Read Ephesians 1:20–23
Questions from the Scripture text: In Whom did God’s mighty power work (Ephesians 1:20)? When? At what did He seat Him? In which places? Far above what for things (Ephesians 1:21)? And above which names? At what times? What has God put where (Ephesians 1:22a)? As what did He give Christ, and to whom (verse 22b)? What two things does Ephesians 1:23 call the church? What does verse 23 call Him?
How great is the power at work in us? Ephesians 1:20–23 prepares us for the morning sermon in public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the power that is at work in us is the power that is at work in Christ.
What is the exceeding greatness of God’s power toward us (Ephesians 1:19)?
The same power by which He raised Christ from the dead. And, greater still—the power by which He seated Christ at His right hand in the heavenly places.
This power did not merely restore life to a body and raise it from the grave. It raised this body and transported it through the heavens to the very throne of glory!
How far?
Above all principality and power and might and dominion. Above the vast angel armies, above the most blazing of the seraphim, the most powerful of the cherubim, above the highest of the arch angels. Above the living creatures and the whole holy host.
And the power that seated Christ there is the power that works in Ephesian believers.
And American believers, whom the Lord has joined to Jesus by faith.
It’s astonishing and humbling. Jesus is Head over all things, but the Lord has given Him as Head to the church. All things are under His feet, but we ourselves are His body. His beloved bride, as chapter 5 will teach. Hallelujah!
God has granted that Christ, in His role as our Mediator, would be completed by His bride—not that there is anything lacking in Him, but that He has chosen to form a union with His bride as His very own body, of His flesh and of His bone.
By reminding us that Jesus “fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23), the Scripture reminds us that it would be a great blasphemy if, of ourselves, we had claimed to be the “fullness of Him.” But He has so joined Himself to the church, that she is seated with Him there on the throne. Unto all eternity, He refuses to be considered apart from her.
But we are not the ones who claim it.
God is the One who declares it.
God is the One who designed it.
God is the One who did it.
How great is His love toward us, and how great is that power by which His love has decided to work in us!
For what parts of your Christian life do you most feel the need for divine power? How can you bring the knowledge of the greatness of that power from this passage into your mindset about those things?
Sample prayer: Lord, we praise You for seating Christ high above all else. And we marvel that He would so unite us to Himself that we would be His fulness. Give us to know that reality when it comes to the power that we need for our own Christian life, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP72C “May Waving Grain on Hilltops Thrive” or TPH448 “Union with Thee”
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