Transcript
Good evening. It’s time for us to start our service. I am so thankful you are here with us, and I greet you all in Jesus’ name. I especially greet all our friends at Faith Assembly and the many we fellowshipped with for many years. I am so glad you are all listening in, and I am thankful for all the ones who reached out over the past week. We are keeping you in prayer.
We are studying in the book of Ephesians. This is our fourth lesson in this series, and if you would like to turn there with me, we are in the first chapter. We are picking up at verse 15. I invite you to turn there and read along with me. The Apostle Paul writes:
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come, 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:18-23 ESV
Let us pray. Lord God, as we approach the scripture, Lord, we pray the same prayer as Paul. We desire that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, gives unto us the spirit of wisdom and of revelation. That the eyes of our hearts might be enlightened. And Lord, we know that you open our understanding. What we will see before us is our Savior. Grant that to us, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, we have an interesting passage of scripture to examine today, one that gives us a unique insight into the early church. Before we start examining it, let me remind us what Paul was speaking about in the verses leading up to this. In the first half of this chapter, Paul had been giving a high-level summary of the central doctrines of the Christian faith, capping it off by telling the Ephesians that they were adopted as children of God and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Following up on that, Paul told them that because of their salvation, they were guaranteed to ultimately receive an inheritance in the world to come.
Now, here in verse 15, Paul moves beyond speaking about the initial sealing of the Holy Spirit in their lives, what we would call the new birth. In verse 15, he starts to express some ways in which he hopes his Ephesian readers will grow as followers of Christ. He does that, in part, through this prayer that he prays for them. Starting in verse 16, Paul goes on to tell the Ephesians the specific things he has been praying for on their behalf.
By reviewing this list of things Paul is praying for, we come to understand the way in which Paul desires and expects the Ephesians to grow in Christ. In verse 17, he clearly connects what he is saying back to the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that he said had sealed them back in verses 13. In that way, Paul is speaking here of a continued work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Let me read verse 16 and 17 again. Paul writes:
16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.
So this is the way in which Paul has been praying for them. Now, we realize Paul here, when he speaks of the Spirit of Wisdom, he is speaking certainly of the Holy Spirit. And this would have to be a further work of the Spirit in their lives, beyond their immediate salvation because, as he mentioned in verse 13, they are already sealed with the Holy Spirit.
We know that if we go to John 15, Jesus there explained that the Holy Spirit will cause us to grow when it comes into our lives. Our growth is always a product of the Holy Spirit. A tree cannot grow from nothing. It takes something to stimulate the growth of a tree—nutrients and water flowing up through the roots, sunlight shining on its leaves. It requires that stimulation and sustenance for a tree to grow.
For you and me as Christians, it is the same. It’s the Holy Spirit that is sustaining us, giving us the nutrients and stimulation for growth. The Holy Spirit is God living in our hearts, imparting to us both gifts and fruits. There are spiritual gifts and spiritual fruits. If we look at verse 17, these things Paul is praying to be imparted to the Ephesians are actually gifts. Paul is praying for the Holy Spirit to impart the gifts of Wisdom and knowledge, and these are gifts of the Spirit that are given to every single Christian. Like everything, they come by measure. There are people who are wise, and there are some who are very wise. Wisdom and knowledge come in degrees, and it is the Holy Spirit that has imparted them to us. I am speaking in spiritual terms here, spiritual wisdom and knowledge.
You can be wise in the ways of the world and knowledgeable in the ways of the world, but that is not the kind of wisdom or knowledge Paul is speaking of here. And you see that with how he ends verse 17: It is wisdom and knowledge of Him, of God in Christ, and it is the Father of glory, by the Spirit, who imparts this wisdom and knowledge to us. Let me read verse 16 and 17 again, and catch that.
Revelation
16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.
This is a wisdom and a knowledge of God, not of earthly wisdom or earthly knowledge, but a wisdom and knowledge of God.
Paul uses another word in verse 17 that I want to draw your attention to. It is the word “revelation.” He says, “may He give you the Spirit of Wisdom and REVELATION in the knowledge of Him.”
This verse is something that really interests me because the word “revelation” is something you hear used a lot in certain circles. However, “revelation” is a word that is actually only used nine times in the entire Bible. The word “revelation” only appears nine times in the entire Bible, and two of those times are here in the book of Ephesians.
If you ever want to understand a word in the Bible, you need to look at how the Bible uses it, the context of the word in Scripture.
So let’s take a minute here and examine this word “revelation” in this verse and ask ourselves the question, what does Paul mean here when he says this word? How would we define what Paul means by the word “revelation” based on what Paul says in these verses?
One thing we see here is that “revelation” is something that comes from the Holy Spirit. It’s not something you can come to by normal human faculties because, like this wisdom and this knowledge, it is something spiritual. It is a “revelation” in the knowledge of Him, a “revelation” in the knowledge of God, and perhaps even more specifically, it is the knowledge of God in Christ.
That makes me think of how the book of Revelation begins. That book starts out saying, “the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him.”
If we compare that to what Paul writes here, it’s really the same thing, just worded a little differently:
[May] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.”
Just notice how that flows. This “revelation” is a knowledge of God in Christ, revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. That is the way this “revelation” comes.
We could compare this back to what Jesus said in John 14 when He explained how the Spirit of Truth would come. The Spirit of Truth is the Holy Spirit, which is God. Jesus said that the Spirit of Truth would lead into all truth and would not speak of Himself. Instead, He would remind them of what Jesus had said. The Holy Spirit would take the things of Christ and speak them to the disciples.
That is how it works—the Holy Spirit is speaking the things of Christ, those things which are the “revelation” of the knowledge of Him.
Revelation did not save the Ephesians
And this revelation, we realize, is not what has saved the Ephesians. I want to point that out to you. Back in verse 13, Paul has already told these Ephesians that they have a guaranteed inheritance in heaven. They have already been sealed with the Holy Ghost, baptized with the Holy Ghost, having experienced the new birth.
The Ephesian readers of this letter are saved and born again. Their salvation and their inheritance neither one is dependent on some higher revelation. Paul wants and is praying for God to grant them this revelation, wisdom, and knowledge, but it’s not for the purpose of saving them. They are already saved.
So, just catch that. It is very clear that our salvation and our inheritance in heaven are not dependent in any way upon the extent of the wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. That is not a Christian belief. The Christian faith does not teach that we are saved by knowledge or revelation, but we are saved by Jesus Christ through faith in Him.
If you want to call that saving faith in Christ a revelation, that is just fine because it’s true that it does take a personal revelation to understand that Christ is your Savior. But it does not take any more revelation than that to be saved, and it does not take anything beyond that to receive the seal of the Holy Spirit and a guarantee of an inheritance in the world to come. All you have to do is read the first half of this chapter to see that.
So, if you come from a system of religion where your salvation or your inheritance in the world to come is based on how much so-called advanced revelations you obtain, that is a false system of religion. That is a church that is preaching another gospel. It doesn’t really matter how much advanced revelation they think they have. They no longer believe the gospel, and if you don’t believe the gospel, you are lost.
To deny that someone is fully saved to the utmost by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone is the highest form of unbelief. It is in direct contradiction to what Paul is saying here in chapter one of the book of Ephesians and his other epistles.
Now, understanding that, we can see very clearly that Paul is praying for additional revelation to be granted to people who are already saved. He is praying for this revelation to be given to people who are already guaranteed an inheritance in the world to come.
That lets us know both that this revelation he is speaking of is not a requirement for salvation or an inheritance in the world to come. Instead, this revelation is something that is a gift from God, a benefit we have access to as Christians. It is a gift that Paul deeply desires saved people to partake of, so much so that he is praying for them to receive it.
As devoted followers of Christ and desiring all the good things He has to offer, whatever this revelation is, we want it, and I’m sure you want it too. There is a hunger in us for it. We desire this revelation of the knowledge of Him.
Bounds of Revelation
Now all of that can sound very mystical, “A revelation of the knowledge of Him.”
Upon first hearing that, our minds might run in all kinds of directions, wondering just what could all that be. What is this revelation of the knowledge of Him? It sounds mysterious, and by nature, before you have a revelation, it is a mystery. You don’t know what you don’t know, so you might start to think this revelation could be just about anything and everything. It could seem like there are no bounds as to what this revelation might be, but that is not the case.
There are bounds and limits on just what this revelation is. It is something that can be defined because it’s not revelation in general, but it is a specific sort of revelation.
And we can see that when we take time to read what the Bible actually says about the subject of revelation. As we read here in Ephesesians, it starts by letting us know that Paul is not talking about revelation in general. It’s not revelation about the dark side of the moon, migration patterns of sea urchins, secret symbolism of the illuminati, or the great pyramid of Giza. But this revelation Paul is praying for the Ephesians to receive is revelation in the knowledge of God. It is a revelation that expands their knowledge of God.
This is not speaking about a revelation of the knowledge which God possesses. It is not a revelation about anything and everything but specifically about the knowledge of Him, in a personal sense. It includes a revelation of God’s nature, being, character, greatness, and power.
In Greek, there are different words for knowledge, but the word Paul uses means it is the fullest form of knowledge, a perfect knowledge. It is knowledge that comes through direct experience.
This revelation Paul is speaking of is something that ultimately connects us to a greater understanding of God in a personal sense. It’s the revelation of who God is in His divine attributes, made known to us through Jesus Christ. God revealed Himself to us through the person of Jesus Christ. When we know Jesus, we also know the Father. Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
The purpose of this revelation is to bring us to a more perfect, complete, and clearer understanding of the nature, character, and attributes of God almighty through a direct encounter with God. It is a revelation in the knowledge of Him.
Paul is praying for the Ephesians to have this sort of revelation, which brings us to a personal experiential knowledge of God. This revelation is not limited to an exclusive group but is for everyone.
We can only have this perfect knowledge of God in part in this life. When the perfect age comes, we shall know Him fully. As John said, when He appears, we shall see Him as He is.
I say all this to help you grasp the full depth of what Paul is praying for these Ephesians and understand what sort of revelation he is praying for them to receive. It is different in its focus than what many people may think of when they hear “revelation.” As we read on in the next verses, Paul will explain in more detail the nature of the revelation of the knowledge of Him.
Defining the Revelation
In verse 18, Paul starts to further describe the revelation he is speaking of. Let’s read verse 18 as Paul explains what this revelation will be like.
“That is what the spiritual kind of revelation Paul is talking about. It will enlighten the eyes of our hearts. We will see something from our hearts, from deep within our most inner being. We will understand and know something more deeply and at a level that is fundamental to our very being. That is revelation.”
Let me read that again:
“18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might.”
You notice that these things Paul is describing can only be understood if we have a direct, personal knowledge of God. The hope we have been called to is the hope of glory, as “Jesus Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
That is the glorious inheritance waiting for us. It is glory itself. Remember back in verse 13, Paul explained that the Ephesians had been guaranteed an inheritance from the moment they were sealed by the Holy Spirit. In verse 18 and 19, Paul is praying for them to fully understand the magnitude of that inheritance.
They have been guaranteed to obtain an inheritance, yet they do not fully comprehend just what it is. They are saved and promised an inheritance, and Paul is praying that they will come to have a revelation of the magnitude of that inheritance.
Having such a personal revelation, such a direct encounter with God, would reveal to them something of God’s glory, greatness, perfection, and character. In seeing God’s glory, they would also get a glimpse of understanding into their own inheritance in heaven, as their inheritance is a portion of that same glory.
To know God is to know our inheritance; to see God’s glory is to see our inheritance. In seeing God, we would also see and know His great power, a power of God to deliver what has been guaranteed. This is precisely what Paul is saying in verses 18 and 19.
He wants the Ephesians to know God in a great, personal, experiential way so that they will better and more fully understand both what their inheritance is and the power of God to deliver it to them. This can fuel someone to a lifetime of service and dedication to God, give unshakeable faith, and rock-solid confidence, as exemplified in the life of Paul himself, who traveled to the ends of the earth to tell people about this glorious God who sent His Son to redeem lost mankind.
Maybe we also think of Peter, a man who had a great experience of seeing the glory of God, witnessing the glory on the mount of transfiguration. It was a revelation to Peter, something that could only come through such a direct personal encounter.
Paul is praying for all the Ephesians to have some taste of such a revelation of God. Let me read it again, verse 18:
“18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might.”
The only way you can truly understand the glory of God is to experience it directly in some way. The only way you can truly understand His immeasurable greatness is to experience it directly in some way or another.
That is the very thing Paul is praying for here, that the Ephesians will experience God in such a personal way that they may have a personal revelation from God himself to enlighten them to the nature of the glory and power of God.
We are not all going to get a mount of transfiguration experience or a road to Damascus sort of experience. But in some small way, we all pray that God will give us a glimpse of His glory and that God will answer our prayer, like Paul prayed, that we might receive a revelation in the knowledge of Him, so that we can better understand God’s power and the glory to come.
Amen
Let’s read from verse 20 down to verse 23, as there is one last thing I want to point out.
“20 that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
“The fullness of Him who fills all things.”
The fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Jesus Christ. As Jesus Himself said, “No one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal Him.”
When we look at Jesus, we see the Father. Jesus said, “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” The person of Jesus Christ is the image of God. There is no better way to know God than to look at our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to see the life He lived, the kind of person He was, His character, attributes, and nature. All of that was to reveal the Father.
Every one of us has the ability to open our Bibles and read about the life of Jesus. In John 17, Jesus prayed, saying, “Father, I have shown them Your glory.” That is exactly what Jesus did. He showed the glory of the Father. If you want to see the glory of the Father, the only way you will ever find it is for it to be revealed to you by the Son.
So open your Bible, read about Jesus, get to know Him, but don’t stop there.
Personal Appeal
I want to encourage you not to stop at merely reading about the Jesus of the Bible because the Jesus of the Bible, who lived and died 2,000 years ago, didn’t stay in the grave. He is risen today. He is seated at the right hand of power, and He continues to mediate with the Father. He is still revealing the Father to us.
If you desire a closer walk with God and the kind of knowledge of God that Paul prayed for the Ephesians to receive, be encouraged. It is possible to know God in this intimate way. You can have a personal knowledge of God through direct experience. I promise you that if you believe in Christ as your Savior, one day you will know God in the way we’ve been discussing.
You can have a taste of it today, catch a glimpse through the glass darkly. It’s good for you to hunger for this, to desire it. There’s something truly beneficial in the act of seeking God. Just as a deer pants for water, our souls long for God. It’s good to desire an encounter with God, not for our own prestige or to entertain wild ideas, but to truly know God from the depths of our inner being in the most personal and profound way.
Jesus Christ is the centerpiece
As I conclude this message, I want to draw your attention to the fact that the revelation Paul is speaking about has the ultimate purpose of bringing us to a deeper personal knowledge of who God is.
Any true revelation should have the effect of drawing you closer to God. The Spirit of truth only speaks about Christ. It doesn’t deliver 100 sermons in a row where God and Christ are not at the center stage. So-called revelations that don’t lead you to a deeper knowledge of Christ might not be true revelations at all.
Revelations about trivial matters like the color of your mansion in heaven or the introduction of polygamy in the heavenly kingdom serve no purpose in showing people the glory of God.
When people go off on tangents about topics that have nothing to do with the revelation Paul is discussing in this book, it becomes apparent that they have lost sight of the God and Savior who should be at the center.
The Bible is a book about Jesus, and the gospel is about the good news of Jesus. Our revelation is the knowledge of God revealed through the person of Jesus. When everything you believe becomes disconnected from this reality, it’s doubtful that you have any genuine revelation.
If people truly had a revelation of the knowledge of God, they would direct others toward Jesus Christ and emphasize the virtues and glory of Almighty God as the centerpiece of their message.
If you find yourself in a religious system that has abandoned the true revelation of the knowledge of God and gone off track, I encourage you to come back to Jesus. This is eternal life: to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
No one can reveal the Father to you except Jesus Christ. Not a preacher or a friend. They can point you to the gospel and the Savior, but it’s up to you to get to know the Savior personally to truly know the Father and experience the kind of revelation Paul is discussing in these verses.
Amen. Let me close in prayer.
Prayer
Oh great and eternal God,
Creator of all things,
Giver of life,
Redeemer of the lost,
Lord, show us Your glory.
Help us understand the hope we have in Christ Jesus.
Reveal Your extraordinary power to fulfill all Your purposes.
Open our hearts to know and comprehend that You are committed to completing the work You began in our lives.
May our confidence in You define our faith.
Forgive us, Lord, for the days of our foolishness,
When we chased after various revelations that never truly revealed You to us.
Many of us are now aged,
We’ve wasted much time in false religious systems.
Oh God, we thank You for being our Redeemer,
And we trust that You can redeem what was lost.
Show mercy to us, Your children, we pray.
Bless the listeners of this message today
And grant each one the genuine knowledge of You.
We ask this in Jesus’ name
And for His sake.
Amen.