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Articles 2024-2026
to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
In bringing to pass His eternal purpose, God determined to invade the realm of the spiritual powers in the heavens by confronting them with His wisdom, His perfect insight behind all His activity in His creation. Obviously, the fallen angelic forces did not understand Him or His ways. If they had, they never would have influenced ungodly men to crucify the Lord of glory (1Corinthians 2:6 - 8). It seems that God’s strategy was to sneak up on these powers by utilizing an approach that no demonic force would have seen coming. First, they failed to grasp His perfect wisdom in leading Christ to embrace the cross at Calvary. Then over the course of Church history, they have not understood His perfect strategic wisdom to integrate His people in unity in order to bring world–wide corporate expression of the very One who decisively defeated them at the cross. And as Christ, the Wisdom of God, comes into greater clarity among His people, a confused terror will spread among the ranks of the powers.
God is taking back the ground that the enemy has usurped both in the heavens and on the earth.
And because of who He is in us and because of His perfect loving wisdom motivating all His works, we can:
have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
And we can say along with Paul that we will not lose heart because of the tribulations that we experience (Ephesians 3:13).
For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
It is not only the powers but also His people who many times simply fail to see His wisdom in the circumstances that He is bringing us through. At such times, we must stand together in prayer as one family for each other so that we would have victorious strength in the midst of trials that can at times seem confusing. Strength to confidently trust Him until the wisdom of what He is doing becomes clear.
And so, Paul prayed that by His power, God would strengthen His people in their corporate identity. For a specific reason.
that Christ may dwell (Greek, KATOIKEO – be housed permanently) in your hearts through faith;
Wait. I thought the Lord is already dwelling in us. That’s what makes us His people. Quite right. But Paul is referring to Christ being housed permanently in manifest glory in us and upon us individually and among us corporately. After all, God had said that He would not only dwell in us but that He would also walk among us. And He would be our God and we would be His people (2Corinthians 6:16).
Down through Church history God has visited us in mighty outpourings of His Spirit. In doing so He has filled us individually with fresh manifestations of His presence. But at the same time, He also arose among us. However, over time, the manifestation of His power in the midst of His people would begin to wane. At such times, some would begin to drift away from intimacy with Him while others would press in and seek to send their “spiritual roots” down deeper into Him. Obviously, the second option has always been the proper choice.
Just to be clear, it is not that He ever left us or forsook us. After all, He has taken up residence in our hearts. He isn’t going anywhere. But even though He has poured out His presence in many visitations of His Spirit causing an ebbing and flowing of His manifest glory among us over the years, His intent is to take up permanent residence, to be housed permanently in our midst. In other words, He is bringing His Church from many Heaven–empowered visitations to permanent glorious habitation.
To arrive at God’s goal, the Church must increasingly embrace His work of integrating together the hearts and lives of His people around and upon the living expression of Jesus Christ among us as the Head of His body, the foundation of His house, and the dweller in His house – the One centrally revealed in our gatherings.
in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
It is only as we are being built together around Him that His wisdom will finally come into glorious clarity and have Heaven’s intended impact upon the powers in the heavens and upon the nations of the earth.
And so, as the Lord is bringing us forward to His intended goal and as we embrace His work:
you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height–to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
As God first roots and grounds us personally in His love for us, it is so that we will then have His power to corporately comprehend it together with the saints. Corporate comprehension requires every member involvement. No spectators. Only then will we together begin to grasp His heart in all its dimensions (i.e., the length, height, and width), including its depth, its absolute profoundness for us and for the world. God is training us by giving us insight into the depths of His own being. Church done right is theology, the study of God.
Theology is not the study of books about God; it is the study of God where He can use various books (along with other means) to reveal Himself to us. And theology is more than the study of the Bible; it is the study of God whereby He reveals Himself to us in His word. If we do not understand this priority, we will settle for an intellectual Christianity more than a life–infused experience of our God. But the apostolic message is that the love we are increasingly coming to know far surpasses mere intellectual knowledge about that love. As Paul said to another local church, …knowledge puffs up, but love edifies (1Corinthians 8:1).
Being discipled individually and corporately by God in His love is bringing the Church to where she will be filled with all the fullness of God. What an astounding thought. Think of Solomon’s temple. When it was completed in construction, the glory of God filled it so much that the priests could not even stand up (1Kings 8:10 - 11 NAS). Not your average meeting. And as amazing as that event was, it was only a type and shadow of where God is bringing us in these days in the construction of His house.
But some would ask, “Didn’t Solomon’s temple experience as a type and shadow get fulfilled when the Church was immersed in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter Two?” No. That day saw the Church in her spiritual infancy; we are headed toward the Church in full world–wide splendor, unified in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, a mature man having come to the full measured stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).
We all believe that the man Christ Jesus was filled with all the fullness of God. After all, He was God revealed in flesh. And we all believe that the Church will be filled with all God’s fullness when we receive our glorified bodies at His return. But Paul is referring to the Church growing up into that glorious age–ending event. He is making the case that as we grow individually and corporately in the revelation of God’s heart of love, that He will arise in glorious fullness among us.
We must become theologians, those who love to sit in our God’s presence and learn/study Him and His ways. Knowing Him is the definition of eternal life (John 17:3).
The fullness of God was revealed in Israel two thousand years ago in the Man Jesus Christ. And His intent is to make Himself known again across the whole earth in glorious fullness in one corporate man. No wonder the powers in the heavens are getting nervous.
Is God up to the task before Him? When we consider the Church in her present condition, we have to ask, “Is there enough grace in heaven to accomplish His stated goal?”
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so. Amen.
Donald Rumble – November 2024
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