Ephesians 1:15-23
Paul's letter to the Ephesians concerns what is real and lasting in our life in this world—(a) God's acceptance of us "in Christ," and (b) what His love accomplishes for us and in us. In this light, all worldliness is vanity, for it passes away with our "perishing" outside of Christ.
We humans have a built-in obsession for idolatry; we must worship something or someone. This worship is just as constant as the worship of the ancient Egyptians and Canaanites for their idols. Our idols are our new cars, the limitless contents of our department stores. Our temple is our mall. The Titanic was once Europe's idol; look at it now.
Our human idols are our pop stars, our sports heroes, our military and political leaders. They too get old, and die.
Knowing the message of Ephesians will transfer our natural, inborn love of idolatry into the healthy life-giving worship of the one true God—our Creator and Savior. The energy that we have consumed in vain idolatry will now be directed to everlasting life which begins here and now in a new quality of life free from the slavery imposed by sinful idolatry. It will be like walking out of prison!
Ephesians 1:15, 16
"Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:"
Again, we remember that these dear people to whom Paul is writing (whether the Ephesians or "saints" everywhere else) are not perfect people. Remember too, Paul is in prison in Rome; prisoners like to get news, Paul seizes upon the news he has received of their "faith." It's not their perfect performance that inspires him, but their heart response to the objective gospel of Christ; they believe! And that believing, that faith, has produced in their formerly worldly, pagan hearts a "love for all the saints." Transformations enough to make any pastor-evangelist happy!
Paul can't get over his joy at the news of the change they have experienced. He's always thanking God for them, and when he prays to the Father intimately, personally, all alone in his prison, he "mentions" them by name. Prayer is not a mechanical "prayer-wheel" mechanism; you don't record prayers in your computer, and then hit a key to reactivate them as in the morning you hurriedly head off for work or for school. You personally talk with God on a one-to-one basis and take the time to understand what He is communicating to you.
Ephesians 1:17
"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him"
There are specific items that Paul is asking for. Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you" (Matt. 7:7), and Paul is taking advantage of the offer, naming what he wants the Father to give these people:
- The "spirit of wisdom." It's greater than some specific knowledge for this or that trivial situation that is of passing interest; it's a residing gift of perception and good judgment constantly abiding in the heart.
But it's from "revelation," not something that is original with the "saint." It's never a charged battery that can function on its own; it always has to be connected to the mains where "revelation" is constantly in process, moment by moment.
What Paul is praying the Father to give the Ephesians is that they may become active participants in the plan of God for saving the world. For the humblest believer in Jesus, that's a connection with the Father as real and vital as it has ever been for any ordained prophet. It may not be as intense, but it's real.
- Paul's prayer is for us, too. John describes the process by which in his case this "spirit of wisdom" came in steps. His principle makes sense for us: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which [1] God gave [2] Him to show His servants. ... And He sent and signified it by [3] His angel to [4] His servant John, who [5] bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to all things that he saw" (Rev. 1:1, 2).
If you haven't been conscious of such a vital connection with God, that does not mean that it's not His plan for you, or that it isn't already becoming true in your life. Paul wrote during the first generation of Christians 2000 years ago, but there are prophetic links that bind his message to us who live in this antitypical Day of Atonement.
Wonderful people as the first century Christians were, they were not spiritually mature in readiness for the literal second coming of Jesus. They enjoyed the High Priestly ministry of Jesus in His first apartment work in the heavenly sanctuary—that prepared them for death and a part in the resurrection that takes place at the second coming of Jesus. Wonderful work!
But we are living under Christ's ministry in the second apartment, the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary. His goal now is to prepare a people for His second coming, that is, for translation.
Paul's far-sighted writing may have been over the heads of his people then (which is why Peter said there are some things Paul says that were often wrested by "unstable" people, 2 Peter 3:16). Paul's writing is now coming into its own; it's not over our heads now for it makes sense for us today.
- Paul is praying that the Lord will give us heavenly intelligence.
Ephesians 1:18-21
"The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come"
"Understanding" has "eyes" that must be "enlightened." A key idea that pervades Paul's writings is "comprehension," seeing things, grasping truth. In chapter 3 he again prays for the Ephesians, bowing his knees "to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ... [that you] may be able to comprehend with all saints" the glorious dimensions of the love [agape] of Christ (3:14,18). Often Jesus lamented the dullness of the Twelve to comprehend what He tried to tell them. That dullness may have been forgivable two millennia ago, but is it so for us today? On us "the ends of the ages have come"! (1 Cor, 10:11), Good works that we do can make God happy, but let's not forget that a teacher is most gratified when his pupils comprehend what he communicates to them!
Don't go through your life with the vague feeling that you are only another digit responding to a universal invitation like a recipient of Social Security getting something paid to a number. Paul wants you to sense to the full that the Father is calling you as an individual specially and individually. No one else can fulfill as well as you some special mission in life. That's "the hope" embedded in your "calling." When at last you meet the Lord face to face, He will give you "a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it" (Rev. 2:17). This will be no cold presentation ceremony like a university president handing out hundreds of diplomas at Commencement; you will have an intimate tete-a-tete with the Father and a knowing glance from Jesus. You will look into His eyes and see a recognition that tells you that He understands all about you and your life and all the mysterious things you've never been able to unravel. That "white stone" will be a little computer memory special to you!
"The exceeding greatness of His power" to us is more than triumph over cancer or over some financial crisis, great as that may be; it's the power to conquer sin in our "sinful flesh" through the faith of Jesus. He Himself "condemned sin" and did it in the likeness of [our] sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:3). Paul strains feeble words almost to their bursting point!
This "power" includes all that was in the power that raised up Christ from His tomb. Reverently we can say that nobody in all human history has ever been as "dead" as Jesus was dead! The reason is that He died a death unlike that which any other person has ever died—the second death, the death that is involved in the "curse of God."
You have never understood what happened on the cross unless you understand Galatians 3:13: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written/Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree')." Not one human soul has as yet suffered the full weight of that "curse" except Jesus.
Paul is quoting Moses in Deuteronomy:"If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, ... for he who is hanged [on a tree] is accursed of God" (21:22, 23). This was a prophecy of Jesus and His cross. Faith has always turned every curse into a blessing (for example, the believing thief crucified with Jesus was not cursed—He died wonderfully blessed). But the people believed Moses, which is why the Jewish leaders were so determined to get Jesus onto a cross, for the moment the nails put Him there they knew He could not be the Messiah—"Moses said so!"
Now think of the power that was needed to resurrect that one Man who so fully suffered the curse of God! More power was needed to raise Him than all the power that will be exercised in resurrecting the billions in the coming "first resurrection"! And that is the power that is given to you by which we will overcome sin in our sinful flesh!
Ephesians 1;22, 23
"And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all,"
When Jesus said that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against" His church (Matt, 16:18, KJV), He stirred up the white-hot hatred of Satan and his evil angels. They became determined that the gates of hell shall prevail against that church. This explains the mysterious enmity that arises against Christ's church on earth. Attacks from the outside are not as mysterious as those that arise continually from inside. Solid truths that in the past were believed wholeheartedly are now undermined in sly ways within the church.
Although "Babylon is fallen" there is a hankering to import doctrines and worship patterns from popular religion, a modern counterpart of ancient Israel's cry, "Make us a king to judge us like all the nations" (1 Sam. 8:5). Much of that apostasy was not due so much to the depravity of the believers in Israel as to the "mixed multitude" which had always been a hindrance to the work of the Holy Spirit. We must not invite the "mixed multitude" today to dictate the future of the church.
In the days of the Judges, intermarriage with the Canaanites was frequent, as is the accession today into the church of those who have never been converted to Christ. Thus the modern church, like ancient Israel, is often a "mixed multitude."
But there is good news for sincere people who are perplexed about the integrity of the organized church. Although it has often become so worldly and so irreverent in its worship practices that many feel driven to leave and they are tempted to doubt that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against" it, still the Father has given Christ "to be head over all things to the church, which is His body." His will will be done on earth, as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10).
You must believe and claim that word of God. As Jesus walked into the polluted Temple and claimed it as "My Father's house" and expelled the polluters, overturning their tables and scattering their money all over the floor, so there is a sense in which faithful believers in Jesus must claim His headship over the church even today. But this is always by faith and not through force!
It will be a hand-to-hand, fierce battle of faith. But it must be waged by believers themselves; they must claim the church for Christ because the Father in His word has appointed Him to be its Head. There is something that those who believe in Jesus must do themselves and not wait for Jesus to do for them. The dilatory "Lamb's wife" must not wait for her Bridegroom-to-be to dress her for the wedding; no bridegroom ever has dressed his bride for the wedding! The Bride of Christ must "make herself ready" (Rev. 19:7, 8).
Understanding what's going on will solve the problem of non-denominational "home churches" that spring up when the true "Lamb's wife" is tempted to despair of her divinely ordained identity. If all who truly believe in Christ leave the organized church, this will be exactly what the Enemy wants to happen! Don't let it happen!
So; stay in the church. Claim it for Jesus!
What has our Lord done for us? That's our next chapter.