‘I pray that the eyes of your
heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has
called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and
his incomparably great power for us who believe…’ (Ephesians 1:18)
As we have been looking at, Paul
is praying that the ‘eyes of their heart may be enlightened’; meaning that they
be enabled to see truth, and that it becomes a part of their ‘heart’- the
source of all passion and action.
Paul reveals three things that he
prays would get into their hearts:
i) Firstly, that they ‘know the
hope to which he has called you’.
ii) Secondly, that they know
about ‘the riches of glorious inheritance’
iii) Thirdly, that they know ‘his
incomparably great power for us who believe’.
We will focus on the second
today.
What are these ‘riches’ that Paul
is speaking about?
This means two things:
Firstly, It's the riches that
we will inherit when we die and when Christ comes again. We have a ‘glorious
inheritance’ ahead of us. As Paul puts in 1 Corinthians 13:12,
‘For now we see only a reflection
as in a mirror dimly; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then
I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.’
Secondly, it’s the riches
that we are to God - we are God’s inheritance
- He is ‘inheriting’ us! Jesus’ death has purchased us for God; we belong to
Him now, but when that day of ‘glory’ comes (that we looked at yesterday), He
will have us in a new and completed way.
He treasures us. We are His ‘holy
people’. ‘Holy’ means to be special and separated- we have been chosen and
separated as God’s special possession forever.
As F.F. Bruce has put it,
‘Paul prays here that His readers
may appreciate the value which God places on them.’
You may want to pray something
like this,
“Father, I love you and am
longing for that eternity with you that I will inherit because Jesus, I belong to
you now and forever. You have chosen me and you delight in our future together.
Help me to love you as you love me. Amen”
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