Prayer for Illumination | Ephesians 1:15-23
In Randy Alcorn’s book “Heaven”, He shares this story of swimmer Florence Chadwick: “In 1952, young Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She'd already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. On the day of the swim, the weather was foggy and chilly, she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for fifteen hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and that she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn't until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, "All I could see was the fog…. I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it,"
Consider her words: "I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.
" What is that shore for you? In whatever you are going through right now, what is the thing that would enable you to endure? And what is the fog that hinders your vision? To think about it another way, complete the statement: if I just had THIS or if I just knew BLANK, then life would be good. Your mind may go a number of places - a pay raise, a weekend getaway, certainty about health, vocation, or relational outcomes.
For all the potential ways that you could answer that question, our text this morning points us to the God-given hope and means he supplies to navigate the fog of life.
Let us then turn our attention to Ephesians 1:15-23 with eager confidence to hear God’s authoritative word. And out of reverence for God’s word, let us stand as I read beginning in V. 15…
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
In our text this morning, the Apostle Paul gives a report of his prayer for the believers. This prayer comes on the heels of his benediction exalting in the Triune God’s saving work. This is what we have been working through the last three weeks going through Ephesians 1:3-14. In it, we have seen the glory of the Triune God’s salvation accomplished in the person and work of Christ. The Apostle Paul has effectively laid out the “shore” before our eyes. The shore that will fill us with strength and hope to endure the metaphorical swim of life - by fixing our eyes on Christ.
But the challenge is, we do not always see him. There is a sort of fog that hinders our vision. Because of this, what we need, like swimmer Florence Chadwick, is to have that fog cleared away. Paul is not surprised by this, which is why Paul follows up his declarations about what God has done in v. 3-14, with a prayer that the believers would be able to see and understand. Paul anticipates the reality of the Fog.
Now the thing about fog is that the best way to get it to clear up is to have the light of the sun shine on it. The light and heat of the sun acts to burn away the fog. In the same way, we need the illuminating light of the Spirit to burn away the fog which hinders us from seeing Christ. Paul’s prayer reveals that to truly see and know God you need the illuminating work of the Spirit. This, I think, is the main point of this Passage - The illuminating work of the Spirit enables you to know God. Your very survival as a christian depends on this illumination. We are going to look at Paul’s prayer this morning through 2 questions. 1) Why you need Spiritual Illumination and 2) What Spiritual Illumination does.
Why you need Spiritual Illumination
Paul provides two statements in this text that demonstrate your need for Spiritual Illumination. The first is implied by what Paul says in V. 15, “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you”. The “for this reason” refers back to the miracle of Salvation that God has secured for you through Christ. The whole emphasis has been on God’s work of Grace to bring this salvation about. Therefore, the fact that there is any faith or love in these believers at all is a work of God. Faith and love are not natural to them. This is why Paul gives thanks to God. He knows that the fruit of faith evident in their lives is not something they could manufacture on their own, but is a work of God’s grace. So for you too, if you have any faith in Christ, or any love for his people, praise God! This is a miracle he is working in you.
The second way Paul demonstrates our need for Spiritual Illumination is by what he prays for. While Paul’s opening statement indicates that there is already some evidence of God’s grace at work in their lives, Paul knows that this does not mean all the work is done. There is more that God means to do in these believers, which is why Paul continues to pray for them. This begins in V.17, “...Remembering you in my prayers, THAT the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, (V.18) Having the eyes of your heart enlightened…” The fact that Paul prays this is telling about our natural condition. He prays for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to enlighten the eyes of our heart, because they are by nature “darkened”, or ‘foggy’.
Scripture reveals at least 4 things that lend to this fogginess.
Sin
Paul makes this point again later in CH. 4 verse 18, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” The effect of sin on the human heart and mind is corrupting to such a degree that by nature we cannot understand God or relate to him as we ought.
Natural limitations (Whether because of sin or just the decaying effects of living in fallen world)
This is why Paul writes in 1 Cor. 2:14, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” This is how Jesus can say about the crowds that followed him, “seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
Care and concerns of this Life
The fog which can cloud our view of Christ can result from distractions or cares of life. The fact that Paul tells the Corinthian church to “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.” Assumes this disposition in us. Frankly, there are some things that seem so pressing or important to tend to in our daily lives that we do not even think about the things of God. We are deceived into thinking that what God has to say cannot really provide what I need most.
Our enemy - The Devil
2 Cor. 4 says, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” On top of the reality of remaining sin, the finitude of our human limitations, busyness, financial burdens, relational strife, pursuit of worldly pleasures, etc. All of this is leveraged by our enemy the Devil to increase the fog. His aim is to blind you from seeing Christ. All of these things work together to oppose and darken the heart of men.
Now, I think it may be important here to briefly clarify a distinction between two theological terms - regeneration and illumination. Both refer to a supernatural work of God’s Spirit to bring understanding. Regeneration is the Holy Spirit’s act of producing real spiritual life in a person for the first time, this is what the bible calls being ‘born again’. Illumination follows regeneration and enables believers to grasp the truths of God more clearly. So, Spiritual Illumination is an ongoing work of the Spirit in the life of the believer that enables them to see, understand, and rightly apply God’s word to their lives. I believe that illumination is what Paul is praying for primarily in this text. V. 15 demonstrates that the people Paul is writing to are already believers, but they have an ongoing need to have their eyes opened to see Christ.
I am acutely aware of this need even as we have been walking through the truths of V.3-14 of Ephesians 1 the last few weeks. The ongoing analogy to capture this has been of the Grand Canyon. Just as a word or picture cannot do justice to describe the actual experience of witnessing the grand canyon, so each preacher has felt beyond their limits to adequately capture the glory. A few weeks ago, Ryan used the word “sublime” to describe what is going on.
Up until a few weeks ago, I had no idea what that word meant, but now I think it is a new favorite of mine. When you break down the word literally, it means to push up to the limit. And is used to describe something that is grand or lofty and requires you to push the limits of your ability to comprehend... In layman's terms we could say, it is ‘mind blowing’.
But, Have you felt your limits pressed by the glory of this the last few weeks? Does the reality of God ‘blessing you with every Spiritual Blessing in the Heavenly places’ fill you with wonder and gratitude? Are you filled with comfort and peace to know that God knew you before the foundations of the Earth, and that before anything in creation had come into being, He Predestined you, in Love, for adoption to himself? Does the guarantee of an eternal inheritance - which the best in this life can only be a foretaste, because in that day you will enjoy all God’s goodness toward you free from sin - does that fill you with an unshakable hope and joy regardless of what life brings?
The effect that these truths should bring, if we really believed them, is inexpressible love, joy, peace, patience, goodness… the fruits of the Spirit!
I imagine after hearing these truths from God’s word, some maybe had a different response. Perhaps you heard the preaching and were left thinking, “I don’t get it? I am sure it was good, but it all went right over my head.” Or maybe, the preaching through these verses made sense to you intellectually, but you just didn’t feel all that affected by it. The only feeling you got was a sense of guilt for not marveling at the truths as much as you should. Or perhaps, you left here fired up with encouragement from the preaching, but as soon as you step back into the grind of life all of that encouragement is forgotten. I can relate to all these different experiences of hearing the glory of God’s word preached. What is going on? Why are we not affected rightly by these awesome doctrines? Even though you are a Christian, sealed by the Holy Spirit, you can still experience the fog.
I have helped coach track at Lincoln High School for several years now. A few years back, the state track meet was out in the Black Hills, so we took the team to see Mount Rushmore. Many of the athletes had never seen the monument before. After making the drive up to the Site, we walked up to the viewing area to see the 4 faces and it was completely covered in fog. It was so dense, you could not have guessed what was beyond about 10 feet in front with someone telling you. I attempted to explain to the athletes what they should be seeing, and let’s just say they were not impressed. The impressive view that I knew was there, did very little to excite or amaze them as it was hidden behind the fog. I could try to show them a picture or buy them a shirt with the faces on it, but none of that could do justice to the real thing. What they needed was the fog to be dispelled, so they could see the real thing. In the same way, when we come to the glories to be viewed in all that Christ is for us, our vision can be clouded. This is what we need the illuminating power of the Spirit to do for us.
This ought to produce a humility in us and earnestness to pray for illumination whenever we read God’s word. Unless the Spirit opens your eyes to see the truth as glorious, you are without hope and wasting your time. Even as I preach this text, I am aware that if the effect of this text depends wholly on my ability to explain, we all may as well go home. But Praise God it doesn’t. God does give the gift of illumination by his Holy Spirit. But How exactly does this work in our lives?
What Spiritual Illumination Does to You
We see in v. 17 that Spiritual Illumination comes to us as a gift. Paul prays “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him…” What exactly is this gift of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation?
This spirit is not just a temperament, a feeling, a set of qualities, or way of life. The Spirit is a person. Specifically, the third person in the trinity bearing in himself all the qualities and character of God. He is given to believers as a gift in order to grant supernatural wisdom and revelation. The way that the Holy Spirit grants these is not in a vague, mystical sort of way. Rather, look at the text, it says this comes “in the knowledge of him”. That is in true knowledge of God.
Modern Psychology and Philosophy emphasizes the importance of ‘knowing yourself’. To know yourself truly is the modern solution proposed to answer many of life problems. But Scripture calls us to look outside ourselves. Theologian Henry Alford states the comparison well; “For philosophy comes to man with the message, Know thyself; the Gospel meets him with the far more glorious and fruitful watchword, Know thy God.” We come to know and understand reality rightly in the knowledge of God. While this knowledge can come in part by observing the universe God has made, relying on our reason and powers of observation is insufficient. We come to know God specifically and truly through his revealed Word in scripture. And all of this climaxing in Christ.
Christ is the image of the invisible God. So to know Christ is to know God. He says in John 14:9, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”. So to put this together. The Holy Spirit works to enlighten the eyes of your heart with wisdom and revelation by magnifying Christ to you. Jesus teaches this about the Spirit’s work in John 16, saying, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
The Spirit takes the truths of Christ, teaching & revealing them to you so you really understand and feel them to be beautiful and great. When you are slogging through the fog of life, you may find it difficult, and at times impossible, to imagine the truths that are yours in Christ.
That God really does love you.
That he really did know you by name and choose you before the foundation of the world.
That he really does forgive you all of your sin.
That he really does have good plans for you and that he really does have an eternal inheritance laid up for you.
While these things are unimaginable for you, it isn’t for God’s spirit. The Spirit knows the heart and mind of God toward you and is able to confirm the truth of them to you. Paul helps explain this in 1 Cor. 2,
“‘no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”
These verses confirm that what God has prepared for those who love him really is unimaginable for our natural abilities to comprehend. God’s thoughts and plans are way beyond any of us to comprehend. But the Spirit is able, and God has given his Spirit so that we can understand.
It is important to note that the benefits of the Holy Spirit’s illuminating work in your life do not come to you as an entirely passive bystander. You are not meant to just wait around, twiddling your thumbs, waiting for the Holy Spirit to do something, but are to be actively engaged in your mind. This means you must actually read and apply yourself to understand God’s word, trusting that the Holy Spirit will be faithful on his part to do the work of magnifying Christ. We wrestle with the text, meditate on it, chewing on it until God gives us true knowledge of him. That is, not only true facts about God, but also being rightly affected by those truths. While Illumination is a supernatural work of God, it is not some vague, mystical experience detached from reality. It is grounded in the word of God. Specifically in the revelation of Christ
The Spirit enables us to actually see Christ in the text, and in seeing Christ, be transformed. This is what Paul is saying in 2 Cor. 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord [specifically in person of Jesus Christ], are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” So to see Christ truly is to be changed from one degree of glory to another. This means that as we see Christ, we are taken from a cold, darkened sinful man into an increasingly clear reflection of Christ himself. As we see Christ, by the Spirit, we are made more into his likeness. To see Christ and become more like him is the way to live an abundant Christian life regardless of your circumstances.
In our text this morning, Paul is praying that the believers would know 3 specific things grounded in who Christ is and what he has done. Starting in v.18 “that the eyes of your hearts are enlightened to know…What is the Hope to which he has called you, What is the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and finally what is the immeasurable greatness of his power.
I want to end by looking at how knowing these 3 things, by the power of the Spirit, works to effect change.
Hope to which he has called you
Paul prays that we might know the hope to which he has called you. Hope is a powerful thing. It is what keeps vikings fans coming back season after season to simply watch them lose in the playoffs. Hope is what turned the tides when Luke Skywalker joined the Rebel Alliance’s fight against the Empire. Hope is what enabled Jacob to work 7 years, 2 times over, out of his hope to receive Rachel as his wife.
The hope that Paul is praying for us to know is not wishful thinking, but is grounded and secure as one looks back on a work that God has already accomplished in Christ. ‘The Hope to which you have been called’ is translated literally ‘the hope of his calling’. That is the hope you can have based on the certainty of God’ effective call - that those whom God called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
It is an assurance and certainty we have of our salvation because it is grounded in God’s promise and eternal decree secured in Christ’s blood. It is Good news to know your salvation does not depend on your own ability to measure up or believe hard enough, but rests on the unchanging faithfulness of God. Paul is praying that the Spirit would grant believers the assurance that they are truly called by God. So that, in this hope, they can be free to live with fresh confidence.
Think about how someone would live if they felt God was always disappointed with them - crossing his arms, just waiting for them to mess up so he can nail em. They will live with crippling anxiety. Compare that to someone who knows that God loves them, is for them, has called them to a secure hope of eternity with him. Knowing the reality of the hope of God’s call, fills them with a sturdiness that clears away the fog of doubt or your own fickle feelings.
Riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints
If God’s call is largely oriented toward a hope based on what God has already done in the past. Then, the knowledge of the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints is largely future oriented. It points us to consider all the blessings and promises that God has in store for us. This is one of those things that quickly stretches my ability to comprehend.
It is the promise of life in a redeemed world where we get the privilege of reigning with Christ. It is the inheritance of the Glorious kingdom that God has prepared for you before the foundation of the world. One that is imperishable, unspoiled, unfading, and reserved for you.
God is king of the universe. All things are his. Because he has adopted us as his children, we are coheirs with Christ of all these things. Which is why Paul can write, “... all things are yours, whether… the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. You can see why Paul is praying for supernatural grace to really know this.
If you knew that you had an infinite inheritance that would fulfill and satisfy all your desires. How would that affect you today? First, Knowing that all that God has for you is better than anything you could desire in this life fills you with genuine peace and contentment that the world cannot touch. Second, It would give you strength to defer momentary pleasures that would snare you. If you know your glorious inheritance, Why lay up treasure here where moth and rust destroy, when you are convinced of a far greater reward in heaven?
Immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe
And lastly and climatically, Paul prays that they may know the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. He does not leave us wondering what this power is exactly, but explains it, “the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ (specifically) when God raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.” So God’s power is on display in raising Christ from the dead, after he had made atonement for sin on the cross, he then ascended to the place of highest authority. That is “at the right hand of God in the heavenly places,”. One may wrongly assume that since Christ is not here in his physical body, his influence in the world is reduced. But Christ’s ascension does just the opposite, God has elevated him to the place of ultimate influence over matters on earth.
Mankind has been given the ability to gain mastery over a variety of things on the earth (animals, metals, music, etc). But there are 2 things for certain, that no human has been able to gain power over. That is the power of death and the power of evil. It is incredible that the power Paul is praying for us to know is Christ’s power over both of these spheres. He highlights Jesus’s resurrection power overthrowing death, and his exaltation to power at the right hand of the father over every other power in heaven and on earth. This includes what Paul calls in Chapter 6, “the rulers… the authorities… the cosmic powers over this present darkness... the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” All of this has been put under Jesus’s feet.
It is easy to underestimate God’s power when you look merely to what you can see God doing in your own life. Especially because much of God’s powerful working in the world is done through weakness and suffering. He works in ways that are unexpected and foolish according to earthly wisdom, so that he alone gets the glory. We live in a materialistic age, where we tend to think of people who have great wealth, or influence (like celebrities, kings or presidents) to be at the pinnacle of power. We do not readily see all that goes on behind the scenes in the spiritual realm or heavenly places. There are powers there that make any human power or influence in the world pale by comparison. And this text assures us that Christ’s power is far above even these.
This is why we need the help of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the reality of Christ’s power to us. We do not always see his power clearly worked out. Nor do we see all things brought into submission under his feet. But the Spirit does. The Spirit of God knows and confirms this to us. But where can we look now in the present age to see this? V. 22-23 “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” God’s power is on display generally through Christ’s reign over all the universe. All of creation testifies, but it is also on display in a specific way in the church. All the power and authority of Christ is at work in the Church.
In verse 10, we read that “In Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, [God is] uniting all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth”. God is uniting all things in creation under Christ as the head. Paul is praying that the believers will understand that the power that is at work to redeem and reconcile the world to God, the power which will bring about the new creation, a new universe in total harmony, united under Christ is the same power at work in the Church.
Although the church may not seem all that impressive according to worldly standards. The fact that the church is where God is primarily putting his glory on display, informs us that the most significant things going on in the world are what God is doing in his church. The place where God is doing his new creation of transforming sinners into the likeness of Christ. If your ability to walk through this life depends entirely on your strength, you are going to be run over.
When an undesirable circumstance pops up in my life, my gut reaction is to try to do everything I can to fix the situation. This is exhausting and at times crushing in this world of red lights, dirty dishes, crying babies, broken down vehicles, relational conflict, broken marriages and loved ones passing away. But knowing that God’s power is at work in all of these things to redeem and reconcile people to himself provides us with secure hope. Knowing that God’s power is at work in spite of our weakness enables one to get out of bed in the morning. If the greatest power in the universe is working all things for your good, what can stand against you. If you are in Christ, this reality is true for you whether you know it or not. But if you know it, That will be a game changer when you meet circumstances outside of your control. (Which will not take you long to find)
Whatever situation you find yourself in this morning, what you need most this morning is not primarily a change of circumstances. What you need is to have the fog of your life cleared so that you can see and know the hope, the inheritance, and the power of God worked out for you in Jesus Christ. The degree to which you know and believe these, you will be strengthened to live a free and abundant life for Christ regardless of your circumstances.