A boy was looking in the attic of his home one day to see what old things he might find that would tell him about his parents when he came upon a box. In the box he discovered pictures of his father while in the army. As he looked further, he discovered that his father had fought in World War II. He noticed two small packages in the box. Inside were two medals. One was a purple heart, the other was a medal of honor and with it a memo from the President of the United States noting his act of bravery. The boy was astounded that his father had done such a heroic thing. His estimation of his father rose 1000 times. When the boy asked the father, who was a humble man, why didn’t you tell me about what happened in the war the man replied, “you never asked.”
Paul expresses to us through this prayer the need that we have to know God. And just like this man in the story, our Father is waiting to show us how great He is until we ask. The key idea of this passage of Scripture is that God wants to reveal the excellency and magnitude of Himself and of His plan to us who are in Christ if we will only ask Him.
1. The Purpose of Paul’s Prayer (v. 17)
First, we see, in verse 17, the purpose of Paul’s prayer. This verse says, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.” What is Paul asking God on behalf of the believers at Ephesus?
He is asking that they come to know God. But aren’t they already believers? Don’t they already know God? Of course they do. But Paul is asking that God would expand their knowledge of Him. If we think that we really know God then we are sadly mistaken. God is so immense that we have merely scratched the surface of our knowledge of God. We are simply child-explorers of God. There is a vast terrain of God’s person that we have never experienced. But because God is the most remarkable being in the universe it can only increase our joy of living if our desire is to drink up the knowledge of Him. Getting to know God is, as C.S. Lewis describes it, like peeling away the layers of an onion one by one. But discovering that instead of the onion growing smaller, as we go, the onion continues to expand as we see the greater detail of the whole. God is like that. It may appear simple to understand who God is because He has put a general knowledge of Himself into each one of us (Paul declares that in Acts 17 in speaking with the Athenians) Yet, knowing God, really knowing Him takes an eternity to do. And our capacity to know and enjoy Him only comes as we seek to discover who He is through His Word.
I think that we too must pray this prayer that Paul prays for our own lives if we are to know God and if we are not selfish to pray this on behalf of our brothers and sisters around us.
2. The Content of Paul’s Prayer (vv. 18-19)
Next we see the content of Paul’s prayer. Paul asks God that the believers in Ephesus might have the eyes of their hearts open to see three things. What does Paul mean? He is asking that they might be able to spiritually discern three important truths about God and His relationship to them. What Paul is asking God to do in these believers is similar to what God did to Peter in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus asked His disciples who He was and Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Instead of granting any of the credit to Peter (good job Peter), Jesus tells him, flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you but my Father who is in heaven. Peter’s understanding of who Jesus was did not come through any mental gymnastics that Peter did. It did not come from the wisdom gleaned at some apostolic symposium that Peter and His friends conducted. The reason that Peter couldn’t think this up himself is that any spiritual truth about God must be revealed from God Himself. We cannot reason our way to God. We cannot somehow gain enough information about God to come to some informed decision about Him. This is the danger of rationalism. Rationalism says, “If we just think hard enough and long enough we will be able to figure out everything we need to know about God.” But this is not the case. And the desperateness of our situation is not really understood until we realize that we cannot do it. That unless God opens our eyes to our need for God to save us we are hopelessly lost. And in the same way, for us believers, that unless God opens our eyes to spiritual truth we will go on our way living lives that fall far short of how God would want us to live. This is why we need to humble ourselves and call out to God to reveal Himself to us. Yes, even we who believe, need God to reveal Himself to us so that we can know Him better. Without the revelation of Himself to us through His Word (For it can never be apart from the revelation of His Word – for faith comes through hearing and hearing by the Word of God) we cannot know Him. And so it serves us to humble ourselves and call out, as Paul is doing on behalf of the Ephesians, to God to reveal Himself and His purpose in Christ to us. So what are these three truths that the Apostle Paul prays that we might have the spiritual eyes to see?
A. How secure we are
The first truth that the Apostle Paul prays that we might have the spiritual eyes to see is how secure we are. We see that at the beginning of verse 18 where Paul says, “so that you will know what is the hope of His calling.” When God reveals to us what is the hope of his calling it brings about an amazing transformation within us.
When the word hope is used in the New Testament it almost always refers to the firm security of what is being hoped in. There are a few instances in which people are seen to hope in that which is unworthy of their trust such as the uncertain riches of which Paul speaks in first Timothy. But in the overwhelming majority of instances it refers to a hope that cannot be destroyed because it is based on the faithfulness of God.
When we pray that God would give us eyes to see the hope of His calling we are asking that He would clearly show us how secure our place in heaven is. We are asking God to show us from His Word how faithful He is so that the ground of our hope is not in the changing wave of our circumstances or feelings but in our unchangeable God.
For you see hope, not the hope of this world, like a hope that the Red Sox or Cubs might win the World Series, but a real hope will cause us to act in a certain way. The Scripture says in Romans 4 that hope in God increases our trust of Him. In Romans 5 God says that our hope causes us to rejoice. First Thessalonians chapter 1 says that our hope will allow us to patiently endure difficulties. And I think what John says in his first letter is the most clear about how hope works in our lives. 1 John 3:1 says, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children up of God; and such we are … beloved now we are the children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself even as He is pure.” Do you see what that is saying? If we believe that we have been made children of God by His decree then we will desire to be like Christ. And we will begin to purify our lives to be in conformity with Christ Himself. This is what hope does.
So what is the hope of which Paul wants us to get a glimpse? And what makes our hope certain? It is the hope of God’s calling. But what is God’s calling? It is the work of God by which He brings a person to faith in Himself. In Romans 9, Paul says, “So that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls.” God’s purpose in calling us was to establish our salvation not on the basis of our changing feelings or waxing and waning effort but on God and His faithfulness. And in Romans 11, Paul again says, “the calling of God is irrevocable.” So how secure are we who have trusted Christ? Hebrews 9 says, “Those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” God has promised us an eternal inheritance on the basis of His call of us. So how did we receive this call? Paul says in 2 Thessalonians that we received it through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
All of us who have received God’s calling, that is, we who have responded in faith to the good news of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection have a sure hope that what God said He would do He would do. And it is precisely the fact that God is the one calling and keeping us that causes us to have hope. If this calling were based on anything other than God and his faithfulness then our hope would be as worthless as those riches that Paul called uncertain. For it is God who cannot lie that has promised to give us that which we could never attain ourselves. This is the hope of His calling. His calling has made sure what no varying and fickle human being could ever secure. It is not based on our effort or our success rate or our feelings but only on God’s steadfast love that He has poured out upon us. James says that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variation and shifting shadow.”
God will never say to us, “Though I loved you yesterday, I no longer love you today.” This is the hope of His calling. Let us revel in our security in Christ by cleansing ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
B. How rich we are
The second truth that the Apostle Paul prays that we might have the spiritual eyes to see is how rich we are. Paul describes this at the end of verse 18 where he says that he wants us to know, “what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” We could ask this most understandably by saying, “What are the glorious riches of his inheritance?” What is this inheritance that we are going to receive from God? Often we think of it as heaven. But what is heaven? Heaven is where God is. And if, as Ephesians 1:14 says, the Holy Spirit is the down payment for our inheritance then our inheritance is God Himself. He is not our inheritance in the sense that somehow we have an ownership of God. But God is our inheritance in that God Himself will be our dwelling place. We will live with Him and be His people and He will be our God. God is our inheritance. And as to the enduring quality of our inheritance, Peter says in his first letter that it is an inheritance that is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved for you in heaven. You see heaven is where we will live but our inheritance is God. Our inheritance is reserved for us in heaven.
This is how rich we are. This is upon what we must place our hope. We must never fix our hope on the decaying, fleeting riches of this life. Since God is our treasure and reward we must act and live as if He is. So a question that we must ask ourselves is, “What do rich people normally do with their treasure?” They think about it often. They seek its increase and they talk about it a lot. So if we really see that the great riches of our inheritance is God how should we be behaving?
First, we should be thinking about God. Colossians 3 tells us that “since we have been raised up with Christ keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above not on things on the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” The Psalmist describes it most aptly. “When you said, ‘Seek my face,’ my heart said to you, ‘your face, O Lord, I shall seek.’” God calls out to every believer, “seek my face” and our hearts are longing to cry, Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.” Thinking on God and His Word should be one of the most stimulating exercises in which we partake. One of the Puritans said, “The most enjoyable of all subjects has to be God, because he is the source of all joy.” If we are content with our minimal surface knowledge of God (because we have scarcely dived the depths of the knowledge of God) then how can we expect to revel in who He is? How can we expect to have the full joy of which Jesus speaks if we do not desire to walk in the full fellowship of the Father and the Son and know them? If God is our treasure then we will think on Him often.
If God is our treasure then we will seek its increase. We will seek to add to our treasure. Now we cannot make more of God but Jesus said that we can lay up more treasure in heaven. And I think that has to do with how God’s glory will be revealed to us in heaven. If we want to have a greater affinity for experiencing the glory of God throughout eternity then we must lay up our heavenly treasure now. If we truly want to store up treasure in heaven we will be more concerned about building the kingdom of God now rather than building up our personal kingdoms. We will set our hearts on seeing God’s kingdom expanded around us rather than focusing on ourselves. The problem with many Christians who do not grow is that they fail to get out of the “what’s in it for me” mode instead of reaching into the realm of how can I work for God’s kingdom. If God is our treasure we will seek its increase.
And if God is our treasure then we will talk about Him a lot. What I find is that people can’t but help talk about what they prize. “Have you seen my new . . .?” or “You wouldn’t believe this great . . .” But if God is our treasure we will be telling others about Him. If we are truly setting our minds on Him and realizing just how great He is then we won’t be able to keep silent about Him. This is what happened to the Thessalonians. Paul says in his first letter to that church, “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.” Wherever Paul and Silvanus and Timothy were going in that region they found that the faith of the Thessalonians had already been spoken in that region. They went up to people in the area and said, “Hey do you know about Jesus?” And they’d reply, “Yes, the Thessalonians already told us about Him.” Then every time that they went farther away they’d ask people about the Lord, they’d get the same response. Finally, Paul began saying, “Let me guess, the Thessalonians told you right?”
God had done such a remarkable and visible work among the Thessalonians that they couldn’t keep it in. They had to let people know about God. What were they telling people? “We have turned from idols to serve the living and true God.” They told people that they were waiting for the return of Jesus who rescued them from the wrath to come. And this was the message that they were proclaiming. They were big on holy gossip. Perhaps, too often we are so focused on everything going on around us that we forget to think on our great God and His great power to save and that Jesus is coming back. We mustn’t lose our zeal to proclaim to the world that Jesus is coming. We have the tendency to lose our zeal to talk about our great God because Jesus tarries in His coming. But let us not grow weary while we wait, for He shall return and you will be with Him if you are His. So let us continually think on our great treasure, the glorious riches of our inheritance of God Himself. And let us tell others about our great treasure that they too might find our great God!
C. How empowered we are
The third truth that Paul prays that we might have the spiritual eyes to see is how empowered we are. I hesitated at first to use the word “empowered” because of how it has been thrown around today. But the more and more I searched for a suitable word I couldn’t find one that more closely fit the text. I tried the word “equipped” but it just didn’t seem to do the trick. In verse 19, Paul describes this vision that he wants us to get as “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” It is so important that we really understand what this means. For if God reveals the impact of this statement to you then you will not be the same. What Paul wants us to know is how great God’s power is toward us who believe. Just how great is this power?
First, Paul says that it is immeasurable. We cannot calculate God’s power. It is surpassing greatness. But not content to stop there, Paul uses three other words describe God’s power in our lives. Paul describes it as God’s working (or active energy) in our lives. He also describes it as His strength and His might. Paul wanted us to contemplate how powerful God’s working in our lives really is.
Paul says that this power is available toward us who believe. Each of us who has placed our trust in Jesus Christ has the availability of this power to work in us. What does this really mean? There is available to us, all of God’s power by which we can overcome sin. The reason this is so powerful is that if we truly believe this(and that’s why Paul wanted us to see it firsthand), if we truly grasp its significance, we will actually see that we can appropriate this power to overcome sin in our lives. This is why the Apostle Paul has so diligently prayed for these believers to have their eyes opened to this truth. And in like manner, we too must pray that God would open our eyes to these transforming truths.
In 1981, Doug Whitt and his bride, Sylvia, were escorted to their hotel’s fancy bridal suite in the wee hours of the morning. In the suite they saw a sofa, chairs, and table but where was the bed? Then they discovered the sofa was a hide-a-bed, with a lumpy mattress and sagging springs. They spent a fitful night and woke up in the morning with sore backs. The new husband went to the hotel desk and gave the management a tongue-lashing. “Did you open the door in the room?” asked the clerk. Doug went back to the room. He opened the door they had thought was a closet. There, complete with a fruit basket and chocolates, was a beautiful bedroom! They didn’t realize what was available to them and consequently experienced less than what they could have. This is what the Apostle Paul is trying to get across to us. We need to pray that God would reveal to us just what He has provided for us to live lives that are glorifying to Him. And when God reveals to us just how much He has given to us in Christ we will recognize how sad it would be for us not to open the door and appropriate God’s power to overcome sin in our lives.
3. The Basis for Paul’s Prayer (vv. 20-23)
So finally we see the basis for Paul’s Prayer in verses 20-23. The question that Paul answers for us here is, “How can we be sure that God can work out these amazing realities in our lives?” Really how can we know that God is going to do what Paul says He is going to do? How could God obligate Himself to act on our behalf in a way that would produce in our lives, righteousness, joy and peace? Paul says that we can see it through the Father’s work in Christ. In other words, through verses 20-23, Paul is saying, if you want proof that God can work in you for your good and His glory then just look at what He did in Christ. Just look at what He did in Christ because this is the same power that God now wants to work in you.
A. He raised Him from the dead
So what did God do? The end of verse 19 picks up the whole thought here. “These are in accordance (“these” being the hope of His calling, his glorious riches of our inheritance and his surpassing greatness of power toward us) with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ (He accomplished them in Jesus) when He raised Him from the dead.”
So the first thing that God did to show His great power toward us is that He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. So Paul is saying that the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power that He offers to us to live a righteous life for Him. That is, all the power that is needed to raise a dead person to life is available for transfer to us. Now if that is true then God as He works in you can empower you to put off your sinful desires and live righteously. So the only thing keeping you from doing right is your unbelief in appropriating this power that God is holding out to you. He is not keeping it from you but your failure to believe is keeping it from you. So an appropriate prayer to God is that of the demon possessed boy’s father who called out to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief.” Do you believe in Christ for salvation but have a difficult time believing all this is available to you for your victorious life then call out and tell God that you believe yet you need Him to completely convince you where you lack trust.
B. He gave him the place of ultimate authority
The next way that Paul says what God did, to prove to us that He has the power to allow us to live righteously is that He gave Jesus the place of ultimate authority. This is what verse 20 and following say, “He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name and that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church.”
We see three areas over which Jesus was given authority. I want to mention them briefly. First the Father gave Jesus authority over the demonic realm. The terms that Paul uses here, “Rule and authority and power and dominion” refer to demonic beings and not just governmental powers. We know this because he uses the same terms in other places in Ephesians to refer clearly to these beings.
Also Jesus was given authority over the entire created order. Not just the demonic realm Jesus is given authority over all the creation as seen by the phrase, “every name that is named” or every named thing. Jesus by virtue of His Creatorship has this authority. He rules over everything in the creation.
And thirdly Jesus was given authority as head of the church. He is the head of this body of which we are a part. And we take our direction from Him.
Paul says all this to show that such great power and authority are available that we might live the kind of life that God desires for us to bring glory to His name. And if we are not gaining victory and growing in our Christian life then it is because we are not submitting ourselves to the authority of Christ in our lives. He is the head over everything (which includes you and me). But you must submit yourself to that rule. If you want to run your life then that power and authority is not available to you. If you say, “Christ you may come this far but no more” then you are mistaken to think that you can live like this. You are being a hypocrite before God. God wants you to submit to the rule of Christ in your life. Obedience to conform to the image of Christ is the only way that we can have joy in our lives as Christians. And all of His power is available to work in you. Will you humble yourself and accept His offer to rule your life? Will you allow Him to take charge and do what He wants? He wants to change you if you will come to Him and trust Him.