Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 242

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Living In Christ – 3

THAT HE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS

Eph 4:7  But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 
Eph 4:8  Therefore He says, "When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men." 
Eph 4:9  (Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 
Eph 4:10  He who descended is the same also as He who ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.)

Yesterday we learned about Christian unity. Today we move into discussing Christian ministry based on the gifts of the Spirit.

Why discuss unity before we discuss gifts? Because our gifts differ from one another and are sometimes the stuff of comparisons and disputes. The lowliness, meekness, forbearance and unity of verses 1-6 are the necessary prelude to the discussion of gifts in verses 7 –16.

Paul starts his discussion of the gifts with a  brief theological prelude in verses 7 to 10 above. It’s a bit confusing so please follow closely. 

Spiritual gifts are grace, they are a gift from Jesus and are given as a result of His conquest of the spiritual realm. During Jesus’ crucifixion, descent into the grave, resurrection and ascension through the heavens to the right hand of the Father evil was conquered and a fundamental change took place in the way the spiritual powers were arranged. 

The powers that held people captive, were themselves taken captive. That is why it says that Jesus “took captivity captive”. 

In Colossians Paul puts it another way: 
Colossians 2:13-15
(13)  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
(14)  blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.
(15)  Having stripped rulers and authorities, He made a show of them publicly, triumphing over them in it.

The powers and principalities were disarmed at the cross, triumphed over in the resurrection and taken captive during the ascension into heaven. (Ephesians 1:20, 2:6,4:7-10, 1 Peter 3:22, Colossians 2:10,13-15)

The triumph of Christ has resulted in a time of gift-giving. The battle is won, now the Victor is distributing gifts. Now Jesus “gives gifts to men”. These gifts are not silver and gold, but eternal and spiritual, they are as Hebrews says “the powers of the age to come”. (Hebrews 6:5). 

God has plundered the wicked spiritual beings and distributed spiritual power to His Church. This will be Satan’s defeat. The demonic enemy has been routed and the Devil’s prisoners are now freed and given weapons to fight back. These are spiritual weapons for a spiritual battle.

In verse 9 above it says that Jesus descended into “the lower parts of the earth” – that is into direct subterranean conflict with Satan and the forces of evil. We are told very little of the details of this conflict, just that it occurred, that it involved Jesus preaching to imprisoned spirits (1 Peter 3:19) and that He was victorious. Further speculation will probably only lead us astray.

After descending Jesus ascended into Heaven or more correctly He ascended through the heavenly realms to sit at the right hand of God. 

Eph 4:10  He who descended is the same also as He who ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.

As I mentioned in an earlier devotional the word Heaven, is always plural in the original languages (Hebrew and Greek). In fact there are at least three different levels of Heaven. In 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 Paul talks about the Third Heaven, which he also calls Paradise, a holy and wonderful place of inexpressible things. In Revelation 14:6-9 we hear about a mid-heaven where angels fly and proclaim the gospel and announce judgment. And in Psalm 104:12 we hear about the first heaven, which we call the sky or firmament, the place where the “birds of the heaven” fly. (This is covered in detail in the life in Christ series – especially in Eternity DBS numbers 228 and 229).

So Jesus ascended through these three levels of Heaven, through the firmament, the mid-heaven and Paradise, to be right there at the right hand of God. He did this so He could “fill all things”. To fill something with water you have to be above it. Jesus pours Himself out, into us and into His Church and into His world, and into the Universe He sustains by His powerful Word (Hebrews 1:1-3) - filling all things from His high position in the heavenly realms.

Earlier on in Ephesians Paul puts it like this:
Ephesians 1:20-23
(20)  which He worked in Christ in raising Him from the dead, and He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies,
(21)  far above all principality and authority and power and dominion, and every name being named, not only in this world, but also in the coming age.
(22)  And He has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church,
(23)  which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Jesus uses His high position to fill us with the Holy Spirit, and He pours out his love that we might be filled with the fullness of God.

On the day of Pentecost Peter proclaims:
Acts 2:33
(33)  Therefore being exalted to the right of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which you now see and hear.

And in Ephesians 3:19 we see Paul praying that the Ephesians:
Ephesians 3:19
(19)  and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

Part of the reason that Jesus ascended into heaven was so that he could pour out the Holy Spirit into your life and fill you with Himself and with the loving fullness of God and give you spiritual gifts so that you could build up His Church.

More on that tomorrow.

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Blessings,

John Edmiston <johned@aibi.ph>

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