Calling
A Written compostion of the Heavenly Calling Network Study Group
Chapter 8
In the past seven chapters we have
been looking at the callings that have been revealed by God through the
scriptures. The next chapters we are going to deal deeply with our next
calling, the church which is the Body of Christ. And to do that we are
going to do a thorough survey of the prison epistles written by the
Apostle Paul. After this survey we will go to the epistles to the
Romans and the Hebrews and take a full survey of them as well to get a
full complete picture so that we can have a fully educated picture
given to you and I by our Father in Heaven by His Spirit.
Our Father had a plan to reach all the families of the earth, and that
was through Abraham and his seed. It was revealed to Abraham when he
was taken out of Ur of the Chaldees he was told, Gen 12:3
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. God was going
to extend to the whole earth the wonderful news of the gospel through
that race. But with all the divine preparation during the Old Testament
or Covenant it is shown that they failed. They were not ready, when at
last God came to them in the purpose in the person in the Lord Jesus
Christ, their great King Priest, they crucified Him. And still even
after that we find the love of God being extended even further and they
were offered grace. The Acts of the Apostles follows hard the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ and shows us that they were offered a full
pardon, forgiveness, and blotting out their sins and the wonderful
promise to send the Lord Jesus Christ back to them. And Peter affirms
on the day of Pentecost by the will of the Holy Ghost that Christ was
raised from the grave to sit on David's throne. The Apostle Paul states
the very same thing in his first public speech in Acts chapter 13 for
he tells them that He was raised to fulfill the sure mercies of David.
So this people are still, in the Acts of the Apostles, have yet the
possibility of being used if they would only repent and believe. God's
long suffering waits a period of roughly 35 years, which covers the
book of the Acts of the Apostles. But they still rejected it.
At the end of the Acts Paul is commissioned by God to speak that awful
word of Isaiah chapter 6 announcing to this people, that God wanted to
use to bless the whole world, that they were unusable. Their eyes were
blinded. Their ears were deaf. Their hearts were as hard as stone. In
that circumstance they could not be used. The Lord had cautioned them
against it, and we have to remember that God is faithful to His
announced punishments as well as to His blessings, His promises of
grace. He cautioned them in what would happen if they continually
rejected, that He would scatter them over the face of the land. No rest
for the soles of their feet, and that has been true to its character
for this people. There is a state of Israel today, but yet they are
scattered through out the lands. And one of their prophets had been
inspired to write Hosea 3:4 For the children of Israel shall abide many
days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and
without an image, and without an ephod, and [without] teraphim:...
Those many days have lasted nearly two thousand years. They still
aren't they. You and I have seen a very momentous thing happen in our
time that a small number have gone back to a portion of the land that
God gave, for they are only holding on to a small bit of the promise
land. But there they are, a nation to be reckoned with. Which does a
wonderful showing of the sure word of prophecy is going to come about
in its fullest sense.
The exact spot we have reached is this, from the time that they had
become unusable, at the end of the Acts, to the time they become usable
again, and that will be when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to them, for
it is the returning power and glory that returns this nation to
repentance, Zec 12:10 And I will pour upon the
house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of
grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have
pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only
[son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness
for [his] firstborn. They are not looking upon Him yet. They are still
rejecting Him. They will look up Him whom they have pierced. Yes it was
His own earthly people that crucified Him. But don't forget that Rome,
knowing nothing of the truth, knowing nothing of God, wanted to release
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was His own people that said Jhn 19:15
But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him.
Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests
answered, We have no king but Caesar. We will not have this man to
reign over us. They pierced Him, but in a sense we have all pierced Him
in directly with our sins. They who literally did will look upon Him
that day will mourn and they will repent and then God will take up His
earthly purpose a new for this time Israel is not going to fail. This
time the great New Covenant, Testament, truth will be put in full
working order. God made that New Covenant, Testament, with them as He
said in Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house
of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an
husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this [shall be] the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the
LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. He won't
put it out side like He did at Mt Sinai. Here are the ten commandments,
keep them, and they couldn't, nor could any body. God's law is so
righteous that it can only condemn. There is no person that ever walked
the land, except Jesus Christ, that was ever able to keep the law of
God from the cradle to the grave. No other man could keep it fully,
even though we may never sin physically in our entire lives, we would
fail the inner part of the law which says, Thou shalt not covet, for
out thoughts could never be perfect. God wants inside perfection first.
Then the outside will follow for as it is said, for man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. But for those
who know Him knows that He touches the mind by the Holy Spirit that
thinking of the Lord Jesus can be at last be done. The terrible thing
that sin has done is that it blinds the mind so that unbelievers see no
beauty in the Lord so that they should desire Him. They don't love Him
or His word. It doesn't appeal to them. And sin has done that.
Now then, in the midst of those two times of Israel setting blindness
and their eyes being opened at the second coming of Christ, you have a
unspecified period. You and I know that it has lasted nearly two
thousand years, and since God is the only one that knows the days and
seasons we have no idea how long it is going to last. The question then
becomes, well what has He been doing all through out this age? Well He
hasn't been working through Israel because they are unusable. And He
hasn't been bringing in, as some would call it, the earthly kingdom.
Besides giving many life as the gospel of John has reported to us, He
has revealed something that He has kept secret. All the time that He
was dealing and preparing Israel He kept this secret, a mystery. Hid in
Himself. And now He is going to reveal in the prison epistles, written
by the Apostle Paul, His heavenly purpose. His heavenly people,
something that He is going to do for the heavens.
If He is going to use the restored and converted Israel for the earth,
He is going to use another company for the heavens called the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. Christ's body. To reach in some way
heavenly beings, principalities, and powers which as of now we can
barely appreciate. When we look at Ephesians chapter 3 we see that
these heavenly beings are now learning through this church. The body of
Christ is an object lesson to heavenly beings. They are learning
through the church the manifold wisdom of God. Can they be watching the
Holy Spirit saving and shaping the stones, as Ephesians puts it, for
this temple? Each believer being a stone fitted for this place? Fitly
framed together? Yes, they are watching that. They are marveling at the
manifold wisdom of God. That is always equal to all the demands that
has ever been put upon it. Aren't we thankful to realize that no matter
how Israel failed, however man have failed, however much sin and death
have been rampant, God's love and His wisdom transcends all. He is
never at a loss. Israel fell at the end of the Acts and it looks as
though all His purpose has come to a stop. But He takes the wise and He
takes the Devil in His own craftiness and now reveals a secret and
wonder of that has never been revealed before. For when you come to the
prison ministry of the Apostle Paul you have come to the high watermark
of scriptures. There is no higher truth in any part of scriptures than
in these prison epistles given to this man. And yet it is there for us
to enjoy. It is there for us to discover. It is there for us to
believe. It is there for us to experience and join the light and the
power of it.
Before we get started in the epistle of Ephesians we should get a
slight understanding of the order of the epistles written by the
Apostle Paul. There were 14 epistles written by the Apostles, with
Hebrews being a slight controversy since it was never signed by Paul,
but this study titled "calling" will not take up that controversy and
will just admit that the number fits perfectly with the number used by
God. Seven epistles written during the Acts and seven written after.
This is the order of the writings of the Apostle Paul during the Acts.
Galatians, and then at the same time or almost the same time, Hebrews.
Then 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians,
and last of all Romans. Now then Israel set aside. Paul in his Roman
prison. There are five stamped with his prison, for he says so. He
refers to himself as "the prisoner" in these letters after Acts. Then
they come in this order. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and then
the Apostle is released for a short time and he writes 1 Timothy, then
Titus. Then back to prison he writes Philemon. And then last of all 2
Timothy. So you have got seven more. You got five stamped with the
prisoner, but one of them, Philemon, is not a great teacher concerning
the height and depth concerning the church but it is a wonderful
example of one of the Apostle's private letters that the Holy Spirit
has seen to put in this book of truth. It is a wonderful letter showing
us the truth of the body with its high calling should have in practice.
How it should effect the home life and the attitude to those who have
been wronged.
So now we come to Ephesians which gives you the great revelation of a
new purpose of God, after Israel failed at the end of the Acts. Nobody
new what God was going to do. It is very easy for us for now for we
have a completed scripture to read in to the past what was yet future.
If we were around then all that we would have known was that all the
prophecies of the Old Testament concerning Israel and the blessings
through Israel has come to nothing. Now what was God going to do? Well
unless He took a further step no body would have known. But He did take
this further step. He already told this man when He saved him,
concerning the things that I have shown you now and those things in the
which I will appear unto thee.... You'll be a witness. At some future
appearing the Lord said, I will give you another revelation. And
obviously He did do it for Paul is going to say in chapter 3 of
Ephesians 3:3 How that by revelation he [[ the Lord
Jesus]] made known unto me the mystery; And this is the mystery, as
Colossians puts it, Col 1:25 Whereof I am made a
minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for
you, to fulfil the word of God; It fills up the gap between the failure
of Israel at the end of the Acts and the taking up of Israel again at
the end of this age. Now then we have got the complete picture. Instead
of having a break in the divine purpose and satan triumphaning you find
the Lord keeping the best to the last. Just like He did at that
marriage at Cana, He saved the best wine for last.
Paul sits down and writes this first great letter in prison chained day
and night to a soldier. Think of that, no privacy what so ever. He sits
down and writes this first great letter to make know God's new and
wonderful heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. According to the King James
and many English translation he starts of with the first line as
Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to
the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
And you may know and if you don't then you should know that the words
at Ephesus are not in any transcripts appearing before the 4th century
A.D. Many English translation will tell you that is the case in the
margin. And reads like this, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's
will, to his holy and faithful people (Or to the saints and faithful)
in Christ Jesus... This simply means that it is possible that this was
sent as a circular letter to all the churches, not merely to Ephesus.
It was very likely left blank that it could be sent to all the churches
not just to one. But that is just for your information for it is not
very important.
To those who are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Lets
look at the partner of Ephesians and see how that starts. Col 1:1:
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our
brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ which are at
Colosse... It is repeated. Now if you want to be faithful, and you do,
you wouldn't be faithful servant to the Lord if you omitted to point
this out. It does not say, I am sending this just to the saints which
are at Ephesus. It does not say, I am writing this just to the saints
and believers at Colosse. It said, to the faithful believers at
Ephesus. To the faithful believers at Colosse. Does that describe every
believer? No, it doesn't. So you must give that its place. This
wonderful teaching concerning the body of Christ is first of all
addressed to loyal believers. There is no substitute for loyalty. We
are tempted sometimes to think that huge knowledge, a gifted
personality, a wide Christian fear of influence, all these things are
most important, but they are not. The most important thing first and
foremost is to be dead loyal to our Savior. And if that means
restricting our influence we must except it. Here is something that is
addressed to faithful believers.
Ephesians 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's usual salutation of Grace and Peace. One
is Greek and the other is Hebrew. A good example of that is used in
Hebrew Names Version of the World English Bible which says, Grace to
you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Or
The Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha Chen v'Chesed Hashem to you and
shalom from Elohim Avinu and Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu
Yehoshua.
Now the letter proper starts at verse 3. And verses3 to 14 are a
section in them selves. They are divided up by a recurring phrase,
which the Holy Spirit as divided up, in fact you never need to divide
God's word up for God has done that Himself. We are to watch and see He
Himself repeats certain phrases or certain words. This phrase is praise
and grace, Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, ...
That is the first occurrence. The next one is in Ephesians 1:12 That we
should be to the praise of his glory, ... And the third is at the end
of Ephesians 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory. If
you were to get a piece of paper and write those down with a space in
between, do you know what you would find in between? You would find in
those three sections the work of the Father, the work of the Son, and
the work of the Holy Spirit. That makes it perfect doesn't it. You find
God, Father, Son, and Spirit engaged in the working out in this grand
and most exceedingly wonderful plan for the heavenly places. A heavenly
people in heavenly places. Not an earthly people with an earthly
kingdom but a blessed people in the heavens. Verses 3 to the end of
verse 6 gives us the will of the Father. Verses 7 to the end of verse
12 gives us the work of the Son, redemption. Verses 13 and 14 gives us
the present witness and work of the Holy Spirit.
It starts with the Father, Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, ... What has He done? who hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: Now this
word blessed literally means to speak well of. Speak well of God the
Father. Oh who has spoken well of us in Christ. And can't we do that
when we realize something of the riches of His grace that are bound
toward us as this chapter reveals. It will make us speak well of Him.
Can we do anything else but speak well of Him, and thank Him, and
glorify Him. Oh, said the Apostle Paul, you start off there. Start off
thanking him, for the wonders of His redeeming love and grace. What has
He done, He blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Here is the first
ocean. I've got to say something that might be a little disappointing
to you. I can't tell you fully what the spiritual blessings is. Now
that is what you'll find in this calling, it is so high and so heavenly
and so rich an so out side this geometry of our human experience that
you can't describe this things. God has written it, and it must be true
of course, but we don't know because it is out side the limitations of
sense and feelings. We can't touch these things. You can't taste these
things with your tongues. You can't hear them with your ears. Your
bodily senses can't grasp them because they are spiritual. Oh, but they
are the most wonderful of all. You see, we are apt to think because we
can't assess them, in feeling, that they are not real. But it is just
the opposite. Because they are spiritual and so high and so wonderful
they are the real things that are going to last when all the things
that sense can appreciate will have gone and disappear.
Spiritual blessings. We must however try and press the word a little
bit and get an understanding as far as we are able. Some would say,
surely the word spiritual means good. For an example, you talk about a
believer being a spiritually minded man and when we describe a man like
that we say, well he is a man that is in touch with his Savior. Touched
with the Lord and he is living a worthy life. He is a spiritual man. So
we could say that being spiritual is just good. Or perhaps like God.
Well, the truth is it is hardly meaning that. Lets look at it where we
find it used in a very striking way in Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness ... Spiritual wickedness, what about that? in high
places. Or as the margin tells you, heavenly places. A good witness to
this is by using the Hebrew, The Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha
translation which says, against the kokhot ruchaniyim ra'im in
Shomayim. or the Hebrew Names Version of the World English Bible, and
against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. So it
can't mean just good. You can have a spiritual wickedness as well as
having spiritual blessings. Perhaps we have to revise our thinking on
this world just a bit. It is something to do with the very character of
God. Something that is out of the realm of this earth and human
experience. Now you remember that our Savior at Jacob's well gave this
revelation. He said to the woman of Samaria, John 4:24 God is a Spirit:
and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The
King James version say's God is a Spirit. But you don't want the word a
here for it is not in the Greek or the Hebrew. That sounds as though
God is a ghost or a spook, it doesn't mean that at all. God is spirit,
that is His nature. He is not flesh and blood by nature. He is spirit.
Spiritual blessings. Are there any other kind of blessings that we can
contrast to understand it? Yes, do you remember when Moses was
instructing the children of Israel? If you read the Old Testament books
of the Pentateuch you would find there a long list of blessings if they
followed the Lord and His truth. And also a long list of cursing if
they didn't. And the blessings, if we look at them very carefully, that
were given to Israel were all earthly blessings. Blessings of basket
and store. The Lord said He would make their ground fruitful. All the
things that we now can appreciate because they are earthly. You can see
the things of the ground can't you. You can handle them. You can feel
them. You can understand them. But you see, we are dealing now with a
heavenly people in a heavenly geometry and the geometry is spirit and
the blessings go hand in hand with the geometry. In another words, God
doesn't promise earthly blessings to a heavenly people. He gives
spiritual blessings to this spiritual people. So it looks like we are
going to have to wait before we have them in all their fullness. Every
blessing that is spiritual is given to this calling. And isn't it
wonderful that God hasn't kept back one for Himself. That is what the
word every means, all. He could have kept some back for Himself and
given us the rest. But He hasn't done that though. Every single one He
has lavished on this company. This is the first great ocean of riches.
We have to let the Holy Spirit to open our eyes of understanding so
that we realize just what the wonders of these blessings are.
Where are they? The very next phrase tells us. heavenly places in
Christ: There not earthly you see. You can not sum these blessings up
in terms of money or food or homes or anything the sense is going to
appreciate. They are in a different geometry entirely, a realm of
spirit and they are where Christ is seated in the heavenly places. They
are heavenly, absolutely heavenly. So you have a heavenly people with
heavenly blessings. And isn't that what you would expect. You see,
Israel, the earthly people, they are going to be blessed upon the
earth. They are going to be the premier nation on the earth and so they
are going to have earthly blessings. Then here is a heavenly people,
well they won't have earthly blessings, and you have to think for a
moment, what use up in the glory where Christ is now seated would be
money. Would be food, as we know it. Basket, store, useless. They have
no value what so ever. We leave all that behind when we are taken to
glory. Then what we shall want are blessings that are suitable to that
high and holy geometry and the Lord says, Yes I've got them all saved
for you. I am going to give them all to you, every single one. There
not only in heavenly places but they are treasured up in Christ. So
they are safe and secure.
Now this phrase in heavenly places is peculiar to the epistle to the
Ephesians. And it occurs no where else in the whole of scriptures. It
occurs five times in this epistle including this one. And should know
that the number five in the scriptures is the number of grace. Five is
stamped with the thought of grace. At the end of chapter 1 Paul is
praying that these saints may know the exceeding power which was
wrought in Christ, verse 20, when He raised Him from the dead and set
Him at His own right hand in heavenly places. So here it is, the Lord
Jesus is now seated or set in the heavenly places. The blessings are in
Him and in heavenly places is where He is now.
Then look at Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love wherewith he loved us, is beyond all our comprehension 5 Even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace
ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, that is with Christ
when He was raised, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus: Now that is the high water mark for the redeemed in the
scriptures. Now this is a challenge. You go find any where else in the
scriptures from Genesis to Revelation that is higher in blessing than
that. You can't. For the simple reason that no body gets higher than
where the Savior is now. That is where He is exalted at the right hand
of the majesty on high. There He is seated at the Father's right hand
in the heavenly places.
Now then it says to this company, that you are blessed in Him and
seated with Him there. It is over whelming once we adjust it quietly
and let that grip our minds. It is absolutely over whelming to think
that we, who were outcast by nature, should have been destined by the
redeeming grace of God to have such a high and holy position. The very
position that He has given to His Son in the glory. But there it is.
Some will be tempted as we watch it to minimize these things. Or to say
to our selves it is to good to be true. It is to high, I can't believe
it. We must not do that. If God has written it, well He has written it
for us to except and believe. We wont honor Him if we take it as any
less position. We can be accused of thinking to much of ourselves by
talking about these things, but we are not thinking about our selves
but only agreeing with what God has said concerning us. After all that
is said in done as a sinner redeemed by grace where ever He put us, if
He put us on this earth, is more than we deserve. Oh yes, if He puts us
in the Heavenly city, that will be coming down out of heaven to the
earth, is far more than we deserve. If He puts us at His right hand in
heavenly places far above all, that is certainly more than we deserve
in any case. It is all part of His wonderful will and purpose isn't it.
We don't deserve any of it. So what good is it to say that we are
exalting our selves. It is just not true. Faith believes what God has
said. If God has said it, that is sufficient. We can't say, Lord, that
is to much, your pulling my leg, it can't be true. Yet, there are
believers who almost act like that. That is the pity of it, that is not
faith, that is unbelief. That is saying, Lord, that is just to much for
me. It just can't be true. Lets have that great faith, shall we. You
remember how it made the Lord marvel when He walked this earth. He had
to say it four times over, O ye of little faith. And do you know whom
He addressed that to every time? His own people Israel. And it was a
gentile that He had to say, great is thy faith, the outsider. So lets
have the great faith of the gentile in the gospels and be blessed to
except all these wonderful truths that God has revealed.
Now lets look at where we come to these heavenly beings who are now
learning through the church God's manifold wisdom. Paul is saying that
his aim is Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery, the word secret, which from the beginning of the world
hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10 To the
intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places... The highest spiritual beings. The word principalities in the
Greek literally means a first one. They are the first ones of heaven.
And so they are learning as God called out this heavenly company, saves
them, opens their eyes in understanding to see and believe and they
grip it and seek to be worthy of it. They are marveling as they see God
work and build up this church with His fullness.
Last of all is the reference that we have already looked at, but to get
it complete. Ephesians 6:12 which we already talked about, and will
take a good close look at it when we come to it. So lets go back to
Ephesians 1:3. How much has God blessed us? He blessed us with all
these blessings. What kind are they? They are all spiritual. Where are
they? They are in the heavenly places. Who are they treasured up in?
They are treasured up in Christ. If we go no further, then we have
something tremendous there don't we. But lets be frank, we have
something that we haven't fully comprehended yet. We say, Amen to it,
because God has written it, but as to what it means in all its fullness
we shall have to wait to the day of Glory. But the eyes of our
understanding can be opened to see more and more as we grow in grace
and in knowledge.
Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before him in love: Every thing that you see in this wonderful section
of the Father's will and the redeeming love of the Son and the work of
the Holy Spirit is all bound up in Christ. That is a wonderful lesson
in it self, isn't it. We see that these blessings are in Christ.
According as he that is the Father hath chosen us in him that is
Christ, Chosen in Christ. At the end of the verse we shall be before
him, that is Christ. Literally before His face. 5 Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Then to verse 6 he
hath made us accepted in the beloved. Well that is Christ. Because it
says, 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood ... At the end of
verse 9 we have this great purpose which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things where? in Christ ...It is repeated in that
same verse even in him ... And again verse 11 In whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose
of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: then
verse 13 In whom that is Christ again ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also
after that ye believed, ye were sealed ... So you see every single
verse is concentrating on our Savior. Isn't that where all truth should
lead us. Shouldn't it be to a deeper knowledge and a deeper realization
of the fullness that dwells alone in Him. We make a mistake if we seek
to find anything that God has for us out side of Jesus Christ because
it can't be found. It is all treasure up in Him, through Him, by Him,
and finally with Him.