With Me In The Winepress – Ephesians 1:11-12

Ephesians 1:11 (KJV)
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

The phase I love in verse eleven is the counsel of His own will. To me this says it all in this form. God was always willing to save us. He didn’t have to be convinced to rescue us. He didn’t have to be talked into pursuing us. He was always willing and because of His willingness He had a plan.

His plan was not to excuse our sin, but this itself was for our good. No parent wants their child to suffer a lesser existence. The Lord knew sin began destroying as soon as it entered the world and He wanted better for man. Jesus did not step to Earth to justify His judgement it’s always righteous. He stepped to Earth to justify the unjust, not by hiding our sins, but by washing them away.

Ephesians 1:12 (ESV)
12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

In verse twelve the Apostle says all of this was so that the ones who first trusted in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. The commentator John Gill explains this is referencing both the Jews and the Apostles who’s initial faith would open the door to the world. As Paul said in another place to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Later in Ephesians he will mention the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets. With that foundation being place, each generation of the Church gets to share the Gospel with the world to reach as many lives as possible. The brilliance of God layered everything for this purpose. From the physical acts of creation to the calling of Abraham, Jacob’s dream, Joseph’s imprisonment and beyond each were paved the way to bring the hope in Christ to all humanity.

Often when viewing the Old Testament, people miss the fact that in the events of the Tower of Babel, God did not leave those of Babel, they left Him. Equally He did not reject the Canaanite, they rejected Him. All three sons were part of the worship of the God of Noah when they first left the ark.

Before Israel turned to idols, the world turned to them. Something happened after the flood that saw man leave God once again until He reached out to Abraham. The Almighty’s plan the entire time was not only for Israel to follow, but whosoever will.

It’s one of the reasons that I love what happened with David, the city of Gath, and the Philistines. When we think of David and Goliath, we think of the death of the giant, but David’s connection with Gath would go so much deeper than that.

The very city where David defeated their champion, would be a place he would spend time in. It would become a city where the warriors were not against David, but fighting for him. The history of countless lives would be made not worse but better because of David.

In Hebrew David means beloved, and the meaning behind the word Gath means winepress. This type and shadow of David would point prophetically to the events of John 3:16. The Son Of David stepped into the world, not to do battle with the sinner, but to redeem all those who accepted Christ.