Now we come to the matter of the New Testament believers being to the praise of God’s glory (Eph. 1:11-12). Ephesians 1:12 says, “That we should be to the praise of His glory who have before hoped in Christ.” This verse does not mean that we shall praise God. It means that so much will be worked out for us and in us by God’s abounding grace that all the angels and positive things in the universe will praise God. They will praise God because we, the sons of God, will be the center, the focal point, of God’s operation in the universe. We shall be like the hub of a wheel. If the hub is taken away, the wheel will collapse because the spokes have no support. The angels and the positive things in the universe are like the spokes, and we, the sons of God, are like the hub. Without such a hub the universe cannot be held together. We on whom, for whom, and in whom the abounding grace is accomplishing so much will become the cause for the praise uttered by the positive things in the universe. This is the right meaning of verse 12.
The little word “that” at the beginning of this verse is very meaningful. It indicates that the many things that have been taking place in the preceding verses have a certain result: that we should be to the praise of God’s glory. This praise will mainly be in the millennium and ultimately in the new heaven and the new earth. If we read Rev. 21 and Rev. 22 in the light of these verses from Ephesians, we shall see that the New Jerusalem is a constitution of the sons of God; it is the center of the new universe. The angels, the nations, and all the positive things surrounding us will behold us and spontaneously utter praise to God. Therefore, the sons of God, the constituents of the New Jerusalem, will be the cause of universal praise. The whole universe will praise God for us as those who have been worked upon by God’s abounding grace.
However, many, including us, may read Ephesians again and again without seeing this because they do not have the proper concept. We understand the Bible mainly according to our concept. If a third-grader reads Ephesians, he may be able to say all the words, but he cannot grasp the real meaning because he does not have the proper concept. How much we grasp of the divine revelation depends mainly on the concepts we have. We should not trust in our natural concepts; instead, we should drop them. If we are willing to drop our concepts, the spirit of wisdom will replace our natural concepts with something spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. Our knowledge of doctrine will cause us to be veiled when we come to the book of Ephesians. Our concepts become veils over our spirit. But if we drop our concept, our spirit will be open, and we shall also be poor in spirit. In Matthew 5:3 the Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Those who are poor in spirit seem to know nothing, for they have been emptied of every concept, doctrine, and teaching. If we come to the pure Word poor in spirit, we shall see something new.
In verses 11 and 12 we see that the New Testament believers will be a cause of universal praise. Praise is the utterance of appreciation. We do not praise clay because we do not appreciate it. On the other hand, we do praise our dear Lord Jesus because we appreciate Him so much. Our appreciation becomes our praise. The day is coming when we, the sons of God, will be appreciated by all the angels. The more they look at us, the more utterance they will have that will flow out as praise to God. Their appreciation of us will become their praise to God. They will realize that what we are is the work of God’s abounding grace. The amount of praise depends upon how much work the abounding grace has done. If the abounding grace accomplishes more work upon us, the angels will have a greater appreciation of us. The Bible says that even the trees will rejoice (Psa. 96:12) and praise the Lord (Psa. 148:7, 9). If the trees did not see anything in the universe that was wonderful, they would not rejoice. But seeing us, the sons of God, will be the greatest surprise to the trees. Because of us, the trees will rejoice and praise. The fact that we shall be to the praise of God’s glory does not mean that we shall praise God. It means that we shall be the cause of the praise uttered by the angels and all the positive things in the universe.
Eventually, we shall become the glory of God. Some may wonder how we could become the glory of God. In 1 Thessalonians Paul says, “Ye are our glory and joy” (2:20). Paul was speaking here as the representative of God. Therefore, if the believers were the glory of Paul, then they were certainly the glory of God, for Paul was God’s sent one. If the believers are the glory of the sent one, then they are surely also the glory of the Sender. In the millennium and especially in the new heaven and new earth, God will be able to say, “Angels, nations, and all created things, look at My glory. My sons are My glory.” In a human sense, this is even true in a large family. Suppose a certain father has many good children, all of whom love the Lord very much. If all these children would one day sit around their father, he could say, “This is my glory. My children are my glory.” One day the Father will gather us all together. At that time, we all shall have been saturated with Him, transformed, and transfigured. Then with joy He will be able to say to the angels and all the positive things in the universe that we are His glory.
Glory is God expressed. At the fullness of the times, all the sons of God will be fully saturated with God and will express God. God will be expressed through us. This expressed God is glory. All the angels and positive things in the universe will praise the expressed God. This is what it means to say that we shall be to the praise of His glory.
The first part of verse 11 says, “In Whom also we were made an inheritance.” “In Whom” refers to the heading-up Christ. Verse 10, which speaks of heading up all things in Christ, ends with the words “in Him,” and verse 11 begins with the words “in Whom.” Paul’s composition here is rather awkward and repetitious. However, Paul wrote this way purposely in order to emphasize the fact that all things in heaven and on earth are headed up in Christ. In emphasizing this fact, Paul did not care for excellence of composition. The words “in Whom” reveal that we have been placed into the heading-up Christ.
In the heading-up Christ we also were made an inheritance. The word “also” in verse 11 refers to the heading up of all things in Christ. All things are to be headed up in Christ, and we also have been made an inheritance in Him. In Christ we were made an inheritance. Please pay close attention to the tense here. In the future, all things will be headed up in Christ, but already we were made an inheritance in Him. The Greek words rendered “were made an inheritance” can also be translated “have obtained an inheritance.” The Greek verb means to choose or assign by lot. Hence, this clause literally means we were designated as a heritage. We were made an inheritance to inherit God’s inheritance. On the one hand, we were made God’s inheritance (v. 18) for God’s enjoyment; and, on the other hand, we were made to inherit God as our inheritance (v. 14) for our enjoyment.
Which do you think is greater, for us to be made an inheritance or for God to head up all things in Christ? I would say that being made an inheritance is much better than being headed up. Our being made God’s inheritance opens the way for Him to head up all things in the universe.
Although we have been made an inheritance already, we need to ask ourselves whether or not we live as God’s inheritance. Do you live as one who is the inheritance of God? Do you look like God’s inheritance or like a lump of clay? How can clay be God’s inheritance? In ourselves we certainly are not worthy to be God’s inheritance, but we have been made an inheritance in the heading-up Christ. According to our natural being, we are not worth anything, but in the heading-up Christ we were made God’s inheritance.
It is by having God wrought into us that we are being constituted into an inheritance. God is still working Himself into us today. Most of us are part clay and part gold. The part that is gold is God’s inheritance. I thank God that as the process of being made God’s inheritance goes on, the gold in us is increasing and the clay is decreasing.
We should not stop with the mere objective teaching about being the inheritance of God. Many years ago I was taught that we are God’s inheritance, and I was very happy to hear this. Eventually I discovered that I am nothing but clay. It seemed absurd that clay could be God’s inheritance. After much experience and study of the New Testament, I learned that we are still in the process of becoming God’s inheritance. In this process the natural life must be eliminated, and the gold, the divine nature, must increase by being wrought into more of our being. When this process has been completed, we shall be fully the inheritance of God not only objectively, but also subjectively.
The process of being made God’s inheritance goes along with the heading up of all things in Christ. The more we are willing to be headed up in Christ, the more the gold, the divine element, will increase within us. This is transformation; it is also subjective sanctification. In subjective sanctification our being is saturated with God’s substance, God’s essence. As God’s element is wrought into our being, we become His inheritance. Yes, we have already been placed in the heading-up Christ, but we are still in the process of being made His inheritance in full.
To make us His inheritance, God the Father has predestinated us to be His sons. The process of making us God’s inheritance is based upon and is according to God’s eternal predestination. God is now working on us to reach the goal of His predestination.
Verse 11 says that we have been made an inheritance according to the purpose of the One who operates all things. God operates all things according to the counsel of His will. There is a difference between God’s will and His counsel: the will refers to His intention, and the counsel, to the consideration. God operates all things according to the consideration of His intention. His operation is mainly concerned with us; His intention regarding us is to make us His inheritance. In His counsel He considers how to accomplish this; He does not do it without careful consideration. For example, a sister may have the intention to bake a very special cake. But before baking it, she takes counsel with herself to consider how she should go about it. Without such consideration, the cake would be ruined in the process of baking. Likewise, God is making us an inheritance to Himself in a very thoughtful, careful way.
God operates all things according to the counsel of His will that we should be to the praise of His glory. This indicates that God is doing the finest work with us. No crude work will bring forth praise or appreciation. It is the finest work that causes the highest appreciation, out of which comes the highest praise. Because God is working on us in the finest way, we shall be the cause of the greatest appreciation.
In the Lord’s recovery we do not care only for the ground of unity. We are here for God’s finer work. Among all of today’s Christian groups, it is hard to find one group in which God can do a finer work. Probably we are the only group of Christians on earth who give God the opportunity to do a finer work in them. Therefore, in the Lord’s recovery we are held responsible to afford the Lord the opportunity to do this finer work upon us. We do not want to be shallow or to have a movement that is temporary. Instead, we want to cooperate with God that He may come in to do a fine work among us to bring forth the highest appreciation in the universe. Then whenever the angels look at us, they will appreciate what God has done and utter praise to the very God expressed by us. God’s work upon us is not simply to improve our behavior or to make us more loving and humble. Such a concept is too low. We need to allow God to work Himself into our being, to transform every part of us. This will be the finest product in the universe, a product full of God and full of the divine essence. In this way such a fine work will be highly appreciated by the angels and by all positive things; they will then praise God for the glory of His grace.
The word “to” in verse 12 is a rather insignificant word in English, but it is a strong word in Greek. It may be translated “issuing in.” This indicates that some kind of appreciation and praise will be brought forth because of us. We shall be the cause of the angelic praise. When the angels look at us, they will appreciate us. However, we have not yet fully reached this point. We need to go on until we, the New Testament believers, become the cause of the universal angelic praise of the glory of God.
Verse 12 says that we “have before hoped in Christ.” The Greek word translated “before” can also be rendered “first.” We, the believers of the New Testament, are those who have first hoped in Christ; that is, we have hoped in Him in this age. The Jews will have their hope in Christ in the next age. Today we have hoped in Christ, but the Jews, who have not, are in a pitiful condition.
We have hoped in Christ before Christ’s coming back to set up His Messianic kingdom. But the Jews will have hope in Christ after His coming back. Because we are full of hope in Christ, we can be made the cause of the universal and angelic praise of God’s glory.
Finally, we shall be to the praise of God’s glory. As we have seen, God is glorified, expressed, in the New Testament believers. This expression is not visible today, but one day it will be visible. At that time God’s expression through the New Testament believers will call forth the universal praise. Our God will be fully expressed and glorified through us and among us. Then the entire universe will praise His glory.
