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"He made darkness pavilions round about Him, dark waters, and thick cloud of the skies."
The A.V. uses the English word "air" twenty-one times to translate the Hebrew
shamayim "heaven" when that word is associated with "fowls" or "birds", showing that
the heavens extended from the very surface of the earth to the heights above. When we
remember the association which the Greek word had with the lower regions of the
atmosphere, and so with gloom and darkness, the fact that this Prince exercises his
authority in the air, and that his spiritual servants are called "the rulers of the darkness of
this world" show something of the nature of his rule. Moreover, in the Revelation when
the seventh angel poured out his vial, he poured it "into the air", and so important is this,
that we read "and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne,
saying, it is done" (Rev. 16: 17).
Finally, when the Lord descends from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the
archangel, His redeemed people meet Him "in the air", a term evidently conveying far
more than may at first sight have been believed. They meet their Lord in that region, that
once was ruled and invested by the powers of darkness, and as the enemy of truth is
dislodged and comes down to earth, so the believer is translated to the vacated sphere in
triumph. We must reserve consideration as to the way in which this prince of darkness
works his will among the children of men, for our next study.
No.40.
The Throne Room (1: 19 - 2: 7).
"What is the depth?" (2: 2, 3).
pp. 61 - 63
In our last study we learned that those who were called and chosen to the high glory of
the church which is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all, were dead TO trespasses and
sins, not, as the A.V. puts it, dead IN trespasses and sins. Although this new rendering
makes Eph. 2: 1 speak of a blessed state by grace rather than a wretched state by nature,
it is obvious that no unfallen being would ever be under the necessity to die TO sins.
Consequently we learn in the succeeding verses, that two great forces were at work,
combining together to enthrall and condemn the children of men. The first is that "the
prince of the power of the air" energizes such, and the second is that this energizing runs
not contrary, but parallel with their own desires and intentions. All such are so clearly
responsible, that they are described as "sons of disobedience" and "children of wrath".
We have already examined the title "the prince of the power of the air" and must now
turn our attention to the way he works, and the ground that the natural man gives him.
He is called "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience". There is an
evident correspondence intended by the Holy Spirit. The word "worketh in" is the
Greek energeo, a word we have already met both as verb and noun in Eph. 1: 19, 20
"working" and "which He wrought in". Two spiritual activities are here revealed. The
one "to usward" who believe, the other in the children of disobedience. In Eph. 5: 6 the