Eph 1:18 The 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.
Let us take this verse and chew on it piece by piece so we
can thoroughly savor the meat of the word,
then prayerfully digest into our
soul.
Some Greek manuscripts say eyes of your heart. The meaning
is that the heart and the soul more important than the flesh. I looked in an
older dictionary (Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary 1969 Edition) the meaning of
the heart and it gives a good description and also it says the following.
“The mind; the soul; the consciousness; the thinking
faculty; the seat of the affections and passions; the moral side of our nature;
seat of the will.”
Christianity is the only religion that speaks on the heart
of man than any other religion. The heart has to do with the soul, the center
of the person. Your ears hear and the heart responds, as it is the thinking
facility and the seat of affections and your will to say yes or no.
The heart is the core of life, the fountain of thoughts.
Heart includes the mind and the eye, these eyes are not the outward vision but
the inward vision we see spiritual things and with the mind we understand
spiritual things. The heart is your spiritual eye.
Mt 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine
eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye
be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Here in scripture we see the eyes of your understanding or
the heart of the eyes of your heart being enlightened. Note very carefully
being enlightened. If your heart was enlightened what was the condition before?
Was it not enlightened? What is the opposite view of enlightened?
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated
from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness of their heart.
Yes, it was not your eyes that were blinded so you could not
see but the heart was blinded so you could not understand the spiritual things
of God. I can see many of you very healthy, they could see well, they could
hear well but may be some of their hearts are blinded and they cannot respond.
Mt 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their
ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are
your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
So in Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened. This is a beautiful figure, the heart regarded as having eyes
looking out toward Christ. When we were in darkness like Lydia in Acts 16 God
opened our hearts to respond and we saw the great light and were enlightened.
Our hearts were in darkness and we did not know that we were in darkness until
the Spirit of God shined into us. Just like in the creation of God there was
darkness. Then God said: “Let there be light: and there was light.”
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
Mt 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
This enlightenment or the light comes from Christ as he is
called the light. We are enlightened by the light of his word. We have been
illuminated and enlightened.
Joh 8:12 Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
So Christ Jesus enlightened us.
Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Once you are enlightened with the knowledge of Christ it
will bring humility. True knowledge will humble the pride of man. You cannot
come to Christ is pride. The sin of pride has to be exposed torn down, and then
you will see the righteousness of Christ, the beauty, glory and the fullness of
Christ.
That ye may know what is the hope of his calling,
We may know the hope of his calling. In theology this is
called effectual calling of the saints. This is not the external calling one to
be a pastor, Sunday school teacher, missionary or an evangelist.
Remember we need to be in context, we just saw how our
hearts are being enlightened; we are talking of salvation, the internal
calling, the special, and powerful and the heavenly calling of God. This is the
calling of salvation, to eternal life in Christ Jesus. This is the
encouragement we have the hope for eternal life. We are called by the grace of
God.
Some of you under our ministry have heard the word effectual
calling or sometimes it is called effective calling or internal calling, but
they’re some who have not heard.
There is an external calling where the gospel goes to all
people. There are lots of scriptures in the Bible for the external calling or
the general calling.
Mr 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature.
Read Matthew 22:2-14
But the effectual calling is closely connected with regeneration.
(Regeneration means born again.) In
regeneration the man is brought from spiritual death to spiritual life and in
effectual calling he is drawn out the new life and points it in God-ward
direction. It brings the new life into action. In a broader sense this is the
complete work of regeneration. There is lot of scriptures for effectual call
but I am going to limit with a few.
1Co 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a
stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24 But unto them
which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom
of God.
25 Because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than
men.
26 For ye see your
calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble, are called:
There are many scientists, engineers, doctors who cannot
understand spiritual things, they are wise men, mighty men and noble men of the
world but they are not called. So the gospel is foolishness to them but to you
who are called it is the power and the wisdom of God.
Paul said that you may know the hope of his calling. He
called us to eternal life and the eternal life is so rich.
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
And do you know the hope of his calling?
And what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints.
His inheritance in the saints": as His
inheritance is there said to be in the saints. Besides the heavenly
inheritance prepared for the saints, there is a present inheritance in the
saints.
De 4:20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out
of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance,
as ye are this day.
We are brought from the power of Satan to God to be the
Lord's inheritance.
De 32:9 For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the
lot of his inheritance.
This is the reason why the Lord so early provided a portion
or inheritance for the children of Israel in the land of Canaan; because they
were his part, his portion, his inheritance, which he chose by lot for himself,
or allotted to himself; whom he chose to be his special and peculiar people;
for though all the world is his, he only reserved a part for himself, which he
separated from all the rest.
In the same way we the true believers are blessed as there
are many people in the world yet he chose you for his own inheritance.
Ps 33:12 Blessed is
the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his
own inheritance.
We were not purchased by corruptible things as silver and
gold by with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; the Lord’s portion
had been fully redeemed. There is no mortgage on his property. The price was
paid and the church is the Lord’s belongs to him, his inheritance. I am glad
that I do not belong to me anymore. But I belong to the Lord.
What is the only comfort you have in life and death?
The answer is I am not my own but belong to my faithful
Savior Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood had fully satisfied for all my
sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me
that without the will of my Father, not a hair can fall from my head.
Remember we are his by conquest. There was the opposition
force of Satan; there was a battle just like there was battle between God and
Pharaoh. There were times we heard the word of God but we put up a fight
against God, however there was that time when the power of God was so effective
we could not resist. We were hiding from God like Zacchaeus on the tree but we
wanted to listen to what he said but Jesus came and that effectual call was so
powerful like Zacchaeus we fell into his hands.
We are conquered captives of his omnipotent love, we are
chosen and purchased and the Lord's portion, and the lot of his inheritance, in
whom he is, and will be abundantly glorified.
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