In this message we shall consider the matters of a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the eyes of our heart (Eph. 1:15-18).
In considering these matters, we come to the first prayer of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians: “Therefore, I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and your love to all the saints” (v. 15). Paul prayed for the saints because they had faith in the Lord and love toward the saints. Faith and love are crucial in our Christian life. Toward the Lord we must have faith and toward the saints we must have love.
Verse 16 continues, “Do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.” The Apostle always remembers the good points of the saints and thanks the Lord for them.
In his first prayer Paul prayed to “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory” (v. 17). In verse 3 Paul spoke of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, putting God and the Father together. But here he mentions them separately, saying, “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.” In incarnation, the Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself (Phil. 2:6), became a man. As a man, He is related to God’s creation; therefore God the Creator is His God. The incarnation brought God the Creator into man, God’s creature. The title “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” implies that God the Creator has come into man. Whenever we speak of God in this way, we imply that God is no longer merely the Creator outside of His creature, man, but that He has been brought into humanity. The Jews do not recognize that the Creator of the universe has come into man. They believe in Jehovah God only as the Creator and refuse to admit that God is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This title implies creation, incarnation, and redemption. God is the Creator; yet He is the God of Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate. Jesus Christ is not only God in creation, but also God in incarnation and redemption. In referring to God as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are saying that we have been created, that the creating God has come into humanity, and that we have been redeemed. Incarnation indicates that we have the enjoyment of God. We enjoy God because He has come into humanity. Divinity becomes our enjoyment in Jesus Christ.
In 1:17 Paul uses the term “the Father of glory.” Glory is God expressed. Hence, the Father of glory is God expressed through His many sons. The title “Father” implies regeneration, and the word “glory” implies expression. Therefore, the title “Father of glory” implies regeneration and expression. We have been regenerated by God, and we are His expression.
In this one title, “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,” five important things are implied: creation, incarnation, redemption, regeneration, and expression. We have already been regenerated but in the future we shall be glorified and express God’s glory (Rom. 8:30). The regeneration of many sons and the expression of God are the consummation of the divine economy. Before creation there was nothing in existence except God. God had neither generation nor expression. Then God created the universe and everything in it. By His work of creation He became the Creator. After creation He took the step of incarnation, thereby coming into His creature, man. By incarnation the Creator and the creature became one. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was the uniting of God and man. Through crucifixion the Lord accomplished redemption. As a result, we, the fallen creatures, were redeemed. Then we were regenerated to become sons of God the Father so that we may express Him. On the day we are glorified, God will be fully expressed from within us. In this way we shall become His expression. All these important steps — creation, incarnation, redemption, regeneration, and expression — are implied by the title “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.”
Paul prayed to such a divine Person. The Jews, however, pray only to God the Creator, with no concept of incarnation, regeneration, or expression. But we Christians have God in creation, incarnation, redemption, regeneration and expression. How much more we have than the Jews!
Paul’s prayer to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, was for revelation. The Greek word rendered “revelation” in verse 17 means the opening of a veil. Hence, revelation is the lifting of a veil.
In order to have revelation, we need a spirit of wisdom and revelation. The spirit in verse 17 must be our regenerated spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God. Such a spirit is given to us by God that we may have wisdom and revelation to know Him and His economy. Actually, the spirit in this verse is the mingled spirit, the regenerated human spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit. However, the emphasis is upon our regenerated spirit, not on the Holy Spirit.
Paul prayed that we would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Wisdom is in our spirit that we may know the mystery of God, and revelation is of God’s Spirit to show us the vision by opening the veil. We firstly have wisdom, the ability to understand spiritual things; then the Spirit of God reveals the spiritual things to our spiritual understanding.
Wisdom is different from cleverness and deeper than cleverness. It is possible to be very clever, yet not be wise. Cleverness is in the mind, but wisdom is mainly in our spirit. Our need is to be wise in our spirit, not to be clever in our mind. The problem with certain saints is that they are very clever in the mind, but lack wisdom in the spirit. There was a brother like this in Shanghai in 1933. He was a good business man, very clever at making money. In his business he sold women’s hats, especially to British women. One day a wealthy woman was not interested in a particular hat because she thought the price was too low. The brother went to the back of the shop, changed the ribbon on the hat, and doubled the price. At that price, the woman was happy to buy it. By this we see what a clever merchant this brother was. Although he was clever in business, he was lacking in wisdom and could not understand when we spoke about the Scriptures. His mind was very active, but his spirit was not keen. Nevertheless, this brother had a heart for the Lord, came to the meetings of the church, and trusted in us for everything concerning the Lord. He was an excellent example of the difference between cleverness and wisdom.
Let us also give an example of one who had wisdom, but not much cleverness. In 1938 I visited the countryside in northern China, where most of the people had little education. Among them was a certain elderly sister. Although she was not educated, she was very wise concerning the things of the Lord. Whenever you spoke with her about the Lord, she was wise in her spirit. In talking about business this sister had no understanding, but in talking about the Lord she knew much more than most saints because she had wisdom in the spirit.
After wisdom comes revelation. As we have pointed out, revelation means unveiling, the opening of the veil. Revelation is of God’s Spirit to show us the vision of the mystery of God (3:3-5). Suppose you are studying engineering. Through your years of study you gain knowledge of various machines. This knowledge may be compared to wisdom. One day you visit a factory. As soon as the doors are opened, you see all the machines. The opening of the doors can be compared to revelation. Because of your wisdom, your knowledge of these machines, you spontaneously have an understanding of them. However, someone who does not have this engineering knowledge would not understand anything about these machines, although he would also be able to see them. He would have the revelation, but be short of wisdom. Some may have the wisdom without the opening of the door; others may have the opening of the door without wisdom. Only when we have both wisdom and revelation do we have the understanding of the machines. The same is true regarding spiritual things. We need both wisdom and the opening of the veil. When we have both, we can understand spiritual things.
When we have wisdom and revelation, we have the full knowledge of God. We know God in a full way.
In addition to having a spirit of wisdom and revelation, we must also deal with the eyes of our heart. Here the first thing to consider is the fact, which is the mystery of God’s will (1:9). In the illustration given above, the factory represents the fact. In like manner the mystery of God’s will is the fact we need to see.
Although the fact may exist, there must still be the revelation, the opening of the veil. It is a fact that the factory exists, but the doors must be opened to us. This is the opening of the veil.
Although we may have the fact and the opening of the veil, we also need eyes with which to see. We may have the mystery of God’s will and the revelation, but we still need eyes, the spiritual faculty to see (Acts 26:18; Rev. 3:18). The eyes we are talking about are, of course, the spiritual eyes, the eyes of the heart. In Revelation 3:18 the Lord Jesus said, “I counsel you to buy from Me...eyesalve to anoint your eyes that you may see.” We need eyesalve to restore sight to our eyes. Today there is no problem with the fact, for the Bible is filled with facts. Moreover, there is no problem with revelation, with the opening of the veil. God is gracious to us, and His Word is continually open to us. The main problem is with our eyes.
In order to have eyes to see, we need an open spirit with a purified conscience (Matt. 5:3; Heb. 9:14; 10:22). Do not close your spirit — keep it open. Furthermore, our conscience must be purified not only by the sprinkling of the redeeming blood of Christ, but also by our confession and dealing with our sins, offenses, mistakes, and errors. We must be clear in our conscience, which is the main part of our spirit. If our conscience is opaque, our spirit will not be able to see.
We also need a pure heart. The Word says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). Many cannot see God or receive the revelation of spiritual things because their heart is not pure. If we would have a pure heart, we must deal with our whole heart, that is, with all the parts that compose our heart.
In order to have a pure heart, we need a sober mind (2 Tim. 1:7). Some saints are rather confused in their minds, unable to classify anything. To them the letters “b” and “d” are about the same. As they read the Bible, Galatians and Colossians appear to them the same. They do not have a sober mind.
Although our mind should be cold, the colder the better, our emotion should be hot. In order to have seeing eyes, we need a loving emotion (John 14:21). If our mind is hot, it will not be sober. Our problem is that we are either hot in both mind and emotion or cold in both. It is easy for the sisters to be hot and for the brothers to be cold. But we all need to be cold in our mind and hot in our emotion.
Finally, a pure heart requires a submissive will (John 7:17). If our will is to be submissive, it must be soft.
I have learned from experience that if we have a pure heart with a sober mind, a loving emotion, a submissive will, and an open spirit with a pure conscience, our eyes will be able to see. Our spirit must be open and our conscience void of offense. Along with this our heart must have a cold and sober mind, a hot and loving emotion, and a soft and submissive will. When we have such a spirit and heart, the eyes of our heart will be able to see. Whenever we apply eyesalve to our eyes, the salve opens our spirit, purifies our conscience, cools our hot mind, stirs our cold emotion, and subdues our stubborn will. When all this takes place, our eyes are healed. To be healed is to have these five aspects of our being dealt with. If we do not have an open spirit, a purified conscience, a sober mind, a loving emotion, and a submissive will, we shall not see anything, although we may sit through many conferences and trainings. We may learn doctrines, but we shall not see anything in the way of a vision.
We may have the fact, the revelation, and the sight, but still be unable to see because we do not have light. Therefore, we also need to be enlightened by God (1 John 1:5, 7). Not until light comes in addition to the fact, the revelation, and the sight do we have the vision.
The vision is the sum of four things: the fact, the revelation, the sight, and the light. Many Christians read Ephesians again and again without seeing anything. To them, Ephesians is a closed book. They do not have the inner sight to see anything within the black and white letters of this book. Some may have the sight, but not the light. By experience, we can testify that Ephesians is filled with spiritual facts. It reveals the mystery of the will of God. If, as we read this book, our condition is normal and proper, the veils will be opened, the light will come, and we shall see a vision of God’s will. If the divine light does not come, we need to pray more, asking the Lord to grant us light. Eventually, the light will shine and we shall see a vision of what is contained in this book. As we have pointed out, there is no problem with the fact or with the opening of the veil. Also, God is gracious to grant us the light. What we especially need today are the eyes to see.
