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THE KING’S BUSINESS
thing done at a definite point o f time. Time and again there will be a definite fill ing, more and more toward thè final goal, at the coming o f our Lord, when in a defi nite point o f time the process shall be com plete and we shall.be like H im '(cf. 1 John 3:2 ). In that day we shall no longer see in a mirror, in a fiddle, in an enigma, but face to face. W e shall know nò longer in part, but we shall know God and all things in that perfect way in which He already knows us (1 Cor. 13:12). In the coming day o f our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be unreprovable. He will so perfect us that there will be absolutely nothing in us that even He can find fault with (cf. Jude 24). Christ will present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:27, R. V .). Thè true Deity o f Christ comes out in this passage in His omni present indwelling in every believer’s heart and also in the. immeasurable infini tude o f His love. Thursday, July 18 . Eph. 3 : 20 . Paul closes this section of his letter with a beautiful and deeply significant doxol- ogy. The doxology begins with a phrase of frequent occurrence in Bible' doxologies, “to Him that is able” (cf. Rom. 16:25, R. V. ; Jude 20). Faith always has its eye on God’s power (cf. Matt. 19:26 ; Rom. 4:21; 14:4; 2 Cor. 9 :8 ; Phil. 3:21; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 7:25). It is especially fitting after the wonderful words .of verse 19 to think o f God’s power. And what is God able to do? All that we ask or think? Yes, “above all that we ask or think.” Nor is that all, "abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Nor is that " all, " exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Paul has just been asking and thinking some great things for the believers in Ephesus, things that almost stagger us, nevertheless, in this very connection ' he says that God “ is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” The word translated “think” does not mean
“imagine,” but “perceive,” or “understand” (cf. Matt. 15:17, A. V. and R. V .; Eph. 3:4, R V, and A. V .). All our petitions to God and all our thought o f what He can do will fall far short o f the reality. But the power .by which God is able to do these unthinkable things is already at work in us,- it is “the power that worketh (which is now working) in us” (v. 20; cf. v. 16; Rom. 8:11; Col. 1:29). The mightiest things God does for us in the future will not be by the bringing in o f a new force, but by a fuller application o f the force already at work, viz., the Holy Spirit. W e already have the first fruits o f the Spirit (Rom. 8:23), and they are wonderful, but the full harvest will be utterly beyond our compre hension. Friday, July 19 . 'Eph. 3 : 21 . To this mighty God o f whom he had just been speaking, •Paul ascribes all the glory, . for it all belongs to Him. His glory is manifested “in the church,” which in its ultimate form will fully reveal God’s attributes and glory, “and in Jesus Christ” (R. V .), in Whom already dwells all the fullness o f the Godhead in a bodily form (Col. 2 :9 ). This glory o f God “ in the church and in Christ Jesus” will be “unto all the generations o f the age o f the ages.” For that endles.s period will the church be the dwelling place o f God and the revealer o f His infinite attributes and glory. No wonder Paul paused ,a moment and then shouted, “Amen.” O f this doxology Monod says: “ This doxology, which closes at once the apostle’s prayer and the first part o f his epistle, would be remarkable any where, but it is doubly so here. * * * A fter the grandest promises which human language can express, the Holy Spirit here closes by declaring that all which can be expressed is infinitely below the reality which is in God. * * * But nothing less could satisfy the vast and undefined need o f the heart. All that the mind can clearly grasp and the mouth articulately utter is incapable o f satisfying us. And thus this close, so. astonishing and unexpected, is
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