a believer or not,after death men live forever in heaven or hell. These were the reasons for the death of Jesus .God has blessed us with all these spiritual blessings .Many are still looking forward to see the blessings when in actual fact we already have it!!!
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