This is why it says: ‘When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.’ (What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
Ephesians 4:8-10 NIVUK
During lockdown, the football team I support won their league for the first time in nine years. The happiness was quite something. Lockdown laws were set aside as grown men and their families partied in the street. It wasn’t at all wise or the right thing to do. However, it was understandable.
But let me ask you something: did the fans win the victory?
Of course not! They weren't even allowed into the stadium!
But they celebrated as if they had won the victory, because, as far as they were concerned, they had.
This victory has something in common with Christ’s victory. We did not do it ourselves. Read those verses again. Right through them we see the word ‘he’ again and again. ‘He’ did it.
Jesus did it. Not us.
But we enter into and celebrate His victory
.
Paul’s quote here is from Psalm 68 – a Psalm written by David to commemorate a great military victory. Here is the full context of the verse:
Mount Bashan, majestic mountain, Mount Bashan, rugged mountain, why gaze in envy, you rugged mountain, at the mountain where God chooses to reign, where the Lord himself will dwell for ever? The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands; the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary. When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious – that you, Lord God, might dwell there.
Psalms 68:15-18
The idea is of a conquering king receiving gifts to mark the occasion, and to also seek his favour.
However, Paul reinterprets the Hebrew to put a different spin on the verse.
He interprets it in a way that better scholars than me say is perfectly legitimate, if slightly unusual. He sees it as being like an Emperor returning from battle, who distributes gifts from the plunder he has taken to his people, or at a time of great national celebration, when a rich king would show off his largesse to his people.
This happened in Roman times, so Paul is using an image that would be very familiar.
But he is also making a point: that God has taken the church that serves the same God, and equipped them with the same Spirit, but only after Christ has won the victory they all share in.
And if you look at the sequence of events that bring about our salvation, this is what happens.
Firstly, Jesus comes to earth (Philippians 2:6-7). Then He takes the lowest place by dying the death of the worst kind of convicted criminal on the cross (Philippians 2:8). Then He is exalted to Heaven (Philippians 2:9-11; Acts 1:9).
It’s then, and only then, that the Holy Spirit is poured out (Acts 2:1-4).
This outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place for one purpose and one purpose only: to equip the church for ministry. It was not for special effects. It was not to draw attention to them. The languages that were spoken that day when the Holy Spirit fell were not ecstatic. They were intelligible. They were human languages (Acts 2:5-12). They were sent at that precise time and place, where Jews from across the known world were gathered for the feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:1,5) to allow the Gospel to spread throughout the earth in the native, heart language of every Jew there.
Not only was Christ’s victory complete, it was now being communicated to every corner of the known Earth.
Paul’s point is that the equipping comes because Christ is victorious. The gifts come because Christ has conquered. They are not earned. They are not developed. They are given as free gifts from the Father’s largesse in celebration of the victory Christ won on the cross.
So what we are saying here is that the variation of personality and ability within the church is not wrong. Not at all.
In fact, it is a sign. It is a sign of a generous, happy God celebrating His Son’s victory.
So we have to ask ourselves a deeply challenging question:
If it’s not a problem for God, why is it a problem for us?
Can we not celebrate our variety rather than using it as a stick to beat each other up with?
Questions
Do you share in Christ’s victory on the cross? How and why?
Have you ever thought that the great variety of people in the church could be a result of Christ’s victory on the cross?
How will this fact change the way you relate to them?
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