Read -Study Notes – Ephesians Chapter 1:18-23

Eph. 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Eph. 1:19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
Eph. 1:20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph. 1:21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Eph. 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
Eph. 1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

• Paul says he wants to see the eyes of their heart enlightened
  • Obviously, Paul is speaking euphemistically, since hearts don’t have eyes
    • To see with the heart is to have a spiritual understanding
    • So to have the eyes of our heart enlightened means to have our spiritual understanding illuminated or increased
    • Just as our physical eyes see better when there is plenty of light, so does our spiritual understanding grow when God brings illumination
  • Specifically, he wants the church to have a better understanding of two core spiritual truths
    • First, he wanted the church to understand the hope of their calling
    • The calling refers to salvation itself
    • Every believer is called into faith by the Lord Who called us by His Spirit
  • And our calling brings to us a special hope, but we must appreciate that hope if we are to allow that hope to drive our life even now
    • Remember, a hope is a trust in something that has not yet come to pass
    • As Paul says elsewhere:

Rom. 8:24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?
Rom. 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

• So what is the hope that we await eagerly, the thing Paul says this church needs to understand and appreciate better?
  • Paul explains in the next part of v.18
    • He says it’s the riches of the glory of Christ’s inheritance in the saints
    • Simply put, it’s our life in the coming Kingdom
    • It’s our resurrected body to replace this one
    • It’s our heavenly wealth in the Kingdom to replace the wealth of unrighteousness that perished with this world
    • It’s the glory of sinless life spent serving Christ
    • It’s the whole package wrapped up in a single hope of our eternal future made possible by our faith in Christ
  • This is the hope of our faith
    • It’s a hope that looks forward to our future
    • While inoculating us from the excesses of today
    • To the degree we remain focused on the eternal, we’ll care that much less for the temporal
• And the second thing Paul wants the church to understand is the surpassing greatness of Christ’s power to His children, those who believe
  • Paul is urging the believer to contrast the here and now with the eternity to come
    • The riches of this world are temporary
    • We can possess them for a time, but eventually we must let them go
    • Our houses deteriorate, our cars get dents and wear out, our bobbles fall apart and lose their luster
    • And even if we keep something for a lifetime, we still relinquish it at death
  • And even then we work our entire life to obtain these things, but we rarely actually obtain them anyway, at least not what we really want
    • There is always something out of our reach, something better
    • We get the regular, but we wished we could afford the deluxe
    • We get the deluxe and our neighbor gets the limited edition
    • We get the latest edition, and Apple releases a newer one tomorrow
  • In other words, if we make our life’s goal to chase what the world offers, it’s like chasing our tail
    • We don’t possess the power to get what we really want
    • And even what we do possess won’t last
    • And in the end we die anyway
  • Sure, we all must possess things, the necessities of life and perhaps a few special things
    • But are your nice things working for you in service to Christ?
    • Or are they barriers to spiritual wisdom and sanctified living?
    • Is the pursuit or possessing of such things competing with your first love?
    • That was the problem in Ephesus
• So Paul contrasts the worldly life with a life of living with eyes for eternity
  • Paul declares that the hope of every Christian should lie in our eternal inheritance and in the surpassing greatness of God’s power to secure it for us
    • Paul explains in vs.20-23 that our hope is not a foolish hope
    • The Father has already demonstrated His power to keep His promises
    • He raised Jesus from the dead
    • He delivered Christ to His right hand in the heavenly places
    • And He has put all things in subjection to Christ, including the Church body
  • In other words, if you need proof of the Father’s promise to you of a coming inheritance in a coming kingdom, then consider what He has already done for your fellow Heir, Christ
    • Jesus has already received the very things promised to every heir
    • Paul says Jesus was the first fruits of the resurrection, which means Jesus is merely the first to receive the fruit of His obedience
  • We too are heirs and therefore the Father will grant similar things to us
    • Are you tired of that weak, dying body?
    • Don’t spend too much time trying to make it last forever
    • Put your hope in the Father’s power to raise you one day into a new, perfect, eternal body
    • Because He did it for Christ already
  • Are you tired of everything you own wearing out, breaking down, being stolen or rusting away?
    • Don’t spend your life trying to preserve them unnecessarily
    • Don’t put in overtime to afford the upgrade, the replacement, or next year’s model
    • Put your hope in the Father’s power to grant you beautiful things that can never wear out and that nothing here can equal
    • Because He gave Christ dominion over the entire Creation
  • Are you growing weary of enemies of one kind or another persecuting you, taking advantage of you, abusing you, disappointing you?
    • Don’t waste time on conflict or revenge
    • Don’t grow angry or fearful
    • Put your hope in the Father who will one day place you in His government in the Kingdom, ruling over all who might oppose Him
    • Because He has already placed Christ in authority over all enemies and over all the church
• You see how your future and Christ’s future are tied together because we are fellow heirs with Him
  • This is our hope as Christians, our confidence that better things are coming one day
    • But it is possible for a believer to neglect to live in the light of that hope
    • We can have these things given to us, yet not understand that they are coming and therefore not live in light of that wisdom
  • The writer of Hebrews says it this way

Heb. 6:17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,
Heb. 6:18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
Heb. 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

• God desired to show His heirs, that is you and me, that His promises are unchangeable
  • So even as God declared to Abraham that He would have an inheritance in the Promised Land in the Kingdom
    • Later God swore an oath to Abraham that He would keep this promise
    • And the writer says that though God cannot lie, nevertheless the Lord swore His oath to give Abraham that much greater confidence to rest in this promise
    • Simply put, God wanted Abraham to take hold of this hope, to never doubt in it
  • Notice in v.18 the writer says this hope is a refuge for us
    • It’s a refuge against the temptations of the world
    • A refuge from fear and anxiety
    • A refuge from disappointment and depression
    • A refuge from excess and greed
  • But you have to take hold of it
    • You have to understand that it’s coming, that it’s real and that it’s assured
    • Every believer has this hope, because it is theirs by grace
    • But not every believer grabs hold of it
    • Not everyone understands it
  • So Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus to be enlightened
    • To have an attitude seeking spiritual wisdom
    • So that they might finally experience the hope that was already theirs in Christ
• Christian, have you taken hold of your hope? Is it your refuge in this life?
  • Pray for an attitude of wisdom in understanding the word of God
    • And let that knowledge drive you into the hope set before you
    • So you might find it a refuge in this world