(Revised notes of an address.)
In the earlier part of Ephesians 3, the Apostle brings out the truth of the mystery, which had been hid in God, and which was now, in His wisdom, brought to light. He had created a vessel, the assembly, which was formed in the life of Christ, and in which the heavenly intelligences can see a wisdom that they had never seen before.
Having given these wonderful communications, the Apostle says, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Do we bow our knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? The Apostle is not now speaking of what God is; that comes out in Chapter 1; he is praying to the Father. The Father brings before us the relationship in which the Lord Jesus is with Him as Son. Of the Father, "the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Every family will come under the Father in the world to come, but they are not brought into the divine relationship of sons as we are. The earthly people of God, Israel; the families of the Gentiles; and the many families of angels and men in heaven, are all ranged under the great Name of the Father, the Name by which God is now known in Christianity, revealed by the Son.
If we are to enter into the riches of the Father's glory, we must be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; and it is for this that Paul prays for the beloved saints at Ephesus. All that which is of God within us is called the "inner man," and it is this which enters into the truth of God. We have been formed in the divine nature by the Spirit of God, so that we can delight in God and respond to all that God makes known to us.
Our hearts are to be the dwelling place for Christ; He is to abide in the seat of our affections, and control our thoughts and lives. It is by faith that Christ has this place; it is as we are occupied with Him in relation to all that has been brought before the saints in this Epistle, that this becomes true of us. Communion with Christ, in the place where He now is, in all His unsearchable riches, will give Him His desired place in the hearts of His own. And we are to be rooted and grounded in the divine nature; firmly attached to Christ in divine love, and growing in the love that we have learned in Him, all our springs being in what will enable us to bring forth fruit for the glory and the praise of God.
It is as we enter into the practical reality of these things that we shall be "able to apprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height." The heavenly City has definite measurements, but here we have what is infinite and unfathomable. We are introduced into a scene of divine glory, of which the Father is the source. In a coming day we shall be associated with Christ as the Son of God in a sphere of divine glory that can never be fathomed, and from this sphere there will outshine the riches of His glory. His glory as Son of Man will be manifested to all the earth, for His sway will be universal; His supreme power will be displayed, and as King of kings and Lord of lords, every diadem shall rest upon His brow. But the heavenly glory of the Son will far surpass the glory displayed to men on earth, and this God would have us apprehend in its breadth and length and depth and height. Then we are recalled to what is beyond the glory — the love of Christ which passeth knowledge; and this we are to know in its sweetness as Christ dwells in our hearts by faith.
As we know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, we shall become filled even unto all the fulness of God — the great resource that enables us to come out down here for the will of God. Having made such wonderful revelations as come out in the early part of the chapter, and having bowed his knees unto the Father, how blessed for us to hear the Apostle say, "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." This is the mighty power that wrought in Christ when God raised Him from the dead; it is the power that has quickened us, giving us divine life, and has raised us up in association with Christ, and made us to sit in Him in the heavenly places. By the Spirit this great divine power works in us now, and will be fully displayed in us when we receive our bodies of glory.
It is of God the Father, Who works in us by His mighty resurrection power, that the Apostle says, "To Him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages." How blessed it is beloved, that this vessel, which is the fruit of His wisdom, is to go right on into the eternal ages, and in it is to be displayed the glory of God. Christ will have His body and His bride; but here we have what the assembly is for God as the vessel in which He will tabernacle with men throughout the eternal day. What a wonderful moment this is! We are being carried forward through the work of redemption to the kingdom of the coming age, having already been brought into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Here we learn all the delightful thoughts that lie in the will of God, and of all that will so soon be brought out into display. After the day of millennial display is over, the new creation vessel that has displayed God's glory as the Bride, the Lamb's wife, will be God's tabernacle in which He will dwell for evermore. What a wonderful day that will be!
R. Duncanson.