I N D E X
sight becomes dim, and the keenness that once characterized our pursuit of the
high truth of the Mystery wanes.
We believe that the apostle in Ephesians 1:17 is not concerned with
`knowledge'; he, in effect, says `we must pause for a while.  In the charter of
the church there is enough knowledge to last a lifetime -- what is needed is the
grace and the willingness to acknowledge the wondrous truth'.  It is just here
that so many fail.  We have met those whose intelligence was bright enough for
them to see very clearly that with the passing of Israel, a new dispensation was
called for.  They saw only too well that there were exceedingly different
conditions in the Mystery from those which obtained during the Acts.  They drew
back, not because they did not see, but because they saw only too well, and
realized that a price would be exacted by Christendom if they dared to step out
into the full light and liberty of the Mystery.  So, failing to `acknowledge'
what they had seen, they soon failed to recognize the truth, and are now quite
content with the ordinances and their appropriations of Pentecost.  The fear of
man bringeth a snare, and `repentance unto the acknowledging of the truth' (2
Tim. 2:25) is the only means of deliverance.
Chamber No. 2.
The Chapel of Acknowledgement (Eph. 1:15-19)
The Father of Glory
Having shown the reason for using the word `acknowledgment' in verse 17,
we now consider the prayer of the apostle in detail.  The prayer is addressed to
`the God of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Eph. 1:17).  It will be observed that the
second prayer is addressed to `the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ'.  There are
several occasions when the two titles are used together, as in 2 Corinthians
1:3, which in the original is word for word with that of Ephesians 1:3.  At the
resurrection it will be remembered, the Saviour said to Mary:
`Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your
Father; and to My God, and your God' (John 20:17).
Immediately after this we read that He Who said `My God', was Himself
acknowledged by Thomas with the same words.  In the epistle to the Hebrews we
have another extraordinary use of the term.
`Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever' (Heb.
1:8), yet in the very next verse He Who is addressed as God, is now said to have
a God `Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee ... above Thy fellows'
(Heb. 1:9).  This same One has already been called `Lord', and the work of
creation attributed to Him.  Evidently the writers of Scripture saw no
inconsistency in ascribing the title `God' to the Saviour, and yet of speaking
of the Father, as `the God of our Lord Jesus Christ'.  When the Lord took upon
Him the form of a servant and the fashion of a man, He stooped from the high
status of Creator, to the lowly status of creature.  As such He acknowledged One
Who sent Him, One Whom He obeyed, One Whose doctrine He taught, One Whose will
He delighted to do.  He acknowledged that His Father was greater than Himself,
even when He claimed that He and His Father were one.  In the status of a true
servant, and in the fashion of a man, He must either have refused to acknowledge
God which is inconceivable, or He must have acknowledged God, which He most
blessedly did.  He never said `Our Father', that He left for His followers.  He
went out of His way to say `My Father and your Father'; thus while one with them
in the common humanity, He was for ever separated from them by His essential
Deity.  The most solemn and awful occasion when the Saviour used the words `My
God' was on the cross, forsaken as the bearer of our sin.  He said `My God' on
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