How God planned for and works in the production of His Masterpiece.

1. The Introduction.

“Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the word of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Verses 1-2.)

The introductory words of this great Epistle are in tune with the great revelation it contains. It is interesting to compare the opening words of the different Epistles. Inspiration is as much manifested in the introductions and greetings, as it is in the great doctrinal unfoldings of these precious documents. In Romans Paul speaks of himself in the beginning of the Epistle as separated unto the Gospel of God; in the words of introduction all the leading features of that Gospel are revealed, because Romans unfolds the Salvation of God. In the Epistle to the Corinthians among whom the leaven of worldliness was working, the fact of their sanctification is put in the foreground: “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called Saints.” Galatians is characterized in the first verse as the Epistle in which the Holy Spirit gives the defence of the apostolic authority of Paul and of the Gospel he preached: “an apostle, not from men, nor through man.” Colossians too has its characteristic introduction, while in the Epistle to the Philippians Paul does not speak of himself at all as an apostle, but associated with Timotheus, he speaks as a fellow-servant and fellow-saint.

Without showing these peculiarities in the opening sentences of the other Epistles we point out that “the will of God” is made prominent in the very brief introduction of our Epistle. Paul means “little.” It is the name Saul of Tarsus assumed with the conversion of Sergius Paulus in Paphos (Acts xiii:7-9). The name tells of the great humility of the Apostle, which is elsewhere more fully expressed in this Epistle (Chapter iii:8). And his apostleship is by “the will of God.” It is to be noticed that the will of God is repeatedly mentioned in the first chapter. All the blessings mentioned flow forth from the will of God. What God hath done for us in Christ Jesus is “according to the good pleasure of His will” (verse 5); “having made known unto us the mystery of His will” (verse 9); “who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (verse 11). This win of God reacheth back before the foundation of the world. It made the erstwhile persecutor of the church of God the Apostle of Jesus Christ, through whom that blessed will of God is now fully revealed.

“To the Saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” We stated before that the words “which are at Ephesus” are not found in the best manuscripts. It is of little or no consequence. The Epistle may have been sent from one assembly to another, and in all probability is the one mentioned in Colossians iv: 16. There is no mention made of the church at Ephesus, though the Epistle contains the fullest revelation of the church we have in the Word of God. Individual believers are addressed as Saints and as faithful in Christ Jesus. The words “Saints and the faithful” do not mean, as it has been supposed, two classes of believers in Ephesus. All believers are constituted saints, “separated ones.” But a Saint may not be faithful. Many who are saved by Grace and called Saints are unfaithful in their walk and testimony. The believers addressed are such, who live in faithfulness in Christ Jesus, manifesting in practical holiness their calling as Saints, And to such the Holy Spirit can give the highest and the best; He was unhindered to make known unto them the blessed revelation this Epistle contains. This is still an important principle. This address to “the Saints and faithful in Christ Jesus” corresponds to the division of the Epistle. In the first three chapters we learn that God has made us His Saints in Christ, and in the last three chapters we are exhorted to walk in faithfulness..

Then follows the salutation so full of blessed meaning. “Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” These words are often termed a wish, a prayer or a blessing. They are more than that. Grace and Peace from the Father and His ever blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ are bestowed upon us, and they are put at the beginning of this and other Epistles to assure the people of God, that these unfathomable blessings, Grace and Peace, are on our side. No matter how weak and imperfect those may be who are saved and sheltered in Christ, Grace and Peace will never be withholden from them. The Holy Spirit never mentions Himself in these salutations to the Saints. They are always exclusively from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is in the Saints of God.

2. The great Doxology.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” Verse 3.

This great doxology should constantly be as an outburst of praise upon the lips of God’s redeemed people. It stands at the beginning of the great revelation of this Epistle, without doubt the greatest doxology in the entire Word of God. And when we reach the end of these three marvellous chapters we find another outburst of praise recorded. “Unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen’’ (iii:20-21). Between these two doxologies are found the unfathomable riches of the Grace of God towards us in Christ.

The third verse, the beginning of the Epistle itself, is the key to the great revelation which follows in this chapter. It is the bud which the Holy Spirit gradually unfolds.

The Godhead in blessing sinners is revealed in this doxology. First we find the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the author of all blessings. We are to bless Him for the blessing which He has bestowed upon us. We are to give the blessings back to Him in praise.

In the second place we learn that the blessings are in Christ. In His Son, God has blessed us. He gave Him for us. He came,  died and was raised from the dead. In Him we have believed and in Him, with whom we are one Spirit, God has blessed us.

Then in the third place we read of the blessings, what kind of blessings they are, spiritual blessings; they are therefore communicated by the Holy Spirit. And how many such blessings has He given? Our authorized version states “with all spiritual blessings.” The correct rendering is “with every spiritual blessing.” There is then no blessing whatever, which God can give, which He has kept back from those who are in Christ. all God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, can give in spiritual blessings, He has given. It is a most blessed fact! God has now come forth and revealed what He can do for such as we are and how great are the exceeding riches of His Grace. In Old Testament times God had His people Israel. To them He promised earthly blessings. But greater than the blessings of the earth are the blessings He has given to us in Christ. What these blessings are we shall discover in the verses which follow.

The phrase “in heavenly places” should be translated “Heavenlies.” It is peculiar to this Epistle. We find the Heavenlies mentioned five times. Chapter i:3, 19; ii:6; iii;10 and vi:12. It has a twofold meaning, the nature of the blessings which are ours in a risen and ascended Christ, and the locality where our Lord, the Head of the body is. In the Heavenlies where He is now, the church will be with Him. As we review this doxology we find the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit mentioned. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us; these blessings are in the Son and as spiritual blessings they are communicated by the Holy Spirit.

What follows is very interesting. From the fourth verse to the fourteenth we find the blessings stated with which we are blest in Christ. Generally these blessings are enumerated by expositors of this Epistle, and seven of them are pointed out. There seems to be a better key to unlock the verses which speak of these blessings. Three times in these verses we read of the praise of God, His Grace and His Glory.

Chapter i:6, “To the praise of the Glory of His Grace.” Verse 12, “That we should be to the praise of His Glory.” Verse 14, “Unto the praise of His Glory.”

Each of these words of praise mark the end of what is said about the different persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In verses 4-6 we read of what the Father has done; verses 7-12 reveal what we have and are in the Son, in Christ; verses 13 and 14 reveal the work of God the Holy Spirit. Thus we have the work of the Godhead in our behalf represented in this chapter.

3. The Plan of the Work of the Godhead. Verses 4-14.

A. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him; in love having predestinated us unto the Sonplace by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” Verses 4-6.

These three verses reveal the blessed work of God the Father. Three great facts are mentioned of Him. He hath

a. Chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the Word.

b. Predestined us unto the Sonplace in Christ.

c. Made us accepted in the Beloved.

How wonderful these statements are! Here we are face to face with revelation. To deny this would stamp these words as the lying imaginations of a deceiver, absolutely unreliable and untrustworthy. Only a direct revelation from God can acquaint us with that which took place before the foundation of the world. In the first verse of the Bible we read of God's original Creation. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” How many millions of years ago this took place is not revealed, nor can human science ever find it out.1 But here revelation takes us before the foundation of the world. Whatever is in God’s eternity, that unfathomable existence without a beginning, is beyond man’s ability to know and therefore unrevealed. In the words before us the Spirit of God makes known the great truth, that God before even the world existed planned His Masterpiece, how He would make known the exceeding riches of His Grace. With Him in all eternity, resting in His own bosom was His Only Begotten Son, the Son of His Love. In Him, by Him and for Him all things, visible and invisible were called into existence. Before even this creation was effected, God knew the outcome. Surprise is an impossibility with God. He knows the end from the beginning, “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts xv:18). Before He created the highest creature, him who was the Cherub that covereth (Ezek. xxviii:14), God knew that he would become the Devil. The whole story of man’s fall, dragged down by the fallen Lucifer (Isaiah xiv:12) into sin and death, was not hidden from God. He knew all what would come to pass. The whole human race as it was to come into existence was known to Him and every member in that race. Well may we exclaim with David, when the Spirit of God unfolded to him God’s omniscience, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it” (Psalm cxxxix;6).

And then God made provision. He made the “ages” in His Son (Hebr. i:2-3). Then He chose us in Him that we should be holy and without blame before Him. This deep and blessed statement refers to the Saints of God, who constitute the Church, the body of Christ and as such the Glory of Christ (Chapter i:23). In Ephesians we find the fullest revelation concerning the church, that mystery, which was not made known in former ages (Chapter iii:5). Here on the threshold of this sublime revelation we are told that the church was in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. Before His blessed Son ever came to this earth for redemption, before He ever died on Calvary’s Cross and rose from the dead to return as the glorified Man into God’s presence, before the Holy Spirit ever came to form that body, God knew the members of it, all who would constitute the body of His Son, the church. And as such He has chosen them that they should be holy and without blame before Him. How men with a show of learning have wrestled with these statements and by their theories and opinions have made the words “election” and “predestination” obscure and difficult! Depths are connected with the statements before us which we cannot fathom. And God forbid that we should ever try to explain the actions of God’s Sovereignty or judge Him by our own thoughts. We bow in adoration and worship in the presence of such a statement “chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.” Israel as the elect earthly people will give us a little help. In Old Testament times there were many nations, nations of culture, learning and power. Yet God did not take them up, but let them go their own way. But what does He say concerning Israel? “Hear this Word that the Lord hath spoken against you, oh children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, you only have I known of all the families of the earth’' (Amos iii:1-2). Israel is His elect earthly people; but their election is never spoken of as having been before the foundation of the world. Israel was chosen in time. The Saints of the New Testament times, which constitute the Body of His blessed Son, He hath chosen before there was a world. That body, the church, is an outgathered company, in its number known to God alone, because He has chosen them. And this choice of God declares that in Christ we should be, even as we are (blessed be His Name) “holy and without blame.” It means that we become thus partakers of His nature, the nature of God, and therefore a nature capable of communion with God, a nature to which no blame is attached. This God willed and this is the portion of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Grace of God bestows it upon us. And our destiny as we shall see, the destiny of the elect body of Christ, the Church, is not in connection with the earth, but in the Heavenlies, even as we are chosen before there was an earth.

The words “in Love” with which verse 4 ends, we believe, belong to the sentence which follows in the next verse, so that we read, “In love having predestinated us unto the Sonplace through Christ Jesus by Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.” It was love which purposed all this, the love which passeth knowledge. The words before us reveal the position, which God has given to those whom He hath chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. The authorized version speaks of “adoption of children.” This hardly expresses it correctly. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not adopted into the family of God; they are born into the family. The Greek has only one word “Sonplace.” We are placed into the position of Sons. Not alone hath God given to us His own nature, but He gives us, because we have that nature in and through His Son, the place as Sons. Think of what God might have done for those, who by wicked works are His enemies. He might have given us the place of unfallen angels, the wonderful ministers of Heaven. What mercy that would have been! Or He might have lifted us to the dignity of an Archangel, full of beauty and power. But even that would not have been the very best He could have done in the riches of His Grace and Love. He has made us Sons, like the Son, whom He raised from the dead and seated at His own right hand. Sons of God, like His Son, destined to be joint heirs with Him and forever with the Lord; this tells out the marvellous story of God’s riches in Grace. He gave to His Son, risen from the dead, a better name and a better inheritance than the angels. And this we share in Him according to the eternal will of God.

And all this is “according to the good pleasure of His will.” Not according to our works, nor according to the appreciation or apprehension of all this, as some have stated. Our works and actions have absolutely nothing to do with this. All we do is to accept in faith that, into which God has brought us according to His will. It is all of God. How else could it be, if it was all done in His will before even a human being existed.

Before we pass to the third statement, a brief word on “predestination.” This word, which means “marked out” is nowhere found in connection with the Gospel, nor does it say anywhere in the Word, what some have said, that God has predestinated human beings to be lost. But while we do not read that He ever predestinated any one to be lost we read “God would have all men to be saved” (1 Tim. ii:4). God has nothing to say to a lost world about predestination. His Grace, bringing salvation has appeared unto all men. God’s offer of salvation is therefore to all.

“Whosoever will” and “Whosoever believeth” are the glorious terms of God’s good news to all alike. But when we believe, we know that we are chosen and predestinated. Those who have believed on Christ are predestinated and they possess the Son-place. Then having believed, we know that we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.

And in all this God shows what His Grace can do. “To the Praise of the Glory of His Grace.” God could not manifest the Glory of His Grace with angels; but with sinners in the bondage of sin and death, on the road to eternal death and punishment. He was enabled to show it all forth. In the gift of His Son He has made it known. This modem Gospel of “salvation by character” is surely a wicked thing, a soul-destroying delusion. It robs God of the Glory of His Grace. Let us magnify Grace! Let us give Him the Praise and the Glory, and as being saved by Grace let us live to the Praise of the Glory of His Grace!

And in the third place we read that we are made accepted in the Beloved. Mark, it does not say “in Christ” but in the Beloved. This is extremely precious. Christ is the Beloved of God and as chosen in Him, partakers of the divine nature, predestinated unto the Son-place, we are “the Beloved of God called Saints.” The Love wherewith God loveth the Son is the Love with which we are loved. We are as dear to God as He is Himself, who was always His delight. “Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee,” is often sung by those who do not know anything of what Grace has done. We cannot be nearer to God, nor dearer to Him, than we are in Christ, the Beloved. Accepted in the Beloved, means that we rest in Him on the bosom of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh! come and let us praise His Name.

B. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

‘In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His Grace, which He hath made to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence; having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, for the administration of the fulness of times to head up all things in the Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; in Him, in whom also we obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His Glory, who have trusted beforehand in Christ.” Verses 7-12.

These verses put before us the Son of God, what He has done for us in His work, and the riches of God’s Grace, which abounds in Him towards all who have believed. We discover three things, which are stated here:

a. Redeemed us through His blood. Verse 7.

b. The Revelation in Him of the mystery of His will. Verses 8-10.

c. The inheritance we have obtained in Him. Verse 11.

And all this is “ to the praise of His Glory.” Verse 12.

The Beloved One, having been mentioned in Whom we are accepted, we read at once of His work. The Son of God came from the Father’s bosom to this earth to redeem us, so that God’s eternal will might be carried out. Redemption, the taking out of the condition in which we are by nature, is a necessity, and has been forever accomplished by the blood of the Son of God, which He shed on the cross. Three Greek words are translated by redemption, giving us its blessed meaning. Agorazo, which means, to buy in the market. It is used in the following passages: 1 Cor. vi:20; 2 Pet. ii:l1; Rev. v:9; xiv:3-4, Exagorazo, to buy out of the market, used in Gal. iii:13 and iv:5. Lootruo, to liberate on the receipt of a ransom, used as a verb and noun in Luke xxi:24 and 28; Romans iii:24: viii:23; 1 Cor. i:30; Eph. i:7, 14; iv:30. It is this last word which is employed here. Through His blood the Son of God has taken us out of the condition in which we are. He paid the price and has set us free. The redemption we have in Him is a settled thing. We know it belongs to us. But it means more than the forgiveness of our sins. The riches of His Grace revealed in redemption through His blood includes all our needs as sinners. The blood has redeemed us, set us free, from all things in which we are by nature. All we have, all we are, all we shall have and shall be are the blessed results of redemption by blood. We are delivered from the wrath to come (1 Thess. i:10), as well as “out of the present evil age” (Gal. i:4). We are delivered from the power of darkness (Col. i:13), yea, “He gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works” (Tit. ii:14). These things we have, they are ours in Christ while we wait down here for the full “Son-place,” the adoption, the redemption of our body (Rom. viii:25). The forgiveness of sins is, so to speak, the foundation, and upon this follow all the other precious gifts which God is enabled to bestow according to the riches of His Grace, because His blessed Son shed His blood.

How little all this is enjoyed by those who have believed in Christ! How great the ignorance of many of God’s people concerning the riches of His Grace, which He hath made to abound towards us! So many lack the fullest assurance to which every believer is entitled, and have but little knowledge of all they have entered upon and they have received, when they trusted in Christ. And it is this knowledge of the riches of His Grace we are told to contemplate, and which will be the means of drawing us close to Himself. As we know this and enjoy it, we walk in separation from this present evil age, out of which we are redeemed. It will not leave us barren nor unfruitful, but produce in our lives fruit to the Praise of the Glory of His Grace.

The words which follow put before us some blessed and deep truths. Redeemed through His blood, having redemption, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of Grace, He hath made known unto us the mystery of His will. God wants His elect. His church, to know the secret things of His will and what He hath purposed in Himself. Therefore He hath made the riches of His Grace abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence. God has been pleased to make known in Christ the mystery of His will. It is the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began (Rom. xvi:25), so that we know in Christ and through Christ the fulness of His purpose. That mystery of God is Christ, in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. ii:3). Christ, who has redeemed us by His blood, was raised from the dead. God “set Him at His own right hand in the Heavenlies”— “He hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (Chapter i:21-23). This is the mystery: that Christ risen from the dead, seated at the right hand of God, is the Head and those who believe on Him constitute the church. His body. This body is destined, according to the eternal purpose of God, to share the Glory of the Head. This purpose is still in the future. The administration (or dispensation) of the fulness of times has not yet come. When it comes all things will be headed up in the Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. We must notice it speaks of “The Christ,” which means Christ, the Head, and the church. His Body. Marvelous Grace which has reached down to us and makes us one with Him, who, in accordance with His Father’s will, shares His own Glory and Inheritance with those who are in Him, the Sons of God! “The administration of the fulness of times” will come when He, who occupies now the Father’s throne, comes again and receives His own throne. Then all things will be put in subjection under His feet; He will be supreme and the reconciliation of things on earth and things in heaven (not things or beings under the earth) will take place. Creation itself, disturbed and so fearfully marred by the fall of man, will be put back into its original condition. The administration of the fulness of times is the age to come, when righteousness will reign as Grace reigns now; the kingdom age, when He has taken His inheritance and reigns as King over the earth In that day of Glory He will bring His many sons unto Glory (Heb. ii:10), and, more than that. He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that have believed” (2.Thess. i;10). This is the glorious mystery of His will made known unto us who are, through the riches of His Grace, the heirs of God and fellowheirs with Christ.

Of this inheritance we read in the words which follow: “In Him, in whom also we obtained an inheritance, being predestinated, according to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His Glory, who have trusted beforehand in Christ.” It is all “in Him,” in this precious and deep portion of God’s holy Word. A brief review will demonstrate this. We are blessed “in Christ” with every spiritual blessing (verse 3). We are chosen “in Him” before the foundation of the world (verse 4). He hath accepted us “in the Beloved.” It is “in Him” we have redemption, and “in Him” we have obtained an inheritance. Apart from Christ there is no blessing, no redemption, no Glory. Rejecting Christ and the price He paid for our redemption. His blood, means eternal death, eternal darkness, eternal wrath. It is a solemn fact that apostate Christendom, that Christless Christianity and bloodless Gospel, rejecting God’s Son and God’s only Gospel, is rushing on towards the judgment of a holy and righteous God.

The inheritance of Christ, which belongs to Him as the glorified Man, we have seen before; He will receive it when “the administration of the fulness of time” comes. In Him we have obtained an inheritance; we are called of God to share the inheritance of His Son in the ages to come. It is equally true that we are as redeemed by His blood. His inheritance. How wonderful it all is! We shall see Him as He is and then we shall be like Him; transformed into His image that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. We shall possess with Him His inheritance, for we are joint heirs with Christ. We shall be with Him wherever He is in Glory, for the body must be where the Head is; forever with the Lord. This is the inheritance we have obtained in Him. But what it all means. Only eternity will disclose the unsearchable riches of our Glory in Him and His Glory in us. And it is “to the Praise of His Glory.” Before we heard of “the Praise of the Glory of His Grace” (verse 6), which speaks of what He has done for us in raising us from the dunghill of our sin, misery and shame. But “the Praise of His Glory” will be fully manifested in the day of His Glory, when He appears with His saints. Of this He spoke in His prayer, “that the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me” (John xvii:23). When He appears and leads forth in triumphant splendor His redeemed ones, all reflecting His Glory, then the world will know and He will get “the Praise of His Glory.”

Those mentioned here who “trusted beforehand in Christ,” are Jews who have entered by faith into this blessed relationship and who possess now something infinitely higher and more glorious than the nation will possess when the Lord Jesus comes to restore His earthly people. In fact the “we” in these two verses refers to believing Jews, while the “ye” in the verse which follows means believing Gentiles. Both classes constitute the church, the body of Christ. Into this the second chapter enters more fully.

May it please the Holy Spirit to make these blessed truths concerning our place and our inheritance in Christ more real to us. Our walk depends upon our believing contemplation of all these riches of His Grace. A little time is left us here. May we enter with our hearts more fully in all this and manifest His Grace, the Grace which stooped so low and has lifted so high, in a separated walk and devoted life, till we obtain the inheritance “to the Praise of His Glory.”

C. The Holy Spirit of God.

"In whom ye also having heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; and having also believed in Him, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Who is the earnest or our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the Praise of His Glory” (verses 13, 14).

In these words the Holy Spirit reveals His own work in God’s Masterpiece. Here again we notice three things:

a. Hearing and believing; the Quickening by the Spirit. Verse 13.

b. The Sealing by the Holy Spirit of Promise. Verse 14.

c. The Holy Spirit the Earnest of our Inheritance.

These words are of great importance. The Son of God came to this earth to redeem us and because He has finished the work the Father gave Him to do, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead has come to do His work.

Three words are prominent in the thirteenth verse, the words “heard,” “believed” and “sealed.” They go together. The Word of Truth, the Gospel of salvation must be heard and believed; the hearing and believing results in the sealing with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit indwelling the believer is the earnest of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession takes place.

The Word of Truth, the Gospel of Salvation is the medium through which the Holy Spirit works. In the second chapter of this Epistle we read of the condition in which all men are by nature “dead in trespasses and sins.” The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life and Power can alone reach this condition of death. He quickens us in our spiritual death, but He does His work through the Word of Truth, the Gospel of Salvation. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. x:17). The Word which is to be preached is “the Word of Faith” (Rom. x;7). Through this Word the Spirit of God operates and reaches the heart of man “for the Word of God is living, and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow and judgeth the thoughts and reasonings of the heart” (Heb. iv;12). It is evident that inasmuch as “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” that the hearing of the Word is the means through the power of the Holy Spirit to produce faith. Hearing and believing the Word of Truth, the Gospel of Salvation, the Holy Spirit then acts and we are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Pet. i;23). This explains the words of our Lord to Nicodemus “except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John iii:5).

But too little of this Word of Truth and the Gospel is preached in our days. Some of the professional evangelists instead of preaching the Word and the Gospel/tell all kinds of anecdotes, which make people laugh and sometimes blush. A number of these men employ “slang” words and are extremely vulgar in the language they use. These same men seem to be after the money of the people and collect thousands of dollars for a few weeks of so-called" revival services. ’ ’ They attract large crowds and claim marvellous success in the conversion of thousands. But is this really the work of the Holy Spirit? Does the Spirit of God use silly anecdotes, often mixed with falsehoods, or can He use vulgar language to quicken sinners dead in trespasses and sins? These questions we must answer in the negative. These “revivals” are often discovered to be counterfeits. The supposed conversions were attempts at reformation produced by soulical emotions, or, what is even worse, a “religious affiliation” without salvation. All these attempts to reach men apart from the clearcut presentation of the Gospel of Salvation are the most dangerous tactics the arch-hater of the Gospel, Satan, uses. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of Truth. We repeat it again, “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of. God.” What is needed is to preach the Word in fullest assurance and confidence that the Holy Spirit with His power is doing His work in His own way by it. No Gospel preacher need to trouble himself about the results of his preaching. The Spirit of God uses the message, though the results may not be seen at once.

All who have heard and believed are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. The authorized version is misleading. “In whom also after that ye believed” should be rendered by “and having also believed in Him ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Some teach that a person may have believed in Christ and not have received the sealing with the Spirit. The claim is made that between believing in Christ and the sealing with the Spirit years may intervene, and that the sealing with the Spirit must be sought in a definite experience. All these claims have no foundation in Scripture. The sealing with the Spirit is not an inward experience, which must be sought after conversion and which is obtained by self-surrender. Sealing is' a figurative expression. The seal is a mark of ownership. As soon as a sinner hears the Gospel, believes in Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to him and makes His abode there. In this way God seals His own who believe in His Son, by giving to them His Spirit. Every believer is therefore indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and by this, God marks us as belonging to Him, while the Holy Spirit in us is the assurance of our security, for He keeps all in whom He dwells. The seal is therefore the Holy Spirit Himself, and His presence in the believer denotes ownership and security. The sealing with the Spirit is not an emotional feeling or some mysterious inward experience. Nowhere are we told to “feel” that we are sealed; we know it because the Word of God tells us so. And the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of promise, because He was promised and has come in fulfilment of the promise of the Father and the Son.

But He is also the Spirit of promise in the believer, for His presence promises better things. He is the earnest of our inheritance, the pledge that in the future we shall come into possession, of our full inheritance. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the first installment, so to speak, of the Glory which belongs to us. When we come into full possession of the inheritance He ceases to be the earnest, but He Himself will never leave us in all eternity.

The inheritance is here also called “the purchased possession.” If has been fully paid for and is therefore completely purchased. But it speaks here not only of “purchase” but also of the “redemption” of our inheritance. The purchase price was the Blood; the redemption of the purchased possession will be by power. Our inheritance, the purchased possession, is in the Heavenly places. This heavenly sphere is still in the grasp of Satan “the prince of the power in the air.” With his demons he tenants the air and the Heavenly places, which are part of Christ’s inheritance and, therefore, ours as well. That such is the case we find in the last chapter of this Epistle, where we read of our present warfare which is “against the wicked spirits in the heavenly places” (vi:12). But this purchased possession which belongs to Christ and to us will not always be left in the power of Satan and his angels. The power of God will fully recover it in the future. Revelation xii gives us the most interesting prophetic history of this. Satan and his angels will be cast out of heaven and the redeemed of God will take possession of the wonderful inheritance above. The redemption of the purchased possession begins with the rapture of the Saints, when all His Saints are caught up in clouds to meet Him in the air. This is followed by Satan cast out of heaven. The redemption by the power of God will be consummated in the personal and glorious Manifestation of our Lord to establish His Kingdom over the earth.

And now before we turn to the prayer which concludes the first chapter of this great Epistle we must have a review of this great revelation we have found thus far, concerning the work of the Godhead, in the production of the Masterpiece of God in redemption.

1. We found God the Father has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. God the Son came down from Heaven’s Glory and redeemed us by His Blood. God the Holy Spirit quickens those who hear and believe. He is here because Christ finished His work on the Cross.

2. God the Father has predestinated us unto the Son-place. God the Son reveals, to all who are sons with Him, the mystery of His will, concerning the future of the new creation. God the Holy Spirit because we are sons possesses us and keeps those whom He possesses. He is the Spirit of Sonship.

3. God the Father has accepted us in the Beloved. God the Son has given us in Himself an inheritance, God the Holy Spirit is the earnest of that inheritance.

Surely this is revelation from God. So blessedly simple, so profound that all the eternal ages will not suffice to sound its depths. No man could have ever discovered or invented such a plan. Let us bow before it in worship and yield our lives “to the Praise of the Glory of His Grace.”

The second half of this chapter contains a prayer. It is the first prayer in the Epistle; the second prayer is found at the close of the third chapter. Let us notice that the greatest revelation of God given in Ephesians has these two prayers connected with it. The revelation is given that we might enter into the knowledge of it and enjoy it in our hearts, even “to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Prayer is needed for this. As we read these blessed truths we must make them our own.

A. Thanksgiving, verses 15-16.

" Wherefore I also, having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the Saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.”

These are the words with which Paul introduces his prayer for the Ephesians. He had heard of their faith and love. Faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the Saints are the leading and blessed essentials of true Christianity. Grace works these in our hearts. Neither faith nor love can be learned or acquired by man’s own efforts; both are the result of the work of the Holy Spirit. “No man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. xii:3). “The Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given unto us” (Rom. v:5). Without this faith in the Lord Jesus, love unto all the Saints is impossible, and where there is true faith in the Lord Jesus, there must be love unto the Saints. If our hearts lay hold by faith of the great truths contained in the first part of this chapter and the Lord Jesus, and our wonderful position in Him and blessing is enjoyed by us, the love unto all the Saints will be manifested. It is the fruit of faith in the Lord Jesus. It is by this love that we know we have passed out of death into life, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren” (1 John iii:14). “Whosoever loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him” (1 John v:1).

And let us notice the little word “all.” The Love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts includes all the Saints of God, not alone a little circle of such who see eye to eye with us in all things, not alone the Saints we know and are of an amiable disposition, but it takes in all, no matter what they are, and where they are, all who are born of God. He loveth them all and His Love in our hearts must needs embrace all whom He loveth. How little of this love unto all the Saints is in evidence in our days! May we always think whenever we come in touch with Saints who appear unlovable, who either oppose us or who do not share all our views, that the Lord Jesus loves them, loves them as much as He loves us. We must bear with them as He bears with us. This is one of the true tests of spirituality, love unto all the Saints. In the peculiar days in which we live, the last days of this age, when Satan tries to divide the flock of God as never before, may we love all His beloved people and reach out after the weak and stumbling ones of the flock. Let us remember that God hath chosen them with us before the foundation of the world, that He has accepted them as He has accepted us in the Beloved. May we never forget that the Lord Jesus died for them as He died for us, and that the same Holy Spirit who abides in us, is also in them. Then we shall make mention of all the Saints in our prayers. It is a blessed occupation, into which the Holy Spirit will lead us to pray for the Saints of God, besides giving thanks for them. Whenever a fellow believer has misunderstood us or the enemy attempts to sow the evil seed of jealousy between ourselves and other Saints, the best way, yea the only way, to overcome the evil is by prayer. When there is prayer for the Saints and the love for them is nourished by the prayer of intercession, the enemy will find it difficult to bring in his discord. Paul made mention of them in prayer and what he asked for all the Saints we find revealed in the verses which follow. But we must remember the mighty One, who stood behind the penman of these words, the Holy Spirit. It is therefore more than the prayer of the Apostle Paul for the Ephesian Christians. It is the prayer of the Holy Spirit for all the Saints. What the Holy Spirit desires for those who belong to Christ, to know and to enjoy, is now made known. The Spirit who prays is the Spirit of power, who can and will make all good to us.

B. The Prayer for Enlightenment in the Knowledge of Him, verses 17-18.

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your heart being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to usward, who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”

The prayer here is addressed to “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.” The prayer in the third chapter is made to “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This corresponds most beautifully to the blessed revelation in the first 14 verses of this chapter. “God and Father” are the blessed words, which stand in the foreground of this Epistle. God is Light and God is Love. The first prayer is a prayer for light, that His redeemed people may know, be enlightened; therefore it is addressed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. The second prayer in the third chapter is for love, and therefore addressed to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If we look a little closer at the words “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory,” we shall discover their marvellous meaning. God who hath chosen us and predestinated us before the foundation of the world is “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The whole blessed story of the Gospel is revealed in this sentence. Here is the fact that God gave Him, who is His Only Begotten. The Son of God came to this earth and humbled Himself, appearing in the form of a servant; this is expressed in the word “Jesus,” His Name in humiliation. The titles “Christ and Lord” tell us of His resurrection. “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts ii:36). The only time the Lord Jesus spoke of God as His God was on the Cross, when he said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

But after His resurrection He speaks again of His God and in a most blessed connection. He said to Mary “Go unto My brethren and say to them I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to My God and your God” (John xx:17). Thus His God, the God who gave Him, who delivered Him up for us, who raised Him from the dead, is our God. We are brought into the same blessed relationship with Him. This is the only correct and scriptural way how we should address God “Our God and our Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”; anything less than that cannot have the approval of the Spirit of God.2 And what does the expression “the Father of Glory” signify? From Him, “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,” He who raised Him from the dead and gave Him Glory, Glory proceeds. First He gave to Him, who was made sin for us, glory. We see Him now crowned with Glory and Honor at the right hand of God. But the Glory He has received will be by-and-by shared by the church. His body. Thus the words “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” takes us in the past; the title “Father of Glory” looks forward into the future. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished the work for us in His Son and Glory, eternal Glory is now before us.

In verses 17-19 we find three petitions and with these, in which we see the three persons of the Godhead indicated, we shall now be occupied. First we notice, however, that the desire is expressed that God “may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your heart being enlightened.”

This does not mean that they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. We saw they were, as every true believer is, sealed by that Spirit of promise, which means, the gift of the Spirit. There is no second giving of the Spirit promised. It means that the Spirit might operate as the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation. He is in all believers, but in few He can manifest His full power as the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation. And the Holy Spirit will impart “the knowledge of Him.” If we desire to know Christ more fully, the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation will give us this knowledge. He enlightens the eyes of our hearts.3 It is the heart, the new nature in the believer, which alone can take in the great truths revealed in the Masterpiece of God. The human intellect cannot grasp these truths; the Spirit of God must enlighten the eyes of our spiritual nature.

And now the three petitions “that ye may know.”

1. The first is “ that ye may know what is the Hope of His calling.” This is the calling of the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory. What then is His calling? For what has He called us? Into what is He bringing those whom His Son redeemed? It is infinitely more than to have our sins forgiven, as some have explained it; or to get to heaven. We do not hope to have our sins put away, but we know they are put away. We do not hope to get to heaven, we know that we are there in Christ, through Grace. Romans viii:29 gives us the Hope of God’s calling. “For whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” The hope of His calling is to be One with Him, whom God raised from the dead and gave Him Glory. Every sinner saved by Grace will eventually bear the full image of the Firstborn from the dead. “We shall see Him as He is and shall be like Him.” The church, the body of Christ this Masterpiece of God, will be joined to the Head and they shall be One. This is God’s calling; this is into what He brings redeemed sinners. The Holy Spirit must enlighten the eyes of our heart, that we can get fresh glimpses of this high and holy calling, and He must keep this calling constantly before our eyes. There is no other way to have and to enjoy the reality of this. If but this knowledge of His calling, our glorious destiny in Christ and with Him, is entered in by God’s children, it would mould their lives and keep them in the place of separation. May it please the Holy Spirit to enlighten afresh the eyes of all His people, so that they may know this great calling and walk worthy of it. And how soon this calling of God for which we earnestly hope may become an actual fact! A little while longer and “He that shall come will come.” It is then that we shall come into possession of our inheritance.

2. The second petition is that we may know “the riches of the Glory of His inheritance in the Saints.” Now again we read of “riches.” “For ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though He was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, that ye by His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. viii:9). The riches into which God, the Father of Glory, has brought us through Him, who laid His Glory by, is told out in this Epistle. It is the rich Epistle of our riches in Christ. “The Riches of His Grace” (Ep. i:7); “the Riches of the Glory of His Inheritance” (i:18); “Rich in Mercy” (ii:4); “the exceeding Riches of His Grace” (ii:7); “the unsearchable Riches of Christ” (iii:8); “according to the Riches of His Glory” (iii:16); these are the passages in which we read of His Riches towards us and our Riches in Him.

And what is the meaning “the riches of the Glory of His inheritance in the Saints?” We have an inheritance, and He has us for His inheritance. He is our inheritance, and we are His inheritance. The Glory of Christ’s inheritance are the Saints, for whom He died, the many sons He brings to Glory. The church is the fulness of Him, who filleth all in all. The Saints are the gift of the Father to the Son. He said in His high-priestly prayer, “I am glorified in them.” What are the riches of the Glory of His inheritance in us, we cannot fully fathom at this time. In that blessed day, when He receives His inheritance from the Father’s hands, we shall inherit with Him, and He will have His inheritance in the glorified Saints. “He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing” (Zeph. iii:17). Though this is spoken of Israel it is equally true of the church. Knowing this, that before us is a future of Glory with Him, though we cannot grasp the fulness of that Glory of His inheritance in the Saints, our hearts even now rejoice and give to Him the praise and adoration, which belongs to Him. Oneness of Glory with Him and the Father is the never ending destiny of the blood-bought Saints.

3. And the third petition is that we may know “the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe." The context shows what the power is, which is mentioned here and which is on our side. When God called His Masterpiece, the Universe, into existence He manifested His great power. He called all into existence out of nothing. W^t great power it was by which He created all things! In His great Masterpiece in Redemption, He also made known His power and the exceeding greatness of His power is now to usward, who believe. It is put on our side.

What is this power? The concluding verses of this chapter give the answer. Look to the Cross. There the ever blessed Son of God suffered and died. He bowed His blessed head after he had spoken the precious, never to be forgotten words, “It is finished.” He who knew no sin was made sin for us, and by the shedding of His blood paid our debt. His body was laid in the tomb. On the third day the mighty power of God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, opened the tomb and “He raised Him from the dead.” But more than that, the mighty power of God lifted Him up. He passed through the heavens, higher and higher, until He was carried by the mighty power of God into the highest heaven and seated at God’s own right hand, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named. And still more than that. The mighty power of God put all things under His feet and made Him head over all to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him, that filleth all in all. In the highest Glory, with the highest possible Glory upon Him, is the Man Christ Jesus. His presence there, taken from the tomb, through the heavens into Glory, tells of the fullest accomplishment of God’s Masterpiece.

And now the power which raised Him from the dead, which seated Him at God’s own right hand, which put all things under His feet (though we do not yet see all things put under Him) is on our side. It is to usward who believe. We can count as His redeemed ones on this resurrection power. How is it to usward? When we believe and that life is imparted unto us, even eternal life, that power is there. In our lives as His people down here, in the conflict, in temptations, every step of the way, this mighty power is on our side. Oh! for faith to realize this constantly, that we are indeed risen with Christ. The Holy Spirit is in us as the Spirit of power to give us the victory. And finally the mighty power of God will be to usward in “that day” when the blessed Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, will give the shout from the air, when the Saints, who fell asleep (as to the body) will rise first, when we who are alive and remain will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, in a moment, and caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The same power which raised Him and carried Him through the heavens, will bring His complete church into Glory.

In the presence of the words of verse 23 one feels more like worshipping than trying to expound its meaning. Marvellous words! It tells out the blessed Masterpiece of God. Christ the Head, the church, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, the body. The Head is in Glory; the body not yet joined to the Head. He waits in Glory; the Saints wait on earth. The Body needs the Head, but the Head also needs the Body. “The Christ” will be complete when the Body is joined to the Head by the mighty power of God. The church as His Body is His fulness; it makes' Him complete. And when that is reached, when Head and Body, Christ and the church, are united in Glory, then will the hope of His calling be realized and He will have the Glory of His inheritance in the Saints, and we shall know the exceeding greatness of His power to usward.

Concerning the church, as the Body, the Masterpiece of God, we shall hear more in the chapters which follow.  

1 The guesses of Science on the age of the earth are amusing. They range from 20 million years to 400 millions. None of the eminent scientists have ever been able to agree on a fixed number. And if they did, it would still be guesswork.

2 Sir Robert Anderson in a recent volume, “The Honor of His Name," has called attention to the unscriptural use of the name of our ever blessed and adorable Lord, a very timely warning.

3 The authorized version has “the eyes of your understanding,” which is an incorrect translation.