Ephesians 1 is concerning revelation, and chapter three is concerning experience. Regarding experience, Paul asked God to grant us the power. Seeing requires revelation, and experience requires power. Paul prayed that God would strengthen us into our inner man that we would be full of strength. In chapter one Paul showed us that Christ is in the heavenlies, but in chapter three, for our experience, he showed us that Christ is in us as the indwelling Christ.
If the electricity at the electric plant is not connected to our home, we will not be able to enjoy it. In the same way, it is possible for us to know the Christ in the heavens without experiencing or enjoying Him; for Christ to be our enjoyment and experience, He must enter into us to be the Christ in us. Regarding revelation, we have to see that Christ is in ascension. Regarding experience, we have to see that He as the indwelling Christ is in us. The Holy Spirit in us strengthens us with power that the indwelling Christ may make home in us and that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God.
Hence, the two prayers in Ephesians are not for two things but for one thing. Chapter one shows us what this thing is, and chapter three tells us how to experience it. When we are in the spirit and in resurrection, the ascended Christ whom we know in our spirit becomes the indwelling Christ. This Christ becomes our content, and we become His Body. Eventually, we will be filled unto all the fullness of God, unto the Christ who fills all in all. In other words, the Body of Christ is the mingling of God and man, and when man is filled unto the fullness of God, this is the Body of Christ.
Whether a person is a member of the Body of Christ, a part of the Body, all depends on whether he has God mingled with him. If he does, he is a part of the Body of Christ. But if he does not have God mingled with him, though he may be saved, he is still not a part of the Body of Christ in reality. Hence, we must learn to live in the spirit. Once we turn to our spirit, we will touch the Holy Spirit as well as resurrection. In resurrection the church and the members of the Body of Christ will surely grow up. When we live in resurrection, the ascended Christ, the Christ who is on the throne, becomes the Christ in us. Christ’s being in us issues in our being filled unto all the fullness of God. This causes us to become part of the Body of Christ in reality. The Body of Christ, which is in resurrection, is the mystery in this universe.
To be in resurrection is to be in ascension, transcending over all things and being far above all things. Whenever we live in resurrection, we are not only in the realm of ascension, but we transcend over all things. At these times the problems in our coordination will not be able to touch us, the problems in our family will not be able to touch us, and the unsatisfactory circumstances in our work will not be able to touch us. None of the things on the earth will be able to touch us. We will be far above all and over all things.
There was once a brother who was dealt with by an elder and was unable to get through his feeling. This shows that he was not in resurrection but on the earth. He had not departed from the earth. If he was in the spirit and in the heavens, no matter what the elder said or how loud his voice was, since it would not have reached the heavens, it would not have been able to touch him. Sometimes we may be unable to get through regarding certain matters or even regarding certain people. This shows that we are too close to the earth. All the feelings of being “unable to get through” are because we are still on the earth. This is like an airplane taking off. When an airplane takes off, it has to fly high in the sky. Otherwise, it will hit a high-rise building. When we “airplanes” take off, we often either scratch the paint or break the fuselage because we are too close to the earth. If someone requires a small matter from us, we are not able to take it. If someone adjusts us a bit, we find it unbearable. There is much bitterness and complaining in us because we are not in resurrection, in ascension, and far above all things. A person of ascension is one who transcends over all things and is far above all things. One who is in resurrection, regardless of how people irritate him, cannot be touched, because he is in ascension, transcending over all things and being far above all things. Only this is the church, and only this produces the church.
First Corinthians 15:47 says, “The first man is out of the earth, earthy; the second man is out of heaven.” This means that whereas the first man is earthy, belonging to the earth, the second man is out of heaven and is “resurrectionly” and heavenly. When we live in the second man, we live in resurrection, and when we live in resurrection, we live in the heavens. A person who lives in heaven transcends over all things and is far above all things. This kind of person lives in the realm of ascension and is far above all things. He has Christ indwelling and filling him. The One who fills all in all is in him. Such a person is filled unto all the fullness of God. He and God, God and he, are mingled as one.
May God be merciful to us and open our eyes to see that all these spiritual truths are not doctrines or things that are abstract and distant. Although these truths are wonderful and profound, their reality is in the Holy Spirit and in resurrection. If we live in resurrection, we will have the reality, and if we live in the Holy Spirit, this reality will be expressed through us practically. According to the two prayers of Paul in Ephesians, the Lord has already given us the revelation to see these divine and spiritual riches. May the Lord grant us grace upon grace that we may experience and live faithfully in this vision that has been revealed to us and learn to continuously reject our natural man and our flesh so that we may live in the Spirit and in resurrection.
When we are in the Spirit and in resurrection, we transcend over all things and are far above all things. Then the Body of Christ, which is spiritual, heavenly, resurrectionly, and far above all things, and which is the mingling of God and man, is expressed. When the Body of Christ is fully expressed, the new heaven and new earth will come. When the church has this reality, the church is spiritual, has resurrection, has life, and is heavenly, having the taste of the new heaven and new earth. In such a realm God and man are mingled as one.