It is well to go over the successive links of this golden chain when we are in our secret chamber, appropriating them one by one and asking whether we have received a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Christ, and whether the eyes of our heart have been enlightened to know the hope, the riches, the glory, and the greatness of his power. In

so far as we yield ourselves to the strength of God’s might, he will raise us from the grave of selfishness and cause us to sit with Christ in the place of spiritual life and power.

Notice the emphasis with which the Apostle affirms the supremacy of Christ’s nature, vs. 21, 22. This is a psalm of ascension. We can almost follow his tracks, as all the evil powers which rule the darkness of this world drop far beneath him. The ascending Lord is high over all, and if we claim our right as members of his glorified body, we also shall stand above all our spiritual adversaries; and it is easier to descend on an enemy from above him than to seek to assail him from beneath. Notice that Christ needs the Church as much as the head needs the body, because it is through the Church that he fulfills himself. Ask him to fill all of you with all of him.

Ephesians 2:1-10. Evidently dead men may walk; that is, they may be dead to the eternal world but alive to this world, which is moving past like the films of a moving picture. The death of the spirit is compatible with much active interest in the course of this world. Behind the shifting scenes of the material is the great enemy of souls. As the Spirit of God works in the obedient, so does the evil spirit work in the disobedient. Note this trinity of evil—the course of this world, the lusts of our flesh, and the prince of the power of the air. If we desire to save men, we must be in living union with the all-conquering Spirit of Christ.

Notice, also, the past tense which describes the finality of Christ’s work, vs. 5, 6. In the purpose of God we have been raised from the grave of sin and are seated with the risen Lord in the place of acceptance and victory. We were one with Christ when he lay in the grave and arose. In God’s thought we have already taken our seat with the glorified Christ upon the

throne; only the pity is that we do not believe this or act as if we had done so. All this is the gift of God’s unmerited love. By grace have we been brought into this position, and by grace are we maintained in it. We are of God’s ‘“making’’; such is the Greek word for workmanship, v. 10. We have been created for good works; they have been planned for us and we have only to walk in them.