“The hope of His calling” Ephesians 1:18

 

·         “The center of God’s purpose is heaven and earth being made one.”  Mike Bickle

·         “The mystery of His will… His good pleasure… [that] He might gather together in one all things in Christ… in Him.” Ephesians 1:9-10

Jesus is called to bring heaven and earth together in Him, and this is one of His primary callings.  The path to oneness has already been made possible through Christ, through Yeshua’s blood.  He has already “broken down the middle wall of separation” (Eph 2:14).  But what does it mean that in the fullness of time (future event) all things will be made one “in Him”?  If this were something spiritual it would make sense to me in the same way that the Spirit of Christ lives “in” me.  But all things being gathered in Christ is both spiritual and physical.  All 7 continents and 4 oceans can’t fit inside one Jewish Man.  Does it possibly parallel the statement that all nations were brought together as one in Alexander the Great?  I’m not sure, but I will run with that idea of separate nations becoming one nation.

Paul prays that I would know the hope of Christ’s calling.  What is the hope for me right now in this calling of Jesus to bring all things together?  It didn’t make sense to me until I began singing with the worship team, “I believe You delight in me.”  Then it came alive through the eyes of God’s love for me.

Picture this.  All things are brought together in Christ.  There, on the inside of the Trinity’s fellowship, is the utopian kingdom on earth.  Because He delights in me, He calls and destines me there.  I am chosen before time and predestined to be brought in by adoption.  I’m not naturally a part of the glories of this Family, but the very lifeblood of Jesus legally brought me in.  All things brought together in Love’s eternal circle of bond between the Trinity.  Utopian physical state infused with the limitlessness of the spiritual realm.  Manifest glories and supernatural possibilities permeating and saturating physical earth.  That’s what all things together in one looks like!  And it’s God’s passion that I would be a part of that.

Now that is where there is hope!  Oh, if only it would touch my heart.  I’m not really getting this because if I did it would wreck my life.  Through all the ups and downs of life, through heartache and joy alike, He is bringing me into and towards this reality.  He has an inheritance in me (Eph 1: 18), and I have an inheritance (Eph 1:11); it is Him.  My inheritance is not the glorious state of being in the next age, it’s even better than that.  My inheritance is Him!  Oh!  The exponential glories in the Man Christ Jesus!