With Me In The Winepress – Ephesians 1:10
Ephesians 1:10 (ESV)
10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
The Lord waited until the exact moment to be born, a moment that most everyone else would have missed. If you or I were guessing when The Messiah would be born we probably wouldn’t have picked the Roman Empire. Most likely we wouldn’t have thought to pick a carpenter from Galilee either, and yet those were exactly the perfect circumstances and occupation.
Speaking solely for the moment in Earthly terms and Christ’s occupation, have you ever considered why a Carpenter? He did not choose a shepherd, perhaps because a natural shepherd still has to slaughter some sheep. Jesus, though king and priest, knew that both His kingship and priesthood were not of this world.
Also, from the time of the Maccabees the Jews had experienced a natural priest as king, and there had been issues. Christ wanted them to see not a priest who became a king, but The King Of Kings Who became our High Priest.
A Carpenter builds up. He may tear some things down, but it’s to build something new. Christ came to complete the law and not to destroy it, but He completed and replaced the old covenant with the new one.
The time of Roman occupation hardly seemed like the time when Israel’s King would arrive, by human eyes. Yet if He had come at any other time, Israel would have been more occupied with the natural kingdom than the spiritual. God had so much more in mind than a physical kingdom, but a spiritual one for all people.
Psalms 37:25 (KJV)
25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
How do we know the choices that He made were the perfect choices, simply because He chose them. When we trust in the wisdom of God we can rest in His timing. One of my favorite scriptures has always been when David wrote Psalm 37:25. As a young man I loved it because I read it, as a middle aged man I love it more because I have lived it.
The more we walk with God we see more through experience that He is working all things for our good. We believe the concept at first because He told us, but experience deepens this so much. It’s not that every circumstance and every event is good, but we’ve seen enough to know it will turn for our good.
At times tears may last for multiple seasons, but they always produce a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. This is first because God is good. Second it’s because His long term goal isn’t a year, decade, century, or generation, it’s eternity.
Romans 8:18 (KJV)
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
The Lord is working to unite Heaven and Earth in His mercy, grace, and righteousness. Did you know that in the KJV the word sufferings only appears ten times, and each time it’s connected to a positive result? Sufferings are painful, sorrowful, challenging, and difficult but they are never absent of God’s love and presence. We may feel alone but He said we are never by ourselves.
Paul also said something else about sufferings, that their intensity in us will pale in comparison to the glory which shall be revealed in us. Yes we will face sufferings, but we will also experience glory! Both the Old and New Testaments echo the fact that God is greater than any battle, any trial, and any trouble.
