Before understanding what the spiritual or Divine blessings, which are supernatural Divine gifts, are, it is important to understand the basis on which they are received. These riches of God’s grace are:
- Not Based On Human Experience
This does not imply that these blessings are not real. However they do not manifest their reality to an emotional nature or through the nervous system. The spiritual gifts are true because God states the truth about them in His Word, the Bible, and not because of how I feel. For instance the spiritual gift of justification, i.e. made righteous in the sight of God, is not based on what is felt. There is not a personal sensation that gives the evidence that a believer is right with God. A believer is justified only on the basis of the statements or testimony of God and this applies to all the spiritual blessings. They are not such that they can be identified by human experience.
- They Are Not Progressive
This aspect of God’s blessings is very important. Since it is the way of nearly all human experience, it is natural conclude that whatever God does with us will start with immaturity and will progress by degrees to completion. This is not the case with God’s spiritual blessings, because all such Divine gifts are brought to the believer in their Divine infinite perfection which will be displayed in the eternal ages to come. For example Colossians 2:13 “having forgiven you all trespasses” and Romans 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” Nowhere in the Bible does God say that a believer is more forgiven or justified in heaven than they are on earth. This is so with every Divine gift that the believer enters into at the moment they trust in Christ as their Saviour.
- They Are Not Related To Human Merit
Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” Our sin makes us spiritually unclean, or dirty, in the sight of God and so adversely affects our every good work. Therefore the believer’s spiritual blessings are based entirely on Christ’ merit and work. For example Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” an Ephesians 1:6 “to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.” This truth is foreign to all human thoughts and experience.
- They Are Eternal In Their Character
The work of God for the believer is based on the eternal perfections and work of Christ in His suffering for our sin on the cross, His death, resurrection and ascension. It is therefore not subject to the variations of our changing human experiences. At the moment of faith in Christ, God’s righteousness counted for, imputed to or credited to the believer, which makes them justified, and so there is no trace of human worthiness that can be included.
Romans 4:5-8 “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, v6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: v7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; v8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”” Titus 1:2 says “in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.” Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Colossians 3:3 “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
So every spiritual gift is Divinely created and Divinely sustained and consequently is eternal in its nature.
- They Are Known Only By God’s Revelation In His Word, The Bible
God says in Isaiah 55:8-9 “”For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. v9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”” Human imagination and speculation are no help in understanding the knowledge of all that God achieves for the believing sinner through His exceedingly great love being released by His Son’s death and resurrection. No human intellect is capable of recording the knowledge-surpassing greatness and depth of these blessings. 1Corinthians 1:21 “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the {seeming} foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” 2Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” 1Peter 1:23 “Having been born again, … through the word of God which lives and abides forever,”
- They Are Brought Into Existence By God Alone
As grace is undeserved Divine favour (see Romans 11:6 and Ephesians 2:8-9) these blessings can only be the result of God’s work for sinful people. Who can save himself/herself so that he/she will be justified and made fit for God’s holy presence forever? Who can construct a bridge so as to translate himself out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love? Who can make himself a citizen of heaven or write down his name in heaven? Only God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20). As “And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Saviour; There is none besides Me.” (Isaiah 45:21) therefore God alone is capable of saving and giving the believing sinner the marvellous blessings as recorded in the Bible.
- They Are Not Brought Into Existence By People
Proverbs 20:9 asks the question, “Who can say, “I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin”?” Ecclesiastes 7:20 is a verse which answers that question, “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.” Therefore no sinner can take a step in the direction of his salvation. He who is on earth can do nothing to fit him for heaven. He that is only a creature cannot make himself into the likeness of His Creator. He who is born into time cannot design and complete works that are worthy of almighty God’s infinite eternity. Salvation is far more than the continued existence of even “good” people as far as this world’s standards go. God’s salvation provides the most far-reaching transformations through the giving of eternal possessions and the obtaining of such positions which are from God alone and continue in heaven. Colossians 2:10 states, “And you are complete in Him, (Christ v8)”.
- They Are Received By Faith Alone
The Lord Jesus said in Luke 18:27, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” and Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God v5)”. Yet the everlasting, abundant and immeasurable blessings of God are received by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour as Romans 3:22-23 states, “even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; v23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”