Brought Into the Presence of God - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3

Brought Into the Presence of God
Here, in Ephesians, we are viewed as brought into God's presence, holy and without blame; that is, with a nature and character that suit Him, and are the reflection of what He is. And we are seen sitting in the heavenlies "in Christ." Moreover, we are in the same relationship to God as Christ is; hence, Christian conduct is spoken of in this epistle as what suits this place, and flows from it.

Through the grace and power of God I am brought into His presence—not seeking to get into it—and my duties flow from the place I am in. People speak as though men were on probation, and the day of judgment would prove how it will turn out with them, whether they will be saved or lost. This is all wrong. The gospel comes to man and addresses him as one already lost and needing salvation. Men have not to wait till the judgment to know how it will turn out. It has already turned out that I am a lost sinner. God turned man out of paradise when he had sinned; and as far as he could, man has turned God out of the world when He came into it in grace in Christ. Of course God can come into it in power, and will do so; but as far as man could, he has turned Him out. Man is now lost in himself, but God has acted in grace, so that he who believes in Jesus is saved; and it does not need the judgment to prove either the one or the other. Judgment is for my work (Rev. 20:12), and on that ground all are already lost. But salvation is of grace, and is God's work. "What hath God wrought!" (Num. 23:23). God takes up man as dead in sins, and quickens him: he has a new life, and is brought to God, and set in His presence, in the same relationship as Christ.

J. N. Darby