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No.32.
The Chapel of Acknowledgment (1: 15 - 19).
The Prayer for Perception.
pp. 81 - 83
Let us consider the three steps indicated by the Apostle in his prayer.
(1) The spirit of wisdom and revelation. Strictly speaking we should omit the article
"the" and speak of "a spirit of wisdom and revelation"--a gift, not exactly the same as
the supernatural gift of "knowledge" and "wisdom" (I Cor. 12: 8) which was enjoyed
during the Pentecostal period, but "a gift" nevertheless. No amount of human learning,
study or training, no amount of reading or erudition can attain to the goal before us. As
in other days, so now, God reveals many things to the babe that are hidden from the wise
and prudent, and a chastened spirit bows before the Lord and makes no demands, but
quietly waits, and realizes that all that is asked for of the Father of "glory" will be granted
by Him as the God of "grace".
When writing to the Colossians, the Apostle has recorded a similar prayer, saying:
"Since we heard . . . . . For this cause we also, since the day we heard it do not cease
to pray for you, and desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Col. 1: 4-9).
The reader may remember that in article No.30 of this series we have examined
Col. 1: 9, 10 and suggested a slightly different meaning.
"We do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled, and this
fullness is none other than the `recognition' of His will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding."
What are we to understand by a "spirit of wisdom and revelation??
J. Armitage Robinson says: "It is a teaching spirit, rather than a teachable spirit, which
the Apostle asks that they may have." Our thoughts travel to the book of the Revelation,
where we read: "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19: 10). This is
not the testimony borne by our Lord, for the angel said: "I am thy fellowservant, and of
thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus"; it is this testimony that is the spirit of
prophecy. So, the "acknowledgment" which is the essence of the Apostle's prayer for the
Ephesians is the vehicle by which this spirit of wisdom and revelation is received.
Wisdom, in the book of Daniel, is related particularly with the unveiling of Divine secrets
(Dan. 1: 4, 17, 20; 2: 20, 21, 23, 30; 5: 11, 14). The term "the wise men" which occurs
in Dan. 14: fourteen times, is used with particular reference to the unveiling of
mysteries. "Wisdom" in Ezekiel is confined to chapter twenty-eight.
The only
reference to "wisdom" in Romans is in chapter 11: 33, where the unsearchable ways of
God are spoken of. So in Ephesians the three occurrences of "wisdom" (Eph. 1: 8, 17
and 3: 10) are linked with the Mystery, even as the title "The only wise God"