of His might, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead . . . . ."

(19, 20 R.V.). Here is something so tremendous that the Apostle piles synonym on

synonym, exhausting the resources of language to describe how God's resurrection power

(dunamis) operates according to the inworking (energeia) of the strength (kratos) of His

might (ischus). Why does he do this? Because he is trying to describe the greatest of all

powers, the power that conquers death.

We live in an age of power. Men in their researches are discovering the great power

that God has locked in the atom. But great though this is, it can never raise a person

from the dead. In this prayer we are facing up to the power that can, and actually did so,

when our Saviour burst the bonds of the grave, and this same power, says Eph. 3: 20,

can work in us. Hence its importance to every member of the Body of Christ.

Have we realized its possibilities in our daily lives?

The goal in both the prayers of Ephesians is tremendous and is connected with

fullness, one of the great words of the Prison Epistles. The ascended Christ, far above all

heavens, with all things under Him, is now Head of the Body, the church, the fullness of

Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1: 22, 23). In the second prayer the climax is reached

when the member of the Body is "filled unto (not `with' A.V.) all the fullness of God"

(3: 19). This is so overwhelming, that it almost defies exposition. There is no doubt that

these two prayers touch the high water mark in the N.T. The basic idea behind the word

fullness (pleroma) is that which fills up something that has been torn or is empty, such as

the patch which filled up the rent in an old garment (Matt. 9: 16). There have been a

number of `rents' in the purposes of God caused by sin and failure, such as followed the

fall of Satan, of Adam and the failure of Israel. It would appear that the Body of Christ

fills up the gap caused by the sin of Satan and the angels with him. Ezek 28: gives

us a glimpse of the high and holy calling that Satan occupied in his unfallen state.

Not only this, but this church fills the "rent" made by the defection of Israel at

Acts 28:, up to their being restored to Divine favour at the end of the age. In the

context we are dealing with, the Church is described as the fullness of Christ Who is the

Head. Just as the human body is the complement of the head in order to make up a

complete man, so here this church is the complement of its Divine Head, the Lord Jesus

Christ. As God, the Lord Jesus Christ is complete, for in Him dwells all the fullness of

the Godhead bodily (Col. 2: 9). As Head He needs the Body as His complement, and

when one realizes this, what an overwhelming honour is given to the Church!

We express our minds through our bodies, and the absent Lord expresses Himself

likewise. Or does He? This is a challenge to us all never to forget that day by day we