Date: 1941Place: ShanghaiScripture Reading: Eph. 1:3-23 (Please pay special attention to vv. 4-5, 11, 16-19.)
Ephesians is a book on God's eternal purpose. It speaks of God's purpose more than once and covers the lofty and eternal aspects of His purpose. In chapter one Paul prayed for the saints to see and know. Chapter two points out the saints' relationship with the Lord and with the church. In chapter three Paul prayed for the building up of the church. Today we will concentrate on the prayer in chapter one.
Paul prayed for three things in chapter one. He prayed that the saints would see and know God's calling, His inheritance in the saints, and His power toward those who believe. God's eternal plan is related to His calling, His inheritance, and His power.
First, the saints must see the hope of God's calling. Verse 4 describes this calling: "Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love." God has called us to this condition, that is, to be holy and without blemish. If we compare this picture with the actual situation of Christians today, we can see that there is a great difference between the two.
Second, the saints have to see God's inheritance in them. Concerning His inheritance, verse 5 says that God predestinated us unto sonship and verse 11 says that He predestinated us to be an inheritance. God's inheritance in the saints is for us to become His inheritance, which is for us to receive the sonship. God's plan is related to sons. God's predestination has nothing to do with man's salvation or perdition; it has to do with Him having many sons. God has predestinated us unto sonship. Theologians pointlessly argue about predestination unto salvation or predestination unto perdition. Galatians 4 and Hebrews 2 both speak of sonship. At the appointed time God will redeem His people unto sonship, that is, He will receive His inheritance. Redemption is a parenthetical move, whereas predestination unto sonship is a matter that occupies an eternal place in God's things.
What does it mean to inherit an inheritance? When we inherit an inheritance, it means that someone else's possession becomes ours. All fixed assets and other assets become ours. On the one hand, we receive an inheritance, which is the sonship. On the other hand, God receives an inheritance in us, which means that He gains and possesses us.
There are two parts in God's work. The first part was accomplished before the foundation of the world. The second part was accomplished on the cross. God's plan was accomplished before the foundation of the world, whereas the problem of man's fall was dealt with by the accomplishment of the Lord on the cross. Ephesians 1:7 says, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace." God's power in the believers is the power which He caused to operate in Christ. This power raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at God's right hand in the heavenlies. Today this power is operating in the believers for the accomplishment of God's purpose.
What Christians need today is a revelation from God. They need to see God's accomplished work rather than asking Him to do some new work. For Paul the battle was in the proclamation of God's eternal plan. For the saints the battle lies in seeing this plan. For Paul this was a matter of speaking the eternal plan. For the saints it is a matter of seeing the eternal plan. Paul prayed for this; He asked the Father to give to the saints in Ephesus a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they would see that God has accomplished everything. This is the special character of the book of Ephesians. Everything is accomplished, whether it is the work before the foundation of the world or the work on the cross.
Suppose a brother wants to deal with his temper. He tries once, twice, even many times, but without success. He repeatedly fails, and eventually he blames God in his heart for not working on him or dealing with his temper. However, the real problem lies in this person's heart — he only hopes that God will do something. He thinks that his problems would be solved and he would overcome if only God would do something. But verse 3 says that God has already given us every spiritual blessing in Christ. We must see this in order to receive this revelation. We have to ask ourselves why we cannot believe that God has accomplished everything. We do not need to ask for greater power from God to overcome our temper. We only need to ask the Lord to show us the facts that Christ accomplished on the cross. All we have to do is to claim them by faith. The Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross. Three days later He resurrected. Resurrection is the pinnacle of God's work; He need not advance any further than resurrection. We need not ask God to do anything for us; the only thing we need is revelation.
Revelation reveals God's accomplished facts. It connects us to the past. Revelation is not necessarily something related to the future. Many people hope that they will overcome in the future, but God wants us to see what has already been accomplished on the cross. Once we see this, we will release our praise! The power that God operates in us who believe is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. This is too wonderful! This power operates in us just as it operated in Christ when God raised Him from the dead! This power enables life to enter into death and come out again. Today we do not need to seek or pray for greater power. We have to see that Christ has already attained everything; He has obtained the power that transcends everything. Our power does not lie in what God is going to do, but in seeing what He has already done. Revelation is the key to everything.
Our regeneration is based on seeing God's accomplished redemption on the cross of Christ. In reading Ephesians we realize that man's unique need is revelation. We must see that the power in the believers is a power that subdues Hades and that prevails over death and the devil. A Christian becomes weak because he does not have revelation. Whether or not a Christian is victorious depends on whether he sees and has revelation; it has nothing to do with how much power he has. Those who have revelation spontaneously have power. Those who do not have revelation will fail no matter how hard they struggle.
Paul prayed that the believers would have revelation and that they would see. Prayer brings in revelation. It shows us that we are saved, that we are liberated, that life has entered into death, and that new life has come out of death. This resurrection life enables us to experience all that Christ has gone through and consummates in the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
