For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, – Ephesians 1:15-17 ESV
What a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving written by the Apostle Paul to the Church in Ephesus. He remembers them in prayer, in thanks that God has blessed them with the riches of Christ. Let look closer at this glorious text.
In verse 15 we see what faith and love the Ephesian church had for other Christians! This is something that seems to have been lost in a lot of modern churches in the United States. I have noticed that some churches become an island unto themselves rather than extending love to all the saints. Often it appears that there is a competition between churches, rather than working together in love with the goal of knowing more of Christ. I see it often between denominations but also between churches of the same denomination.
In verse 16 Paul says that he does not cease giving thanks for them, praying for them because of the love they have for all the saints. How much more could we extend the love of Christ simply by extending our love to all of the other saints, working with each other rather than against each other?
In Verse 17 Paul refers back to Isaiah 11:2 – “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” Paul uses the word revelation as he prays that they “know more of Him”. Both the English and Latin terms for revelation come from the same Greek and Hebrew words. The Hebrew term is ”gala” and the Greek term is ”apokalypsis”. We know the word from the last book of the Bible, the Revelation given to John from Jesus Christ. The Greek term ”apokalypsis” and the Hebrew term ”gala” are similar. In both cases, if you look at lexicons of these two words, you will find the definitions are basically the same. They mean to reveal, uncover, lay bare, disclose or make known.
God’s truth is there; it exists eternally in Him and God makes Himself known. He discloses, and He ‘uncovers’ Himself as He reveals truth to us. Apart from God’s revelation we would never know. God makes known to us truth that we can’t discover ourselves. We can’t take credit for it. God has made His truth known to us by shining forth His light upon us. This is what revelation is. Every single true thought you have about God, about the relationship between God and man, about salvation, about Christ, every true thought you have is because God has made that known to you. He gets all the credit and the glory for this! Revelation is not a matter of human discovery, but it is rather a matter of God disclosing Himself to us.
That ought to humble us. If you are a recipient of revelation, bow before our gracious God who has given what He did not need to give. Marvel that God, in His self-sufficiency, in His fullness and perfection, might have just ignored all of us and held us all accountable before Him. Marvel that He makes known at all and as lavishly as he does. Marvel because revelation is His initiative, it is His prerogative to do so.
God’s revelation is a wondrous, glorious doctrine because we realize that revelation is true; revelation has happened; revelation has come. So we aren’t left in the dark. The veil is removed; and we behold the beauty of God in his purpose and his plan. We have the Bible; we have Jesus Christ; we have the revelation of God in glorious splendor manifest for us. So thank God, praise God that He has made Himself known. – I pray that He has made Himself known to you. –