By descending and ascending, Christ also cut the way that He might fill all things. The thought here is profound. Firstly, Christ was in the heavens. In His incarnation He came down to earth as a man and lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He died on the cross and descended into Hades, ascended in resurrection from Hades to earth, and then ascended to the third heaven. By means of such a traffic of descending and ascending, He fills all things. Now Christ is everywhere, on the earth as well as in the heavens.
In verse 12 we see the reason for Christ’s giving of the gifts: “For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” The Greek word rendered “for” in this verse is weighty and significant. It indicates that Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers for the purpose of perfecting the saints. The saints are perfected “unto the work of ministry.” The Greek word translated “unto” means “resulting in.” Therefore, the perfecting of the saints results in the work of ministry. The many gifted persons in verse 11 have only one ministry, that of ministering Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, the church. This is the unique ministry in the New Testament economy (2 Cor. 4:1; 1 Tim. 1:12). According to the grammatical construction, “the building up of the Body of Christ” is “the work of ministry.” Whatever the gifted persons in verse 11 do as the work of ministry must be for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Verse 13 continues, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” According to this verse, the perfected saints will arrive at three things: at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Christ has a fullness, the fullness has a stature, and the stature has a measure. We must arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We shall cover this matter in a later message.
Let us now consider in more detail how the gifts are given by Christ to the Body. We have seen that, concerning the Body, all the basic elements are one. However, the gifts and the functions are different. Christ has traveled from the heavens to the earth, from the earth to Hades, from Hades back to earth, and from the earth to the third heaven. It is by this universal traffic that the gifts have been given by Christ to the Body.
Consider the Apostle Paul as an example. How could a sinful, devilish persecutor of the church such as Saul of Tarsus become a gift to the Body of Christ? Only by the traveling of Christ throughout the universe. Christ traveled from the heavens to the earth. He was born in a manger in Bethlehem, and He lived for about thirty years in the little town of Nazareth. After He was crucified on the cross, He went down into Hades and took a tour of that region for three days. Then He came out of Hades on the day of His resurrection. Between His resurrection and ascension, He appeared to His disciples over a period of forty days. At the end of those forty days, He ascended into the heavens.
If we had Ephesians 4 without Psalm 68, we probably would not realize that when Christ ascended to the heavens He led a train of captives. He entered into the heavens as a conqueror with a train of captives. He presented these captives to His Father, who in turn gave them back to Him as gifts. Then Christ gave all these captives as gifts to men. One of these gifts was Saul of Tarsus. This is the way Christ gave gifts to men.
By His universal traveling Christ not only gathered up many sinners, but He also defeated Satan, the one who had captured them. At one time, we all were captives, those who had been captured by Satan, sin, and death. By traveling from heaven to earth, from earth to Hades, from Hades back to earth, and from earth back to heaven, on the one hand, Christ gained all of us and, on the other hand, He conquered Satan, who had usurped us and held us under his power of death. Having been released from Satan, sin, and death, we are now Christ’s captives. All the angels know that when Christ ascended to the third heaven, He was leading a train of captives and that these captives were presented to the Father. What a victorious celebration this procession must have been! Although this glorious event was hidden from the eyes of men, it was seen by angels. They knew that an event of tremendous significance was taking place in the history of the universe. This is not a product of our imagination; it is a marvelous fact.