Day 492: Before and after - Ephesians 2 vs 1 - 7
1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, 5-7 made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:1-7 English Standard Version
It's common to see advertisers showing pictures of ‘before and after’ their product was used. Whether it's weight loss, removing stains or cleaning the car, the difference is usually quite stunning. But none of those things could ever match the before and after condition of a person who has come to faith in Jesus Christ. Look again at the description Paul gives in vs 1-3 of the condition people are in before they are saved. What words struck you the most?
Paul says that the sins of our life made us as good as dead towards God. We may even have been extremely religious, and yet not have had God's life in us. And whether they realize it or not, unsaved people are following Satan's deceptions. He had told Adam that sin would not lead to death. But it does. And so unsaved people, by nature, follow where their passions lead them. The result of all this is that all the world is under God's wrath. God cannot abide sin and rebellion. What then is the crucial difference in those who heard the gospel message and put their hopes and faith in Jesus Christ? (vs 4-7)
Paul says they have been made alive with Christ. Just as God raised Jesus from the dead, so those who believe on Jesus are raised from the spiritual death they were in. More than that, believers haven't just been raised to spiritual life in this world - they are so united to Jesus in God's sight that they are already 'seated in the heavenly places'. Here on earth we are still in the body, still struggling with temptations and facing opposition, still subject to illness and eventual physical death. But in God's sight we are as good as already being in heaven. And from now, and throughout all eternity, Christians experience the wonder of God's undeserved mercy and kindness which He displayed to them in and through Jesus Christ. What did Paul say was the basis for this wonderful transformation? (vs 4)
It's the amazing grace of God, and the love in which He stooped down to save those who were like corpses in the wilderness. Dead people aren't able to do anything to stir themselves to life. They are not a pretty sight either. When Jesus told people to roll the stone away from the tomb where a man named Lazarus had been buried, Lazarus' sisters protested and said 'Lord, there will be a stench by now, for he has been in the grave four days!' This is what our souls are like when the gospel reaches us. But through the message of Christ God makes such souls to live.
Many who live in today's civilized world where people are often polite and well mannered, even kind, find it difficult to accept Paul's description of those who don't follow Christ as being 'sons of disobedience.' But it's interesting to note that Paul, who had been an extremely religious person and who tried to live by all of God's commandments, adds the words 'among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh' . Paul is saying that despite his religious lifestyle, he had also been missing the boat when it came to pleasing God. He had been as dead as everyone else to the realization of how sin separates us from a God who is holiness personified. But that was before Jesus encountered him and made him alive. After that encounter, Paul was a new person. And that can be said also of every true believer in Jesus Christ.