Eph. 1:5, 6

5 In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.

Through Jesus Christ. We can be adopted only because of what Jesus did. He made atonement for sins and placed in us a new heart and blessed us with the Holy Spirit to keep us walking with him in the paths of holiness.

Take Jesus out of the picture and one is left with only the wrath of God.

In accordance with his pleasure and will. God wants all people to be saved – not just a few with whom he makes covenant. This was the Jewish blind spot - they thought it was God’s good pleasure to bless them and make them into special agents of God on the earth. No. God loves – he loves all people – Israel was only a means – not an end. That can be said of any human institution or religion, they are only means. The end purpose of God’s love is the blessing of all people everywhere.

6 To the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Paul is so thrilled and excited by this revelation into the heart of God that he says, “To the praise of his glorious grace.” Before this magnificent vision – all one in Christ – whose soul is so withered it can not be deeply moved? A note of praise swells up to give God the glory for such a magnificent work – Jesus for all, forever.

The centerpiece of it all is God’s “glorious grace.” That is the only possible explanation. It is certainly not human achievement – we are hopeless. It is surely the grace of God poured out on all who believe, Jew and Gentile alike.

I think this truth is the watershed. It was good news for the Gentiles but, at first, bad news for the Jews who believed that there is a way to truly please God - by strictly obeying his immutable law. That is what they strove for – not some virtue that began in the heart of God – love that loves all people everywhere, always, but a virtue of their own, obedience!

The grand revelation is that it was the purpose of God – as long as God loves – to make a way for all people to have fellowship with God – to fulfill God’s plan – and the desires of all peoples – whose religious and philosophical systems were little more than powerful yearnings to know God. The Gospel declares with boldness, God adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ