Seeing into Eternity
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 2:44PM
Time is linear, space is dimensional, eternity is bigger than both; however, the Apostle Paul says that we can see into Eternity and prays that we will.
Ephesians 1:15-23(NKJV) – 15Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
I. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
A. They were already Christians - but they still had needs!
Ephesians 1:15 (NKJV) – 15Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints…”
B. Spirit of wisdom
Isaiah 11:1-2(NKJV) – 1There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2The 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 of the fear of the Lord.
- · Wisdom is not knowledge
ILL: The Greek sophist, Gargius, proved that motion is impossible. First, a thing cannot move from where it was because if it does, it is not there. Second, a thing cannot move from where it is not; that is obvious. Third, where it is and where it is not are the only possible places that there are. Therefore a thing cannot move! Now that is knowledge, but it is not wisdom!
1 Corinthians 12:4-11(NKJV) – 4There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
ILL: Wisdom is sophia and it comes only from God. You can acquire knowledge, and that is good, but no matter what you were baptized with, you need wisdom.
James 1:4-8(NKJV) – 4But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
C. Revelation
1 Corinthians 2:13-16(NKJV) – 13These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
- · Without revelation, they cannot see
2 Corinthians 3:12-18(NKJV) – 12Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
II. Seeing the unseen
2 Corinthians 4:1-6(NKJV) – 1Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 2But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
ILL: The Greek word photizo means illuminated, “filled with light” is translated “intelligent.” The Greek, Plato, used the word “the eyes of the soul”
ILL: The English artist painted a sunset. “Mr. Turner,” the woman said, “I have never seen a sunset like that.” “But,” said the artist, “don’t you wish you could?”
ILL: The Temple builder, Hiram, so saw Solomon’s temple that when it was constructed there was no sound of the hammer.
1 Kings 6:6-8(NKJV) – 6The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the temple, so that the support beams would not be fastened into the walls of the temple. 7And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. 8The doorway for the middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.
Psalm 119:18(NKJV) – 18Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.
III. The knowledge of faith must be experiential
Ephesians 1:18(NKJV) – 18the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…
ILL: “Know,” epignosis
- · A deaf man can read music but never know what it sounds like
- · A blind man can mathematically describe color but never know what it looks like
- · Logic and reason can describe God but never know Him.
Conclusion: We use the expression, “Spirit-filled” so loosely.
Ephesians 1:22-23(NKJV) – 22And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
John Calvin called this a great paradox. Christ is not complete until He fills us, and we are not complete until we fill Him. Jesus wants us to see and live in eternity - NOW!