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Count Your Blessings

Part 8

Blessing 16. BEING WITHOUT BLEMISH

This blessing comes from Ephesians 1:4

according to how he chose us in him before the overthrow of the world, for us to be holy and without blemish in his presence in love, [Eph 1:4]

The word for “without blemish” is frequently applied in the Greek Septuagint to the rams that were sacrificed. These rams had to be in perfect physical condition. These lambs without blemish point to Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:36). Jesus Christ is called a lamb without blemish and without spot in 1 Peter 1:19.

Our blessing is that we too will be without blemish, physically or morally. We will have perfect bodies:

the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, so that it becomes conformant to his glorious body according to the force by which he is also able to subdue everything to himself. [Phil 3:20-21]

Our bodies will not only be perfect, they will be like the Lord's own glorious body!

What about the moral side? The expression “without blemish” applies to our new nature. In the resurrection, our old nature will be dead and we will be living entirely in our new sinless nature, with nothing to spoil our conduct. We will not do anything that would cause blemish or disgrace - in fact we will be unable to sin because

No-one who has been begotten by God commits sin, because his seed remains in him. And he cannot sin, because he has been begotten by God. [1 John 3:9]

However, God's power

which he exerted in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the upper-heavenly places, [Eph 1:20]

is certainly available now and enables us to do

good works, which God prepared beforehand, to the intent that we should walk in them. [Eph 2:10]

(The word “now” occurs with reference to us in Eph 2:13,   Eph 3:5, Eph 3:10,   Eph 5:8, and with reference to those who are disobedient in Eph 2:2.)

We have already seen that we have “justification”. That means that there is no legal case against us. Here in Ephesians we are associated more closely with Christ because we are given a quality so characteristic of Him: absence of any moral blemish.

An amazing feature is seen here and in many more of the Ephesian blessings: we are in various ways linked very intimately to the Lord Himself.

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