You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
7 That[hina] in[en] the ages[aion] to come[eperchomai] he might shew[endeiknumi]
the exceeding[huperballo] riches[ploutos] of his[autos] grace[charis] in[en] his kindness[chrestotes] toward[epi] us[hemas] through[en] Christ[Christos] Jesus.[Iesous] KJV-Interlinear
7 in order
that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. NASB
Ages to come, 'aion eperchomai,' is a reference to all future ages in the distant future, perpetuity, forever, eternal, forever.
This is not just a reference to the future looking forward from the time this book was written, but to the future in eternity which has always existed and looked forward to even from Adam's point of view, not just from the Ephesians point of view.
With reference to the previous verses, God gave us the Son who went to the Cross and paid the price for salvation. That salvation was not earned, and certainly not deserved by any of us, but was made available because of Gods favor (grace), and to His credit, not ours.
He did this in order to show and to demonstrate His exceeding, 'huperballo,' meaning beyond the possible.
And it is His riches that are beyond the possible or even imaginable. Gods riches exceed the greatest of wealth imaginable and infinitely more. No one can possibly perceive Gods wealth, and God has that vast wealth available for each individual, even though most will not receive their share, because of their indifference to the spiritual life, and failure to grow up spiritually.
This verse conveys Gods wealth, which is a wealth that is greater than this universe could hold.
Of grace and kindness toward us, means just that. That wealth is there waiting for each individual who advances to spiritual maturity. It is the incentive of blessing beyond imagination.
While this world holds many examples of wealth, this world also holds many examples of poverty and suffering. Most normal folks would prefer the wealth aspects over the poverty aspects.
And while most folks will never see prosperity or even wealth in this world, all people have the opportunity to have that and more in the next life, if they would only pursue Gods word through a daily study, and learn and develop an understanding and then wisdom and growth in accordance with Gods defined growth process.
Unfortunately too many try to figure out a better way, a way that is more to their own liking, rather than Gods way. And those folks will fail and thereby be disappointed.
But for the few who actually open up their eyes and recognize that God has placed us all here to study, to be taught, to learn and thus grow up and become a functioning and productive believer, then there is going to be a great reward in heaven one day. That is the 'ages to come.'
One day, human history will come to an end, and eternity will begin. That is a day that you need to be prepared for. And you prepare by simply pursuing a daily study in accordance with Gods plan, not yours.
Gods plan is simple, but for believers only. Unbelievers cannot elbow their way into Gods plan by rejecting Christ.
Gods plan is salvation through faith, fellowship through confession, learning through a daily study, understanding through the repetition of learning, production through application, and wisdom and maturity through consistency in pursuing all of this every day for the rest of your earthly life.
Will you be prepared in order to receive your reward, or will you arrogantly lose it?
