SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/10/2018
10:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Understanding the Greatness of
God’s Person”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
1:21-23
Message of the verses: “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. 22 And He put all things in subjection
under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is
His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
I
have to say that as I look at verse 21 that there are parts of it that remind
me of Philippians 2:5-7 as Paul wrote in that chapter about how the Lord came
from heaven to earth and was subject to great humility, but in the end Paul
writes that every knee will bow to the Lord Jesus Christ and in verse 21 we see
that Jesus Christ is “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.” I believe that Paul may be talking about the
millennial kingdom as being the age to come, but it could be that he is talking
about the age to come after the earth is destroyed by fire as Peter talks about
in 2 Peter chapter three, at any rate even know Jesus Christ is reigning over
the earth in what has been called the invisible kingdom. Now as we move to
verse 22 we see a quote from the eight Psalm as God “put all things in
subjection under His feet,” and this quote is also used in Heb. 2:8.
Now
the most important thing as far as believers are concerned is what is found in
the later part of verse 22 as God “gave Him as head over all things to the
church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.” John MacArthur writes “Christ not only is the
head of the church but its fulness.
Since He has such a unique and intimate relationship with the redeemed
whom He loves, all His power will be used in their behalf to fulfill His loving
purpose for them. He is completely over
us and completely in us, our supreme Lord and supreme power. The church is the fulness or complement (pleroma) of Christ. As a head must have a body to manifest the
glory of that head, so the Lord must have the church to manifest His glory
(3:10). Jesus Christ is the only One for
whom the word incomparable truly
applies; yet in a thrilling and securing wonder, He has chosen us to display
His incomparable majesty. We are
guaranteed to come to glory in order that we might forever manifest His praise.”
As
we look further at that word “incomparable” as it describes Jesus Christ the
incomparable Christ will be incomplete without the church which is His body, is
complete. The last part of verse 22 states that Christ “fills all in all,” and
this is giving His fulness to believers.
But in the great wisdom of God and His grace, believers, as the church
are also the fulness of Him. “John
MacArthur quotes John Calvin who said “This is the highest honor of the church
that until Hi is united to us, the Son of God reckons Himself in some measure incomplete. What consolation it is for us to learn that
not until we are in His presence does He possess all His parts, nor does He
wish to be regarded as complete.”
John
MacArthur gives the point of this great prayer that Paul prayed for the
Ephesian believers, and that prayer is also for all believers from the time he
wrote it until the end of the Church age, and that surely includes us. “The point of this great petition is that we
might comprehend how secure we are in Christ and how unwavering and immutable
is our hope of eternal inheritance. The
power of glorification is invincible and is presently operative to bring us to
glory.”
Lord
willing, in our next SD we will begin to look at the second chapter of this
wonderful book of Ephesians. It has been
a very long seven weeks that we have been looking at not only the introduction to
Ephesians, but the first chapter.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: My prayer as I take the time to go over the
sermons that John MacArthur preached on this wonderful book of Ephesians that
the Spirit of God will continue to open my eyes to the great truths that are
found in this very difficult book, the most difficult that I have ever studied.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will give me great truths
as I begin to prepare for my Sunday school lesson for the upcoming week.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Daniel.”
Today’s Bible question: “Which of Joseph’s sons did Jacob place
first, the older or the younger?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/10/2018 10:43 AM
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