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EPHESIANS.
"To make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery"
(Eph. 3: 9, R.V.)
No.29.
The Chapel of Acknowledgment (1: 15 - 19).
---Illustration---
(BE-XXXVIII.7).
No.29.
Three Prayers of Ephesians compared.
pp. 7 - 11
In The Berean Expositor, Volume XXXV, page 142 is a drawing showing a house of
some pretensions, having a central tower, and two wings, each wing having seven rooms,
and these two wings with their seven rooms balancing one another on plan. This is
explained as being a pictorial exhibition of the structure of the epistle to the Ephesians, in
which seven doctrinal sections occupy chapters 1:, 2: and part of 3:, while seven
corresponding sections dealing with practice occupy chapters 4:, 5:, 6: Our guide has
broken into his description of the contents of the Muniment room three times, saying
"to the praise of His glory", he now conducts us to the next room in the building which
we have called "The Chapel of Acknowledgment"* for here, he ceases to teach us and
begins rather to pray for us.
[* - The reader may be interested to know that the illustration used at
the head of this article is a drawing made in the Chapel of the Opened
Book, from the vestry looking across the reading desk to the Pulpit.]
"Wherefore I also." This little word "also" has occurred several times already.
"In Whom also", that is, over and above the fact that Christ is to head up all things in
heaven and in earth, "we also" said the Apostle have a part. "In Whom ye also" were
sealed and given an earnest. "Wherefore I also", I now come forward, says Paul,
recognizing your position by grace, to pray for your enlightenment and appreciation of
the grace so lavishly bestowed upon you. There are some matters that call for prayer,
the only condition being man's abject need of Divine grace. There are some matters,
however, that cannot form the basis of true prayer, apart from the fulfillment of certain
conditions. We are facing one such instance here. It would be useless to pray for these
Ephesians, that they "may know what is the hope of His calling", if they had received no
instruction on the subject. Verses 3-14 which reveal the "calling" must come before
verses 15-19 which lead on to its "hope". There comes a moment also when teaching
must stop. Unless there is response and acknowledgment of what has already been
revealed, to add instruction would be an evil. "Then shall ye know if ye follow on to
know the Lord" is a sound principle at all times. These Ephesian saints appear to have