Ephesians Lesson 32 of 39 part 5

Ephesians 4:31

"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:"

You see those are all ear marks of the unregenerate individual, a disbelieving one professing belief in but not acquiring Him Who is True and Paul is always making that comparison. Not that we as believers will be perfect, for we will occasionally slip into these things, but they are not to be a daily lifestyle. We never like anyone to get the impression that just because we are believers, we are suddenly perfect or will ever be perfect in this life, as we can not be. We are still in the body of flesh, we are still in a world that is saturated with these things and bombards us with the things of the world, but the goal of every believer is to attain to these things as we grow in our Christ centered knowledge and understanding. When we acquire understanding which happens after we have entered His Salvation, where we learn of Him, He will show us the speck in our own eye, the stumbling block that keeps us in the dark (the bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor of our soul and evil speaking). The darkness which hinders us from hearing and seeing Him is revealed and then we will see throughout the Bible, the red thread. A thread of revelation caused to come into the darkness and open our minds eye as the Lord did His followers after His resurrection. Remember He had told them it was given them to know the mysteries of the kingdom (Matthew 13:11-12, 16; Mark 4:11-12). So here again Paul makes that a comparison with what we came out of. Back up a few pages and we will see what we are driving at in chapter 2.

Ephesians 2:1-2

"And you hath he quickened, (made spiritually alive) who were (past tense) dead in trespasses and sins (mans natural state of being); Wherein (in that old life) time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, (this is Satan) the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"

Do you see how Paul subtly brings in old Satan without actually blatantly using him all the time? Satan is the one whom the world marches to, though they do not acknowledge it. They say that God is in charge of everything, is He? Oh sure His hand and eye is upon Satan's activities and He does have a leash on him but remember Adam gave away not only our authority but God's as well to a limited predetermined degree. God is the owner as His is its builder and all of creation belongs to Him but Satan was cast to of all places the earth, not Mars, or the Sum or even the Moon, earth. Then man as Genesis 1 states was to rule over all the earth, which have dominion means. That is how Jesus through the office of the flesh could be tested or tempted as Matthew records in: Mat 4:8-10 "Again, the devil took (as a vision) took Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And said to Him, All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me. Then said Jesus to him, 'Get hence, Satan: for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve'." 

After His baptism Jesus was then spiritually alive as witnessed by only John the Baptist when he saw what he had been told to be looking for and then heard the voice from heaven. He saw the heavenly dove which ascended and came to rest upon Jesus. Then he heard the voice declare Jesus to be the son of promise (Genesis 3:15). The crowd around them did not see or hear, only John did. Form the moment on Jesus was empowered to proclaim the message of the kingdom. John had been proclaiming the kingdom message, that He of this kingdom was among, at hand, nigh, and in the midst of you. These terms are location terms and may be said to apply to within you or within the group of two or more.

I just said that those around both Jesus and John the Baptist did not see or hear what was happening right in the middle of them. All they heard if anything was the sound of thunder or trumpet blast as this is the testimony of scripture throughout its record. Only those to whom it was intended, one to see and two to hear would this be possible. The third reason is what is stated in our subject verse where it states, "who were dead in trespassed and sins", those in this state will not see or hear God. Even those who repent and enter His Redemption will not until the Holy Spirit has prepared them.

Here is a fresh revelation, the other day I was watching a program on the military channel on the Navy Seals. During this program the man who developed this program of training said, that all men chosen and this includes those who have already become accepted continue to rehurse within the training to increase their skills. Then he stated that they go in with the newbies and work among them for what ever period it takes. It then becomes their (the older seals) job to pass or fail those they had worked with throughout this period. The newbies never know who these guys are because they all receive the same treatment throughout the course. Will I saw a spiritual truth in this because those who repent and have become changed within do not stand out among those who have not been so changed until, the few see and hear clearly. And then they still remain in the shadows, obscured from view, just as the Navy Seals in each specialized group do. No one knows who they are or where they become deployed. And like these Navy Seals God's sons are obscured and remain in training under Salvation's umbrella. Where they sit under God listening and learning Christ or receiving daily more of Him having their character changed to that of a Genesis 2:7 being.

Ephesians 2:3

"Among whom also we all* had our conversation (manner of living) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind: and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

*came out of that kind of background. Oh we may not have actively participated in it. We may have been raised in homes where these kinds of things were not part of our lifestyle, but the potential was there.

Can we get a glimpse of how the about revelation applies here? When any one from outside the team applies to joint the Seals they have to go through the rugged training and during this process many fall away. But when a person becomes a member of the team his identity of the former life is lost and he then is a team player by all the rules. This is in effect entering God's kingdom but in a purely material and physical sense.

 

Then Paul tells us in 1Thessalonians 5:9 that we have not been appointed to wrath.