The Messenger 8
Introduction
to us, let me repeat what I said in an earlier reflection: “God has never abandoned His Church and nor should we.”
Not only has God not abandoned His Church, He has, as we discover in Ephesians, this wonderful purpose for her. He has chosen to use her, writes Paul, as the instrument for making known His incredible and diverse wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. How utterly amazing, as we saw in our previous reflection, to think of the Church as a “university of angels, with each saint a professor” (Wuest).
Writes John Piper “The church of Jesus Christ is the most important institution in the world. The assembly of the redeemed, the company of the saints, the children of God are more significant in world history than any other group, organization or nation. The United States of America compares to the church of Jesus Christ like a speck of dust compares to the sun………Take heed how you judge. Things are not what they seem. ‘All flesh is like grass. And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord (and all His family) abides forever’ (1 Peter 1:24-25). The media and all the powers, and authorities and rulers and stars that they present are a mirage. ‘For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God’ (Luke 16:15). The gates of Hades, the powers of death, will prevail against every institution but one, the church.”
Rulers and authorities
The phrase “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”, as we have seen, applies not only to angels, God’s messengers. It also applies, according to Ephesians 6:12, to demonic powers that seek to work against God. That would imply that God’s intention is to display His manifold wisdom not only to angels but also to demonic powers in the heavenly realms. The purpose for His doing so in each case , however, couldn’t be more different.
Demons: If some people have a problem in believing in angels they probably have an even greater problem accepting the existence of demons. It was certainly not a subject that was ever touched on when I was studying for the ordained ministry. And had it been I and my fellow students would most probably have dismissed it as belonging to the mythological imaginations of a primitive mind. Demons?! They had no place in the thinking of the 21st century. There were surely psychological explanations for the phenomena of Satan and demon powers in the New Testament.
I probably would have remained a sceptic when it came to these things had Jill and I not had a series of experiences during the years we worked among dropouts, drug-addicts and alcoholics that made us think again. What we saw and what we experienced left both of us in no doubt that the New Testament account of demons could not simply be dismissed as the figment of primitive imagination. There was more to it than that. Beyond the world that we could see dwelt rulers and authorities in the heavenly places that were opposed to everything God stood for. How and why demons exist is a subject for another study. That they do exist, however, is part of the teaching of the Bible.
God’s wisdom
AW Tozer has defined wisdom thus: “Wisdom, among other things is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. It sees the end from the beginning, so there can be no need to guess or conjecture. Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined goals with flawless precision.”
Take a few moments to read Ephesians 3:10-11 again. Do you see how those verses illustrate Tozer’s definition of God’s wisdom? Take special note of the phrase “according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vs. 11). God had a purpose in mind before time had even begun and He achieved that purpose by the most perfect means, Jesus. And He achieved the perfect end that He had devised despite the many things that appeared as flaws in His plan
Take the human race. God created the human race in His image to know Him and love Him and be known by Him and be loved by Him. But think for a moment how badly the human race has failed God. Think of God’s choosing of Israel and yet its failure to embrace Jesus as its Messiah. Consider God’s plan in sending Jesus, yet how vulnerable Jesus became when He put aside His glory, made Himself nothing and took the form of a servant (Philippians 2:6-7). Consider God’s creation of the Church and His purpose for the Church and yet think of its many apparent failures. Try to imagine how a cross, a thing of shame and agonising death, was intended to be the focus of the good news of the Gospel. Utter foolishness! All of it.
No plan that had ever been devised seemed more doomed to failure than God’s plan. And yet each apparent failure was to become a stepping-stone leading to the victorious fulfilment of God’s plan. Each apparent failure was intricately woven into God’s tapestry that He had designed in eternity. Incomparable wisdom! All of it!
How beautifully Stuart Townsend expresses that wisdom of God in one of his hymns: The matchless wisdom of His ways that mark the path of righteousness; His word a lamp unto my feet, His Spirit teaching and guiding me. And O the mystery of the cross, that God should suffer for the lost, so that the fool might shame the wise, and all the glory go to Christ .
Every time a sinner becomes a saint God displays the manifold wisdom of His grace to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead turned the apparent defeat at the cross into the greatest victory ever known. The fact that Gentiles are now part of God’s plan is a display of God’s wisdom in allowing the temporary failure of Israel to become the very means for Gentiles to be included in His plan. Every time God’s People are under attack yet remain persuaded that nothing will snatch them out of the divine hands that hold them, God is displaying His wisdom to rulers and authorities. The Church may be made up of weak, fallible human beings but even that God uses to display His wisdom, for as Paul writes to the Church at Corinth: But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). How wise God is! The angels know and the demons are forced to acknowledge that truth. And you, do you know and acknowledge it?
Let me close this reflection with the last verse of that hymn by Townsend: O grant me wisdom from above to pray for peace and cling to love, and teach me humbly to receive the sun and rain of Your sovereignty. Each strand of sorrow has a place within the tapestry of grace; so through the trials I choose to say: “Your perfect will in Your perfect way.”
If you have a question or a comment about this series please feel free to write to me, Brian, at
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