I want to start with Ephesians 1:15-16 and join with Paul when he says, “After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love to all the saints, I cease not to give thanks for you…” Many of you reading this know my ministry – and I’m so dependent on you for your love and support, I thank God for your faith, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers! What a joyful thing this is! I echo what Paul is saying!
And he continues to pray, vv17-18, “… that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Him…” Paul is revealing here the Trinity, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, One God, but here Paul reveals the separation, and he’s praying that we may be given the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in knowing Christ – it’s part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to reveal the Father and the Son to us. Paul is so earnestly desiring that we should have that Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, that the eyes of our understanding be enlightened, that we may KNOW what is the Hope of God’s Calling and what the riches of the Glory of His Inheritance in the Saints.
Paul is praying that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened, opened – to receive REVELATION! Unless you receive the Holy Spirit, you can never fully comprehend who Jesus is, and all that He means to us! That you might KNOW what is the Hope of His Calling. He has called us, chosen us. Jesus said, “You have not chosen Me, I have chosen you and ordained you that you would bring forth fruit, and that your fruit would remain.” John 15:16. We are called of God! It’s much deeper than our choice. Our spiritual experience is responding to the call of the Holy Spirit, who called us into the Kingdom. And Paul prays that we might KNOW the RICHES of the GLORY of His Inheritance IN US, the saints! So according to Paul, we don’t have to wait until we get into the Kingdom of God to enter into the Glory. It’s IN US!
Yes, we know, when we get into the Kingdom, there’s going to be great Glory, a great Inheritance… We look forward to this. When we lose our loved ones, especially in a time like this in a pandemic, as long as our loved ones know Jesus, we shall meet again! In such exquisite Glory! I had such an experience of the Glory when I was in the communist prison, and suddenly it was as if the whole roof of the prison flew off, and I could hear the angels, the choirs of Heaven – such a sense of the Glory that is Heaven! Heaven is Glory, it’s Blessing, Power and Love… The more I think about it, the more I want to go there! Non-Christians don’t know what happens after death, but as Christians we have KNOWLEDGE! This is what Paul is trying to share with us here, the RICHES of the GLORY of the Inheritance!