Ephesians 4:10
Christ Fills All Things
There was a man who once said, “I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down?” Those were the words of Agur, and he spoke them in Proverbs 30:3-4. What he was saying was profound. He said two things particularly. First, he knew that unless he understood God he did not have wisdom. All the degrees and all the learning and all the education in the world is nothing more than foolishness without knowing who the Holy One in heaven is. Second, he knew that apart from the willingness of God to come down from heaven and give wisdom to man no man would ever possess it. This is why he says, “Who has gone up to heaven and come down?” He is saying “who has gone up to heaven to get knowledge of the Holy One and come back down to earth to make that knowledge available?”
I bet Agur would have loved to read John 3:13 where we read the words of Jesus Christ, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.” What Agur said was true, that no man could go up to heaven to get the wisdom of God. But what Agur never imagined would happen did: God came down from heaven. Not simply to speak to prophets so that they might speak for God. But, God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, came down in the flesh and made His dwelling among us. Hebrews 1 says it wonderfully, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom the made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
The purpose of Jesus in coming from heaven to the earth was 2-fold. First it was to make purification for sins of men. Second, it was to make the full revelation of God to men. Both of those were accomplished while he was on the earth and it is His ascension from earth back to heaven that testifies to that. I would say then that mankind can know 2 things for certain since Christ ascended. He can know that in Jesus Christ his sins are forgiven and He can know who God is.
He Fills the Universe (v10b)
Paul is not teaching a pantheistic view of God. That is at odds with everything else Paul and the Bible have taught about God.
So then, what does Paul mean when he says that Christ fills the whole universe? We should note first that this is better translated as “fills all things”. This is better because it is closer to the original Greek. Let us look at some ideas for the meaning Paul is conveying to his readers.
First, it refers to His control over everything. Jesus Christ has ascended to the supreme place of power and authority. There is nothing in all creation that is not subject to His authority.
Illustration: During elections it is common to see the media use colored maps. Colored maps help to visually show which political party the voters in each state prefer. The terms “red state” and “blue state” have become part of our language during the election season. What this does for us though is that this graphic allows us to see who “controls” each state. If a state is blue it is controlled by Democrats. If it is red it is controlled by Republicans.
But in God’s administration of the universe Jesus Christ is in control of all things. If you were to put all of creation on a map - visible and invisible, spiritual and physical - it would all be colored one color, the color of Jesus Christ. He controls it all.
And He should control it all. First, because He created it all. John 1:3 says, “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” Even Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him.” Furthermore, no one else has been raised up “higher than all the heavens”. Paul, while raised up to the 3rd heaven in a vision (2 Cor. 12), he was not raised higher than the 3rd heaven. In Ephesians 1 we see there are powers, rulers, authorities, dominions, and titles all in the heavenly realms. But Ephesians 3:10 says Christ ascended higher than the all the heavens.
Yet, while His power and authority pervade the whole universe, it is especially extended over the Church. I think Paul’s statement that Christ fills all things has that dual application – to the whole universe, and, to the Church particularly. He is the Head and authority of the Church – and of each believer by virtue of having purchased each one of us. First Corinthians 6 says, “You are not your own, you were bought at a price”. Therefore, since we do not belong to ourselves, but to Christ, 1 Peter 4:2 says “[we] do not live the rest of [our] earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” It is to Him we have subjected ourselves to as willing servants, to offer ourselves to His control.
He is sovereign over the whole world, and, the whole Church, but, He is also sovereign over each one of our individual lives. All of us have the same Lord, and He engages us not only corporately but individually. Whether He comes to you by a watering well, or by your fishing boat, or, under the fig tree, or up in a tree, or while you are begging by the roadside. Jesus Christ calls you individually to Himself, that He might cleanse you, forgive you and give you new life.
Secondly, it refers to everything else being conformed to Him. Being conformed to Him is directly related to being controlled by Him. In 3:19 it says, “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Then in 4:13 it says, “until we all…attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” And the famous verse in 5:18, “be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Each of these references to the believer being filled has to do with being controlled by God to be conformed to Christ’s image. That is why in 4:22-24 says, “…………” Likeness to Christ is what we’ve been predestined for, Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son…”
I’d like to offer several thoughts, or, applications:
First, I would say that God can lift anyone up. God lifted Christ out of the depths, “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay” (Acts 2:32). Jesus Christ bore the sins of the world on Himself - all the filth and un-holiness of men; all the crimes against God and His righteous law, all the wickedness all the violations all the offensiveness all the rebellion – all the sins of the world laid upon Him as He was mercilessly stretched out upon the cross and nailed to it.
Think about this: we often speak of Him suffering the wrath of God for our sins, but, can you think of the suffering that began as our filthy sins were laid upon Him in all His holiness and purity? He never committed sin, but, He paid the price for sin. All the murder and rape, adultery, immorality, all the violence, cheating, lying, all the hatred, rage, malice, persecution, blasphemy against God, all the abuse, all the greed, all the selfishness, all the cruelty of men, all the lust all the corruption all the big sins and all the little ones – the arrogance, the pride, the pettiness, the rudeness, the bitterness, the little revenges, the get-backs, the one-ups, the competing, the putting people in their place and on and on.
In heaven His eye would not look upon sin as the Holy One of God. But there on the cross all His holiness and purity were forfeited as the vileness of man was heaped upon Him, just like Adam and Eve had animal skins draped over their naked bodies, our Lord only had the shame of our sin to clothe Him as He died naked. He was dying there he was thrust into a pit so deep and so low where no man has ever been. It is a pit where the wrath of God was poured out on Him.
Philippians 2:7-11….
There is no one so low in their sin who cannot be lifted up in Christ’s salvation. You may be in deep, way deep, and no one else may be able to lay hold of you. But there is no deep where Christ is not able to reach down and rescue you. He has ascended that you might look up to Him and call on Him and be delivered.
Second, our Joy is Safe. Our joy safe because it is in Jesus Christ. He has triumphed over all. He has ascended back to the glory and the joy that is His and His Father’s. It is the joy that Hebrews 12 says was set before Him as He faced the cross. It was the joy that He saw just beyond the suffering of the cross. It was the joy He would enter into after His defeat of sin and death and Satan. His joy now is also a reminder to us that our crosses will be laid down someday. Someday our trials will end, our struggles will be complete. And that joy will be ours, It is an eternal joy.
And that is the joy He gives us. Our joy in Him is the joy that He has in Himself – it is the joy that He experiences with His Father. First Peter 1:8 says that for us it is an “inexpressible and glorious joy”. Have you had that joy and then tried to turn around and describe it? Words really can’t.
And so our supreme affection does not lie in this world. It is set on Someone who has overcome this world. Jesus Christ is literally out of this world, and therefore, out of the reach of this world. His joy cannot be robbed from Him by anything here, and, as we find our supreme joy in Him there is nothing here that can rob us either.
Third, Christ is our focus. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). But this is a greater blessing, to believe in Him while never yet having seen Him (John 20:29). Peter saw Jesus and spoke to believers who never did. He said to them in 1 Peter 1:8, “Though you have not seen Him you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now you are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy”.
Jesus said that wherever your treasure is there your heart will also be (Mth. 6:21). Is He to us more valuable than anything else? He is our prize. He is our reward. He is our hope and our goal. Are we treasuring Him more than anything else? I’m not saying we don’t treasure anything else, but, do we treasure Him more than anything else? Fix your heart on Him (Col. 3:1-3). Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be (Mth. 6:21). Let your heart treasure Him.
Ascended Prayers. We should let our praying become more bold for the Ascension of Christ. Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Christ Fills All Things
There was a man who once said, “I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down?” Those were the words of Agur, and he spoke them in Proverbs 30:3-4. What he was saying was profound. He said two things particularly. First, he knew that unless he understood God he did not have wisdom. All the degrees and all the learning and all the education in the world is nothing more than foolishness without knowing who the Holy One in heaven is. Second, he knew that apart from the willingness of God to come down from heaven and give wisdom to man no man would ever possess it. This is why he says, “Who has gone up to heaven and come down?” He is saying “who has gone up to heaven to get knowledge of the Holy One and come back down to earth to make that knowledge available?”
I bet Agur would have loved to read John 3:13 where we read the words of Jesus Christ, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.” What Agur said was true, that no man could go up to heaven to get the wisdom of God. But what Agur never imagined would happen did: God came down from heaven. Not simply to speak to prophets so that they might speak for God. But, God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, came down in the flesh and made His dwelling among us. Hebrews 1 says it wonderfully, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom the made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
The purpose of Jesus in coming from heaven to the earth was 2-fold. First it was to make purification for sins of men. Second, it was to make the full revelation of God to men. Both of those were accomplished while he was on the earth and it is His ascension from earth back to heaven that testifies to that. I would say then that mankind can know 2 things for certain since Christ ascended. He can know that in Jesus Christ his sins are forgiven and He can know who God is.
He Fills the Universe (v10b)
Paul is not teaching a pantheistic view of God. That is at odds with everything else Paul and the Bible have taught about God.
So then, what does Paul mean when he says that Christ fills the whole universe? We should note first that this is better translated as “fills all things”. This is better because it is closer to the original Greek. Let us look at some ideas for the meaning Paul is conveying to his readers.
First, it refers to His control over everything. Jesus Christ has ascended to the supreme place of power and authority. There is nothing in all creation that is not subject to His authority.
Illustration: During elections it is common to see the media use colored maps. Colored maps help to visually show which political party the voters in each state prefer. The terms “red state” and “blue state” have become part of our language during the election season. What this does for us though is that this graphic allows us to see who “controls” each state. If a state is blue it is controlled by Democrats. If it is red it is controlled by Republicans.
But in God’s administration of the universe Jesus Christ is in control of all things. If you were to put all of creation on a map - visible and invisible, spiritual and physical - it would all be colored one color, the color of Jesus Christ. He controls it all.
And He should control it all. First, because He created it all. John 1:3 says, “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” Even Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him.” Furthermore, no one else has been raised up “higher than all the heavens”. Paul, while raised up to the 3rd heaven in a vision (2 Cor. 12), he was not raised higher than the 3rd heaven. In Ephesians 1 we see there are powers, rulers, authorities, dominions, and titles all in the heavenly realms. But Ephesians 3:10 says Christ ascended higher than the all the heavens.
Yet, while His power and authority pervade the whole universe, it is especially extended over the Church. I think Paul’s statement that Christ fills all things has that dual application – to the whole universe, and, to the Church particularly. He is the Head and authority of the Church – and of each believer by virtue of having purchased each one of us. First Corinthians 6 says, “You are not your own, you were bought at a price”. Therefore, since we do not belong to ourselves, but to Christ, 1 Peter 4:2 says “[we] do not live the rest of [our] earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” It is to Him we have subjected ourselves to as willing servants, to offer ourselves to His control.
He is sovereign over the whole world, and, the whole Church, but, He is also sovereign over each one of our individual lives. All of us have the same Lord, and He engages us not only corporately but individually. Whether He comes to you by a watering well, or by your fishing boat, or, under the fig tree, or up in a tree, or while you are begging by the roadside. Jesus Christ calls you individually to Himself, that He might cleanse you, forgive you and give you new life.
Secondly, it refers to everything else being conformed to Him. Being conformed to Him is directly related to being controlled by Him. In 3:19 it says, “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Then in 4:13 it says, “until we all…attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” And the famous verse in 5:18, “be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Each of these references to the believer being filled has to do with being controlled by God to be conformed to Christ’s image. That is why in 4:22-24 says, “…………” Likeness to Christ is what we’ve been predestined for, Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son…”
I’d like to offer several thoughts, or, applications:
First, I would say that God can lift anyone up. God lifted Christ out of the depths, “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay” (Acts 2:32). Jesus Christ bore the sins of the world on Himself - all the filth and un-holiness of men; all the crimes against God and His righteous law, all the wickedness all the violations all the offensiveness all the rebellion – all the sins of the world laid upon Him as He was mercilessly stretched out upon the cross and nailed to it.
Think about this: we often speak of Him suffering the wrath of God for our sins, but, can you think of the suffering that began as our filthy sins were laid upon Him in all His holiness and purity? He never committed sin, but, He paid the price for sin. All the murder and rape, adultery, immorality, all the violence, cheating, lying, all the hatred, rage, malice, persecution, blasphemy against God, all the abuse, all the greed, all the selfishness, all the cruelty of men, all the lust all the corruption all the big sins and all the little ones – the arrogance, the pride, the pettiness, the rudeness, the bitterness, the little revenges, the get-backs, the one-ups, the competing, the putting people in their place and on and on.
In heaven His eye would not look upon sin as the Holy One of God. But there on the cross all His holiness and purity were forfeited as the vileness of man was heaped upon Him, just like Adam and Eve had animal skins draped over their naked bodies, our Lord only had the shame of our sin to clothe Him as He died naked. He was dying there he was thrust into a pit so deep and so low where no man has ever been. It is a pit where the wrath of God was poured out on Him.
Philippians 2:7-11….
There is no one so low in their sin who cannot be lifted up in Christ’s salvation. You may be in deep, way deep, and no one else may be able to lay hold of you. But there is no deep where Christ is not able to reach down and rescue you. He has ascended that you might look up to Him and call on Him and be delivered.
Second, our Joy is Safe. Our joy safe because it is in Jesus Christ. He has triumphed over all. He has ascended back to the glory and the joy that is His and His Father’s. It is the joy that Hebrews 12 says was set before Him as He faced the cross. It was the joy that He saw just beyond the suffering of the cross. It was the joy He would enter into after His defeat of sin and death and Satan. His joy now is also a reminder to us that our crosses will be laid down someday. Someday our trials will end, our struggles will be complete. And that joy will be ours, It is an eternal joy.
And that is the joy He gives us. Our joy in Him is the joy that He has in Himself – it is the joy that He experiences with His Father. First Peter 1:8 says that for us it is an “inexpressible and glorious joy”. Have you had that joy and then tried to turn around and describe it? Words really can’t.
And so our supreme affection does not lie in this world. It is set on Someone who has overcome this world. Jesus Christ is literally out of this world, and therefore, out of the reach of this world. His joy cannot be robbed from Him by anything here, and, as we find our supreme joy in Him there is nothing here that can rob us either.
Third, Christ is our focus. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). But this is a greater blessing, to believe in Him while never yet having seen Him (John 20:29). Peter saw Jesus and spoke to believers who never did. He said to them in 1 Peter 1:8, “Though you have not seen Him you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now you are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy”.
Jesus said that wherever your treasure is there your heart will also be (Mth. 6:21). Is He to us more valuable than anything else? He is our prize. He is our reward. He is our hope and our goal. Are we treasuring Him more than anything else? I’m not saying we don’t treasure anything else, but, do we treasure Him more than anything else? Fix your heart on Him (Col. 3:1-3). Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be (Mth. 6:21). Let your heart treasure Him.
Ascended Prayers. We should let our praying become more bold for the Ascension of Christ. Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
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