An Exceedingly Rich Inheritance
July 25, 2023 at 3:56 pm | Posted in Ephesians | 3 CommentsTags: Biblical enlightenment, Biblical illumination, commentary on Ephesians, Ephesians 1, identity in Christ, inheritance in Christ, spiritual riches, Sunday School lessons on Ephesians, the Church
Concluding the long doxology/burst of praise (which began in Ephesians 1:3) by describing the work of the Holy Spirit in Verse 13, Paul was able to segue into his prayer for the Ephesian believers, and that prayer is undergirded by the work of that same Spirit.
15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 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:
Ephesians 1:15-17
This is what the Holy Spirit does. He “enlightens” the mind. He gives wisdom, but He does not give this wisdom solely through instruction, or trial and error (experience). He gives it through revelation – Divine revelation. It is meant to be received more than figured out, and it is not enlightening to the mind only. It is enlightening to the heart.
“Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.” This somewhat over-played modern worship song is actually a pretty good summation of what Paul is praying here, and the prayer for the opening of the eyes of their hearts was not so that they could obtain their inheritance of riches in glory, but so that they could recognize that they already had it.
This makes the language about adoption (Verse 5), as opposed to regeneration or justification, more understandable. He is praying that they will see not earthly illusion, but spiritual reality. How differently would we live if we knew the security of our inheritance? How much more grateful would we be – and how bold in accessing what God has already made available to us – if we only believed the truth?
Ephesus was a city of hope in the visible.
The eyes of your understanding 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,
Ephesians 1:18 (emphasis added)
Paul wanted the Ephesian Christians to realize that their calling was Divinely given, and that it carried with it a Divine guarantee – a guarantee of something greater than commercial success or wealthy leisure. “And what the riches of the glory:” a different kind of wealth, a wealth that wouldn’t be lost even if every idol-maker in Ephesus went bankrupt.
On what kind of wealth are you and I fixated? Do you want to be rich? If you are truly a Christian, you already are rich in Christ! Do you believe that you are rich in the earthly sense? Paul’s prayer is that they would be enlightened by the Spirit to discount earthly wealth and to start claiming their spiritual wealth.
Of course, wealth almost always equals power in this world, so Paul’s other prayer was that they wouldn’t aim for – or be intimidated by – earthly power. They would instead understand what great spiritual power had been invested in them in Christ.
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Ephesians 1:19
The theme of “excess” is very prevalent in Ephesians – not wasteful excess but abounding, unending, inexhaustible grace, blessings, spiritual riches, and love. It’s HIS power – in us.
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Ephesians 1:20
It is Resurrection power, and it flows from a King on a throne Who can never be deposed. Death is thought to be the utmost “certainty” in this world, but He has overcome death, so His power and His promises are “more certain.”
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Ephesians 1:21
This is a very legal-document-sounding list of possibilities or candidates which might be offered as powerful challengers to any other power or ruler in the universe, but they are all subservient to Him.
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Ephesians 1:22
He has trodden them down, and now He rests His feet on them as He reclines on His throne. So do not discount the power of the Church in this world. It is weak on its own, but it is not on its own.
Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Ephesians 1:23
The Church is the body of the ultimate and final arbiter of REAL authority in the universe. Remember who you are in Him, and remember to Whom you belong. Remember that you were known, loved, called, chosen, bought, resurrected, sealed, sanctified, and glorified from the very foundation of the world.
Investigating Isaiah
July 19, 2023 at 3:39 pm | Posted in Isaiah | Leave a commentTags: Biblical comfort, Biblical consolation, Book of Isaiah, commentary on Isaiah, Isaiah, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah, according to some theologians, is a sort of “Bible in miniature.” Whether by providence or coincidence, the 66 chapters of Isaiah remind us that the Bible itself has 66 books and contains both condemnations and comforts, warnings and wonder, commands and consolations, often on the same page. Far from doing a detailed verse-by-verse commentary on the entire Book of Isaiah, I have attempted to simply point out and lift up some of the blessings found in it. May they be an encouragement and a benefit to those who read the individual entries linked here:
1. Shame in the Oaks (1)
2. A Seeking and Saving Shepherd (1:4)
3. Women and Children in Charge (2-3)
4. Blowing Your Nose (2:22)
5. The Lord’s Vineyard (4-5)
6. Beware the Flattened Fence (5:5)
7. God’s Long-Term Plans (6)
8. Keep Calm and Trust God (7:3,23)
9. What Will You Do Now, and Where Will You be Then? (8-10)
10. High and Mighty (9:6)
11. His Way IS the Highway (11-23)
12. Professing Atheists Are in Denial (14:13-14)
13. Saved in the Nick of Time (24-27)
14. The Breaststroke (25:11)
15. The Fruit of the Vine (28)
16. A Marvelous Work? (29)
17. Trusting the One Who Can Actually be Trusted to Do Something (29-30)
18. When Impatience Is Sinful (30:15,18)
19. Repentance before Battle (36-38)
20. Overcoming Circumstantial Fear (36-38)
21. John Eliot Helped People to S.W.I.M. Plainly (40:11)
22. Big Words of the Christian Life: Omniscience (Part 2) (40:13-14; 46:9-10)
23. A.W. Tozer Challenged Us to S.W.I.M. in God the Father (40:28)
24. Willful Waiting (40:31)
25. Charles Spurgeon Like to S.W.I.M. Poetically (41:18)
26. The God Who Does Not Need to be Excused (45:5-7,17)
27. Faithful to an Unfaithful Wife (45:5-10; 54)
28. Timing Is Everything and Timing is Nothing (46:9-10)
29. The Servant’s Invitations (49-60)
30. Eye to Eye (52:7-8)
31. He Is Worthy (53)
32. Catechism Question 16 (53:3,5)
33. From What Were You Saved? (A and B) (53:5-10)
34. Buried Treasure (53:9-12)
35. The Most Important Invitation You Will Ever Receive (55:1-7)
36. Hypocritical Worship (56-59)
37. No Rest for the Wicked; Rise and Shine; Trampled Underfoot (57-66)
38. Your Vocation (59:4,9)
39. Light Wakes You Up (60:1)
40. The Great Trading-Post (61:1-3)
41. Marriage Should Not be Secret (62:1-4)
42. Marriage Should Not be Static (62:1-4)
43. Marriage Should Not be Spurious (62:1-4)
44. Marriage Should Not be Somber (62:1-4)
45. Marriage Should Not be Sterile (62:1-4)
46. The New Girl Arrives (66:9)*
*most-viewed post in category
A Hopeful Hike
July 6, 2023 at 2:06 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 5 CommentsTags: Biblical walking, commentary on Genesis, commentary on Hebrews, Enoch, Genesis 5, Hebrews 11, Jude, Sunday School lessons on Genesis, Sunday School lessons on Hebrews
Do you like walking? Unless we are doing it for exercise or leisure, we generally try to avoid doing too much of it. You might walk around your neighborhood or take a walk in the park, or you might go hiking in the mountains or in the woods while you’re on vacation, but I doubt many people relish the idea of having a job where they would have to walk a long distance to get to work each day. If we had to walk to visit our relatives in another state instead of driving or flying, they probably wouldn’t see too much of us.
In Bible times, though, walking was the chief means of transportation. There were no airplanes or trains or cars or even bicycles, and few people possessed or owned the type of animal you could ride. The very first time that the word for walking appears in the Bible is in Genesis 3:8 where Adam and Eve heard God walking in the cool of the day and they tried to hide from Him because they had sinned against Him and didn’t want to see Him. This implies that walking away from God or apart from God means that sin is present. This makes sense, because the next time the Bible talks about someone walking is:
And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
Genesis 5:22
Enoch’s walk with God was more than just putting one foot in front of the other and perambulating around the country. Let’s get a little background on Enoch:
16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: 17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.
Genesis 5:16-17
Jared was a descendant of Adam, through the line of Seth (as opposed to Abel or Cain).
18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: 19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. 21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
Genesis 5:18-22
Some people will say that the birth of Enoch’s first son, Methuselah, when Enoch was 65, changed his life, and THEN he began to walk with God, but the Bible doesn’t really say whether he was walking with God already or not. Just because he walked with God after Methuselah was born doesn’t mean he didn’t also walk with God before he was born. We don’t really know for sure.
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Hebrews 11:5
Enoch walked with God because he hoped to be with God forever. Don’t get the idea that, because the act of physical, literal walking (one of the first milestones in a baby’s life) is easy, walking with God, in the spiritual, figurative sense, is easy, or that it is common in this world. The Bible says that Enoch “had this testimony:” His walk with God PLEASED God. The people of Enoch’s day testified that Enoch was different. He lived differently. In a world of violence, lying, immorality, and lack of fear of God, he stood out.
The amazing thing about Enoch’s walk with God was not that Enoch was strong enough or fast enough or persistent enough to keep up with God. The astonishing thing is that God would slow down and walk with Enoch! Imagine a loving and patient father walking and carefully holding his child’s hand in a dangerous area – or in a peaceful setting.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Hebrews 11:6
No one seeks God unless God causes them to seek Him (Romans 3:10-12), but when God gives that desire, he rewards those who do it diligently. Enoch’s walk with God implies that he was God’s friend, and God shares his secrets and reveals His will to His friends.
One thing that God revealed to Enoch was a certain prophecy. We don’t really learn any of the details of what the Lord revealed to Enoch until near the end of the Bible in the Book of Jude:
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jude v.14
The “these” are what we call false prophets: people who say things about God that aren’t true, or people who claim that God told them something that He didn’t really tell them. These false prophets sometimes seem like they are successful, persuading false converts and open sinners of their lies, but they will NOT have the last word. They were judged in Genesis in a worldwide flood of death and destruction, and the ones who are doing it today will also be judged and condemned.
Watch the repetition of the word “ungodly” in the next verse, and imagine Enoch, walking with God, trying to be like God – just, honest, loving, and righteous – seeing everybody walking in the opposite direction:
To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Jude v.15
Enoch walked with God closely enough to know that there would be consequences for walking away from God, or walking against God, so he warned people about God’s judgment.
One day, after Enoch had been walking with the Lord for over three and a half CENTURIES, here is what happened to him:
23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Genesis 5:23-24
Remember, we saw in Hebrews 11:6 that God rewards those who not only believe that He’s real, but who diligently seek Him. He rewards them with His presence by causing them to find Him even in the temporal realm, but there is a greater degree of reward in eternity. Among Bible characters, Enoch can’t be truly said to be unique in this respect, but he is almost unique: He was one of only two people in the history of the world – so far – that went from this world to be with the Lord in Heaven, without dying on the way there. (Elijah was the other one – in a chariot, in a whirlwind of fire.)
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Hebrews 11:5
There was Enoch – walking with God – and the next instant he was gone. He didn’t get sick and die. He wasn’t injured or killed. God just took him. He vanished from this world. He was “not found” – which indicates somebody was looking for him: maybe his family, maybe even those to whom he had prophesied concerning the judgment of God. Enoch’s disappearance is a picture of rapture before tribulation – or a least before judgment and destruction (see I Thessalonians 4, which starts with the idea of walking and culminates in the rapture). We may not be translated the way Enoch was (or we may, when Jesus comes back), but the idea of being translated (being instantly changed and removed from one realm to the other by someone more powerful than ourselves) is applied to us in Colossians 1:13 where it says that those who have been born again have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son.
Do you have this hope? Are you walking with God, hoping in the promise of His eternal presence, His infallible prophecies, and His future reward?
The Deep End 
The Household Code: Parents and Children
July 31, 2023 at 2:03 pm | Posted in Ephesians | 5 CommentsTags: Biblical Parenting, commentary on Ephesians, Ephesians 6, Exodus 20, Exodus 21, Leviticus 20, parenting, Proverbs 30, Sunday School lessons on Ephesians
The second part of the household code, which began in Ephesians 5:21 or 5:22, deals with parents and children. In keeping with the pattern, the subservient members of the household (children) are addressed first. This in itself is unusual, because in other ancient household codes the de facto ownership and subjugation of children was simply assumed. Fathers had the ultimate right over every aspect of their young children’s lives. Fathers could beat, degrade, mock, punish, or even, in some instances, kill their own children with legal impunity. This Biblical household code is much different.
Ephesians 6:1
The ultimate source and motivation of obedience for children is that it is objectively the right thing to do in the sight of God, and, therefore, the best thing for them, too. “In the Lord” does not mean that children must obey their parents only if their parents are Christians. It means that all children, in order to please the Lord, must obey their parents.
Ephesians 6:2
The motivation is the promise of a long and good life.
Exodus 20:12
This is more a proverbial promise than an absolute promise. Even obedient children may die at a young age, but the general rule is that obedient living, through being trained at a young age, will be conducive to safer choices later in life. The command for children to be obedient rules out majority parenting, monetary parenting, and manipulative parenting. Childhood (via Godly parenthood) is the training ground for how children will relate to God and all His authority structures as they grow up.
Ephesians 6:3
Exodus 21:17
Leviticus 20:9
Proverbs 30:17