Holy Scriptures and Israel

Gideon Levytam: We continue our study of Ephesians chapter three. This is what we find in verses 14 and 15 of our chapter. Notice in the next verses the context of what Paul prayed for. Verses 16, 17, 18, and 19 contains four requests that Paul is requesting from the Father. Notice that in this context, he doesn't pray for a good job. He doesn't pray for physical health. He doesn't pray for financial needs. Not that it is wrong to pray for that—we need to pray for that. Most of the time in our prayer lists, we pray for mostly physical needs that the brothers and sisters have.

But here in the context, he's praying for the spiritual needs of the people of God, and he's praying for four things. The first thing he prays here in verse 16 is for strength in the inner man of every believer, whether it is the Ephesians in the context or whether it is you and I: strength in the inner man. He says, "I pray that he would grant unto you Ephesians, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man." He's praying first of all for strength to be able to continue on and to appropriate what God has done in our life and provided for us to appropriate it to our day-by-day living.

Where do we get that strength to be able to have this? Where were the Ephesians be able to get this strength? The Apostle Paul is praying for strength in the inner man, and I want to highlight some things here in verse 16. He used the word that he would grant you according to his riches. Notice he doesn't say that he will grant you out of his riches, but according to his riches. What's the difference? If somebody is a millionaire and he's going to give you five dollars—he says, "Listen, I'm going to give you a gift of five dollars"—he took five dollars out of his wealth and he gave you five dollars. This came out of his wealth, out of his riches.

But if the same millionaire will give you $100,000, it will be much different. The difference is that it's not coming out of his wealth, but it's coming according to his wealth. He's not talking about money here. He doesn't talk about anything else except the spiritual appreciation of what the Lord has done for us. He is praying that the Lord will grant to the believers at Ephesus according to His riches, in light of all the spiritual wealth that is available for the believers because of what Yeshua has done—not out of His riches, but according to His riches. In other words, he's beseeching God that we will be so spiritually taken up by what God had provided for us that what we have will not be out of God's riches, but according to God's riches and glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.

He's praying that all what we really have positionally, we will also appropriate practically. That is amazing because it's very easy when we have accepted Yeshua the Messiah. We immediately receive the Holy Spirit of God that indwelt in us, and the Holy Spirit gave us what you call a new birth. Immediately we are the children of God. It's one thing to be a child of God having the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us. It is another thing to have the Spirit of God on earth guiding us and leading us in our lives. That's why we sometimes say about some Christians or some Messiah-followers that this is a spiritual brother or this is a spiritual sister.

How do we know that? Because in some measure, God appropriated by the Spirit of God to their lives because of the finished work of the Messiah for them. In other words, they really seek to live out their life for the Lord. To become a believer is not something that we have done. The Spirit of God came, indwelt in us, we accepted the Messiah, and we become children of God. But to live the life of the believer is another story. It's completely different because now the Spirit of God not only indwells us, but the Spirit of God has to empower the believer to live for the Lord in a world that is contrary to anything that has to do with the things of God.

That's the difference, and that's why Paul is saying, "Brothers and sisters of the Ephesians, the first thing from the Lord I'm praying for is that He will give you the strength to live the life of the believers in a world that is against you on a day-by-day basis. That you will be strengthened in the inner man." This Hebrew expression is Ha-adam ha-penimi. The inner man is different than the outer man. The Bible teaches us in 1 Samuel chapter 16 that man looketh upon the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart—on the inner man. He is saying really that God will strengthen you inwardly, this new man, the inner man, that which belong to the Lord, that which you have committed for God, that He will strengthen you to be able to walk with Him here in this world.

This is what you call practical Christianity or practical Messiah following. It's not only to have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us, but if the Spirit of God indwells us, what about our walk with the Lord? What about the believers at Ephesus and their walk with the Lord? That's why he's saying that he wanted them to be strengthened in the inner man. But notice that it's not by their own ability, but it has to be by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is the one that is able to strengthen us in the inner man. I want you to see this expression found elsewhere in the Bible. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter four and verse 16.

He uses this expression three times in scripture. Paul says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." We know that we just look at each other and we say, "Boy, boy, the outward man. We can see how it perishes." Decay comes. Old age comes. Pain comes. All the marks and the scars are evident in our bodies. The outward man perishes. But the inner man of the believer is renewed every day. This is really similar to what Paul said in Ephesians chapter three and verse 16, that you might be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man. In other words, grow spiritually. Appreciate the Messiah more and what He had done for you.

Live the life of the Mashiach in this world with the strength of the Spirit of God. That is what he is praying. You might say he's praying for you and for me as well. They had a lot of opposition. They had a lot of difficulties in their life. "Abba, Father, I pray that they will be strengthened to continue on the life of following Yeshua in this world, that they will be strengthened in their inner man." Why are there so many believers who lived in various countries in this world who have been persecuted and suffered physically? They locked them in jail. They have tortured them. They have done all kinds of things in their lives, in the bodies of the believers, but the inner man seems to continue on to follow Yeshua the Messiah with devotedness.

How is it possible? It's only possible where Paul said that they may be strengthened in the inner man by the power of the Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot continue on and be strengthened on our own. It must be the power of Ruach HaKodesh. Look at Romans for a moment. Again, Sha'ul Paul is speaking. This time in Romans chapter seven, he speaks about himself and he says in verse 22, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man, the inner man." What makes us delight in the things of God? It's that inner man, this new nature that God had given unto us. That inner man delights in God's Word, in God's laws, in God's provision, in God's ways.

The outward man perishes and gets decay, but the inner man delights in the things of God. Paul mentioned it: "I delight in the law of God after the inward man, the inner man." What happened to a person that is unsaved and not a believer? Does he delight in the law of God, in the things of the Lord? Not at all. He doesn't want to hear anything about the things of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah because he is not saved. They are not believers. They don't have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling them. What they need to do is first of all bow and accept the fact that sin needs to be judged, and the Messiah was judged for them, and they ought to accept Him first of all.

But for the believer, Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit of God will empower them. You know, the Holy Spirit of God is a divine person. The Holy Spirit of God is empowering the believers to be able to walk with the Lord. Galatians 5:16: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." When we don't walk in the power of the Spirit of God, we fail the Lord. We fail Him again and again and again. Why? Because we cannot live the believer's life in the power of the flesh. It just doesn't work. We will fail the Lord on our faces every time, and that's why Paul is praying, "I want Abba, my Father, the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah—I really pray that you will strengthen the brothers and sisters of the Ephesians in the inner man by the power of Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit of God."

Every time you will see a believer does something for the Lord in a right way, you will say this brother or this sister is empowered by the Spirit of God. Empowered by the Spirit of God has nothing to do with hocus-pocus and all kind of things like that. It's simply submitting to the Lord, to His Word, as the Spirit allows us to do so. So the first request of the Apostle Paul for the believers at Ephesus is that they will be strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man—ba-adam ha-penimi—inside, the inner man. Secondly, notice in verse 17, here is Paul praying on behalf of the brothers and sisters at Ephesus for a deep and mature relationship with Yeshua the Messiah.

He doesn't want us to be shallow. Unfortunately, we often have to admit we are shallow believers. But look what he's saying in verse 17: "That the Messiah will dwell in your hearts by faith; and that ye, being rooted and grounded in love." That the Messiah will dwell in your hearts by faith. You know how many times we have to ask the question: if the Lord knows my heart, would He feel comfortable, would He feel at home in my heart, my thoughts? Is my heart tuned to His will? Can He feel at home in my heart? Can He rest and say, "I can enjoy fellowship with this person"? You remember when God came to our father Abraham in Genesis chapter 18, and Abraham invited Him to the tent. God and the two angels went into the tent and enjoyed fellowship with father Abraham.

But you remember when He left, and the two angels were going now to Sodom? Lot asked them to come in. They said, "No, no, we are going to sleep outside. We are not coming in." Eventually they came in, but they didn't want to get in. Why? Lot and Abraham both of them were believers. But with Lot, they could not have fellowship because Lot was not spiritually in a right condition. With Abraham, He felt at home. You know what Paul is saying? Here's another thing that Paul is praying. He's saying, "You know brothers and sisters of the Ephesians, I'm going to pray to God, to the Father, to the Abba, that the Messiah will dwell in your hearts by faith." The dwelling comes from the word to tabernacle—to dwell, to rest, and to enjoy fellowship with the people of God.

How many times God does not feel at rest with us? Why? Because we are not in that suitable condition, and we know that. So he is saying, "I'm going to pray for that." Oh yes, you are already believers, brothers and sisters at Ephesus. You belong to Yeshua. You are going to go to heaven. You have been blessed with every spiritual thing in heavenly places in the Messiah Yeshua. This is your eternal position. But practically, I'm going to pray for you that your heart will be so much engaged with the Messiah that Yeshua the Messiah will dwell in your heart by faith.

When I study this passage, I was thinking about the passage in Revelation, the church of the Laodicean, where we find out in chapter three and verse 20 where Yeshua said, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Now what in the world is He doing outside, knocking on the door? Ought not He to be in the midst of His own people? The church of the Laodicean were a miserable church. He's saying here, "Laodicean, you don't understand. You don't realize that you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold." He says, "You say that you are rich, but you do not know that you are poor and blind and miserable and wretched and naked."

Well, the Lord wants to feel at rest in the life of the Ephesians, and He wants to feel at rest in our life as well. He is praying—here is Paul—see what Paul wanted: practical walk with the Lord for the brothers and sisters in Ephesus. That's why he's praying for this here in this chapter. This is nice because that shows that Paul cared for the brothers and sisters. He didn't want them only to say "I'm saved, I'm a believer," but he wanted spiritual growth. I'm sure he would want to see this with us as well. He's praying in verse 17 that the Messiah will dwell in your heart by faith. Now secondly, notice in the same verse, that you will be rooted and grounded in love.

When you think about rooted and grounded, you think about a tree for example. If you're going to plant a tree and it's not going to catch—the roots will not go down deep—it will be very shallow. When the wind will come, the tree will fall. It will not be able to stand. What we really learn here from this verse 17 is that he wanted that the believers will be grounded and rooted deep down in their hearts, in their lives, that they will be deep believers who have deep appreciation of Yeshua the Messiah walking with Him here in this world. What an expectation. He didn't want a shallow Christianity or shallow Messiah following. He wanted deep and rooted in love.

Notice he used this expression "rooted and grounded in love." In other words, the love of the Lord Yeshua will constrain us. Love for Him, love for the people of God, love for the world, but to be rooted and grounded in love. Rooted speaks of deep relationship with the Lord. This is an expectation that the Apostle Paul was praying for the believer. Let me show you a verse in Matthew chapter seven. Please turn to Matthew seven, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, where Yeshua was preaching there in the Galilee. At the end of Matthew seven in verse 24, He says those words.

"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."

What he is really saying is that the believer is to grow and to mature by being rooted and grounded in love—love for God, love for the Messiah Yeshua, love for the people of God. Rooted and grounded, as he mentioned in other passages. The Psalmist of Israel says, "Blessed is the man," Psalm one, "who walketh not after the counsel of the ungodly, and sitteth not in the seat of the scornful, and standeth not in a way of sinners; but his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree by the water, growing." This is Psalm one, verses one, two, and three.

The Lord wants the believers to be rooted and grounded in love—love for God, love for Yeshua, love for the people of God. That's why we teach every Sabbath, every Friday the Bible. The Bible is our instruction book. It teaches us. It draws us. It speaks to us. It convicts us. It helps us. It guides us. We don't always obey it, but that's why we teach the Word of God. What happens when we don't teach the Word of God, when the Word of God is not being taught and we are not being grounded? Some that used to say, "Salvation is only by faith through Yeshua the Messiah," and a few years after he says, "Not really. You can get saved on a basis of your good works or some other things."

Or before they used to say, "Well, Yeshua is the only way of salvation. He died for us on the tree." Well, it's not only through Yeshua later on. Why? They were not rooted and grounded in the love for the Word, the love for the Lord, the love for the people of God, the love for Yeshua. Well, if we are not rooted and grounded in the Word of God, we will be able to allow all sort of doctrine and teachings to creep into our lives and to sway us. By the way, we're going to go to chapter four and you'll see why the gifts were given, in order that the believers will not be swayed with every wind of doctrine. In fact, let me read that. It says here in chapter four and verse 14, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive."

It's important to be rooted and grounded in the Word of God, in the love of God, in the things of the Lord. Paul is praying. this is his second request from the Abba, God the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He prayed that the Messiah will dwell in our hearts, will feel at home in our hearts. Secondly, in verse 17, that the believer will be rooted and grounded in the things of the Lord. That's very precious, brothers and sisters. So we have the first request in verse 16. We have the second request in verse 17, and now the third request we have in verse 18 and the first part of verse 19. Look what Paul prayed thirdly. Paul prayed to know in our lives what Yeshua have done for us, to comprehend, to grasp, and to know the love of the Messiah in our own personal life.

He's saying in verse 18, "That ye may be able to comprehend"—in other words, for comprehend is to grasp, to understand—"with all saints what is the breadth"—that's the width—"and the length, and the depth, and the height; and to know the love of Messiah, which passes knowledge." Here's the third request from the Lord. Notice that he does what he does here. He is using four directions: the width first of all, and then the length, and then the depth, and ultimately the height. What he is really saying here is exactly what God said to our forefathers in the past in connection with the land of Canaan.

The land of Canaan. Let me give you two verses. Genesis chapter 13, please go back to Genesis chapter 13. Look what God said to Abraham our father. He promised Abraham a land in chapter 12, verses one, two, and three. But now that Abraham began his journey towards the Promised Land, now He's telling him in chapter 13 and verse 17—notice what He's saying to him, just very short verse—"Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto you." He's saying to Abraham, "I promised you the land. That is a sure promise. God is going to give Abraham and his descendants the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, the land of Israel."

"But now, Abraham, I want you to walk," as it says here in chapter 13. He says, "Now Abraham, I want you to walk through the length of the land and through the width of the land." In other words, not only to have it positionally, but also have it practically. You walk all along the Promised Land of Canaan. You walk all the width of the land of Canaan. That is going to be the Promised Land that I have promised you positionally. You're going to inherit it practically. It's going to be yours. What did he say? A very similar thing the Apostle Paul is saying to the believers at Ephesus, and he's saying to you and I. You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in the Messiah Yeshua, as we read in chapter one. But it's not only to know it in your head and to have this hope.