Grace Apportioned

1. Truth, Judgment and Eternity Ephesians 4:7-10 Grace Apportioned

2. Overview of Chapter 4:7-10 • Grace Apportioned vv 7-10 • v7 Grace given to followers of Christ • v8 Ascended with captives behind Him • v9 Descended into the lower earthly regions • v10 Christ fills the Universe • These are powerful and mysterious verses, discussing Jesus descent into the lower earthly regions of hades and His ascent Higher than all the Heavens with multitudes behind Him, what a picture we are given here from the Holy Spirit.

3. Grace Apportioned • NIV Ephesians 4:7 “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” • AMP Ephesians 4:7 ”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.” • Apportioned means to divide or allocate. We have allocated to us a portion of God’s rich and bounteous gifts. • To those who have been given much Jesus said, Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

4. Grace Apportioned • Barnes commented, The meaning here is that God had bestowed upon each sincere Christian the means of living as he ought to do, and had in his gospel made ample provision that they might walk worthy of their vocation. What "are" the endowments thus given, the apostle states in the following verses. The "grace" referred to here, most probably means "the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit," or his operations on the heart in connection with the use of the means which God has appointed. According to the measure of the gift of Christ - Grace is bestowed upon all true Christians, and all have enough to enable them to live a life of holiness.

5. Captives in His Train • NIV Ephesians 4:8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” • AMP Ephesians 4:8 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. • The captives here are are described in the Amplified as vanquished foes. A vanquished foe is a defeated enemy. • Jesus died for His foes, and like defeated enemies we are prisoners of the Lord, captive to His will. • To reveal His will to us He gave us gifts from which we grow in the knowledge of our Creator and use to do His will.

6. Descended into the Earth • NIV Ephesians 4:9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?” • AMP Ephesians 4:9 [But He ascended?] Now what can this, He ascended, mean but that He had previously descended from [the heights of] heaven into [the depths], the lower parts of the earth?” • “He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built...” (1 Peter 3:18b-20)

7. Descended into the Earth • Acts 2:31 “He, foreseeing this, spoke [by foreknowledge] of the resurrection of the Christ (the Messiah) that He was not deserted [in death] and left in Hades (the state of departed spirits), nor did His body know decay or see destruction.” AMP • The King James translates the Greek word hadésas hell, but it seem most commonly translated hades (the state of departed spirits). • According to this Scripture, Jesus had access to those in the realm of death, as He entered into it when He died. • So it is pretty clear to me that an omnipotent and omnipresent God would have had access toall those trapped in hades, both the spirits in eternal dungeons of hell, as well as those in paradise ina placethey called Abraham’s Bosom.

8. Ascended Higher than the Heavens • NIV Ephesians 4:10 “He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)” • AMP Ephesians 4:10 “He Who descended is the [very] same as He Who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest).” • Jesus ascended higher than every rule and authority, power and principality in all the heavens (Ep. 1:19-21). • Because He suffered and died for men, Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and by this He fills the whole universe with His life and knowledge of Him.

9. The Authority of Jesus • John 10:18 “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” • Jesus lay down His life with authority knowing full well where He was going and what He would achieve universally by doing it. • Colossians 2:9-10 “For in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fulness in Christ, who is the Head over every power and authority.”

10. He is Coming Again • Jesus descended into the lower earthly regions and then ascended higher than all the powers and principalities of the Heavens, and He will return again the same way He left with all authority to judge the living and the dead. • A Word of exhortation: Jude vv3-25