Ephesians 1:2 - Part 2

Below is but a small measure of revelation that my father had received from the Lord. I hope this will be a blessing to you. All that is written below are the words of my father.

May 13, 2020

In loving memory of my father
Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett
July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023

In our previous message we shared some thoughts from Ephesians 1:2 about the grace of God. In this message let us look at two more thoughts from that verse, namely "peace" and "God our Father."

Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The peace of God is freedom from anxiety, fear, and worry. To the natural man, peace means an absence of war, based upon outward circumstances, but

There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. Isaiah 48:22

For three days after the Lord sovereignly apprehended me in 1967, I did not know what had happened to me. But I remember saying to myself, "Surely this is the peace that passes all understanding."

This is not peace with God, which was made available for us by the blood of Jesus at Calvary. 

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1

Every believer in the Lord Jesus should know what it is to "have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ". But Ephesians 1:2 speaks of the peace of God, occupying and protecting our hearts as we journey toward our heavenly home ... the same peace that filled the heart of Jesus when He was here on earth.

No matter what comes to us, if we are born again, we are going home at some point in time! As we realize that we are in His hand, the peace of God keeps our hearts and saves us from all doubt and fear. He does not just give us a little now and a little later, but gives us everything in Christ. It is all ours, provided that we appropriate and walk in it.

When Paul uses the word "peace," he is referring to that peace which results only from reconciliation with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This results in an inward peace with our self or our own conscience. So there is no war within our self where the flesh strives against the spirit. This peace is something which is totally independent of outward circumstances. A man might have all of the material things of this world and have no peace; on the other hand, a man might be living in poverty and have the greatest level of peace.

The work of righteousness shall be peace. Isaiah 32:17

Psalm 37:37, "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace."

"Peace" means everything which makes for a man's highest good, everything which is calculated to make him a man in the highest sense of the term. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). The ONLY source of peace is in doing the will of God. The secret of Christian peace is that wherever we may be in the natural realm, we are still in Christ. Indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ IS the Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6). He IS our peace (Ephesians 2:14).

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Romans 14:17

Sometimes we face difficult decisions in our walk as believers. One sound principle in determining what course of action to take is the presence or absence of peace, for God has called us to peace (1 Corinthians 7:15).

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. Isaiah 26:3

Now let us consider God our Father. The position and function of Abba, Father, seems to have been minimized in the past 100 years. Apparently there have been two different "Jesus only" movements in the U.S. The first such emerged out of the Pentecostal Church around 1914 in California. The second Jesus movement was an evangelical Christian movement beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and spreading throughout North America, Central America, and Europe, before subsiding somewhat in the late 1980s.

The so-called charismatic movement, which began about 1961, initially involved mainline Protestants who testified to having supernatural experiences similar to those recorded in the Book of Acts, especially speaking in tongues.

All of these movements believed that they were calling the church back to a closer biblical picture of Christianity, in which the gifts of the Spirit would be restored to the Church. These movements influenced the development of contemporary Christian music beginning in the late 20th century. They also brought in the use of drums and guitars, which for many hundreds of years had been taboo in Christian services. The rise of contemporary Christian music, with its up-beat tempo, in the past 60 years has been a fulfillment of what William Branham, a true prophet of the Lord, saw in 1958 as one of the five events that would lead to the apostasy of the Church.

In the Old Testament, the word "father" is used in the natural realm hundreds of times. The word "father" assumes that the man has a wife, but no one is a father unless they have children. Of course a father, mother, and children represent a family. Even in the natural realm it is normal for a father to want a son. If there is no son, the family name stops because a daughter, when married, normally takes the last name of her husband. That principle was established by God with Adam and Eve in Genesis 5:1-2. Without exception, each of us has one eathly father who brought about our conception in our mother's womb. We inherit his name and throughout our lives we are destined to have his genetic identity within us. However, within the natural family, we do not inherit his title of "father". The natural family is a type of the spiritual family.

Likewise, we have one heavenly Father who created us in Christ Jesus. God the Father and God the Son both were in the beginning (Genesis 1:26 and John 1:1). Our heavenly Father likewise wants a family of sons with whom He can have fellowship for eternity. Toward that end, He is bringing many sons to glory.

Hebrews 2:10-13, "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."

The "Him" in Verse 10 speaks of the Father, who made the Captain of our salvation (Jesus) perfect through sufferings.

Verse 11, "For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren,"

"He that sanctifieth" speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 12 Saying, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee."

The Lord Jesus says that He will declare the Father's name unto His brethren. What is the Father's name? His authority ... His character ... His nature ... His glory.

Verse 13, "And again, I will put My trust in Him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given Me."

Jesus says He puts His trust in the Father. Even in the natural realm, little children put their trust in their father. The last part of Verse 13 says that the Father gives the little children (those who are born again, or immature Christians) unto the hand of Christ Jesus Whose function, after His ascension, is to present unto the Father a Church without spot or wrinkle ... a church that is holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27).

1 Corinthians 15:24-28

24 Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

25 For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.

26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

27 For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith, all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him.

28 And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

The Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, is clearly patriarchal in form and by design. By definition, a patriarch is the male head of a family or tribe.

1 Corinthians 11:3, "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God."

The original intention of the Father was that the oldest son was to be the priest of the family. The Father is the head of the family of God and Jesus, the Son, is our great High Priest ... a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

When God spared the Jewish firstborns in Egypt, He "acquired" or "purchased" them and designated them for a special role. Israel's firstborn were consecrated to God in Exodus 13:1 before the Plague of the First Born.

Exodus 13:1-2,

"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine."

However, the principle of the firstborn son being the priest of the family changed when Aaron made the golden calf, as recorded in Exodus 32. When Moses came down from the mount with the two tables of stone, he was so angry with Aaron and all of the people that he said, "Who is on the Lord's side?" All of the sons of Levi and no one else gathered themselves unto Moses. At that point, the function and duties of the priesthood passed to the Levites. But many years later, because of the abominations of many of the Levitical priests, another change was made ... a change to the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. We can read about that in Ezekiel 44.

No one can read the Gospels without noticing the total abandonment of Jesus to The Holy Father. The word, "Father" occurs 116 times in the Gospel of John. Here are just a few quotes of Jesus referring to The Father.

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seekers such to worship Him."

"But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me."

"All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."

"Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father."

"I and My Father are one."

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me:"

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord', shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

"My Father is greater than I."

"Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner."

"For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself."

"I am the Vine and My Father is the Husbandman."

"I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

"And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done."

"I can of Mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me."

"He that hath seen Me has seen the Father."

John 17:6, "I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word." 

So Jesus is the manifestation of the Father. He is the expression of the Father.

When some addressed Jesus as "good teacher", He, the personification of good and holiness, replied, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God." In another place our Lord urges us to be like the Father, "Be Holy as your Father in heaven is holy."

"Do not call anyone on earth your Father for One is your Father, He who is in heaven." (Matthew 23:9)

Matthew 6:8-15,

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Because the order in Scripture is very important, we see from Verse 9 that our priority must always be the Person of our Father followed by the establishment of the kigdom of God on earth and the fulfillment of His will in all things. John said,

1 John 2:12-14, "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one."

John says that fathers have known Him that is from the beginning ... the Father. Paul certainly was a father in the Lord to many, including Timothy. To "know" the Lord is not just intellectual or theoretical recognition. To know the Lord is to enter into fellowship with Him and acknowledge His claims on our life. The use of ginosko in Verse 13 with respect to little children means that they have just started to know the Father whereas fathers have progressed in knowledge of the Father.

Another Greek word, oida, is also translated as "to know." The distinction between oida and ginosko can best be illustrated by the following verse, when Jesus said,

Yet ye have not known Him; but I know Him: and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know Him, and keep His saying. John 8:55

The word "known" is ginosko; the three words "know" that follow are oida. We know (ginosko) in part but Jesus knows (oida) the Father perfectly. The important aspect is that we keep on looking to know more of the Father and His ways. A teachable spirit is vital!

The Church has been suffering for many long years for lack of spiritual fathers. The enemy has been casting a "back seat" lethargy on the men in the local churches. Some women have been sincerely and devoutly zealous for the things of the Lord, but too many men have taken a passive position. Sadly, this has resulted in two weaknesses: (1) a lack of Godly, authoritative leadership within the local area church, and (2) many families without sufficient coverings, resulting in easy targets for the enemy. It has always been so. Paul told the church at Corinth, 

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 4:15

The word "instructor" literally means a child-leader or boy-leader. It means a servant whose office was to take the children to school; but the instructor was in no sense a teacher who imparted knowledge. Likewise, today there are ten thousand instructors in the Church but not many fathers. The Church today, just like the church at Corinth, is quite content to cater to all of the instructors, who really have very little knowledge of the Father or His ways to impart. May God have mercy on us!

Now let us consider what has always been, and still is, in the heart of God with respect to His chosen people. Originally, the firstborn sons were to have been the priests and the spiritual leaders of the Jewish nation.

Exodus 12:21-23, "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.

And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you."

In those days the worst possible plague would be the loss of the firstborn son. When God destroyed all of the firstborn of the Egyptians and spared the Jewish firstborns in Egypt, He "acquired" or "purchased" them and designated them for this special role. Israel's firstborn were consecrated to God in Exodus 13:1 before the Plague of the First Born.

We should note that our adversary, the devil, has always tried to kill the firstborn of the chosen people of God. When Herod heard of the birth of Jesus, he killed all the young children in and around Bethlehem from two years old and under.

Numbers 3:11-13, "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among he children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;

Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto Me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: Mine shall they be: I am the LORD."

Exodus 13:11-16, "And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as He sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD'S.

And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.

And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.

And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt."

Then the Lord told Moses to say unto the people:

5 Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine.

6 And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Exodus 19:5-6

Note that the people of God were (are) to be a kingdom of priests, with the Lord Jesus Christ as our great High Priest. This kingdom of priests does NOT consist of Levitical priests or the Aaronic priesthood, but priests after the order of Melchizedek. In the kingdom of God there is no such thing as a Catholic priest, or an Episcopal priest, or a Baptist priest, or a charismatic priest or ... We believe in the priesthood of ALL believers! However, Ezekiel 44 clearly states the difference between the priests who minister to the Lord and the priests who minister to the house.

While Moses was in the mount, receiving the Ten Commandments, Aaron, the high priest, bowed to the will of the people and made a golden calf which the people worshipped. When Moses returned from the mount, he was very angry at the people.

Exodus 32:26, "Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him."

At that time, the firstborns lost their special status, and it was transferred to the Levites.

Please note what Peter said to the Church many long years later: 

4 To Whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed [rejected] indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious.

5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Christ Jesus.

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar [purchased, possession, bought with a price] people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His glorious light.

1 Peter 2:4-5, 9

So the mind of God always was and still is to have a kingdom of priests ... a holy priesthood ... a royal priesthood. This high calling was originally offered to the Jewish nation, but they rejected that call and crucified the Lord of glory. Therefore the chosen generation is not the natural Jewish nation, but spiritual Israel ... the Church which is Hs body. The chosen generation is not a natural generation but consists of ALL believers over all of time who accept and confess Jesus Christ as Lord. ("For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel" Romans 9:6). Thirteen generations are listed in Matthew 1:12-16 from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ. The fourteenth generation consists of all born-again believers over all time.

Let us look at the original functions of the Levitical priesthood, as given by the Lord Himself. The Levitical priests, in the Old Testament, were supposed to be the spiritual leaders of the day.

8 At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto Him, and to bless in His name, unto this day.  

9 Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance, according as the Lord thy God promised him. Deuteronomy 10:8-9

Note that Verse 8 lists the three functions of the Levitical priesthood. Also note that these functions are valid unto this day. What day is that? just like it says, THIS day. The word of God is timeless and independent of any culture. Verse 8 is true as long as time exists! Those verses applied to the Levitical priesthood of THAT day, but they represent the prophetical prototype of the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek that we have been called to in the spiritual realm unto THIS day. The whole body of believers, as priests after the order of Melchizedek, are to (1) reflect the holiness of God and that of our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ (bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord); (2) offer spiritual sacrifices (stand before the Lord to minister unto Him); (3) intercede for man before God; and (4) represent God before men. (functions (3) and (4) constitute "bless in His name.") The order, as always, is significant.

Our first priority is to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord ... Christ in you, the hope of glory. The second function (to stand before the Lord to minister to Him) can never be done until the first function is a reality. In other words, natural man cannot worship the Lord. Man's attempts in the natural realm to worship the Lord are fruitless and not acceptable to God. We will have much more to share about that fact in a later word. The third function (to bless in His name) basically reflects our horizontal ministry ... ministry to the house. Always remember that this is only our third priority.

Unfortunately, far too many charismatic believers and churches reverse the above order. That is easy to verify. Just think about the amount of time devoted in our gatherings to function 3, above, as compared to the others. Of course there is a place for ministry to the house. But we speak of priorities. Ministry to the Lord is more important than ministry to the house.

May the Holy Spirit quicken to us all the significance of these three functions. And may we all glorify the Father by fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. Amen.