FRIDAY June 14th
Ephesians 1:22-23
‘And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.’
We have arrived at the last verse that falls in this section that covers this the first of Paul’s prayers for the Ephesian believers.
As he began to say what he was praying for them, it would seem that he has got carried away with or excited about everything that God had done for them through the Lord Jesus Christ, and about Jesus himself. And he turns his direction from the heavenly places and the future back to the earth, and he sees the wonderful vision or picture of the church as being the body of which Christ is the head. In other words, before God’s purpose is finally realised in the age which is to come (verse 21) there is still much to be done in the present age. And it involves Christ, and it includes all who have come to faith in him, you, me, each one who by trusting in Christ have been incorporated into the church, which is his body here on earth. And it is Christ, the one who is seated at the right hand of the Father who is the head of the church. It is from him we receive our spiritual health and vitality.
I want us to go back to verse 19 which was all about the ‘greatness of his power toward us who believe’ and how we see that the power was seen being demonstrated in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. Well, we continue to see that the greatness of this power is also demonstrated or seen in the mystery of the church. That God would take men and women who were utterly depraved, sinful, vile, and through the powerful preaching of the cross would not only unite us to Christ, but also unite us toward one another! We have become his family, therefore brothers and sisters within that family, or as Peter puts it, we have become living stones that are being built up together to become a spiritual house, or as we have already seen we have become members of one body with Christ as the head.
The evidence around us in the world is that multi-culturalism fails in so many ways, there are so many schisms and divisions, but such is the power of God that is at work in the many ways we have already mentioned as we have covered these verses, the cross unites men and women together from all over the globe! What politicians fail to manage, what globalism fails to manage, what the United Nations fails to manage, what even equality rules which are fudged and changed as soon as some new fad or ideology seems to surface, fail to manage, the cross has succeeded in doing! We who are saved are all one in Christ Jesus, and what is more, such is the wonder of this incredible power at work that the day is coming when we shall all be together, an innumerable number gathered around the throne worshipping God, these verses are a wonderful portrayal of the incredible power ‘And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth”’, Revelation 5:9-10.