RICH GIFT
There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is also
one hope that belongs to the calling you received.
There is one Lord, one faith one baptism, One God
the Father of us all, Who is above all, Sovereign over
all, pervading all and living in us all.
Yet grace (God’s unmerited favor) was given to each
of us individually (not indiscriminately, but in different
ways) in proportion to the measure of Christ’s rich and
bounteous gift. Therefore it is said, When He ascended on
high, He led captivity captive (He led a train of vanquished
foes) and he bestowed gifts on men.(Ephesians 4.4-8).
POINTS FOR PRAISE AND MEDITATION
1) There is one Lord, one Spirit, one body, one faith, one
baptism, one God and Father of us all who is above all,
pervading all and living in us all. HALLELUJAH!
2) Each believer has specifically been blessed with grace,
which is God’s unmerited favor according to the measure
of Christ’s rich gift. The measure is unlimited as we saw in
Ephesians 1.19.
3) The rich gift of Christ is described and predicted by the psalmist
who alludes to God’s Kingdom rule in prophetic and spiritual
ways which cover the past, present and future. This has to do
with each individual Christian and the Church, because this is
the holy place where the Lord dwells.
Here is Psalm 68.13-20):
“Though you (the slackers) may lie among the sheepfolds (in slothful ease,
yet for Israel) the wings of a dove are covered with silver, its pinions
excessively green with gold (trophies recovered from the enemy).
When the Almighty scattered kings in the land, it was as when it snows
on Zalmon (a wooded hill near Shechem).
Is Mount Bashan the high mountain of summits, Mount Bashan the
mount of God? Why do you look with grudging and with envy, you
many-peaked mountains, at the mountain which God has desired for
His dwelling place? Yes, the Lord will dwell in it forever.
The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands upon
thousands. The Lord is among them as He was in Sinai, in the
Holy Place.
YOU HAVE ASCENDED ON HIGH. YOU HAVE LED AWAY CAPTIVE
A TRAIN OF VANQUISHED FOES. YOU HAVE RECEIVED GIFTS OF
MEN, YES of the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell there
with them.
Blessed be the Lord, who bears our burdens and carries us day by day,
the God Who is our salvation! Selah (pause and calmly think of that)!
God is to us a God of deliverances and salvation and to God the Lord
belongs escape from death (setting us free).
4) Here in this psalm the Lord Who bears our burdens, whose
burden is easy and burden is light Jesus the Christ is the One
Who delivers and sets us free from sin and death, our God Who is
our salvation. The very name Jesus literally means (God Who IS
Salvation).
5) St. Paul in a turn of the phrase states that Jesus Christ led
captivity captive and bestowed gifts to humanity. This is different from
the context of the psalm where a train of captives were being led and the
Lord received gifts of men.
When the Lord led captivity captive He destroyed the power the
devil which kept mankind captive to the fear of death. This is
explained here by the author of Hebrews:
” Since, therefore His children share in flesh and blood, He himself
in asimilar manner partook of the same nature, that by going through
death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the
power of death, that is the devil-
And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who
through the haunting fear of death were held in bondage throughout
the course of their lives. “(Hebrews 2. 14& 15).
In the psalm He receives gifts. In Ephesians St. Paul is saying that
the Lord gives each believer individual spiritual gifts.
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!