(Eph. 1:15-23; 3:14-2115Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17That 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: 18The 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, 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far 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: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:15‑23)
14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14‑21).)
Hast thou well considered, Ο my soul, the blessing of a holy and loving nature? Who can understand the blessedness of it now? What, Ο what, must the change be, compared with our present unholy, unloving nature! Here pause a moment, I pray thee, and meditate on this great truth. Only think on what must be our happiness, when we shall be like Christ — when we never more can have a thought, a feeling, a desire, contrary to God; far less shall there ever be a look, a word, an action, unworthy of His holy presence. And thus will it be forever! Oh! wondrous thought! Oh! perfect blessedness! And no fear of a change, or of an end, shall ever cross the mind.
In one sense, tins shall be thy heaven; for what were all the blessings that God can give, had we not a nature to enjoy them? But to have a nature winch is the perfect answer to what God Himself is, must give a capacity for the highest and purest enjoyments of heaven. And once more remember, that this is thy nature for eternity. When the soul of the penitent thief ascended from the cross on Calvary to the Paradise of God, he left behind him all that he was in himself, and ascended in all the blessedness of Christ. Not one atom of the old nature shall ever cross the threshold of heaven. Glorious deliverance! Having eternal life — a divine nature, through faith in the dying Savior, and thus made the righteousness of God in Him, he had both title and capacity to enjoy his new inheritance. The bloom, the beauty, the fragrance, the rest, the joys of paradise, shall all be relished by the children of God, and relished as those only can, who have reached their eternal home, and now breath their native air.
But in the high calling of God, there is more than nature, there is relationship. If we would well understand “ what is the hope of his calling,” we must know our relationship in Christ as well as our nature. We might have had a holy, blameless, and loving nature, and been only servants. The highest angels rise no higher. They are servants waiting on God to do His pleasure. But those whom God has called — called by His grace — called from the place of distance to the place of nearness — called from the lowest state to the highest, are sons, not servants. “Wherefore,” saith the apostle, writing to the Galatians, “thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” And the closing testimony of scripture is, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” The son inherits the large possessions of the father. This blessed truth is the second part of the Christian’s calling.
Verse 5. “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” The Jews of old were called “the people of God” — Christians are called “the children of God.” Doubtless Old Testament saints were born again, and in that sense they were children of God; but they are spoken of as His people, not as His children. In the same sense they had eternal life; but they are not spoken of as having, or knowing that they had, eternal life. The revelation of these great privileges and blessings was reserved until Christ came. And it was not until redemption was finished and Christ risen from the dead, that He calls the disciples His brethren. Then, for the first time, He says, “ Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” Now they are introduced into the place of sons,, according to the position and perfectness of the risen Christ. Christ is a Son — we are sons. True, most true, Christ is the eternal Son of the Father, and none can share that higher glory with Him; hut as the risen Son of God, exalted and glorified, we are one with Him; and that according to the work of the cross, and the good pleasure of the Father’s will.
In all ages God blessed His people according to the revelation which He gave of Himself, as the object of their faith. See Hebrews 11. He made Himself known to Abraham, for example, as the Almighty; and blessed Him as the depositary of promise. Called of God, he leaves his own people and country, though he knew not whither he was going. He believes God and obeys. Having nothing but the promise, he was a stranger in a strange land. But his stranger ship was his gain. It brought Him, in spirit, nearer to God Himself. It led him to desire a better country. He had no wish to go back to his own. God, known as the Almighty, was his trust, his shield, his reward. In the presence of the king of Sodom, though a stranger in a strange land, he confessed and honored the Lord, as “the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.” He refused to be enriched by the world. He was content to wait upon God, to whom both heaven and earth belonged. Enough for the heart of faith that God knows the need, and how and when to meet it. The God of promise was the object of his faith. He had nothing else; for God gave him none inheritance in the land, “no, not so much as to set Ids foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to Him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.” (Acts 7.) It was thus that he honored God as a stranger and a pilgrim, and God is not ashamed to be called Abraham’s God. What a testimony! of whom, we may ask, could God now say so much? Abraham was a pilgrim and a stranger on the ground of promise: we, on the higher ground of oneness with a Christ rejected on earth, and accepted in heaven. Even now, our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we look for the Savior. Of “the fathers” the Spirit of truth bears this blessed testimony in Hebrews 11. “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”
Israel, the natural seed of Abraham, was in covenant relationship with God, as Jehovah. All temporal blessings in a pleasant land — the choicest of earth’s treasures, are their proper blessing. Through their rebellion they have been dispersed under His chastening hand; but they are His chosen people, and will yet be abundantly blessed, and peaceably settled in the land of promise. But the Christian’s blessing goes far beyond a promise, or a goodly land. And he knows God, not only as the Almighty and as Jehovah, but as Father. “ I will be,” He says, “a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor. 6:1818And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:18).) We now return to the verse under meditation.
“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.” Here the soul finds perfect rest, the measure of its blessing is full. Promises were the stronghold of the Jew; the Christian rests in accomplished redemption. Nothing more can be added to his blessing — nothing more can be desired. More may be revealed to him, and it shall yet be better understood; but these words, “tο himself,” are enough. Not only has He chosen us to be like Himself, but near Himself. Surely it is the expression of the most tender — the most marvelous — the most delighting love. Here are two words, Ο my soul, for thy long and deep meditation. Never hast thou met with two words more fitted to calm down every rising fear, and hush to eternal rest all anxieties as to the future. Couldst thou ever distrust the love that chooses to have thee near as Christ Himself is near? Can the Father ever have Christ too near His heart? Can He ever have thee too near His heart? Faith must answer; hut the word is plain, “children by Jesus Christ to himself.” What can be plainer? What can be truer? What can be nearer to thy heart? It is God’s call to thee — to every Christian — even the least. He could not do more for His children, He will not do less. It is marvelous in our eyes. Called to be like Him — called to be near Him; and this, mark, is “according to the good pleasure of his will.” The children’s place and portion will be the display, throughout eternity, of the peculiar pleasure of the Father. Now it is revealed to faith, and as true as it will be then.
The sixth verse gives unity and strength to this twofold aspect of the Christian’s calling. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” This verse sums up the fullness of divine favor to the children, in their effectual calling. We are said to be blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ — to be chosen in Christ — to be children by Jesus Christ; but we are accepted in the Beloved. Here the word is changed to “Beloved.” It means that we are accepted in the highest object of God’s affections. Christ is the Well-beloved of God’s heart; He could show favor to none as to Him; and yet the word is plain, we are accepted, loved, and blessed in Him — in the Beloved. Higher than tins, royal favor itself cannot raise us; the heart can only bow and worship and adore in the presence of such love, and in the assurance that it can never change.
Ah! ‘tis too vast a story for me to dare essay!
He, source of endless glory — I, but of yesterday.
Yet, since I call him Father and know His boundless grace,
I tremble not, but rather delight His way to trace.
How little we think, when the heart of a poor good-for-nothing sinner is touched by the word of the gospel, that such love is at work — that such treasures are thrown open to his faith. But so it is. When God calls, He calls sinners, sinners lost and ruined in their sins. But He calls them to be like Himself in nature, and near to Himself in relationship.
Dear reader, before passing on to the subject of the inheritance, I must have a word with thee. Thou art as a weight on my heart. Hast thou listened — hast thou yielded to the call of God — to the call of the gospel? Now is the time, tomorrow may be too late. And what a loss thine would be! To believe in Christ — to own and trust Him, is to yield thyself to God’s call. To love and follow Christ here, where He was rejected, are the clearest proofs that thou art called of God. The heights and depths, the lengths and breadths, of God’s love to thee are in Christ. To receive Him, is to receive all; to reject Him, is to reject all. What a prize, O, my fellow sinner, to lose or win! Think of the noble prize won by that poor woman at the feet of Jesus in the house of Simon—pardon, salvation, and peace. Grace is free — free to all — free to thee. “Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” We win the prize of eternal life, and all that belongs to it, by accepting it as God’s free gift. He who glorified God by putting away sin on the cross, is now saying to thee, “Him that cometh to me, I will in nowise cast out” — on no account — on no consideration, cast out or reject. Hast thou come then, Ο my fellow sinner? Come! Ο come! I beseech thee! Come in the faith of His own words. Let thine eye be up to Christ Himself, and let the invitation which He has given thee be in thy heart; and so coming to Him thou art saved. Saved — what a word! — saved! a soul saved — yes, thy soul saved! Saved from sin — saved from death — the death that never dies — saved from the lake of fire — the fire that shall never be quenched — saved from an eternity of misery — saved to an eternity of blessedness — saved to share the honors and glories, the dignities and privileges of God’s beloved Son. Ο may thy heart bow to Christ, and thy tongue confess His name, before this paper drops from thy hand!
I want an even strong desire,
I want a calm — a fervent zeal,
To pull poor souls out of the fire,
To snatch them from the verge of hell,
And turn them to a pardoning God,
And quench the brands in Jesu’s blood.
Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart
With boundless charity divine!
So shall I all my strength exert,
And love them with a zeal like thine,
And lead them to thy open side,
The sheep for whom the Shepherd died.