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The Ephesian Connection
...the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
We have tasted of the future. The Holy Spirit within us is the pledge or down payment of our full inheritance. Through His indwelling presence, we have partaken of the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:5), and the wisdom we now speak is not of this present time (1Corinthians 2:6). Indeed, God intends that we be an outpost of the age to come, living in marked contrast to the world today. And to the degree that we embrace His presence and walk in harmony with Him, He will manifest His power and wisdom in us.
For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
When an unbeliever considers Calvary, he sees weakness and foolishness. After all, what could more express feebleness or folly than the crucifixion of one who claimed to be God? What purpose could it possibly serve? How could the death of one man have a personal and lasting impact on all others, even years/centuries after it happened? Yet in God’s wisdom, when men believe the gospel and are baptized in water and in the Spirit, He immerses them into the death and resurrection of His Son. And just as He came out of the tomb in glory, so they come out of baptism empowered in Him to live a new life. By faith, they experience Calvary for themselves. And the result is that people who were once spiritually blind, sinful, without hope, and without answers are now made into new creatures.
Jesus’ death and resurrection which appeared weak and foolish proved to be God’s all wise, all powerful answer to nullify sin and its effects. To this day the message of Christ crucified remains both a stumbling block to some and silliness to others. But to those who are God’s called people, it reveals both His power and His wisdom.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
What constitutes the weakness of God? How could the One who created the whole universe ever be weak? He is perfect in power. But He stepped into weakness in His incarnation, so that we who are weak could be made strong in Him. Consider the Creator of the universe lying in a manger and small enough to be cradled in the arms of a young peasant girl in Israel. How weak. Yet in fact, how powerful. From that day on, cracks began to appear in Satan’s kingdom. God’s power had been released in a way that the enemy never expected, setting in motion those events leading to his ultimate destruction.
In our own day, we must come into harmony with the weakness of God if we want to move in the power of His kingdom. Scripture teaches us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, and to bless those who curse us. But the world says, “Stand up for your rights. What are you? A weakling?” And sometimes we tend to agree. “I can’t bless that guy, it’d make me look weak!” But Jesus said that if we are to be sons of our Father in heaven, we must live as He did (Matthew 5:44 - 45).
If we want to become mature spiritual sons, moving in the power of God, we must embrace the truth that the weakness of God is stronger than men. On the other hand, humanism cries out that man is able to determine his own destiny, that self-actualization is the key to success, that man has the power within himself to establish peace and prosperity on earth. The same mindset can also be seen in the Church when Christians measure their performance for God by self-initiated activities. But He has not called us to do great things for Him. He has called us to enter into the works that He has prepared beforehand for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). If we fail to understand our frailty, we will put confidence in the flesh – our own ideas, plans, and programs for extending the Kingdom of God. Instead, we must lay down our tendency to trust in ourselves. The Scripture is clear – our strength is not impressive to Him.
He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man.
We must become impressed with the weakness of God. It is far greater than anything we could come up with. The power of eternity is manifested through those who know that apart from Him they have no strength, no wisdom. He who was the greatest in God’s kingdom said that apart from His Father, He could do nothing. Is that a picture of weakness? Seemingly so, but in fact, the power of heaven backed Him up even to the point of physical resurrection. The One who made the greatest impact for the Kingdom of God was the One who went to the lowest place. Jesus took the sin of the whole world upon Himself and became a curse for us. And because He so humbled Himself, He has been exalted now to the highest place of all. He is the King of kings. Here is the way of the Lord.
He who humbles himself will be exalted. God frequently calls us to go to the lowly place and humble ourselves. And our flesh protests. “I’ll be seen as weak.” But such humility is necessary if we are to successfully serve the Lord. His kingdom is not extended through the strength of man. The weakness of God is our strength. We must identify with both the weakness and the foolishness of God for that is how He has determined to extend His kingdom on earth.
For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God.
The present world system, which arrogantly declares itself to be strong and wise apart from God will one day be crushed under His feet. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is truly the Lord of all creation. He will bring this age to its end, revealing Himself through those who know that apart from Him they can do nothing. He will arise in the weak, the base, and the despised to proclaim His wisdom and to nullify what many today proclaim as true insight. The Kingdom of God will confront the systems of this world.
But whenever God’s people have stepped out in visible ministries of the Spirit, there has always been opposition from the world. Why? Those who move in the righteousness of God and in the power and wisdom of heaven automatically come into conflict with those who move in the spirit of the present age. It is an inevitable confrontation. But believers who do not understand that their strength and wisdom is useless, will misunderstand the nature of the conflict facing them. Our warfare is not against people but against spiritual forces. Our weapons are not rooted in human strength, they are mighty through God for the accomplishing of His purpose. Our goal is not to establish an earthly kingdom. We are not trying to take over the governments of this world. Our call is to declare the truth/reality of His kingdom which is already established in the heavens over every king and ruler on earth. Even if they do not know it, every governmental leader occupies his place of authority only because Jesus has decreed it. He is the King of kings.
Therefore, we must not react to the trends of this age. Rather, we must hear what the Lord wants us to do and then humbly move in His wisdom. We must seek nothing for ourselves – only for His glory and for His kingdom. As the Spirit of God arises within us, He will give us the power and the wisdom to manifest Christ to our generation. And as we live in harmony with Him, we will literally be tapping into the power of the ages to come and bringing the influence of eternity to bear on this present age. The Church must become a prophetic people preparing the way for our King’s visible return. The Spirit we have received is our present-day guarantee of His Kingdom coming in its fullness. Let us receive His presence and look forward with faith to the coming days.
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