Abel is second son of Adam who is first human being.
He offered to God thanksgiving offering by the blood of his livestock he raised.
In this way God made his creature, the human being offer to God an atoning sacrifice on Altar from the beginning.
By the way the Bible conveyed that God pleased Abel’s offering giving by the blood of his livestock than Cain’s offering giving by the fruit of the soil,
In this way Abel offered to God his sacrifice without knowing about the meaning of his offering.
However, through Abel’s offering, God declared in advance symbolic and prophetically concerning his hidden mystery mentioned below.
God set up the word of truth of God as the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past.
It was the messages of John 1:4-5 as the origin of the gospel.
From their sins to save his people who God had predestined and had chosen before the creation of the world, God planned that after the creation of the world, he would send his One and only Son to the world in order to let him offer his blood on the Cross as an atoning sacrifice.
In this way through Abel’s offering, God made known in advance symbolic and prophetically the gospel mission performed by Jesus in the world.
Like this, God made known in advance and has been performing about the gospel mission to be saved his chosen people from the beginning.
Since then, God called Abraham, and God promised with him that God will give him his spiritual descendants as much as the stars in the sky. (See Genesis 15:1-6)
This promise was a parable that God will save the chosen people of God predestined before the creation of the world and will give to him as his spiritual descendants.
Also, God gave the spiritual faith to Abraham in order to let him believe God’s promise mentioned above.
So that Abraham was able to aware spiritually of God’s promise and believe it through the spiritual faith from God.
Therefore, Abraham was able to be born again as the righteous one from his dead spirit due to the sin of Adam.
In this way Abraham became the righteous one with his spirit born again and he had been able to communicate with God who is spirit.
In this way God commenced with Abraham his gospel mission as the eternal purpose of God in the world of the darkness.
Like this, God gave Abraham the spiritual faith for the first time that is going to give to the chosen people of God.
Thus, God made Abraham becomes the forefather of faith of the spiritual descendants of God.
In this way God presented and performed his revelation of mystery hidden for long ages past to Abraham firstly in the world.
And God made Abraham has given birth Isaac, his son of the flesh, and God made Isaac becomes the seed of Abraham’s faith spiritually.
God commenced to save his chosen people due to the spiritual seed of faith of Abraham through his revelation of mystery, and commenced to give them to Abraham as the spiritual descendants of Abraham.
Then the family of Abraham with the spirit born again prepared only the stone Altar without burnt offering and give the spiritual sacrifice to God who is spirit.
And after 600 years, God had established in the desert Israel nation that symbolized the spiritual descendants of God through the lineage of Abraham.
Then through Moses, God gave to Israel the Law as the first covenant in order to let them who had been serving idols learn the way to serve God rightly.
In this way the age of the Law began at the desert through Moses and the prophets.
In the age of the Law, according to the Law, in the tabernacle made exactly like the pattern given by God, the Israelites offered an atoning sacrifice by the blood of the livestock to God who was present in there through the mind of the flesh.
And God allowed to build the Temple of Jerusalem at the age of King David.
Thus, in the Temple of Jerusalem, the Israelites worshiped God who was present in there by the offering with blood of livestock through the mind of the flesh leading by the priests.
By the way due to the corrupt Israelites, God made the King of Babylon captured the Israelites to Babylon and the Temple of Jerusalem that worshiped God by the Law destructed to terminate the age of the Law that had been begun from the desert.
In this way God terminated the age of the Law for Israel nation that began from the desert in order to symbolize the spiritual descendants of Abraham.
Since then, through the remnant of Israel who came back to Jerusalem from Babylon, God made them prepare to commence the age of the new covenant.
From that time, it had been commenced to prepare for the spiritual worship to God who is spirit instead of the offering by the Law through the mind of the flesh.
Therefore, at the new Temples of Jerusalem that the remnant of Israel rebuilt, God did not allowed to put the ark of the covenant for God’s presence.
Thus, the remnant of Israel worshiped habitually without God’s presence, but they did not know the fact that God is not in there.
In the meanwhile, when it was the time of God, according to the revelation of mystery of God, God sent his One and only Son to the world and commenced to perform his gospel mission through Jesus to open the age of the new covenant.
But in the meantime, the Jews who are the descendants of the flesh of the Israelites could not be aware spiritually of the will of God in the revelation of mystery of God.
Thus, the Jews have been worshipping God in their temple by the mind of the flesh according to the Law, but God has not been presenting their worship.
Therefore, the Jews did not accept the spiritual gospel given by Jesus and rather they persecuted the Messiah, Jesus Christ and the apostles.
Through the gospel as the new covenant, God made Jesus lay down himself as an atoning sacrifice on the Cross and God raised him from the dead as the spiritual new self in order to fulfill the righteousness of the Cross.
Through the righteousness of the Cross, God made the chosen people of God be born again from the dead spirit due to Adam’s sin in order to make them the righteous like Abraham who is their forefather of the faith of them.
And God made the righteous receive the Counselor, that sent by Jesus who ascended to heaven after his resurrection, in their temple of the heart as the spirit born again in order to save them.
In this way they was saved with the Counselor, and in each of their Counselor, each of their spirit born again forms one body with Jesus in order to build the spiritual church for each.
Therefore, Jesus who is the head of each spiritual church has been leading each of their spiritual life.
So that through each of their spirit born again, the children saved of God have been worshipping God spiritually as the living sacrifice.
And Abraham, who have been being asleep with the spirit born again after he died with his flesh, woke from the spiritual sleep by the voice of Jesus and was saved with the Counselor like the apostle.
But Abraham had fallen asleep in Jesus with his spirit born again because he died with his flesh.
In this way through the gospel as the revelation of mystery of God hidden for long ages past, God has been saving the chosen people of God as the spiritual descendants of Abraham according to the promise that God gave to Abraham.
Thus, we are able to be saved due to Abraham who is the forefather of our faith.
Therefore, in each of their spiritual church, the children saved of God can live the spiritual life even on this earth for his lifetime just as the life that will become to live in the Kingdom of God.
Such spiritual life of the children saved of God is the same manner of Adam’s spiritual life firstly in Eden Garden before he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Therefore, through the message of Ephesians 2:6, the apostle Paul said that God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
It means that the children saved of God have been living the spiritual life in each of their spiritual church according to the leading of Jesus, it will become the spiritual life to live in the Kingdom of God in the future.
However, the spiritual life in the Kingdom of God lives with each of their spirit born again without the flesh.
When the apostle Paul as the author of this book was preaching the gospel in the synagogue of Ephesus before they moved to the lecture hall of Tyrannus at his third missionary journey, there he declared that after he had been Jerusalem, he must visit Rome also. (See Acts 19:21, Romans 15:22-29)
In this way the apostle Paul finished three times his missionary journey.
But he faced big trouble that the Jews in Jerusalem against him and the other Jews who came from Asia Minor tried to kill him because when Paul preached the gospel during his missionary journey, he said 「abandon the first covenant and believe the new covenant」in order to be saved.
It becomes the meaning that let them abandon Moses.
Then the high-ranking military officer saved Paul from the Jews because Paul was a citizen of Rome.
And when two years had passed, the governor Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus.
However, the former governor Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews, so, he left Paul in prison for two years. (See Acts 24:1-27)
When Paul stand trial before the new governor Festus by the complaint of the Jews from Jerusalem, Paul said to the governor Festus that he wanted to stand trial before the Emperor Caesar, then the governor Festus allowed to send Paul to Emperor Caesar and he ordered Paul to be held in prison until then. (See Acts 25:21)
And the governor Festus made Paul stand trial again before the King Agrippa, then the King Agrippa also allowed to send Paul to Rome due to he want. (See Acts 25:22-26:32)
In this way just as the message of Acts 19:21, Paul wanted to visit Rome because the message of Acts 23:11 - ｢The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."｣
And according to the verdict of the King Agrippa, Paul was sent to Rome under the guard and guide of the centurion Julius at 60 AD.
Also Luke who is author of the books of Luke and Acts and Aristarchus accompanied with Paul to Rome.
And the apostle Paul's itinerary to Rome was as follows:
They sailed to Myra in Lycia region of the province of Asia Minor from Sidon in Syria region through the sea between Pamphylia and Cilicia of the province of Asia Minor and Cyprus island.
There the centurion Julius found Alexandrian ship for Italy, and they sailed to Fair Havens of Crete island and on their way they met the severe storms, but they arrived there.
But there they was not able to pass the winter season.
The centurion Julius tried to find somewhere for winter season not following to the advice of Paul and then the ship caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so, they gave their way to the storm and were driven along by it, in this way they drifted along near a small island called Cauda. (Acts 27:1-16)
While they drifted so along the storms, they met several deadly storms and the ship with 276 persons on board spent for 14 days in those storms.
In this way they passed the strait of Adriatic sea between Achaia region and Italy.
And they arrived Malta island below Sicily island near by the southern coast of Italy.
There the islanders were welcome them unusually, then it was rained and cold, so, the islanders built a fire for them.
Then Paul healed the sick persons among the islanders by the power given by Jesus in his Counselor and they stayed there for 3 months to pass the winter season. (See Acts 27:17-44, 28:1-10)
They sailed again on the Alexandrian ship to Syracuse in Sicily island and there they stayed 3 days.
And they sailed to Rhegium, the southern coast city of Italy and there they stayed one day and they sailed to Puteoli, the western coast city of Italy.
There they stayed for 7 days for the fellowship with brothers in Jesus.
It was AD 61, they arrived Rome successfully at the end of so suffering journey by walking from Puteoli.
Paul and his companions stayed in Rome at the rent house by his own expenses under the guard of Roman solders, instead of prison building.
And there Paul was able to meet brothers in Jesus freely. (See Acts 28:11-30)
During such living, Paul preached the gospel to the Jews, and they listened it, but did not believe it.
So that God made Paul preach the gospel to the Gentiles. In this way Paul was living in the rent house for 2 years, there Paul wrote the letters as the gospel books that is called as the letters in the prison: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon.
And Paul was released from the rent house as the prison at AD 63 and he went to Ephesus in Lydia region of the province of Asia Minor, where Paul left Timothy before he went to Macedonia. (See 1 Timothy 1:3)
And Paul who left Ephesus sailed to Crete island and there Paul wrote a letter to Titus that he will stay for winter season at Nicopolis, the western coast city near Corinth in Achaia region.
After winter season, Paul left Nicopolis and visited Spain. There Paul preached the gospel under the persecution of Roman Emperor Nero.
So that Paul was arrested by the Roman solders and he was put in prison of a isolated cell in Rome at autumn of AD 64.
And Paul was killed there by the Roman soldiers at the end of AD 66 - the beginning of AD 67.
In such suffering situation, rather the apostle Paul had been preaching the gospel pleasantly, because God had been leading him with the gospel of peace,.
Therefore, through such gospel that he preached, we who are living today are able to be aware spiritually of the precious gospel.
And until his last day of the world, the apostle Paul encouraged with the gospel the churches that he built through his gospel missionary journey.
Thus, we become to face the graceful word of truth of God through this Ephesians.
Through this Ephesians, many of the ancients had been saved and have been falling asleep spiritually in the Lord.
I, David Kwak, am the author of this Explanatory Book of Ephesians.
To help you gain a spiritual understand of Ephesians, I put the spiritual explanatory under each verse of the messages of Ephesians.
Therefore, I wish you to be aware of and to believe easily the will of God in the gospel through those detailed spiritual interpretation, and to be saved spiritually through this precious word of truth of God in order to preach those gospel to the world through your spiritual life.
David K. in the Lord