I tell you what, I’ve been preparing for this for quite a while, and it has to do with Paul in the Ephesian letter that we’ve been studying.
This morning, I kind of feel like a bull rider, you know, sitting on top of something so immense, so powerful, and so great that you feel helpless. I don’t know how those bull riders feel, but I would be totally helpless. That’s kind of the way I feel this morning as I come to share this.
I guess all I can say is, open the gate and hang on for eight seconds. You know, that’s kind of it. But let’s just give Him a word of prayer.
Lord, we come to You this morning. Oh, Lord, what an immense, awesome book—what a message our brother gives us in this book. Lord, we are so inadequate. But we come not counting on my words, but on the Holy Spirit this morning to enlighten us, Lord, to give us that spirit of revelation that Paul talks about in this book.
So, Lord, we ask You: bless us all; bless this meeting. May Your Spirit move in all of our lives and hearts this morning, that we might see Jesus. We pray in Thy precious name. Amen.
Well, you know, in the book of Philippians, which is another letter written from prison—at least most feel that way—along with Ephesians and Colossians, these prison letters were written while Paul was under house arrest awaiting trial in Rome. He was not quite sure what the outcome might be at this point.
It was really near the end of his ministry. A couple of years later, he would be martyred for the name’s sake of Christ, as he was told in the beginning. The Lord did not tell him that he was going to be martyred, but He did tell him that he would have to suffer for His name’s sake.
Anyway, Paul, near the end of his ministry and his life, says:
That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.
This was Paul’s passion. Ever since the Damascus Road encounter with the Lord Jesus, where he had that great vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, this was Paul’s passion all the way to the end. He never faltered from his passion to know the Lord.
Now, as we come this morning, we talk about resurrection. Indeed, most of Christianity sees resurrection as an event that occurred a few thousand years ago when Jesus rose from the dead, which is absolutely true.
But very few really know that Jesus is the resurrection. They just see it as an event, a religious event. But it really is this: Jesus is the resurrection. Jesus Himself said, “I am the resurrection.” Brothers and sisters, that is the reality.
And yet fewer still have experienced that resurrection life. Paul certainly did. Brothers and sisters, as we will see this morning, it was by resurrection life that Paul was able to live and survive during his years of ministry.
Well, anyway, I wanted to share what I think is the essence of the burden this morning. It comes out of the book of Ephesians. As we look into this book of Ephesians—and we have already started—I think it is critical that we enter into the spirit of the book.
Not just learn the letter, the principles, and the doctrine, but enter into the spirit in which this letter was written. So let’s turn to Ephesians 3:8-11.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from all ages hath been hid in God, Who created all things;
to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God,
according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What a mouthful. Brothers and sisters, the unsearchable riches of Christ, the fellowship of the mystery that was hidden in eternity past—eternal life is brought into this passage—and it is according to God’s eternal purpose. The breadth of what Paul is trying to bring to us is absolutely amazing.
But I think here is what I want us to see as we read and study this book. It is in verse 9: “To make all men see.” To make all men see. That was Paul’s heart. That is why he wrote this letter: that we might see.
Paul is not giving us a doctrinal dissertation in this letter. He is not really giving us a teaching; that is not his concern. He is proclaiming the greatness of the Christ that had been revealed to him and that he had experienced throughout his ministry and through his life.
It is a proclamation, a testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says the mystery was revealed to him. Paul is saying, “Look, with all of my heart, I want all men to see. I do not want you just to have knowledge of what I have seen. I want you to see.”
Seeing is far deeper than just knowing. I want you to have the spiritual revelation that I had of our Lord Jesus Christ and all of His work on Calvary’s cross. He wanted us to experience what he had experienced—something of the fullness of Jesus Christ—that all men might see.
When Paul met our Lord Jesus on the Damascus Road, brothers and sisters, it was a revolution in Paul’s life. In fact, so dramatic was his revelation of Jesus Christ that, when he met Christ on the Damascus Road, the first word out of his mouth was, “Lord.”
Lord. Oh, this self-made Pharisee, brothers and sisters, is on his knees. He is blinded from the brightness of the light that he has seen. One thing that he knew was that this was Lord. Whoever this was, He was Lord, and Paul was willing to submit to His lordship.
This was an amazing encounter that Paul had. It changed his life forever. You have to remember that Paul’s whole life was steeped in Judaism. That is what he knew. He was passionate about learning the Scriptures, pursuing and following the law of Moses. He said he was a Pharisee of Pharisees.
Paul had a desire to serve God. He was born in Tarsus, a Roman city. He was a Roman by birth, but his allegiance was not to Rome at all; it was to a religion, to the Jewish religion. He was in full allegiance.
Brothers and sisters, we need to see how ingrained this was in Paul. If you had asked Paul at that point in his life why he was so dedicated to Judaism, he would have said, “God gave us the Ten Commandments. They came from the hand of God, not from man.”
“The law of Moses came from God. The covenant that God made with the people, He made with the nation of Israel, of which I am a member. The Passover feast that we celebrate is a celebration of God’s release from bondage of my people four hundred years ago.”
“We are a predestined people, to be a testimony to God on this earth. We had the tabernacle, where the actual presence of God resides, and the temple. The priesthood God gave to us, that we might be able to serve and worship the living God. The sacrifices we make are to God.”
“We had our father Abraham. It says the God of glory appeared to Abraham, and we are Abraham’s children. We are his heritage: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God raised up Moses, our greatest leader, to lead us out of bondage. He gave us prophets. He gave us kings. He gave us the greatest king that has been, King David.”
But you know, brothers and sisters, what Paul did not realize until later was that all of these were symbols. All of these were representative of God, but they were not the real thing. Later, they are referred to as the shadow of things to come. But they were not the real thing.
Not only could he legitimately say that all of this was from God and that it meant everything to him, but unfortunately, the Jewish legal system had become corrupted. Many of the Pharisees, you know, the Lord rebuked for not following the law that they preached. “Hypocrites,” He called them. In one place He even called them vipers.
But Paul was not that way. Paul even confessed that before the law he was blameless. He had followed it to a T. Brothers and sisters, they had over ten thousand rules by which they interpreted the law of Moses.
Just for instance, on the Sabbath they said, “Okay, here is the Sabbath. You cannot cook on the Sabbath.” Most women would love that. But they said you cannot cook on the Sabbath, you cannot pick up sticks on the Sabbath to build a fire, and you can only walk a certain distance. If you exceed that distance, you have violated the law.
In other words, they took what was from God and really corrupted it. Men got into this thing of following rules instead of seeing God and seeing Christ. But that was Paul’s life.
At the age of twelve, around twelve most likely, Paul went to Jerusalem to study the law. He lived in Tarsus, four hundred and fifty miles north of Jerusalem. That is how far he traveled. He studied under Gamaliel, who was the most learned man among the Pharisees at that time.
In fact, Gamaliel was also of the Sanhedrin, and today he would be similar to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Sanhedrin was the judiciary arm of the Pharisees.
But Paul, like I said, was no hypocrite. He was totally given and followed it to a T. Judaism was a part of his very fiber and being. It was the purpose of his life, what he lived for. He, like the rest of the Jewish nation, was looking for the Messiah.
But their view of the Messiah was one who would come and overthrow the Roman government that suppressed them. He would become the earthly king, and their nation would become the ruling nation.
We need to know something of this background to appreciate Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. When Jesus Christ came, we know He came as the Son of God. It was a revolution to the religion of that day, the Jewish religion.
Jesus Christ came, brothers and sisters, not only as the Son of Man, but He said He was the Son of God. They could not receive that. But it was a great change in the dispensation. It changed from the dispensation of law to the dispensation of grace when Jesus Christ came. Grace and truth came with Jesus Christ.
It was a whole new paradigm, in today’s vernacular. Paul’s whole world was about to shift. The new paradigm was a shift from the shadow to the reality; a shift from law and earthly promises to grace and spiritual blessings and promises in Christ.
It was a shift from the nation of Israel being the testimony of God on earth—in which they still are, in a way—to the church, which Peter now refers to as the holy nation. A great change was about to take place, and Paul was not ready for it. Neither was the Jewish nation.
Out of the eternal counsels of time and history in the past, God began to reveal a mystery that He had hidden until this point in time. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was the Son of God—something they were not ready for.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus coming to this earth brought out the onslaught of the spiritual forces of darkness as we had never seen before. They are described in Ephesians 6: the principalities and powers of darkness. Once the reality came, they came out in fury against our Lord Jesus.
You know, when our Lord was here, He told them—and He would have told Paul the same thing—“You are searching the Scriptures, and you are seeking eternal life by following all the rules, and yet these Scriptures are speaking of Me. You are missing Me.”
He claimed to be the Son of God. “Blasphemy,” Paul would have said. He was in agreement with all the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees. This was blasphemy: the words even to consider that You are the Son of God.
The Lord Jesus said, “If you destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up again.” “Blasphemy. You are talking about destroying this temple that came from God? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s blasphemy.”
Their response to Jesus was, “Away with Him.” The Messiah, the Savior of the world—that was their response. You have to remember, in Paul’s eyes, and in the eyes of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, Jesus was an impostor and His followers were traitors.
The miracles that Jesus did, they said, were of the devil, not God. Impostor, and His followers were traitors.
Interestingly enough, most believe that Paul was a part of that Sanhedrin because he got letters from the judicial council to go out and persecute the Christians. In other words, Saul was the enforcer of the Jewish judicial council. When the council made a ruling, Paul was used to enforce it if there was resistance.
That brings us to Stephen, the first martyr mentioned in the Word of God after Christ came. It says that Stephen, in Acts 6:8, was full of faith and power, doing wonders and miracles, and speaking the Word of God—that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the Son of God. “Blasphemy,” they said.
They said that he was speaking against the law of Moses and teaching that the temple was going to be destroyed by Jesus. Of course, this was not really true. But the judicial council brought Stephen before them and before the people.
You remember the story from Acts. It says, as he began his defense, his face began to glow like that of an angel. He was glowing. He began to tell them of the history of Israel and their relationship with God.
But he ended by telling these people their true condition. This is what he said to them: “You are stiff-necked. You have hardened hearts. You have deaf ears. You are resisting the Holy Spirit.”
“Your fathers persecuted and killed the prophets, and yet the prophets were speaking of this Jesus, whom you have betrayed and murdered.” That is what he said to them. Then he said, “You speak of the law. You have not kept it.”
They rushed upon him, brothers and sisters. It says they gnashed their teeth. They took him out and stoned him. As he was being stoned, it says in the Word of God, he looked up.
He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He cried out, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
That was his testimony. His face was glowing like an angel, and he said, “I see Jesus. He is standing at the right hand of God. He is the Son of God.” And they stoned him to death.
Saul—Paul, the enforcer—was there. Paul said, “I consented to his death.” Paul even guarded the belongings of those who were stoning Stephen.
Saul did not see what Stephen saw. He did not see Jesus standing at the right hand of God. But he did see Stephen’s face glowing like that of an angel, and he did hear the testimony that Stephen was looking up and had seen Jesus, the Son of God, standing at the right hand of God.
Brothers and sisters, I think there is no doubt that this made a great impression on Paul. It began to work on his conscience because later, when the Lord challenged him, He said, “You have been kicking against the goads.” In other words, your conscience has been pricked, but you are struggling and fighting.
Paul was so infuriated at this traitor—or at least, he considered him a traitor to the Jewish religion—that he went to the council and said, “I want letters. Give me permission to go to Damascus, two hundred and fifty miles away, a Gentile city. I want to go there and seek out the Christians. I want to throw them in prison.”
What a man—so zealous. And he did. But on the way to Damascus, a bright light shone before him. He was blinded. The light was so intense and so bright. Then he heard these words:
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
Saul, blinded by the light, said, “Who are You, Lord?” In other words, he knew this was the Lord—Someone to whom he needed to submit—but he did not know who the Lord was. “You are accusing me of persecuting You, but who are You?”
The Lord replied, “I am Jesus. I am Jesus, the One whom you are persecuting.” I know it is hard. You have been kicking against the goads. I have been trying to get through to you, but you have been resisting. You became infuriated and are now seeking to persecute even more. Everyone you persecute, you are persecuting Me.
I can imagine what Paul’s thoughts were at that time. I cannot say these were his thoughts, but I could not help but say, “Lord, I tried to put myself in my brother’s place.”
“Jesus—the One who was crucified on Calvary’s cross—is that Who is facing me now? Is that the Lord? Jesus, the Crucified One—is that the One Stephen testified was standing at the right hand of God? I saw that Stephen was stoned to death. He was executed at my consent. And now this One before me is saying that He was the One I was persecuting.”
As you study, you find that these believers were the body of Christ on this earth. As he persecuted them, he persecuted Christ. I can hear Paul in his thoughts: “But I did not realize this. I did not know this. I did not understand.”
“Yes, this vision—this thing that I saw and heard when Stephen was stoned—has really gotten to me and bothered me. And now I see it as Jesus, the same Jesus whom I was persecuting. I thought I was doing God’s will, but I was really fighting against God Himself.”
“I was fighting against Jesus, my Lord. Lord, I repent before You, and I submit.” Then Paul says, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?” He was fully submitted, fully committed. Brothers and sisters, he had been fully convicted, if you want to say that.
Sometimes I think today the reason we have such poor births, premature births, in the Christian faith is that people have not become convicted as much as they have been convinced of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is one thing to be convinced, but that does not bring salvation. It is conviction that you are a sinner and that you need to submit to the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord.
Many times, I think this is so true of Christian life. I know it was true in my own life: many years passed from the time I accepted Jesus as my Savior until I accepted Him as my Lord. Brothers and sisters, that was not true with Paul. It was all in one moment.
That is really the way it should be. He came under such conviction, and he saw the reality that Jesus was Lord of his life.
Then the Lord Jesus did an interesting thing. He left Paul blinded for three days. I really think he needed that, to begin to grasp what had just happened to him.
But he was blind, and the Lord sent him Ananias. You remember who Ananias was? He is only mentioned one time. He was a brother in Jerusalem. We do not know if he was one of the leading brothers, but one thing I am pretty sure of: he was full of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord spoke to him, and he said, “Lord, You want to send me to open the eyes of Saul—of Paul? This guy is going around throwing everyone in prison and murdering people. Stephen was murdered at his direction and consent.”
The Lord said, “Yes, I want you to go.” He went. Brothers and sisters, that is amazing. It shows you that Brother Ananias was a good brother. We do not know if he had any standing as one of the leaders in the church. He was not named as one of the seven chosen to serve tables, as Stephen was.
He was just a brother. The Lord was showing Paul something: he needed his brother. He needed his brothers and sisters. Paul would not have received his sight without that little brother coming and laying hands on him.
Then the Lord told him through Ananias, “You are a vessel of God. You have been chosen to bear the Lord’s name before the Gentiles and before Israel. You will suffer greatly—not for punishment, but because you lift up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You will suffer for the Lord’s name’s sake.”
Brothers and sisters, there is no doubt about it: he was a changed man. He was not just a convinced man. He was a changed man—convicted and changed.
He was no longer married to Judaism. He was no longer bound to Judaism. He was bound to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ said, “I did not come to destroy the law, all the things that God had given. I have fulfilled them. I am the reality.”
“These were just shadows of things. Paul, you hung on to symbols. You hung on to shadows. But I am the reality that all of the symbols represented. I am all the words of the Old Testament.”
Brothers and sisters, Paul’s life was changed. Is our life changed? I think that is the question. Have we encountered the Lord in such a way that our lives have changed—that we have given up trying to follow rules and the law, to follow the Holy Spirit and follow Him thoroughly and without question?
Are we hanging on to traditions, or is it real? I would ask you today, when you come and take this table, honestly: is it just a religious act that you perform, or is there something living about it?
Brothers and sisters, we do that week after week not to make it a tradition or a thing that is required, because the Lord Himself says, “As often as you do it, do it in remembrance of Me.” But it is real; it is living. Enter into the spirit of it when you come.
Ask the Lord Jesus, “Lord, bring me into the spirit of this table.” You know, Paul’s explanation that our brother read this morning out of Corinthians—he said, “The Lord revealed this to me about the table.” He was not at the table. He was not one of the disciples at the Lord’s Last Supper.
But the Lord came to him and told Paul how special that Last Supper was to Him. He revealed the spiritual reality of that table to Paul. In Corinthians, Paul shares with us the spiritual reality.
“This is the blood of the new covenant that God has made with you. This is His body broken for you.” That is the spirit of the table.
Oh, brothers and sisters, when we take this table, I hope we are convicted. I hope that we are released. I hope that we come into the joy of having and being with our Lord Jesus, as He said, “I am in your midst where two or three are gathered together in My name.”
That is the reality. Just taking the elements is not the reality. The reality is through your spirit in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I did not mean to go quite so far on that, but brothers, this is important. It is a good illustration.
Spiritual revelation is what our brother had. In the book of Ephesians, Paul prays that the Lord would give to us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
Let me say something: knowledge will not emancipate you. It is revelation. It is when the Lord Jesus, by the Spirit, speaks to you and makes this Word living to you that brings emancipation in your life—release that breaks bondages and breaks tradition.
Paul, or Saul at that time, think about it: you would never have been able to convince Paul by argument, by reasoning, by trying to educate him, teach him, or persuade him that Jesus was Lord until he met Him on the Damascus Road.
That was revelation. Up until then, he was bound to following rules. Now he was released to follow the living Christ, the reality. God’s reality to us is Jesus Christ.
God wants us to know Him, to be with Him, to fellowship with Him, and it is in Jesus Christ. That is why He sent the Lord Jesus. Paul was fully emancipated. You would never have been able to persuade Paul to be a Christian. It had to come by revelation.
Now, might I say this to you? You might say, “Well, have I ever had revelation?” If you have come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you have had revelation. It is because the Lord spoke to you in your heart. It is because you were convicted in your heart and willingly gave up your life to Him and said, “You are Lord of my life.”
Yes, you had revelation. Now, I have seen people who have been convinced, but I have also seen their lives, and there is no change. They are convinced, and they may even start fellowshipping with saints, yet still do not know the Lord.
Oh, we must know Him by revelation. Our revelation only comes from God. He speaks to you; it is by the Holy Spirit. You better be thankful that we have the Holy Spirit to speak to us.
Oh, Paul was so captured. He later said in Philippians, “I have given up all things. I consider all things as just rubbish, that I might know Jesus Christ.”
Brothers and sisters, he had the Jewish heritage. He had it all. He was a man’s man among the Pharisees. He said, “That was just rubbish. Now I know Jesus.”
Revelation emancipates us. Revelation opens our eyes, brothers and sisters. Revelation sets us free. That is why Paul says in Ephesians, “I pray for revelation for you saints as you read this letter.”
Let me say one more time: this is not a doctrinal presentation. It took revelation. It is not just the letter of the law. It is living now to Paul.
Revelation is living. It affects your life. It changes your life. It captures your life. It gives you new purpose. It gives you your vocation for life.
Now, in this book of Ephesians, Paul is trying to share all of his revelation of Christ, all of his experiences of Christ, into one little short letter. It is a concentrated letter.
Just think about it. In the beginning, in the first chapter, everything is in Christ. He exhausts it. It is the longest sentence in the Bible, if you read the King James—from verse 3 to verse 17. He just goes on and on.
“This is in Christ, our salvation in Christ.” Then he stops. It is like he has to take a breath and says, “Wait a minute. I can tell you all this, but it is not going to mean anything. I pray that the Lord will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation as you read this letter.”
He does not want it just to be knowledge. Boy, I have got a lot. I told you I was riding a bull this morning, and I do not know if I will last that long.
I remember—you remember the story of the man born blind? Oh, the Pharisees, after Jesus had touched him and he could see, the Pharisees and family and friends all gathered around him. “Is this really the one that was born blind?”
They even questioned his parents. “Is this the one that was born blind?” “Yes, that is our son.” “Well, how did this happen? What happened? Who did it? How did it happen? What method was used?”
They said, “You are going to have to ask him.” So they asked him. Three times they interrogated this man—the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin. Finally, he said, “Look, this is all I know. Jesus touched my eyes. Once I was blind, but now I see.”
That was his testimony. Oh, they said, “That is foolishness.” They would not believe him, but they could not deny that this man could see. That is revelation: once I was blind, but now I see.
Let me ask you a question: do you believe revelation is possible for you? Can you have revelation?
Ephesians 5:14, Paul says:
Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
In other words, you cannot be passive about this matter of receiving light and revelation from the Lord. You have to be active. He said, “Arise.” You cannot stay asleep. Wake up. Pray.
That is the way you receive light. That is why we have been consistently praying on Wednesday night for light and revelation as we study this book.
I want us to grasp something of the greatness of what Paul had seen and experienced in his life. He concentrates all of that, at this point twenty-six years, into this one little letter of what he has seen and experienced.
There is a soap on the market that is really good at getting grease out. What is it? Dawn. That is the one I am thinking of. That is the one they use to clean the ducks and the fowl when an oil spill happens.
Anyway, I bought some recently. I went to the store, and you can get your ordinary version of Dawn. But then I looked and it says “3X.” You can get the concentrated version of Dawn. That is what I bought. It is three times more powerful and effective, and you do not have to use as much.
Well, anyway, when you come to the book of Ephesians, this is Paul’s life all concentrated into one book. Of course, there is more in Colossians and Philippians too; I cannot leave that out. But this book concentrates it all.
In the first eleven verses, like I said, it is the longest sentence in the whole Bible. Paul almost explodes. If you reread that first chapter, it is an explosion. The words just pour out of Paul’s heart.
You are blessed in Christ, chosen in Christ, without blame in Christ, predestined in Christ, redeemed in Christ—for His glory.
He exhausts the language, brothers and sisters. He cannot find the superlatives needed to describe what he has seen and experienced. He talks about the hope of His calling, the riches of His glory, the exceeding greatness of His power, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
Brothers and sisters, Paul is like a dam breaking open when you read that first chapter. Then he stops and says, “Look, I have just got to pray at this point.” That is when he prays for wisdom and revelation.
His revelation did not just start there. It was not a one-time thing in his life. The Damascus Road, of course, was his beginning.
But he started preaching in the synagogues right after his conversion, proclaiming that Jesus was the Son of God. They said, “Not only is Jesus a traitor and an impostor, so is Paul.” They all turned against him and put out a wanted-dead-or-alive order on him.
His ministry was so powerful, it shook them up. They sought to kill him, and the sentence of death was truly upon Paul. When Paul said the sentence of death was upon him, it literally was upon him.
Even thirty years later, he was actually martyred. But the sentence of death was upon him throughout his ministry. Remember, they let him down in a basket to save him.
Then he went to a desert area for three years. You might say, “What in the world was he doing for three years?” Brothers and sisters, he had learned a lot through Gamaliel. He had all the teaching and all the learning.
They say that the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin had memorized the first five books of the Old Testament. I do not know whether that is true or not, but certainly Paul knew the Word of God intimately. But he did not know the Word; he knew the letter.
Now, as he began to look at the Old Testament in the light of his vision of Jesus Christ, he became amazed. For three years, I can just see him saying, “Wow. Jesus Christ.”
“The tabernacle is where I thought God rested. But no—Jesus Christ came as the tabernacle of God. He is the temple of God. God was in Christ Jesus.”
“The Passover—oh my goodness. I thought it was just freeing us from Egypt, but Jesus is our Passover. We were under slavery and the penalty of death, and now Jesus has set us free. He is our Passover.”
“Oh, He is the candlestick in the temple. He is the light of the world. The showbread—He is the bread. He is our life.”
“The veil—oh, I did not see this before. That veil was rent when He was crucified. Now I see that veil was the physical body of our Lord Jesus. The glory of God was hidden. The ark was hidden behind that veil until Jesus came and died.”
“Then it was opened, and now we have access to the Holy of Holies. Oh, the ark itself, with a mercy seat on top—what was it? It was made of wood overlaid with gold: wood speaking of humanity, gold speaking of God.”
Brothers and sisters, he saw it. Christ Jesus, the Son of Man, is also the Son of God. It is God joined with humanity—not sinful humanity, but God joined with perfect humanity.
Brothers and sisters, Paul saw that this was the new man in you. You have a new man in you, a new “I.” Paul says, “Put off the old man and put on the new man.” What is that new man? It is Christ in union with humanity. It is Christ that we put on.
But you remember, He is now joined with us in humanity—not fallen humanity that we have, but that perfect humanity. That is the “I” that He wants us to put on and to live.
I could go on and on. I better get on now; I am halfway through. The ark and the mercy seat—it was mercy. It was Christ. It was the mercy of God that sent Christ to us.
The revelation did not stop with the Damascus Road. Remember, Paul said he was taken to the third heaven. You know what? The third heaven is where God is and where the throne is. He was taken up to the third heaven.
It also says he went to paradise, where those who are sleeping in Christ wait until the resurrection day. He was in both places. He said, “I saw things unlawful for me to speak.”
Now, I just want to say something. I think the word unlawful does not really translate what I think Paul was trying to express. I do not think it meant he was not permitted to speak or say it. Some say that; I will not argue with you.
But I believe what he was really saying was, “I saw things and heard things I honestly cannot describe to you. I just do not have the ability. I do not have the words. I do not have the language.”
You know, John struggled with that in the book of Revelation, to express to us what he had seen. Well, anyway, these are revelations that our brother had. I do not know if you have been to the third heaven yet. I do not think I have.
But the Lord says we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, does He not? Quite amazing revelation our brother had.
Now, you would think that after the three years he would be right back in Jerusalem. But no, he went briefly to Jerusalem, then went back to his hometown, Tarsus. For eight years he ministered around Tarsus and in that region, about four hundred and fifty miles north of Jerusalem.
But in his eleventh year after his revelation—remember, eleven years had passed—Barnabas sought Paul out and brought him to Antioch. The church in Antioch received Paul, and Paul began to minister there.
That is where he was when the Lord spoke to the elders there and said, “Send out Paul and Barnabas for the ministry.” And they did. Paul spent the next thirty years on three missionary journeys.
Wow, all the experiences he had in those missionary journeys. Brothers and sisters, I want you to get the forces with which Paul had to wrestle. The whole time on those missionary journeys—read the book of Acts—that is where it takes up most of Paul’s life.
He was dogged everywhere he went. Judaizers followed him, the ones who wanted people to stay with Judaism. “Oh, you can accept Christ, but you really need to follow the law.” The Judaizers continually followed Paul everywhere he went, sometimes before he arrived.
They sought to discredit Paul himself, to discredit his apostleship, to discredit his teaching, and some sought to kill Paul.
Brothers and sisters, Paul did not just give us his thoughts about the powers of darkness. He experienced them working in his life.
In 2 Corinthians, he said he labored constantly, was flogged, whipped with thirty-nine stripes on five different occasions, was beaten with rods, and on one occasion was stoned. Most think he was stoned to death in Lystra.
He said, “I was shipwrecked three times in my travels. One time I spent a whole day and night treading water in the ocean.” During his ministry he was weary, hungry, thirsty, and often in pain.
Then upon him was all the care of the assemblies. Through it all, he experienced God’s grace and God’s provision. One other thing Paul experienced, brothers and sisters, was resurrection life.
That is the only life that could have made it through all that our brother went through. The spiritual conflict was intense with Paul. Indeed, he experienced the principalities and powers and rulers of darkness trying to take him out.
Ephesians 6, when you get to that, is not a teaching on spiritual warfare, brothers and sisters. It is an admonition from Paul because he had experienced the forces of darkness and hell.
He knew that if you try to carry the testimony of Jesus, you too will have to face the same thing. The gates of hell, just as Jesus said, would come against His testimony, the church. And they have. Paul experienced it.
Now, twenty-six years after the Damascus Road, Paul is in prison. Brothers and sisters, he does not know what the outcome of his trial will be. Actually, two years later he was released for a while, but then he was put in prison again and martyred.
But here he is trying to share all of this revelation and experience with us, that all men might see. Remember the burden of this letter: that all men might see. He said, “All men might see what I have seen. I want to share that with you.”
Brothers and sisters, Paul speaks of the will of God, the all-encompassing, governing will of God in this book. Do you know what that will is?
It is the will of God that has guided creation, that guided Christ coming and Calvary’s cross, and that has guided us until we get back with our Lord Jesus Christ. There is an all-encompassing will of God. In this letter, Paul shares it with us. Do we know what it is?
He speaks of the mystery of God that has been hidden from the ages but now is being revealed. It was real among the apostles. Do you know what that mystery is—what He could not share with the Old Testament saints, but was able to share after Christ came and was resurrected?
He speaks of the mystery of God. There is also a mystery of Christ. Do you know the difference?
He speaks of God’s eternal purpose, the guiding purpose of our lives for the ages—not only the age in which we are living now, not only this earth and life, but the ages to come. There is an eternal purpose in this book. Do we know what it is?
It is God’s prime directive. Do we know what it is? He speaks of the exceeding greatness of our calling in view of this great purpose. Do you know what your calling is in Christ? He says we have been chosen and predestined. What for?
He speaks of the adoption of sons, coming into sonship. I have not got much longer, but I want you to know what we are looking for as we go into this book.
He speaks of the fullness of Christ being manifested, being expressed. Brothers and sisters, are you involved in that fullness? Are you involved in the fullness of Christ being expressed?
He speaks of the body of Christ. This was a revelation. I want you to know this: the revelation of the body of Christ was unique to Paul.
The other apostles, of course, talked about the temple of God, the house of God, where God’s presence would reside. So did Paul in this very letter. He says we are a habitation for God, and Christ is the chief cornerstone. It is a living temple.
But he goes on to say, “We are the body of Christ.” The temple is a habitation of Christ. The body of Christ is God’s instrument that He will use on this earth and in the ages to come.
Brothers and sisters, is this reality to you? Are these just metaphors—the body of Christ, being the temple of Christ? Are these just metaphors, or are they reality to you?
They were not metaphors to Paul. It was real. Being part of the body of Christ is real. You are living stones built together, it says. But it says you are also joints and bands that hold the body together, and it builds itself up in love through fellowship in Christ.
Are you a functioning member of the body of Christ, to be a part of the filling up of Christ, the fullness of Christ?
He says that we are to walk worthy. In other words, after the first three chapters, it gets very practical about things.
You think, “Oh man, he has talked about all these heavenly, eternal purposes,” and then he says, “Men, love your wives.” That has very much to do with God’s eternal purpose.
If you are a boss, you have to be careful how you work with your people. In other words, you are a living testimony all of your life. You represent Him on this earth, and you need to walk worthy of that.
Anyway, all of this becomes very practical in our walk.
He speaks of the heavenlies. You are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. You have redemption in Christ in the heavenlies. What in the world are the heavenlies? What is this realm?
Brothers and sisters, let me just say this much: there is a spiritual realm, of which the third heaven is where Christ and God oversee all this spiritual realm. But you have come into a new paradigm as well. You have come into a life in the Spirit.
You are no longer just in an earthly realm here. You are in a spiritual realm where everything is in the Spirit and works by faith.
Brothers and sisters, do you know what these heavenly places are? Have you experienced being seated with Christ in the heavenlies? I do not think that is just something that we dream about. I think He means for us to experience that in our spirit.
Spiritual warfare is in the heavenlies. That is where all this warfare is being carried out. We see the effects of it in our lives on the earth, but it is being carried out in the spiritual realm. That is why we are encouraged to pray, and that is how we affect the spiritual realm.
Nine times Paul speaks of glory. Now, I want you to remember this: glory is God’s endgame. I hope you understand the endgame. That is what you are trying to get to. That is what you are trying to achieve. That is what He created you for: glory.
Not glory just for you, but glory for Him. Glory be to God in the church through Jesus Christ.
Ten times Paul uses the word grace. That should tell us something. It is by grace, after all.
Well, I told you, it is like riding a bull. That is the way I feel right now. But brothers and sisters, all that was on my heart is the spirit of this book: that all men might see.
Paul had seen so much and experienced so much, but it does not mean we cannot experience it too. We might not have such dramatic experiences as Paul had, but in the Spirit, we experience it.
Well, Lord, I just come to You today. I offer it all back to You. Lord, just take Your Word and use it as needed.
Lord, I do pray, though, that as we look into this book of Ephesians, we will see—not just understand, not just grasp it in some mental way, but really see.
Lord, bring us to our knees. Lord, we ask for that spirit of wisdom and revelation. In Jesus’ name. Amen.