Word of Encouragement (5/7/2021)

The last element in Paul’s prayer in Eph. 1:16-20 is that we come to know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (vv. 19-20).

Whenever I read this passage, I’m impressed by the vocabulary he uses. The NASB translation, which is more literal, shows this better: “what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might....” Notice the superlative Paul uses: “the surpassing greatness of His power....” Notice also the redundancy: “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe... in accordance with the working of the strength of His might....” It is as if he is feeling the incompetency of human language to express what he wants to say about the greatness of God’s power. So, he just piles on synonym after synonym as if that is all he can do.

Here, Paul is presenting the resurrection of Jesus Christ (and His ascension and session) as the greatest demonstration of God’s power. Does that mean it was greater than His creation of the world? How can that be? How can raising just one person from the dead, Jesus, require more power than creating the heavens and the earth from nothing? It is hard to say. But if that is the case (as Paul seems to say), it is because Jesus’ resurrection was more than just resuscitating a person. When someone comes back to life, the grip of death on him is loosened somehow, temporarily. But he will have to die again and death triumphs in the end. On the other hand, when Jesus rose again from the dead, the sting of death was taken away forever so that it could no longer be the ultimate punishment for the sins of God’s people. This could not be done simply by the exertion of His power; it had to be prefaced by His sacrificial death for the atonement of our sin.

Jesus’ resurrection was also the inauguration of God’s new creation. In the first creation, God created all things out of nothing. In the new creation, God renews and perfects all things (except sinners and demons) out of corruption and death. Maybe it is “easier” to create all things out of nothing than to purify what has been defiled and bring it to perfection. In the first creation, God made everything good, very good (Gen. 1:31) yet vulnerable to fall and corruption. In the new creation, God makes everything perfect, impervious to fall and corruption. Maybe the new creation is “harder” because it is of “better quality” than the first creation, in that the new heaven and the new earth will be eternal, not temporal, and therefore imperishable, not perishable.

Paul wants us to know that this power of God for the new creation, which raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in glory at the right hand of God, is for us, not against us, and is at work in us. It was this power of God, which made us alive together with Christ when we were dead in our trespasses (Eph. 2:5), which is “the first resurrection” (Rev. 20:5). It is that same power, which renews us more and more in our sanctification. That power will glorify our souls when we die in faith and raise our dead bodies from the dust and transform them into the spiritual body of Jesus’ resurrection on the day of Christ’s return. And that power will set the whole creation free from futility and its bondage to corruption unto the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:20-21).

It was this knowledge that enabled Paul to endure whatever affliction that came his way with joy (Phil. 1:18) and persevere in his ministry. That is why he wants us to know it, too. The power of God for the new creation is for every believer, not just for Paul and some special Christians. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have already experienced that power. For, without going through “the first resurrection” (which is to be born again), you cannot believe in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 12:3). That power of God will strengthen us to do all things that God wants us to do (Phil. 4:13). Even when we feel weak, we should not be discouraged because His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).

May the Lord increase our knowledge of “the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places...”!