In the first three chapters of Ephesians, there is only one imperative — only one command by God for the Ephesians to obey. The command is in 2:11 — “remember.” Specifically, these believers were to remember their position prior to salvation — separate from Christ, excluded from Israel, strangers to the promise God made with Israel. In short, they were hopeless and without God. Yet they were not only to remember their position prior to salvation, but also the blessings that came from salvation, that they had been brought near to God by means of the blood of Christ.
While there are many more commands than the singular one in Ephesians 1-3, yet all the commands God gave to His chosen people echo the same theme as Ephesians 2:11-13. Israel was to remember their position prior to the intervention of God — they were to remember their unbelieving and disobedient condition (e.g., 9:1ff). Further, they were to remember God’s grace in choosing them to be His people (e.g., 7:6-8; 10:14-15). And in light of this great salvation, they are to remember that God alone is God and worthy of worship (e.g., 7:9, 21; 10:17-18).
Those are three great things for every person of God to remember: what we are without God and Christ, how grace has saved and redeemed (and is saving) us, and the greatness of God Himself.
Jonathan Edwards offers a meditation on the greatness of God in “Ruth’s Resolution:”
God is a glorious God. There is none like him, who is infinite in glory and excellency. He is the most high God, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. His name is excellent in all the earth, and his glory is above the heavens. Among the gods there is none like unto him; there is none in heaven to be compared to him, nor are there any among the sons of the mighty that can be likened unto him. Their God is the fountain of all good, and an inexhaustible fountain; he is an all-sufficient God, able to protect and defend them, and do all things for them. He is the King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle: a strong rock, and a high tower. There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rideth on the heaven in their help, and in his excellency on the sky: the eternal God is their refuge, and underneath are everlasting arms. He is a God who hath all things in his hands, and does whatsoever he pleases: he killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up; he maketh poor and maketh rich: the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s. Their God is an infinitely holy God; there is none holy as the Lord. And he is infinitely good and merciful. Many that others worship and serve as gods, are cruel beings, spirits that seek the ruin of souls; but this is a God that delighteth in mercy; his grace is infinite, and endures for ever. He is love itself, an infinite fountain and ocean of it.
There is no greater meditation that will do well for the soul of a man than the consideration of the great and exalted character of God and how that greatness is mediated to us through His grace, particularly His grace through Christ and the redeeming blood of the cross.
Words of Grace 