Will you please turn to the letter to the Ephesians? Ephesians Chapter 1. We will begin with verse 19.
And what the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of the might of His strength,
which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come:
and He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.And you did He make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,
wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience;
among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest:
but God, being rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us,
even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace have ye been saved—
and raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus:
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, our hearts are most grateful to Thee for gathering us together at this time in Thy presence. Lord, as we think of this time, as we think of Thy imminent return, we do thank Thee for Thy mercy and grace that have enabled us to be gathered in this way.
Dear Lord, we do want to open our hearts to Thee and allow Thee to speak to us. We pray that Thou wouldst grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of God. We confess that without Thy Spirit, we are completely shut out of anything spiritual.
But how we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast sent the Holy Spirit to do this very work, to lead us into Thy truth. So, Lord, our hearts do look to Thee, trust in Thee, believing that Thou art going to do all that Thou hast foreordained for this time. Unto Thee be all the glory. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Thank God for gathering us together again at this time. If you were here last time, a year ago, you knew that last time we were here together on this matter of spiritual warfare.
All of us, in a certain degree, are involved in spiritual warfare. It is not the warfare of this world; it is a spiritual warfare. It is an age-long war between God and His adversary, Satan.
In a way, it is over the destiny of man: whether man will worship God, or whether man will worship Satan. And we are exhorted to stand in the Lord, in the might of His strength, to be clothed with the armor of God—that is, our Lord Jesus—in order to stand, to withstand, and to stand for the will of God to be done on this earth in spite of all opposition.
Now this time, we would like to share together on this matter of spiritual ascendancy. This is really a related theme. In one sense, spiritual ascendancy is the secret in spiritual warfare. In another sense, it is also the result of spiritual warfare.
We would like to approach this theme, first, from the point of our position. What is our position in this spiritual ascendancy? Then, secondly, we would like to share on the matter of our possession of this spiritual ascendancy.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, whenever we come to anything spiritual, we have to begin with Christ. Because here is the beginning and here is the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. We cannot talk about spiritual ascendancy outside of our Lord Jesus.
In the passage that we have just read, you find our God demonstrating the exceeding greatness of His power in raising our Lord Jesus from among the dead and setting Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, above every principality and authority and power and dominion and every name named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come.
He might be Head over all things. So, brothers and sisters, here you find that our Lord Jesus has attained to the place of spiritual ascendancy.
He who was equal with God—He was God Himself, the Son of God, eternally equal with God—and yet He emptied Himself. Of course, He could not empty Himself of His deity, because that is what He is; forever He is. But He did empty Himself of all the glory, honor, position, and worship that were His due as God, as the Son of God.
He emptied Himself. What an emptying it was. He took upon Himself the form of a bondservant. In other words, when He came into this world to be a man, in His heart, in His very nature, in His very character, He had the form of a bondservant.
He had no rights of His own. He gave all His rights to the heavenly Father. And being found in fashion as a man, He was obedient to God, even unto death—yea, the death of the cross.
Because of what He did, He accomplished the work of redemption. So God raised Him up from the dead, and not only that, but set Him at His right hand in the heavenlies. Together we find that He was Head over all things.
Remember, after His resurrection and before His ascension, in Matthew 28, He told His disciples, “All authority, all power, in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”
If you read Revelation 5, which I believe is a replay of His ascension, there you find the Lamb newly slain standing. In other words, He was once dead, but is now risen from the dead—a Lamb standing in the midst of the throne.
Nobody in heaven, on earth, or even under the earth was worthy to take that book, the title deed of the universe, from the hand of God, the Owner and Possessor of the universe. No one was able to take that book from the hand of God, to open the seals, to execute God’s will, and to bring all things back to the feet of God the Father. No one was able, because none was worthy.
You remember John in the Spirit. When he saw this vision and realized that there was no one in heaven, on earth, or underneath the earth who was worthy to do this work, he wept. Why did he weep? Because he felt there was no hope.
If nobody was able to execute God’s will, to regain the earth and all things back to God, then it was a hopeless situation. But thank God, he was comforted by one of the elders, who said, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of Judah. He has overcome, and He is worthy to take the book and open the seals.”
When John looked around, he saw a Lamb newly slain, standing there. He was ready. He took that book, and He began to open the seals. You remember, the heavens broke out in worship and praise. Not only heaven, but the whole universe was exhorted to join in that triumphant song.
So, brothers and sisters, here you find spiritual ascendancy. Spiritual ascendancy is in Christ Jesus. He has overcome, and He is in that exalted position, Head over all things. Everything is under His feet, and everything will be brought into subjection to Him. Now that is spiritual ascendancy.
But we would like to ask a question: Why did our Lord Jesus come to spiritual ascendancy? Why is it that He had to pay such a price? He had won such a victory in order to gain that position of spiritual ascendancy. Why? Is it for Himself?
So far as He Himself is concerned, there is no need. Why? Because He is God. He is the Son of God. He is always in ascendancy, always in control. That is His position, His right.
You remember, in Colossians 1, when the apostle Paul tried to share with us the glory of the Son of God, he said that Christ Jesus, our Redeemer, is the One who has redeemed us, the One who has delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
Now, who is the Son of God’s love? He is the exact image of the invisible God. God is Spirit; He is invisible. But thank God, He has an exact image. That is to say, He has Someone who manifests all that God is. The invisible God is made visible, and that is the Son.
He is not only the exact image of God. Whatever you can think of God, whatever you know of God, whatever God is, is all manifested, declared, revealed, and shown forth in His Son, because He is one with God.
He is the Creator of all things. All things were created in Him. That is to say, He is the Architect, the Designer of all things. All things were created by Him. He is the Builder, the Contractor. And all things were created for Him. He is the Heir of all things.
Now think of His glory. As God, He is above all things. He is always in ascendancy, always at the top. Everything is always under Him. So far as our Lord Jesus, as the Son of God, is concerned, there was no need for Him to come to this earth, to win the battle, and to gain spiritual ascendancy. He did not need it. It was His right forever.
Then why is it that our Lord Jesus had to attain to that position? I think the answer is very clear: it is for our sake.
You know, when God created man in Genesis, God created man in His own image, according to His likeness. Brothers and sisters, when you read this, what impression do you get?
Why is it that when God created the whole universe—all things visible and invisible—He just created by His word? He spoke, and it was done. Even the angels were not created according to His image and His likeness. But only man: God created man in His own image, according to His likeness. Why?
He created man in such a way that man is able to receive His own uncreated, divine life. He created man with a very special purpose.
You remember, before He created man, there was a rebellion in the universe. An archangel, Lucifer, because of the way he was created, was given wisdom, talents, and position. Gradually, pride began to rise in his heart.
He was not content to be under God. He wanted to lift himself up to be equal with God. Because of this, he was driven out from heaven, and with him a third of the angelic host followed in the rebellion.
Most likely, our planet Earth, our universe, at that time was given to this angel to rule. So with his fall, our universe fell with him. The earth became void and empty. It lost its purpose. It was corrupted.
When God restored this ruined earth to make it habitable, at the very last, on the sixth day, He created man. Now, what was behind the thought of God? Why did He create man and create him in His own image? Why?
Not only that, look: when man was created, God gave him dominion—dominion over the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and the fishes of the sea. God gave man the government, the management, of His earth. He said, “Subdue it. Bring it back to the feet of God.”
So man had a tremendous mission to fulfill. In order to fulfill that mission, God put man in the Garden of Eden. In the midst of the garden was the tree of life, and by its side the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now, what is behind all this? The concept was that of every tree in the garden, you could freely eat. There were many fruit trees, all kinds of food for the body of man.
Yet in the midst of the garden, God put the tree of life, and by it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, God was trying to say to man, “In order to accomplish the mission that I have entrusted to you—to subdue, to have dominion, to bring everything to My feet—you need to eat of the tree of life.”
“I have created you with that capacity. There is a potentiality there, but without God’s own life, you will not be able to accomplish your mission. But you have to choose by your free will.”
So there is the reason why, by the side of the tree of life, was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, some people think that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is an evil tree, but personally, I cannot take it that way.
Because God prepared that garden. It was the Garden of Eden, a garden of pleasure. I cannot believe that God would put something evil in that garden. Everything there must be good.
All the fruitful trees, all the food for our body—God gave us a body, and He provided the nutrition, the food, to nourish the body. Then what is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
It is a tree of knowledge. Knowledge is good. We want knowledge. Knowledge of good and evil is the highest knowledge of all knowledge. You cannot think of any knowledge higher than the knowledge of good and evil. That is ethical knowledge: knowing what is good, knowing what is evil.
Scientific knowledge only explains to you the phenomena of the universe, physical things. Philosophy may give you some training in the rational mind. But knowledge of good and evil, moral knowledge, is the highest knowledge of all.
But when it is compared with the tree of life, you will find that the better is the enemy of the best. In other words, if man should reject the life of God and try to develop his soul with this knowledge of good and evil, man will make himself god.
Man thinks that he is now god, but he discovers that he has the knowledge, yet he does not have the power to resist evil and to do good.
So, brothers and sisters, in the Garden of Eden, God let man choose what his own destiny should be. Unfortunately, our forefathers chose to be independent of God. They rejected the life of God, and the result is death.
Brothers and sisters, man was created to be in spiritual ascendancy. That is the will of God. But unfortunately, we find that man has fallen. We have lost that position. We have lost that ascendancy. We are undone.
When you read Ephesians 2, you find that we were dead in sins and transgressions. Our spirit, the only organ that can communicate with God, the only organ that can receive God and receive God’s life, because of sin and transgressions, was dead.
That is why our Lord Jesus said, “Let the dead bury the dead.” Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.
Man was under the authority of the power of wickedness in the air. Men think that they are free, but they are not. They are under the evil power of the air. Man’s life was moved by the lust of the flesh. We were children of wrath. That is what we were.
But thank God, brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus came. There you find God, in His mercy and the richness of His grace, has quickened us with Christ Jesus. We are saved by grace.
Our Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, bore in His own body our sins on that tree. Because of His shed blood, our sins are remitted. So we are quickened with Christ.
But that is not all. He has also raised us up from the dead. When our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, we were raised with Him from the dead.
And not only that, but He has seated us in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. So, brothers and sisters, where is our position of spiritual ascendancy? How does it come about? It is very clear: it is in Christ Jesus.
Our Lord Jesus, as the Son of Man, attained to spiritual ascendancy because of His obedience to the Father. In other words, where is our Lord Jesus today? He has double honor, double glory.
You remember John 17. In His prayer, He reminded the Father that He was going back to the Father to resume that glory which He had with the Father from eternity.
Thank God, when our Lord Jesus returned to the Father, the glory, the honor, and the ascendancy that He laid down when He came to this earth, He retook, resumed, and enjoyed with the Father together for eternity. That is the glory of the Son of God.
But when He went to heaven, He received another glory. It is a glory that the Father gave to Him as the Son of Man because of what He had done on this earth, because of the victory He had won for man.
So, as Man, the Father gave Him a glory. That is the glory that our Lord Jesus, in His prayer, said that we may see—His glory—because we are to share His glory with Him.
We can never share His glory as the Son of God. No, never. But we will share His glory as the Son of Man. We will never share in His spiritual ascendancy as the Son of God. No. He is always God; we are always man.
We may have His life. We may partake of His divine nature. We may be one with Him in life, in love, and even in glory. But that is limited to the glory of the Son of Man.
Brothers and sisters, so far as our Lord Jesus is concerned, as the Son of Man, He attained, He achieved, spiritual ascendancy. But what about us?
We do not achieve or attain to that position of spiritual ascendancy. We obtain it by the grace of God.
We have not done anything to be quickened from the dead. He did it. We have not done anything in being raised from the dead. He did it. We have not done anything to be set in the heavenlies. He did it. It is in Him and with Him.
So, dear brothers and sisters, how can we talk of spiritual ascendancy if we do not talk of Christ? Because there is none apart from Him. He has attained it, and we, by grace, obtain it.
So today, brothers and sisters, by His grace, we are given a position of spiritual ascendancy.
Oftentimes, we only know that we are saved by grace, but we do not know that we have this position of spiritual ascendancy. Because of this, we find that even after we are saved, our Christian life is often a defeated life—a life of striving, of struggling.
Instead of seeing that we are in a high position, we fight for a high position. If you get a high position, you get the victory. Now our Lord Jesus has already attained that position for us, and we are here, by His grace, in this spiritual ascendancy. From there, we are to fight the fight of faith.
But, dear brothers and sisters, it is more than just a position given. Thank God, we have been given that position. But what will that position be if there is not a corresponding life with it?
In other words, you may be given a position, but if you do not have the life to fulfill that position, instead of glory, it will turn to shame.
So, brothers and sisters, it is not just a technical position we are given. It is more than our position, because when He gave us that position, He gave us His life. His life is in us, and that life is a life of ascendancy.
It was demonstrated in the life of our Lord Jesus when He was on earth. This very same life is in you and in me. If we allow Him, He will demonstrate the very same thing through us.
So, dear brothers and sisters, let us, at the very beginning of our time together, realize this.
You know, when you come to 2 Peter 1:3-5, he says:
His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by His own glory and virtue;
whereby He hath granted unto us His precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.
God has given us His divine life, and in that divine life there is all the potential, the power, for godliness. That is to say, to be partakers of His divine nature, to be as He is.
With this life in us, if we only know this life and learn to live by this life, then our position will turn into possession.
So I do hope, brothers and sisters, that we will begin by realizing what a position we have in Christ Jesus. Also remember: the life in us is for that position.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for what Thou hast done for us. We thank Thee that Thou hast attained to spiritual ascendancy for our sake.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee because it is all of Thy grace. Thou hast given us not only our position, but also Thy life, that we may be able to fulfill that high position that Thou hast given to us.
So, Lord, we just pray that Thou wouldst give us a vision of what Thou hast done for us, what great things Thou hast done for us, that we may really enter in to glorify Thee. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.