REVISED

THIRD QUARTER 2023
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #14
SEPTEMBER 30, 2023
“EPHESIANS IN THE HEART” #

 

The book of Ephesians has been called the “Alps of the New Testament,” standing in the midst of the peaks of Paul’s nine epistles. We have been moved by his soaring language as he tells us of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages had been hidden in God and would now be manifest in Christ, that in the fullness of the times He would gather together all things in Christ, all things which are in heaven and on earth. He would spend the book describing this grand Christ-centered plan which would demand a response from us. The lesson this week asks us to look back and review the glorious teachings of this remarkable book and in so doing have “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:18-20, NKJV here and throughout).

Paul was in a Roman prison when he wrote this epistle, and had last seen the Ephesian elders five years prior. Acts 20:17-19 gives the details. “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them: ‘You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.’” Paul’s only desire was to preach the gospel, for it had transformed him radically.

The circumstances leading up to his Roman imprisonment are detailed in Acts 21-27, which are crucial to understanding his urgency in writing the book of Ephesians.  In Chapter 21 we find another glimpse into the single-minded devotion and calling of this great apostle of faith. “On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, “So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”’ Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, 'What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus’” (Acts 21:8-13). He arrived in Jerusalem and was ultimately arrested in the temple for his support of the Gentile believers and immediately told his testimony to his Jewish captors. Holding nothing back, he mentioned his call to the Gentiles, which did not end well. “And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, 'Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!’” (Acts 22:22). We know the story well, how he had hearings by the Sanhedrin, governors, and kings, and ended up appealing to Caesar, which took him to Rome.

Paul starts Ephesians with awe that God could use him so mightily. “Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God” (Ephesians 1:1). He had a clear sense of his calling and obligation. His call had come directly from God. His firm conviction of this fact was the secret of his powerful ministry, his devotion to God, and his faith under suffering.

 

Chapter 1 gives us of  six verbs that describe what God has done for humanity:

1) He has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.”

2) He has “chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.”

3) He has predestined or destined us to “adoption as sons.”

4) He has “made us accepted in the Beloved.”

5) He has redeemed us through His blood.

6) He has made the riches of His grace to abound or be lavished on us.

 

Note that this is all “in Christ.” This extravagant lavishing of the goodness of God upon us cost the Son of God an eternal sacrifice, and Paul understood the price, because it transformed him.

By His life and His death, Christ has achieved even more than recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was Satan's purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked with us. ……. To assure us of His immutable counsel of peace, God gave His only-begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain His human nature. This is the pledge that God will fulfill His word. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder.” God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the “Son of man” who shares the throne of the universe. It is the “Son of man” whose name shall be called, “Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6. The I AM is the Daysman between God and humanity, laying His hand upon both. He who is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” is not ashamed to call us brethren. Hebrews 7:26; 2:11. In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love.—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 25, emphasis supplied. 

We see something more in Chapter 1, which is echoed in the above quote when it says, “In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together.”

“Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth—in Him”  (Ephesians 1:9,10). Two themes in this book are notable in these two verses. One is the “in Christ” idea, and the second is this concept of “the mystery,” a term Paul uses several times in this epistle. The time was ripe for the unfolding of this mystery. The superabundance of God’s grace had been kept in secret but was now being proclaimed in the life and death of Jesus Christ. But the most important part is that the Gentiles were also included in this abundant, lavish grace of God. It was God’s gracious desire to make known this revelation. He was not taken by surprise when sin broke out, nor did He undertake the work of redemption grudgingly. After all, verses 7 and 8 tell us that He lavished the riches of His grace on us. Nothing moved God to redeem us except for His love, agape, or in the Hebrew, “hesed,” a love that would not let us go. He did not have to be persuaded. In fact, the sacrifice would not just be for us on earth but for all the heavenly beings to be sealed in their thinking. Only the plan of salvation could ultimately accomplish the unity Paul is speaking of that would involve Jew and Gentile and the intelligent heavenly beings, “things which are in heaven.”

The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of “the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal.” Romans 16:25, R. V. It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God's throne. From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate. God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency. So great was His love for the world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 22. 

Before the foundations of the earth were laid, the Father and the Son had united in a covenant to redeem man if he should be overcome by Satan. They had clasped Their hands in a solemn pledge that Christ should become the surety for humanity. This pledge Christ has fulfilled. When upon the cross He cried out, “It is finished,” He addressed the Father. The compact had been fully carried out. —Ibid., p. 834.

But the work of human redemption is not all that is accomplished by the cross. The love of God is manifested to the universe.” …. Angels as well as men are drawn to the Redeemer. “I, if I be lifted up from the earth,” He said, “will draw all unto Me.” — Ibid., p. 626.

By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he {Satan} had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken. Ibid., p. 761, emphasis supplied.

Ephesians Chapter 2 reminds us of our condition that needed an Extraterrestrial intervention. We, Jew, and Gentile alike, were “dead in trespasses and sins, “walking “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience,” “fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and were by nature children of wrath.” Now comes the mighty adversative, the greatest antithesis- “But God:” the Divine intervention of God into human history. “But God” is the giant eraser. We can sense the exuberance of Paul’s description of the Divine attributes. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:4-9). Jew and Gentile being brought together by the blood of Jesus Christ is what makes this possible. Now we are one body, members of the household of God.

But there are two more aspects. First, Ephesians 3:10 says, “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 4:9 tells us that God wants to display His church as a theater of His grace to angels and to men.

These are cosmic intelligences —they are kind of spectators of the drama of salvation. The universal purpose in redemption includes the vindication of the name and character of God, which have been challenged by Satan and questioned by angels. This is the greatest spectacle that heavenly intelligences can contemplate. What must the course of history look like to them, as from their vantage point they observe the interplay of forces and events. The church was intended to be a living demonstration of God’s wisdom. The church is proof or evidence of the power and wisdom of God.

Christ designs that heaven's order, heaven's plan of government, heaven's divine harmony, shall be represented in His church on earth. Thus, in His people He is glorified. Through them the Sun of Righteousness will shine in undimmed luster to the world. Christ has given to His church ample facilities, that He may receive a large revenue of glory from His redeemed, purchased possession….The church, endowed with the righteousness of Christ, is His depositary, in which the riches of His mercy, His grace, and His love, are to appear in full and final display. Christ looks upon His people in their purity and perfection, as the reward of His humiliation, and the supplement of His glory, —Christ, the great Center, from whom radiates all glory.” —Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 680, emphasis supplied.

The second aspect is what Chapters 4-6 are all about. “The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27). Paul admonishes us that the gospel has power to transform us wholly and completely. “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1,2). He tells us that we are new men and women, that we are to walk in love, walk in light, and walk in wisdom. He tells us that Christ’s relationship with His bride is what He expects to exist in our homes, a high and holy calling.

Let none say then that he cannot overcome any evil habit. "But it is a part of my nature, and I have no power to resist it." Exactly, but the power of God can change the nature, and make a new man. It could change a leper, so that his flesh became like that of a child. It could give power to the man who was impotent from birth. More than this, it could raise the dead, even after the body had undergone decomposition, as in the case of Lazarus. All these things are done by the same power that raised Jesus, which is a pledge of all things that we need. Romans 8:32. The same Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead, will, if it dwells in us, strengthen us with the same power against sin, and, having kept us through faith unto salvation to be revealed when Christ comes, will quicken our mortal bodies, so that as we are now in spirit made to sit in heavenly places in Christ, we shall then be made to sit at his right hand, clothed in glory according to the riches of his grace. "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift." —E. J. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, March 11, 1889, pp. 150-151.

As we close this quarter’s lesson on the book of Ephesians, we are inspired by the goodness of God, encouraged that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, compelled to tell others of the lavish riches of the grace of God, and to know for ourselves the width and length and depth and height the love of God which passes knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.

It has been a blessing to pray Ephesians 6:11-20, so I will close with verses 19-20: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Amen!

Blessings, 

Lyndi Schwartz