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How do we Recognize the Father of Glory? (Ephesians 1:17)
Ephesians 1:17
1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph. 1:17).
Following his prayer of thanksgiving, the minister of souls came to the urgent prayer requests of his heart. He had recognized that his co-workers in Ephesus were, to be sure, zealous workers in the Holy Spirit, even while their recognition of the triune God was limited. Therefore Paul beseeched the “Father of glory” to give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they might spiritually recognize Him.
It is once again clear that knowledge of God is not just a matter of study and learning, but a gift of His Spirit. We here in Europe, with our frenzy for academic faith, need to repent and come to understand that a true knowledge of God primarily means a direct revelation, as well as an enlightenment from heaven. This wisdom has no connection to philosophical titles or degrees, for it is a merciful gift of God, often given to simple people. They, through His Spirit, become more learned than even some geniuses. The influential Ayatollah Khomeini went as far as to say: “It is better to practice wrong than to suffer it!” A simple housekeeper in Christ, however, confessed:“It is better to suffer wrong than to practice it!” This short comparison reveals the entire difference between Islam and Christianity! Paul objectively asked the Father of Jesus Christ for concrete revelations for the saints in Ephesus. With divine wisdom they were to be able to recognize who God is, and then to convey to their assemblies what the LORD had revealed to them.
Paul prayed in his letter to “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory”. These two formulations were probably intended to be a help to Jewish Christians, so that they might better understand God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The Son of Mary often prayed to God and discussed events with Him in detail, regarding both His mission and His miracles. He said to His disciples: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). To Philip He said: “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10). In His high-priestly prayer He prayed: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Jesus, in whom God became man (John 1:1, 18; 6:46; 20:28; Rom. 9:5), continually and completely subjected Himself to His Father. He remained humble of heart (Matt. 11:25-27; 24:36; John 10:28-30; Acts 1:7). “ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:8-11).
Without inhibition Paul could speak of the unity of God within His triune glory. With his own eyes he had seen Jesus in His splendour before Damascus. Since that time there remained no more logical inconsistency in his mind. On the contrary he implored His Father in heaven for grace, so that HE might reveal to His church leaders in Ephesus His hidden glory and love. Those bearing spiritual responsibility were not simply to live and work on a horizontal plane; rather, they were to have their world-view expanded by His heavenly reality. In this sense the prayer of the apostle remained concentrated on the one central entreaty – namely, that those in Ephesus might recognize Him, the living God.
This petition is wonderful – but also dangerous! It would be more than 200 years before the final number and form of the Holy Scriptures was accepted in the churches around the Mediterranean. Until that time it remained to weed out numerous other “so-called” revolutionary scriptures. This was necessary so that only the true and real revelations would be read and believed.
The Lord Jesus answered the intercessions of Paul in a divine way. He gave him a travelling companion – Luke, the Greek Doctor, who wrote one of the four gospels as well as the Acts of the Apostles. He then compiled and distributed them in Greek. It is in Luke´s Gospel we read the “golden chapter” of the Bible, in which Jesus told the parable of the “father and his two lost sons”, which unequivocally depicts before our eyes the heart of God the Father. Without Luke we would not know the Christmas story, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as well as many other historical facts of church history. Luke was not a Semite, but one of the Hellenistic travelling companions of Paul, who compiled his Scriptures while Paul was imprisoned under house arrest.
Another conveyer of revelation was the Apostle John, who ministered in Ephesus following the execution of Paul. It was also here, in this Hellenic center of Christianity, where he presumably wrote down his Scriptures. Therein he reported in his own way, and as an answer to the prayer of Paul, who God is and what this recognition signifies for the churches: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).
“God is light” and in Him is no darkness at all…But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:5, 7).
“God is love” and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).
From a distance John, in his book of revelation, had the privilege to see and describe the exalted One sitting on His throne, who was likened to precious jewels, as ruby-red sard, as spotless crystal surrounded by an emerald-green rainbow. Perhaps the emerald-green was to signify the sacrificial love of God, the crystal His sinless holiness, and the light green circular bow around His throne His omnipotence (Rev. 4:2-3). Once again Jesus fulfilled, in the last chapters of this revelatory Scripture of John, the prayer and petition of the imprisoned Paul. The one granted this privilege could see, in the so-called “heavenly Jerusalem” that descended from above, in this simile for the new and future fellowship of saints, the Holy God and His Lamb in the midst of the golden city, dwelling without the safeguard of a temple! The Holy One´s radiant glory no longer annihilated the nearby saints, for they were sinlessly dwelling in the love of God in the new creation (Rev. 21:22-23).
The risen Lord Jesus had earlier used the Apostle Peter to reveal His new mission strategy. The speaker for the disciples had seen, in a vision, a linen cloth descending from heaven, filled with creeping things, wild beasts and birds of the air. The apostle heard the command: “Kill and eat!” In dread he answered: “Never! That is all unclean and forbidden!” Following that his risen Lord gave him the famous exhortation: “What God has cleansed you must not call common!” (Acts 10:9-23). Thus began the mission of God among the unclean nations, because for these people, too, full forgiveness of sin had been prepared through the Lamb of God.
Furthermore, in his first letter Peter had proclaimed a sensational revelation: He described Hellenistic believers in Christ as a nation of God, as His chosen generation, as holy priests and as the LORD´s own special people (Ex. 19:6; 1 Pet. 2:9-10). With these words he laid the choosing of the nation Israel upon the church of Jesus, consisting of all nations. In Jewish understanding this was an unpardonable sin.
Whoever verifies the origin of those bearing revelation in the New Testament and in church history can discover that the non-Semites were sometimes industrious collectors, theologians and reformers, but they were never prophets or those who heard new revelation. Jesus and His apostles were the unique mouthpieces of God, through whom He revealed both Himself and His messages.
Islam is also based upon inspiration. The self-revealing Allah in Islam, however, describes himself as the “proud one” (al-Hasher 59:23). He is heartless, ice-cold, unconditionally conferring what he wants upon his subordinates (Al-Anfal 8:17; al-Taube 9:30; al-Sadjah 32:13; al-Hudjurat 49:14). Furthermore, he is the most cunning of all and tolerates lies and deceit (al-Imran 3:54; al-Nisa´ 142) – something dreamy humanists in Europe and the USA don´t want to believe. Not every revelation comes from the true God. Whoever desires to test other world-views and wisdoms should first ask the Lord Jesus for a discerning spirit, so that he himself not fall prey to the lies of the father of lies.
Jesus revealed to us God as the Father in heaven more than 200 times in the verses of the New Testament. These revelations make up the very heart of the New Testament. At the same time, the Holy Spirit gave Paul the boundaries of inspiration regarding the knowledge of God, in that He revealed God as the Father of glory. In the Old Testament Yahweh is the glorious Holy One, wherein His glory represents the sum of his 347 names, titles and attributes. Therefore Paul testified: The Glorious One is, in reality, a Father full of love, wisdom and clarity. He is the Father of Jesus Christ and, through Him, our Father. There is no difference between the Glorious One and the Father; much more, the Father name is the most central and profound attribute of the Glorious One.
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we worship You, for You, through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, gave to those searching for truth direct revelations. You revealed to them that You, through Your beloved Son, have also become our Father in glory. Open in us spiritual eyes and ears, that we might recognize You, hear Your word, understand, and obey You immediately and gladly. Amen.
Questions:
- How can we correctly recognize God?
- What does the term mean: “Father of glory”?
- Why can we not lend trust to every inspiration?
The knowledge of God, of the glorious Father, has a goal: We are to grasp and comprehend that He is the measure of our existence. Our Father wants to train, renew and elevate us to His own level. To that end Paul prayed for the saints in Ephesus and for us.