THURSDAY 19th
Ephesians 1:15-23
NIV (vv17-20) ‘I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms . . .’
ESV (vv17-20) ‘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, 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 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places . . .’
We will quickly go through some of the things that Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus.
The first part is for them to have an impartation of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, ‘him’ is referring to God himself, this impartation would enrich their understanding of God and in turn enlighten their hearts to know the hope to which they have been called.
Secondly, to know what the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints is and thirdly, to know the immeasurable greatness of his power.
Impartation of understanding, inexplorable riches and infusion of power. Humanly we cannot ever fully explore all that God is and all that he has made available for us (his riches) and is still making available, but Paul wanted the Ephesians and us as well to grasp a greater and deeper understanding and he asks that God would impart spiritual wisdom and revelation to each believer to enable us to know more, it means that our Christian life is an ongoing journey of exploration, an ongoing deepening of our spiritual lives and ongoing learning of truth and an ongoing discovery of God (the triune God) himself. We can have all the theological degrees in the world, the biggest and best library of Christian books, attend every service a Church has to offer, and yet we will never come to an end of our discovery of God and of spiritual truth.
In v17 the NIV uses the words ‘that you may know him better’ Paul is making the same request for the believers that he also made for himself in another of his letters, ‘. . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.’ (Philippians 3:10–11) He wants to not only know him, but also to know the power of his resurrection, in our verses from Ephesians he says about the immeasurable greatness of the power (ESV) or the mighty strength that was exerted (NIV) in the raising of Jesus from the dead, I believe the more we get to know God the more we will get to know his immeasurable greatness of power or an exertion of his mighty strength in our lives. Paul wanted his desire to become the desire of the Ephesian Church, and likewise our desire today. His power is available to us, ‘ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe’, may we seek to know him more, that we may receive all that he is making available toward us.