Deeper Reflection
IN PAUL’S PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH IN EPHESIANS 1:15-23, his emphasis is on knowledge: “in the knowledge of Him” (Eph 1:17); “so that you will know what is…” (v.18). “Growth in knowledge is indispensable to growth in holiness. Indeed, knowledge and holiness are even more intimately linked than as means and end.”⁶⁰ Spiritual wisdom, revelation and enlightenment are indispensably necessary for such knowledge (Eph 1:17-18). What are we to know?We are to know the person of God (Eph 1:17). It is in knowing God through “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” that “the eyes of your hearts [are] enlightened” to know three other Spiritual realities (v.18a). To know our prospect in God: “the hope of His calling” (v.18b). We know this hope prayerfully as conviction and in experience. To know this hope in experience means “we hope for what we do not see” – the future − and “we wait for it with patience” (Rom 8:25). We will not wait in vain, because “hope does not disappoint us” (Rom 5:5, NRSV).To know our preciousness to God: We are “His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance” (v.18c, NLT). Thus, God says to us, “Anyone who harms you harms My most precious possession” (Zech 2:8, NLT). To know the power of God: “His incomparably great power for us who believe” (vv.19-23, NIV) – Christ’s resurrection power (v.20a) and reigning power (vv.20b-22). Thus, we can be faithful to Jesus, “the first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life”, until death in whatever tribulation that we suffer (Rev 2:8-10).

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⁶⁰ John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, The Bible Speaks Today (IVP, 1979), 54