WEEK TWO
Day Four
DAILY SCRIPTURE
Ephesians 3:8-9
LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS
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Know: Read Ephesians 3:7-12
Note: Read slowly, carefully marking keywords- continue to mark the words from previous lessons—Mark keywords with a different color or with a symbol to differentiate them.
Continue to mark keywords: In Him, In Christ, grace, faith. Continue to add to your “In Him list.”
Mystery
Boldness, confidence
Wisdom
Rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places
Observation: Study notes below for context. Journal your thoughts or questions.
What: Are you living the life worth the price Jesus paid? How are you adding value to the Kingdom?
“Of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.” ( Ephesians 3:7)
In Le Miserables, the main character encounters mercy and grace, changing his life trajectory. Once imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean is released after nineteen years of hard labor. A hardened criminal, he finds kindness through a priest who feeds him and offers him a warm bed for the night. Without incitement, Jean Valjean repays the kindness by stealing silver candlesticks and running away at night.
The next day, caught by police, the criminal is dragged back to his victim's house to return what he had stolen and likely face a life in prison. Instead of accusing the man, the priest tells the police that he had given Valjean the candlesticks, and he was released. After experiencing such mercy and grace, Valjean spent his life taking what he had been given to bless others. (Not perfectly, as he made many mistakes and was forever haunted by his past, but he never returned to his old ways of living.)
Jesus’ death was a display of God’s mercy and grace. Jesus became sin, redeemed us from the law's curse, abolished its power, and gave us all the riches of His Kingdom.
We are not meant to live as beggars or carry the weight of guilt. In Christ, we have been given access to the throneroom of grace and the confidence to approach God and live in light of such great love!
We are meant to know and live in this great love to display His glory on earth.
Are you living the life worth the price Jesus paid? Are you adding value to the Kingdom?
“9 And to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Ephesians 3: 9-11)
The church was God’s idea. It was through the church that God’s glory would be displayed on earth. The church, generally speaking, is all who have received Christ, no matter the denomination. More specifically, you are the church. It was through you that God’s wisdom be displayed.
There is a book called “The Wisdom of Solomon.” It can be found in the ‘Apocrypha’ (Jewish books valued by Jews at the time of Jesus’s birth and by the early church but not considered part of the Old Testament). One of the themes of this book is a message to pagan rulers that they need wisdom from the One True God. Paul, being familiar with The Wisdom of Solomon, uses his knowledge to tell the church that through its multifaceted display, like a diamond, it should put on display the richness of the Kingdom.
In the book of Acts, a woman named Tabitha had died. The people of her village were so affected by her life that they went and looked for a man of God who would raise her from the dead.
If one person can impact an entire village to such a degree, what should a church do in their community? Every believer carries Christ in them; every believer can transform their world. Stopping for just one person to love that day is how Jesus can be displayed.
Rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places
From the time of the fall to the cross, Satan and one-third of the angels who fell from heaven during a rebellion against God were operating legally on the earth. Because Adam failed to guard the earth, Satan entered in as the Prince of the Kingdom of darkness, ruling with stolen authority- but he had a legal right to do so because of the order God had created.
Part of what Jesus did when he died on the cross was to strip Satan of his authority and give it back to mankind. The forces of darkness are trying to oppose the purpose of God in the church’s life. We must know these rulers and authorities to operate in our authority.
Having been one of God’s Archangels, Satan knew how heaven was ranked and copied that organization in his structure of demonic beings. (We will cover more on this topic on another day.) To understand the dominion of darkness, we first need to understand how heaven is ranked.
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16 )
The ranking of heaven is listed as such: thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers.
Angles are “deputized ones; ones who have delegated authority to act (on our behalf).” Angels do the will of God, and they worship Him. Angels love God; they are happy and full of joy. ( You will not become an angel when you die, nor do we worship them. When Mary went to the tomb after Jesus died and encountered angels, she was not overly impressed by them; she saw beyond them to look for Jesus. May this always be the attitude of our hearts- to look for Jesus only.)
The first in the ranking are the Archangels (Thrones). (“Archo”: The first in rank w/ political authority and government. We know that Lucifer (Satan) had been an archangel. Gabriel and Michael are two archangels mentioned in the Bible.) They are mighty spiritual beings who declare God's will with their voice.
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1Thessalonians 4:16)
Many are dead spiritually. You are under the law when you are dead to the ministry of grace. The law ministers death. The New Covenant of Grace ministers life.
“But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.”
(2 Corinthians 3:7-9)
A wrong principality at work is illegally keeping people in bondage to the law. You can boldly pray: “Lord, we come to the throne room of Heaven - would you release Archangels that would come with a shout and proclaim with prophetic declaration and shout into the spiritual atmosphere of my city to raise it to life? Let the thousands in this city be open to the gospel and a move of the Holy Spirit.”
Next are the Cherubim, who are the guardians of glory (Dominions).
“The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover.” (Exodus 25:20)
When God gave instructions about the Ark of the Covenant, the cherubim were to be constructed out of pure gold, their wings facing downward, over the Mercy Seat, where the glory of God (kabad: weight of His splendor) rested day and night. When the Covenant of law was enacted through Moses with the Israelites, the tablets of stone (the Ten Commandments) were placed within the ark. During the sacrificial system, before the cross, the High Priest would take the blood of an animal sacrifice and sprinkle it over the Mercy Seat. The blood was a symbol of forgiveness. It showed that death was required to forgive the debt for disobeying the law. When the weight of God’s glory, resting on the Mercy Seat, looked down, He would see only the blood, not the law. Thus, “mercy triumphed over judgment.” (James 2:13). This is what the Cherubim protected.
There is the original Ark in Heaven. (Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. Revelation 11:19) In the three days that Jesus was dead, He took His blood and sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat in Heaven, becoming the final sacrifice over the judgment of the law- forever.
God's glory can’t rest on “furniture” here on earth, or He would crush it. The glory stays when we have the right “furniture” to bear God’s weight. How do we sustain the glory of God? It is sustained by people who look to Jesus with unveiled faces and don’t hold on to the Old Covenant of law. The law is now under grace, submitted to grace. To obey the law is to be under a fading glory. The glory of grace fuels a sustained glory.
In the Old Testament, ten people were needed to create a council when a government was formed. The church (ecclesia- called out ones; called to govern with jurisdiction), has been given the authority to come together and as a collective body, pray and agree that the glory of God would rest on your church so that a move of His spirit would be sustained.
Third are the Seraphim (Principalities). They are angels that declare the holiness and perfection; the beauty, honor, majesty, and goodness of God.
“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.’” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”(Isaiah 6:1-6)
The Seraphim came and gave Isaiah clean lips and removed his sin. The Seraphim purified Isaiah’s negative language, and he became a revivalist.
The Seraphim works night and day, crossing eternity and time, looking to earth to come and defend God's nature and purify His people's lips. In the book of Acts, Seraphim shook the prison walls where Paul and Silas were imprisoned. The church's prayers activated them, and even the jailer was saved. The glory of God was so weighty it kept the prisoners in their cells from its weight.
The glory of God can be so weighty that it can come to a place so strong that people would walk into this room and repent. Many stories of revivalists such as John G. Lake and DL Moody, Maria Woodworth Etter would regularly have meetings in which they did not even have to speak a word; the weight of the glory would be so rich in their presence that people would fall down and repent before a word was even preached. Many “revival meetings” were filled with unsaved people because they heard God was there.
The demonic principalities operating illegally can be identified in a city by the belief system of that city. Wrong belief systems can be brought to justice because they are operating illegally. The fallen angels are skilled at making people doubt God, doubt his goodness. People in Christ who speak with unclean lips (they say, “I am a sinner, God wants me to suffer. God wants me unwell, God took my loved one prematurely, why is God doing this to me.” ) cannot sustain the glory of God.
But as you pray, “God, judge every evil spirit operating in this city and my home that makes people/ us doubt the goodness of God,” Sepraphim are released and purify our lips.
Lastly are all the other Angels (Powers). There are hundreds and thousands of angles that God has assigned to help us finish our assignment. When Jesus was tempted in the garden, these angels gathered around Him to minister to His needs.
If Jesus needed angels to minister to us, we do too.
“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1:14 When you come to Christ or repent and change your mind about God, the angels rejoice because they were involved.
God assigns angels to come and help us finish our assignment.
Do you know why angels rejoice when someone comes to Christ and repents (changes their mind about God)? They were involved!
In Matthew 26:53, Jesus said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” A legion is up to six thousand angels. God has made thousands of angles available to help us.
How do we get angels to help us?
Angels obey the word of God. When we speak the word of God in belief, angles are authorized. “Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.” (Psalm 103:20)
Today, declare over yourself, “The joy of the Lord is my strength! The poor say, I am rich! The weak say, I am strong; you are my provision and healer! By your stripes, I am healed.” When we agree with the Word and speak in (in belief!), angles are activated.
“11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.” (Ephesians 3:11-12)
When we understand the ranking of Heaven and know and believe God's grace, we know that we can boldly and confidently come to the throne room of Grace without shame and receive all the backup of Heaven. We do not have to repent of sin to approach God, nor do we have to perform rituals of purification, nor do we have to fight devils and call down fire from God. All that is needed is confidently approaching our Father and declaring His will, revealed through His Son.
“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16