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The Prayer. Its Threefold Petition (Eph. 1: 18-23)
pp. 177-179
The second petition in this great prayer is for a perception as to "What is the riches of
the glory of His inheritance in the saints." The reader may remember, that in the series
"The Blessings of the Son" page 17-21 of this volume, when dealing with Eph. 1: 11, we
found that the teaching led us to see that the high privilege and blessing of the saints was
not that they had obtained an inheritance so much, as that they themselves had been taken
to constitute the Lord's inheritance. We referred to Deut. 4: 20, where Israel's peculiar
and sacred privilege is expressed in similar terms. The church of the one body is His
inheritance. What they will inherit in the ages to come does not concern them. Like the
Corinthians, they can say that all things are theirs, for they are Christ's and Christ is
God's. The second petition does not ask that the saints should receive a knowledge of
what the inheritance may be, but what the riches of the glory of that inheritance may be.
The Prison Epistles are full of riches. Riches of grace, and riches of glory; riches for
the present, and riches for the future. The references to riches in Ephesians arrange
themselves in the following manner:--
A
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1: 7. Forgiveness according to the riches of His grace.
B
| 1: 18. Prayer concerning the riches of His glory.
C | 2: 7. The exceeding riches of His grace in the future.
B | 3: 8. Preaching concerning the unsearchable riches of Christ.
A | 3: 16. Strength, according to riches of His glory.
It will be observed that all the references are in the doctrinal section of the epistle.
The epistle to the Philippians, which makes no reference to the headship of Christ, His
fulness, or the mystery, has but one reference to "riches", and that in a most practical
setting, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by
Christ Jesus".
Colossians differs again from both Ephesians and Philippians. In the two occasions
where the apostle speaks of riches, it has to do directly with the knowledge of the
mystery (Col. 1: 27, 2: 2). The riches concerning which the apostle prays in Eph. 1: do
not stand alone, they are the riches of the glory; even then that is not all. The glory is the
glory of His inheritance, and this inheritance is in the saints.
Glory is spoken of in many connections in the Scriptures. There is the glory of the
kingdom (Matt. 6: 13), there is the glory of the Only begotten Son as the Word made
flesh (John 1: 14), and as the Coming One (Matt. 25: 31). There is the glory which the
Saviour had with the Father before the world was (John 17: 5), the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ (II Cor. 4: 6). There is
the glory that may be obtained as accompanying salvation (II Tim. 2: 10). There is the
hope of one day being fashioned like unto the glorious body of the risen Lord
(Phil. 3: 21), and of being presented a glorious church to the Lord (Eph. 5: 27). From the
many manifestations of glory, one is singled out by the inspired apostle as a subject for