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From the book The Wealth, Walk and Warfare of the Christian by Ruth Paxson
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Introduction -- The Grand Canyon of Scripture
by Ruth Paxson
One time when in need of
special spiritual inspiration and refreshment I went
to the Grand Canyon of Arizona. Of all God's wonders
in His natural creation, which He has given me to
see, none seems more wonderful than the Grand Canyon.
Two never-to-be-forgotten days were spent there.
On the first day I just skirted a bit of the
Canyon's rim, getting first-hand impressions of its
magnitude, majesty and matchless beauty of colouring.
For an hour or two I sat trying to compass in
imagination the vast breadth of the gorge which at
that point was thirteen miles across. Then I moved on
to another spot, where, look ing straight down one
mile, the sizeable river below looked like a white
ribbon. At sunset I went to a distant point where the
Canyon stretched itself out over eighty miles before
one's eyes, and where it was all ablaze with a
veritable orgy of indescribable colour, which left
one silent and worshipful in the presence of the
Canyon's Creator.
Physically tired, but spiritually renewed, I
tumbled into bed for a brief sleep before rising at
four to find my way, alone and unaided save by the
tiniest ray of light, to the road that led me again
to the sunset point, that I might there see the
sunrise. On and on I went, until in semi-darkness,
standing on the rim of the Canyon, I looked down into
an absolutely black abyss. Not even one ray of the
sun's light shone upon its rocks to bring out their
exquisite beauty. All was unrelieved, awesome
darkness in that gaping gorge. As one strained the
eye in the vain attempt to discern something to
lighten the awful, terrifying blackness, shades of
darkness seemed discernible, - the blackness at the
bottom seeming to shade off into dark purple and then
into lighter purple. Still all was darkness every
where in the Canyon before sunrise. I am not ashamed
to admit that, looking into the Canyon devoid of
sunlight, I trembled from head to foot.
Soon the sun began to rise, first flashing its
glory light upon the heavens above, making them look
like the divine painter's palette; then gradually
touching one point after another in the Canyon and
lighting it into gorgeous colouring. One stood
transfixed in wonder and worship at each transforming
touch.
Finally, the sun was fully up, and with all its
resplendent, full orbed light flooded the Canyon and
made the thing which was terrifying in the darkness
something of transcendent beauty and glory in the
light after sunrise.
Reluctant to leave this spot, and yet oh! so eager
to get still more of the Canyon into my vision and
into my heart, I walked rapidly back to the hotel to
eat a hasty breakfast before going with a party down
the steep, winding trail of the Canyon, seven and one-
half miles, to the river below. I rode a burro. At
one time the trail was so sharp in its curve that the
forefeet of that sure-footed little animal were on
the very edge of a sheer precipice, a depth straight
down of twelve hundred feet.
After a short time at the river, we began our
ascent. There were times in ascending the trail when
all below was out of sight and thought, and one was
just lost in the wonder of the height of the Canyon,
of continually going up and up, with always more
above and beyond, until finally the very expanse of
the heavens seemed to roof the Grand Canyon, beyond
which one's sight could not go.
The ascent over, and again on the Canyon's rim, I
could not leave till I had one last view with the
afterglow of the sunset upon it. From darkness to
dawn, -- from full sunlight to twilight, this wonder
work of God had poured out a wealth of inspiration.
Only this once have I seen the Grand Canyon, and
that was twenty-eight years ago, but to-day [1939], with
eyes closed and memory active, its stands out before
me as though it were seen only yesterday. In those
two days the Grand Canyon became a part of me.
Ephesians is the Grand Canyon of Scripture. A well-known
Bible teacher says of it, "In this epistle we
enter the Holy of Holies in Paul's writings." Dr.
A. C. Gaebelein writes, "This epistle is God's
highest and best. Even God cannot say more than what
He has said in this filling-full of His Word."
So will you spend a while in this Grand Canyon of
Scripture with me? Let us first just skirt the rim of
Ephesians to get some first hand, vivid impressions
and viewpoints of this masterpiece of God's
supernatural creation, a sinner transformed into a
saint, and the Body of Christ constituted from Jew
and Gentile as fellow-members.
Do not stop for details, but just let your eye run
to and fro over the entire epistle, and get God's own
description of the high lights of its truth. "The
salnts"; "In Christ"; "his
calling"; "his inberitance"; "the
purchased possession"; "the Church, his
body, the fulness of him"; "his workmanship";
"one new man"; "one body"; "the
household of God"; "an habitation of God";
"a perfect man"; "members of his body";
"members one of another"; "a glorious
church"; "the wiles of the devil";
"principalities, powers, world rulers of this
darkness"; "the whole armour of God."
What vast distances we have scanned, and what glories
of our salvation in Christ have been silhouetted upon
the horizon of our thought! Does it not give us food
for many a day's study?
But now let us get a nearer view of the majesty
and might and matchless grace of the sovereign God in
His own workshop, as opened to our view in the first
three chapters. Here man is scarcely seen save as the
recipient of God's grace and the beneficiary of His
mercy and love in salvation. Our first glimpse is
into the eternity of the past, where God formed His
eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord. All the rest is the execution of that purpose.
Let us note a few outstanding impressions of His
workmanship.
The Sovereign God is Working according to the Good
Pleasure of His Will
1:5. "Having predestinated us according
to the good pleasure of his own will."
1: 11. "Being predestinated according to
the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will."
The method by which man comes into the family of
God as His child, and all other matters pertaining to
his life in God's household, are predetermined by God.
Man has nothing whatsoever to say about these things.
In man's redemption God's will is the first cause and
the determining factor. If man is not saved God's
way, then he is not saved at all.
The Sovereign God is Working according to His
Eternal Purpose
3:11. "According to the eternal purpose
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The sin in the garden of Eden did not take God
unawares, nor was man's salvation an afterthought of
God. He had anticipated the fall, and was prepared
for it. Before the Cross of Christ was ever set up in
history on Calvary, or even in promise in Eden, it
was existent in the heart of God in the dateless
eternity of the past. The blueprints for the holy
temple in the Lord which was to be God's habitation
on earth were made by the triune God before the
foundation of the world.
The Sovereign God is Working to Magnify His Grace
and His Glory
1:6. "To the praise of the glory of his
grace."
1: 12. "That we should be to the praise
of his glory."
Whether in creation or in redemption, God never
acts save for His own glory. The salvation of sinners
magnifies His wondrous grace in giving His only
begotten Son to die that they might live.
The Grand Canyon of Arizona, -- the workmanship of
God in natural creation, -- may one day give place to
something even more wonderful in majesty and beauty
in the new earth which He will make. But the Grand
Canyon of Ephesians will abide in all the ages upon
the ages to come, "that he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus."
The Sovereign God is Working according to His
Mighty Power
1: 19. "The exceeding greatness of his
power to usward who believe according to the
working of his mighty power."
3:20. "According to the power that
worketh in us."
6:10. "Be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might."
His mighty power is at work for us in Christ, our
Saviour; in us in Christ, our Life; and through us in
Christ, our Lord.
May we now move on to another point on the rim of
this Grand Canyon of the Word to get another view. In
Chapter two the impression is of the vast distances,
the far-reaching and all-inclusive breadth of
salvation. We see the richness of God's mercy and the
greatness of His love in creating a saint out of a
sinner. We see His masterpiece in workmanship in the
constitution of the Church out of two races,
irrevocably far apart by nature, but made one in
Christ by grace. The gospel of conciliation with one
another through reconciliation with God has made of
the Jew and the Gentile one Body over which Christ is
the Head.
Now at the end of our first day with the Grand
Canyon of Scripture, Jet us go back to a time before
time, and with a divine fieldglass look on down
through the centuries at the Church as God purposed
it, even on to a time after time. For Ephesians is
"the meeting-point of two eternities" in
God's conception of the Church. As we trail the
Church from glory through grace to glory, we shall
comprehend a new measurement -- the length of the love
of Christ for lost sinners.
1:4. "According as he hath chosen us in
him before the foundation of the world."
2:7. "That in the ages to come he might
shew the exceeding riches of his grace."
Now let us rise before dawn that we may see
sunrise in the Grand Canyon of Scripture. I promise
you it will be a never-to-be-forgot ten sight. We
will travel along the road mapped out in Romans 1-3,
for it is this road that leads to Ephesians 2:1-3:11,12; 4:17- 19; 5:8. Here we stop at the rim of the
Canyon before sunrise. What do we see? A gaping gorge
where all is darkness, degradation, death. There is
not one ray of light to relieve the terrible
darkness; not one ray of hope in the midst of
enveloping death. "Dead"; "trespasses";
"sins"; "ignorance"; "blindness";
"lasciviousness"; "uncleanness";
"greediness"; "darkness"; "children
of disobedience and wrath."
There may be degrees in the degradation to which a
sinner goes. He may go the full length of sin in the
eyes of the laws of earth and be imprisoned as a
thief, a gangster, a murderer; or he may be a highly
respected citizen, even occupying a professor's
chair, or a pulpit, in whose inmost heart God sees
pride, unbelief, and enmity to ward Him. But one is
as "far-off" from God as the other, for
both are "without Christ" and "without
God," and so "without hope." Standing
on the rim of 2:1-3, one trembles in anguish of heart
at the thought of the present condition and the
future destiny of the sinner left in his sins.
2: 12. "That at that time ye were without
Christ... having no hope; and without God in
the world."
But look up and behold the glory light in the
heavens! God has come to the sinner's rescue, and in
His infinite mercy and love has made a way of escape
out of the pit of sin and death.
2:4-5. "But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love where with he loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ (by grace ye are saved)."
1:7. "In whom we have redemption through
his blood."
A Saviour provided for the sinner! A Redeemer gone
down into the slave market of sin to buy the slave
and to set him free.
Light now shines into the sinner's heart and
brings life. A touch here and a touch there; "chosen";
"predestinated"; "accepted";
"redemption", "forgiveness",
"obtained inheritance", "sealed", and
the sinner is delivered from the power of darkness
and is translated into the kingdom of his dear Son.
The Sun of righteousness has arisen and shone into
his heart, and has begun His transfiguring work.
Tarry a bit longer. The sinner is saved, but God
would have him sanctified also, for he was "chosen
to be holy." The believer in Christ is now a
saint, for he is positionally separated unto God, by
which the fountain of fulness in Christ has been
opened to him. But as there are degrees of
degradation in sinnerhood, so there are degrees of
holiness in sainthood. As the trend of the sinner's
life with out Christ is always down, so the trend of
the saint's life in Christ is always up. Christ came
that we might have life, and might have it more
abundantly. So for the Church and for the Christian
there is fulness of life in Christ.
23. "The church, the fulness of him that
filleth all in all."
3:19. "Filled unto all the fulness of God."
5:18. "Be filled with the Spirit."
Have we not now come to the end of the truth
brought to our view in Ephesians? Surely we have seen
enough to occupy us in contemplation and assimilation
for the rest of our lives! No, we have not yet gone
down to the deepest depth, nor reached the highest
height of our scriptural Grand Canyon. Do not become
a spiritual tourist, soon surfeited with the beauty
and glory of this precious bit of Scripture, and rush
superficially on into some other field of study. Take
time to go down to the river bottom, though the trail
is steep and narrow. As far as possible know the
unknowable love of Christ for sinners; aye, fathom
the depths of the Saviour's love for you before you
leave Ephesians.
1:20. "Christ -- dead."
He went to the deepest depths to which He could go
to bring us from death unto life. Christ, the
Saviour, became the sinner's substitute; taking the
sinner's position; becoming sin in order to bear sin;
dying to abolish death. "Christ dead" that
the sinner might live.
1:20. "Christ -- raised from the dead and
set at his own right hand in the heavenly places."
Coming out of the grave, Christ ascended to the
highest heights to which He as the God-man could go.
He ascended to glory as victor over Satan and all the
forces of evil, and upon His triumphal return was
exalted to the place of Lordship over the universe,
and was made Head over all things to the Church.
1:21. "Far above all principality, and
power, and tnight, and dominion."
1:22. "And gave him to be head over all
things to the church."
Christ, risen, ascended, exalted, shares not only
His glorified life but even His exalted position with
the new-born race of men who become one with Him
through faith.
2:4-6. "God -- hath quickened us together
with Christ -- and hath raised us up together, and
made us to sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus."
Can we grasp the significance of these words? We,
who are in Christ, are seated together with Him in
that position of power and victory, "far above
all." This is the highest height the saint can
reach. Even in the eternity of the future we shall
not obtain a higher position than we now occupy in
Christ, for there is nothing higher. Christ, as the
crucified Saviour, went with us to as deep depths as
He could go that, as the exalted Lord, He might raise
us up with Him to the highest heights to which we can
go.
Now may we pause for one last look at Ephesians as
a whole be fore we begin a study of its component
parts? May it be to us a glimpse of our Grand Canyon
of Scripture in the afterglow of the setting sun.
The Scope of Ephesians:
The Church -- Christ's Body
-- Its... |
Heavenly Calling
Earthly Conduct
Satanic Conflict |
The Keynote of Ephesians:
Christ -- The Fulness of Church
Church -- The Fulness of Christ
The Key Thought of Ephesians:
In Christ
The Content of Ephesians:
Wealth -- The Christian in Christ
Walk -- Christ in the Christian
|
Warfare... Christ
Warfare... Christian |
versus... Satan
versus... Satanic
versus... hosts |
After quiet contemplation, will you answer these
three questions to yourself:
What is your most vivid
impression of this Grand Canyon of Scripture?
What is the greatest desire this study has aroused
in you?
To what extent has this Grand Canyon of
Scripture become a part of you?
Pause again for another moment of worship and
adoration of God, our Father; of His Son, our
Saviour; and of His Spirit, our Sanctifier.
  
This page Copyright © 2003 Peter Wade. The Bible text in this publication, except where otherwise indicated, is from the King James Version. This article appears on the site: http://www.peterwade.com/.
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