Enlightened Understanding

by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power” (Ephesians 1:18,19).

Surely every true Christian would earnestly desire an enlightened understanding of such marvelous concepts as the hope we receive by God’s calling, the glorious inheritance we share with Christ, and the working of His infinite power in and through us, but how do we acquire such an understanding? It is certainly not by some ethereal flash of illumination while in mystic meditation, nor is it by a course of intellectual exercises.

It can only be through the Holy Scriptures where all these great truths have been revealed indelibly in written form for all who will read them and believe. However, just reading the Scriptures is not enough in itself. They must be read lovingly and diligently and prayerfully, in dependence upon the internal guidance of God the Holy Spirit, for it was He who inspired and authenticated their writing in the first place.

This, in fact, is the very burden of the Apostle Paul’s prayer for his readers in the verses just preceding our text: “Wherefore I also . . . making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:15–17).

Thus, as it was promised long ago, “if thou wilt receive my words, . . . So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; . . . Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:1,2,5). HMM