Suppose a brother has a terrible temper (using a simple matter as an illustration), and he cannot overcome it once, twice, and three times. He wonders why God does not deal with his temper. It seems as if he puts some of the blame on God. Have you realized that his problem lies in the fact that he still hopes that God would do a work? He thinks that everything would be well if God moved His finger a little. But Ephesians 1:3 says that God "has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ." "Has blessed" means that it is done. God does not want us to ask Him to do anything more. He wants to open our eyes to see that He has done everything. Hallelujah! God wants us to see that He has done everything already. This is what Ephesians 1 shows us. We may pray, "God, why don't You give me more power so that I can chase away my bad temper and evil habits?" We may pray for greater power, but the Bible says that we do not need greater power; what we need is a spirit of wisdom and revelation in order to see the surpassing greatness of the power within us. If God opens our eyes one day, we will see how great the power within us is. Then we will readily agree that there is nothing greater than this power.

Brothers and sisters, do you realize that the power of resurrection is God's greatest power? The Bible reveals one fact to us: resurrection is the peak of God's work. At the time of resurrection, God's work reached the peak. God wants to open our eyes to see that He does not need to do any more work. God's work in Christ had reached its peak; it is impossible to add anything more to it. As a consequence, in Ephesians 1, Paul did not ask God to do anything more. In his prayer, Paul did not expect God to do anything more. Thank and praise the Lord! God's work is completed. It is impossible to add anything to it. All that God wants to do is to open our eyes and show us a little. As soon as we see the kind of power that exists, it will be manifested in us.

Among God's children, many hope for a future salvation. To them, salvation may come tomorrow or next year. But God wants to show us an accomplished salvation. There is no need to wait for the future. To many, victory is something that belongs to tomorrow or to the future. The aspirations, hopes, and prayers of many people are for the future. But if we have the revelation, we will see God's accomplished facts. Revelation shows us what God has accomplished, not what He will accomplish. Many people hope for deliverance because they have certain weaknesses and failures in themselves. But if God opens our eyes, we will see that our weaknesses and failures were dealt with on the cross. When our eyes are opened, we will say, "God, thank and praise You because You have accomplished everything. Thank and praise You because You have overcome these matters already."

We treasure Ephesians 1 very much because it shows that forgiveness, redemption, and the receiving of the Spirit are all accomplished facts. It shows that everything is ours already, and that we only need one thing—revelation. Once we have revelation, everything will be in place. We are still so weak because we have not seen. We are still so useless because we have not seen. Even though the Lord Jesus was so powerful when He was on earth, we are so weak because we have not seen. The power which God has toward those who believe is the same power which operated in Christ. God has given us this power. The difference lies in the fact that we do not see as much as our Lord saw. Today the difference does not lie in the kind of power that we have or in the degree of power. The difference lies in our seeing. What we lack today is revelation. Once we have revelation, everything will be all right.

This is why we repeatedly emphasize the need for revelation. Without revelation, nothing will prevail. We repeatedly emphasize the fact that it is useless to simply hear something; there must be the seeing. It is a matter of revelation, not a matter of doctrine. It will not do us any good even if we familiarize ourselves with and memorize all of Ephesians 1. But the minute we see, we become a different person. Paul prayed that "God...may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation" (v. 17). Other than the Holy Spirit, nothing will avail. Cleverness is worthless, and doctrines are useless. The Holy Spirit alone can open our eyes and grant us sight. When the Holy Spirit truly opens our eyes and gives us sight, we will immediately say, "Thank God that it is done." We should not expect God to give us greater power. We only need to see the greatness of the power God has already given us. A spirit of wisdom will make us understand, and a spirit of revelation will enable us to see. There is the need for wisdom, and there is the need for revelation. We need wisdom before we can understand and become clear, and we need revelation before we can see and comprehend.

Perhaps we have heard of God's eternal plan many times, and perhaps we have heard about the position of the church in His eternal plan. But when do we begin to be related to this eternal plan? Our revelation is the beginning. Revelation enables us to see God's arrangements and His accomplished work in eternity past, and revelation enables us to see what God has done on the cross. Revelation shows us the plan of eternity and the work of the cross, and revelation enables us to understand, see, and know the power that God has toward us. Revelation makes us a part of the church, and revelation henceforth makes us a useful vessel in the hand of the Lord.

Perhaps some of us are very familiar with this word already. But we need to be reminded once again before the Lord of the importance of revelation. We believe that God in heaven today is concerned for His revelation because He has already accomplished all that He wants to accomplish. The question today is how much has man seen. We do not need to ask for anything else. We should be like Paul, who prayed for himself and for the other brothers and sisters that God would grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. We have to humble ourselves before God and pray, "Lord, I want to see! I want to see!"