Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Ephesians 4: 8).
In that, He gave gifts to men, which the scripture talking about here. It is those who had believed in Christ, those who through faith have willingly become His captive, His own. These are the ones He gave gifts to and not to everyone. Scripture says in John chapter 1 verse 12: “But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” The gifts are the evidence that we are the children of God.
When our Lord Jesus ascended on high, He took nothing back that was invested in Him during the days of His flesh. He left us a quantum of gifts namely: power and authority over demons, eternal life, the seven spirits of God, the keys of the kingdom, and authority to remit sin. Everything our Lord had, He left for us who will believe in Him when He ascended on high. He also prayed to the Father to give us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of these gifts, He is the sincerity, the earnestness of our gifts in Christ and He ensures their effectual workings and operations in us who believe in Christ.
While our Lord Jesus was on earth in the flesh, He performed miracles so that men might believe. He affirmed to the Jews in John chapter 14: 11: “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves”. So the works, that is, the miracles that our Lord Jesus did were God’s sign for men to believe in Christ whom God has sent for the salvation of men. Our Lord Jesus Himself said in His prayers in John chapter 17 verse 3: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”. Having accomplished His purpose, which is to die for the redemption of man; “for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin” (Hebrew 9: 22 ), He ascended on high and gave gifts unto men. These gifts He has not left in the hands of men. The LORD Himself by His Spirit is the One that administers the gifts as He wills. He distributes to every man for the profit of all, that is the entire body (1 Corinthians 12:7).
Believers in Christ everywhere are members of the Body, the Church, of which Jesus Christ is the Head. The Body itself is nourished, fitly joined together, and compacted by what every part, that is each member of the body, supplies, and this is according to the effectual working of every part. (Ephesians 4: 16). If every member is gifted and every one member is to be functional and effectual in the body so that the Body increases and edifies itself continually in love, how come the Body is made so Bare? How come many believers speak against the Body which they are to nourish in love? How come many believers are so gullible and lots of strange things happen in the Body and among the believers? How come a lot of the believers are not effectual stewards of the gifts in them but are waiting for others to do things for them? How come the Body is no longer edified (honored, feared, and glorified) but is rather persecuted everywhere? Where are the gifts and what has happened to the gifted believers, for we all have been given gifts.
We know that the gifts of God are without repentance (Romans 11: 29), so these gifts are still with believers. If believers are so gifted, why have we become so bare? Why are believers waiting for miracles from the pulpits, when miracles are signs from God for unbelievers so to believe in Jesus Christ? We believe in Christ, and signs are to follow us, so we can edify the Body and glorify our Lord Jesus.
Just as the body parts are many so are the gifts and they are to profit the entire Body and cause the Body to increase with the harvest of souls. But what do we see? Believers have forsaken their first love which is Jesus Christ the Head of the Body. There’s no more stewardship of the gifts in them because they do not even know they are gifted, there’s no more love amongst the brethren, no more fellowship with the Lord and one another only execution of one program after another. No more prayers of the saints as we see in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 4 verses 29 and 30: “…and grant unto Your servants, that with all boldness they may speak Your word. By stretching forth Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Your Holy Child Jesus.”
Faith works by love, so gifts also work by love. The lack of preponderance of the manifestation of gifts among the body of believers only shows a lack of love, firstly for the Lord and for one another. It also shows a lack of knowledge of God and who we are in Him in Christ. We are partakers of God’s divine nature, made manifest in the gifts, through the knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 2: 3-4). The wave of gullibility in the body of believers shows a lack of knowledge of God and of His Christ our Saviour. Unlike the Berean saints that search the scriptures, a great population of believers do not search the scriptures on their own anymore, hence they get wrongly fed and do strange things which, have no foundation in the scripture or in Christ.
A man’s gift makes room for him (Proverbs 18: 16). The gifts of the believers that make up the Body, the Church, should make room for the Body in every nation. Words of wisdom, words of knowledge, gifts of healing, workings of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, gifts of help, of administration, and ministry gifts cannot but be noticed anywhere. The manifestation of this quantum of gifts giving by our Lord Jesus to the believers in Christ is what the whole creation is waiting for. This is the awaited desire of the nations: the mighty move of the Holy Spirit in and through the body of believers. The Body of Christ is too gifted to be made bare but because of our complacency, lack of knowledge, and the forsake of our first love, the Church has become a giant fast asleep. “Awake, awake put on strength O arm of the LORD, awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old…”(Isaiah 51:9).
“Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Lose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!” (Isaiah 52:2).
Awaken the light of Your Spirit in our souls O LORD. Restore us back to our first love as we thank You LORD for Your inestimable gifts.
