Ephesians; 1:5 – The adopted sons are the harvest of Christ, sons of light, and the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit, part 3.Friday April 19, 2019
Christ is the first fruits and the sons of God are His harvest. They are also sons of light and the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit.
The body of Christ is the first to have the gifts of the indwelling Spirit (baptism, indwelling, sealing, teaching, empowering, gift, filling) and so we are the first fruits of the Spirit.
Rom 8:12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh —
Rom 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Rom 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
Christ is the first fruits of resurrection. He is the head of the church. If He resurrects then it is certain that we will as well.
He is the first fruits and we’re the whole crop, the wheat.
The devil has sowed noxious seed in Christ’s field, the world, and also in the professing church. Remember, not everyone who goes to church, which is sharply declining in America for all faiths, or has a position in a church, is necessarily a believer. All who are in the body of Christ are the real church made up of all believers, and not all of them attend a church. So, we call the visible church, having some tares within it, the professing church.
Sowing noxious seed in a neighbor’s field is to ruin his livelihood and possibly kill him or someone in his family. Think of all the effort that goes into tilling, planting, irrigating, fertilizing, tending, pruning, and this for months and months, only to find that your crop is useless and your topsoil damaged. Think of all the work that went into establishing and maintaining the church. But Satan doesn’t care. He has nothing within him that would make him reconsider or hold back. He seeks to destroy and the greater the fall the better.
There is something else devilish also, in sowing the noxious seed “when men slept.”
The night is the time when the clamoring of man’s daily workings cool and quiet down. It is the time of quiet, hidden, or low-toned sins.
1Th 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.
1Th 5:2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord [the beginning of the Tribulation] will come just like a thief in the night.
1Th 5:3 While they [those in the darkness] are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
1Th 5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief;
This applies to them if the Day of the Lord begins with the Rapture or the Tribulation. The term is always used negatively and in association with judgment.
It will come upon the tares, the people in darkness, like a thief in the night. However, the Rapture, though not anticipated since it is imminent, will not overtake the sons of light like a thief. Suddenly face to face with the Lord in the clouds of the air with the entire body of Christ, and all in resurrection bodies, we will all feel right as rain.
The point being made by Paul, using the example of the Day of the Lord, is that the sons of light joyfully expect the works of God, while the sons of disobedience are pummeled, entrapped, subdued, and overcome with shock.
What is also true is that the sons of God, sons of light, have nothing to hide. They are sinners, but their heart is to live for goodness, righteousness, and truth. Even the immature, who struggle with more sin than they will when they mature, are being freed from the common human problem of maintaining secret lives of some sort.
The imagery used by the Scripture for this phenomenon is darkness or the night.
Speaking to Nicodemus, enlightening him on what it means to be born-again of the Spirit as opposed to the flesh, Jesus reveals the salvation He will provide and how it will bring the believer into the light.
Joh 3:19 "And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20 "For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
Joh 3:21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."
Rom 13:11 And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.
Rom 13:12 The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Rom 13:13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
Rom 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
The sons of light joyfully expect the works and plans of God their Father, and that is directly linked to their deliverance from the sins of the night, or the hidden sinful life.
The sons of light and are no longer to be mastered by the hidden sins of the night.
We understand that hidden sins can be accomplished during the day in some form of privacy, but the point is the imagery of the night; closed doors, streets empty, no visitors, and the open facades or masks worn during the day are taken off.
To those mastered by the flesh, the day is an act and the night is the real person. The days are endured grudgingly so that the nights can be experienced. Why should the sons of God be like this? They are the sons of light, the harvest of Christ who are helped by the Holy Spirit within.
The adopted son is a son of light. He is goodness, righteousness, and truth, none of which needs to be hidden in darkness. The sons of disobedience have hidden places for sin.
1Th 5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief;
1Th 5:5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;
1Th 5:6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 1Th 5:7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.
1Th 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10 who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
1Th 5:11 Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. |