In Ephesians 1:13-19a, the apostle Paul says this:

“. . . in whom [Christ] ye also [have obtained an inheritance], having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,—in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what [are] the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe . . .”

In this study, I want to focus on the second part of this passage:

“For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what [are] the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe . . .”

In this passage, Paul tells the Ephesians why and how he prays for them. He begins by telling them that the first reason, or “cause”, that he prays for them, is that they obtained an inheritance when they heard the gospel, believed it, and were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Secondly, he prays for them because he’s heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints.

And how does he pray for them? First of all, by unceasingly giving thanks for them when he mentions them in his prayers.

But what does he seek from God when he mentions them in his prayers? First, “. . . that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him . . .”

Now, why does Paul call God “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” as he explains what he asks God for? First, what does it even mean that God is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ? Obviously, it doesn’t mean that God is the Creator of the Lord Jesus Christ, since He wasn’t created. Rather, it means that the Lord Jesus Christ, in His humanness, worships God the Father, and in that sense the Father is His God. Now, when I say that, am I implying that the Lord Jesus Christ is a lower Being than the Father? No; when I say “worship”, I mean revere and honor. The Lord Jesus Christ certainly doesn’t do this as God the Son, since in His deity He is equal to the Father, and simply cannot worship the Father in His divine equality with the Father. However, He can worship the Father as the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Supreme human Authority, the man Jesus, and the Supreme human Prophet, High Priest, and King, or Christ.

So, why is Paul saying that the Father to whom he prays is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because it is only because He is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ that those who serve the Lord Jesus Christ can worship the Father by asking Him for things. One of the ways in which the Lord Jesus Christ worships the Father is by asking Him for things, and it is only because He has this intimate relationship with the Father that His people can ask the Father for things, and expect Him to grant them. In other words, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of Paul and the Ephesians, and the Father is His God, the Father is also the God of Paul and the Ephesians, and they can expectantly ask Him for things.

But Paul doesn’t just call the Father “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ”. He also calls Him “the Father of glory”. What does this mean? Does it mean that He is the Creator of glory? What would saying that the Father is the Creator of glory have to do with Paul asking for things from Him? Nothing. Rather, Paul is simply saying that the Father is glorious — that is, that He possesses all perfection, goodness, and beauty, and therefore, He is able to grant the requests that Paul is about to list.

So, what does Paul ask for? First, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him . . .”

What does Paul mean by “a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”? Well, first, notice that this spirit that Paul is asking God to give to the Ephesians is “in the knowledge of Him”. What does this mean? The word “knowledge” here literally means “true recognition”, so this knowledge requires: 1. truth and 2. discernment. That’s where the wisdom and revelation come in — the wisdom will allow the Ephesians to recognize God, and the revelation will allow them to recognize Him truly, or based on truth. And who’s the “Him” that they are knowing? The main subject of this section — the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of glory.

But what does Paul mean by a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him? Does he mean a mind, or a state of mind? If that was the case, then he would be saying, “I ask that God may give to you a mind/a state of mind, of wisdom and revelation”. It makes sense for there to be a mind of wisdom, but what does it even mean to have a mind of revelation? No, like Paul speaks of the Father of glory, so here he is speaking of the Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation. He is asking that God may give to the Ephesians more of the Holy Spirit’s influence in giving them wisdom and revelation as they know God more.

And what is the result of all this? First, that the “eyes of [their] heart [will be] enlightened”. What does this mean? It means that, having been given more of the Holy Spirit in wisdom and revelation to know God more, they will have more light for the eyes of their hearts, or minds, to see better. That is, they will be able to truly recognize God more.

And what is the result of this? First, that they will “know what is the hope of his calling”. Again, Paul is using the word “know” in the same sense that he spoke of the knowledge of God — true recognition. Paul wants the Ephesians to truly recognize more of what the hope of their calling is. And what does he mean by “the hope of their calling”? He means the confident expectation of eternal life that is a result of God’s calling them out of the kingdom of darkness, and into the kingdom of His beloved Son, who is His marvelous Light. Virtually everywhere Paul uses this phrase, “your calling”, he’s speaking of when the Holy Spirit called people by His power and the gospel, so as to make them change their minds and believe the gospel. With this calling comes the hope of eternal life with the Lord Jesus Christ on the new earth.

The second result of the enlightening of the eyes of the Ephesians’ hearts is that they will know “what [are] the riches of the glory of his [God’s] inheritance in the saints”. First, what is this inheritance? Well, Paul tells us it’s “in the saints”. What does this mean? The word, “in”, could also be translated “among”, since Paul’s not speaking of the inheritance that God the Father inherits, but the inheritance that the saints, or holy ones, inherit. However, this inheritance belongs to the Father, and is given by Him to the saints.

So, what is this inheritance? The apostle John tells us in Revelation 21:1-7a:

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God: and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away. And he that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true. And he said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall INHERIT THESE THINGS . . .”

So, the result of the Ephesians’ hearts being enlightened will partly be that they will know what are the riches of the glory of this inheritance. But why does Paul say that they will know what are the riches of the glory of it? Well, first, he wants them to know what is the glory of it. That is, he wants them to know what is its beauty — what makes it glorious. But, second, he wants them to know what are the riches of this glory. Paul is saying that the inheritance’s glory has inexhaustible wealth, or resources, that will satisfy the Ephesians for all of eternity.

The final result of the enlightening of the eyes of the Ephesians’ hearts is knowing “what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe”. What does Paul mean by “the exceeding greatness”? The word, “exceeding”, could also be translated “surpassing”, so what he’s saying is that this greatness or “bigness” of God’s power toward them is greater than any other power, and actually greater than any standard of greatness for power that can be used to measure it — it is immeasurable.

But why does he call them those who “believe”? Because it is only because of God’s exceedingly great power that they began to believe the gospel, and continue to believe.

So, if you have faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints, how does this prayer of Paul apply to you?

  1. The God to whom you pray is the the God of your Lord Jesus Christ, and is only the God that you worship in prayer because Jesus Christ is your Lord.
  2. Your Father is not just your Father, but is the Father of glory, so you ought to glorify Him.
  3. You need the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of God, so you ought to ask for more of the Spirit’s wisdom and revelation to know God more.
  4. You ought to seek to know more of what the hope of God’s calling is.
  5. You ought to seek to know more of what the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints are.
  6. You ought to seek to know more of what is the exceeding greatness of God’s power toward you.

What do you already know?

  1. The God of the Lord Jesus Christ is your God and your Father.
  2. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation lives inside of you.
  3. You have hope because God has called you.
  4.  You have the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints.
  5. God’s power toward you is exceedingly great.

If you don’t have faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints, then you have none of these things. Rather than worship the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, you’re one of his enemies, and you have no hope because God hasn’t called you, and you have no riches because you have no inheritance. God the Father sent His Son to earth to become a man, to die for our sins against Him, to rise from the dead, and to ascend into heaven as the Lord of the universe. He is now commanding all people to change their minds and trust in His Son, His death for our sins, and His resurrection as the only grounds of His forgiveness because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world through Jesus, including you. If you change your mind, and trust only in Jesus, His death, and resurrection for God’s forgiveness, He promises to forgive all of your sins and to give you eternal life. I beg you on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ to change your mind and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your reconciliation with God.