Useful Bible Studies > Ephesians Commentary > chapter 4

Christ returned to his proper place in heaven

Ephesians 4:9-10

The first Christians believed that David, the author of many Psalms, was a prophet (Acts 2:30). In other words, his Psalms did not merely come from his own mind: God’s Holy Spirit showed David what to write (2 Peter 1:20-21).

So, although David wrote about events during his life, they often have a future meaning. In particular, the real meaning of David’s words is often about Christ.

That is true about Psalm 68; Paul repeats words from Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8. David was probably describing how the sacred box, called the ark, went up to its place in Jerusalem. The Levites (men who helped the priests) carried it up the hill, in a great procession. It was like the procession for a military leader after the defeat of his enemies.

However, by the power of the Holy Spirit, David was actually describing future events. By his death, Christ defeated the devil (Hebrews 2:14). Then, Christ became alive again and he rose up, to take his proper place in heaven (Acts 1:1-11; Philippians 2:6-11).

Christ is God the Son. Therefore, the place of greatest authority and power in heaven has always belonged to him. So, if he rose up to that place, clearly first he came down from there. He came down from heaven to earth, in order to be born as a baby. He came down in honour too: he lived like a servant and died like a criminal (Mark 10:45; Philippians 2:7-8). At his death, he, the God who is always alive, came down even further to the grave, the place of dead people. Some Christians even think that he went down into hell. However, it was not possible for death to have any power over him (Acts 2:22-35). Christ defeated the power of death and the devil; and God will put all things under Christ’s power and authority (Psalm 110:1).

Next part: Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors (Ephesians 4:11)

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