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all need is not wishful thinking, or trying to be like someone else, but to honestly say,
"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" (Acts 9: 6).
Before the Apostle deals any further with the question of gifts for service, the time
element of His special gifts to the Body of Christ is stressed. This is related, not to the
earthly life of the Saviour, but to His ascension:
"Now this, He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of
the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens,
that He might fill all things. And He gave . . . . ." (4: 9-11 R.V.).
There should be no difficulty with the phrase "the lower parts of the earth". This
could either means (1) the sepulcher into which the Lord's body was placed, (2) Hades,
the state of being in the grave, grave-dom, if one could invent such a word, or (3) the
earth, being looked upon as the lower parts from the standpoint of heaven. (1) and (2) are
permissible, but the third view seems more natural in thinking of the Lord leaving the
heaven that was His in order to descend to the earth for our redemption. The ascension
means exaltation to the place for highest supremacy, as 1: 19-23 has already stressed.
Note the phrase "all heavens". Sometimes in Scripture "heaven" is used in the singular,
but we must not deduce from this that heaven is just one place. It is complex. "All
heavens" must embrace at least three, and shows us that we are not dealing with heaven
and heavenly things. The object of the Ascension is likewise profound: "in order that He
might fill the all things" (literally). We have seen that "filling" and "fullness" in relation
to Christ, are characteristic of the completion of the purpose of the ages, which purpose is
now being preshadowed in the Body (1: 23). The Lord Jesus, at the goal of the ages, will
fill the whole universe in a way we are unable to fully grasp at the present time. He will
have the supreme place that He now occupies, manifestly recognized by every being in
heaven and earth (Phil. 2: 9-11), for it is the Divine will that He should have the first
place in everything (Col. 1: 18). The expressed purpose then of Eph. 4: 10 is
stupendous and should not be passed over without careful reflection.
It is clear that the gifts of the ascended Christ are not things but persons:
"And He gave some to be apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and
some pastors and teachers" (4: 11 R.V.).
Also it should be obvious that these apostles cannot be the same as the Twelve that He
appointed when on earth (Matt. 10: 2-4) who are so closely linked with the people of
Israel. The apostles and prophets of Eph. 4: are the same as those referred to in the
second chapter.
They had a foundation ministry which was unique while the N.T. was in process of
being written, and in some respects took the place of the canonical scriptures. Now we
have a completed Bible, we do not need such apostles and prophets. All Scriptural
service is now being covered by the succeeding three: evangelists, pastors and teachers.