Ephesians 4:8. Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Our text is prefixed by the word, wherefore, which indicates the connection between it and the previous verses. There the Apostle Paul is exhorting and beseeching the Christians in Ephesus to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. As an incentive for them to do so, he implies that there was already a oneness among them. No fewer than seven times he uses the word one with reference to them: “one body, and one Spirit . . . one hope . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all”.
Paul also makes it clear that, while there was unity among them, there was also variety in the gifts and graces bestowed on individual believers: “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”. Those gifts from Christ were bestowed through the Spirit, as Paul speaks elsewhere of “the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will” (1 Cor 12:11).
Now our text refers to Christ’s activity of giving: “He . . . gave gifts unto men”. The text implies that there could be no such giving by Christ to men if He had not previously “ascended up on high”. Nor could He have given gifts if He had not previously “led captivity captive” or conquered His enemies. Christ’s giving of gifts is the consequence of His ascending up on high and conquering His enemies. So here is this wondrous giving by Christ: “He gave gifts unto men”.
Let us now, with the Lord’s help, think about these three things in our text regarding Christ: (1.) Christ as the ascended One, “He ascended up on high”; (2.) Christ as the conquering One, “He led captivity captive”; and (3.) Christ as the giving One, “and gave gifts unto men”.
1The sermon preached at the induction of Rev K D Macleod, to the pastorate of the Inverness congregation, on 3 March 2017.
1. Christ as the ascended One
Our text, which is a quotation from Psalm 68, begins with the words, “Wherefore He saith”. That is, God, through the Psalmist, says about Christ in that Psalm, as we have been singing, “Thou hast, O Lord, most glorious, / ascended up on high; / And in triumph victorious led / captive captivity” (Ps 68:18 metrical). Here then is the divine proclamation about the glorious ascension to heaven of the Son of God in our nature.
We are told in the Acts of the Apostles of the historical fact that Christ “ascended on high”: “When [Christ] had spoken these things, while they behold, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (1:9-11).
This most wonderful record of the ascension of Christ informs us of certain facts about Him. It tells us, for example, that He ascended bodily into heaven – not just that His soul went into heaven, but also His body. He was seen to ascend; His disciples “beheld” His ascension and “looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up”. The record of His ascension also shows that it was to a certain place He ascended, even “into heaven” – that is, the heaven of heavens that we find in verse 10: He “ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things”.
We see also that the manner of His ascending shows how He will come again. “This same Jesus,” said the angels to the disciples, “which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” He ascended with great glory, as we sang in Psalm 47: “God is with shouts gone up” (v 5). Also, in Psalm 24:7, we see that Christ, the King of glory, entered the portals of heaven gloriously: “Ye gates, lift up your heads on high; / ye doors that last for aye, / Be lifted up, that so the King / of glory enter may”. O what a glorious ascending was that of the blessed Saviour! And so He shall come again in like manner – He shall come with great glory. Also the ascension of Christ was part of His exaltation – not only was He exalted by being taken up gloriously but also by being seated “on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3).
But we must take particular note of the fact that Christ could not be exalted by ascending “up on high” if He had not first descended into the depths of humiliation. In the verse following our text we read, “Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth”. We should think especially of His humiliation in descending into the dreadful suffering unto death that He had to endure on the accursed tree. So great, so terrible, was His humiliation that He cried in His distress: “I downward in deep mire do sink, / where standing there is none” (Ps 69:2 metrical). O how unfathomable were the depths of His humiliation as He made atonement for the sins of His people!
But glory followed His sufferings; exaltation followed His humiliation. To the two sad disciples on the way to Emmaus He said, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?” (Lk 24:26), and Peter wrote of “the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (1 Pet 1:11). This glory was something He prayed for in His intercessory prayer: “Now, O Father, glorify Thou Me . . . with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (Jn 17:5). On several occasions He referred to ascending to His Father. He said to His disciples, “I go unto the Father” (Jn 14:28); then, “I go My way to Him that sent Me” (Jn 16:5). And in His intercessory prayer He uttered that profound phrase, “Now come I to Thee” (Jn 17:13). So it was truly in a glorious manner that He ascended.
What a precious truth is the ascension of Jesus Christ, not only because it displays His glory, but also because it teaches us further facts about Him. It shows us, for example, that He is the Messiah. The high priest of the Aaronic order, who was a type of Christ, went into the holy of holies with the blood of the sacrifice, thus showing that the sacrifice was accepted by God. So Christ, the great High Priest, the antitype of the Aaronic high priest, entered into the holy place not made with hands, when He ascended, and He entered in with His own blood. His ascending up on high therefore shows that He was accepted by the Father as having done the work which the Father commanded Him to do. He fully satisfied divine justice on behalf of His people. His sacrifice was altogether acceptable.
His ascension also teaches us that He has entered into heaven for His people. “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb 9:24). And why has He appeared in the presence of God for His people? Why but to present His own blood, having by it obtained eternal redemption for them, and also to make intercession for them, which He ever lives to do?
The glorious manner of His ascending also shows that it was a triumphant ascension. Scripture tells us, as we mentioned, “God is with shouts gone up” – shouts of triumph! His ascending victoriously is also seen in Psalm 24:7, already quoted: “Ye gates, lift up your heads on high; / ye doors that last for aye, / Be lifted up, that so the King / of glory enter may”. Then verse 8 continues: “But who of glory is the King? / The mighty Lord is this; / Ev’n that same Lord, that great in might / and strong in battle is.”
2. Christ as the conquering One
Christ as the Conqueror is seen in our text in the phrase, “He led captivity captive”. The picture we have here is of a conquering king leading his subjugated captives into captivity. Such a sight says clearly that this king is truly a conqueror. So Christ, the glorious Conqueror, “led captivity captive”. This is the language of complete conquest, of total victory.
Whom and what did Christ conquer? Several answers may be given to this question. We see from Scripture that, for example, He conquered death. Through the prophet, He said about His people, “I will redeem them from death”, and then goes on to say, “O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction” (Hos 13:14).
Now those sinners whom the Father gave to Christ to redeem could be redeemed only by price and power, as is sometimes said. The price paid for their redemption was not silver and gold but Christ’s own precious blood. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet 1:18-19). Christ redeemed them by power also. He stated, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth” (Mt 28:18). By the exercise of His mediatorial power He swallowed up death in victory. Therefore His believing people may say in the exercise of hope: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Cor 15:55).
So death has been conquered for everyone who is looking to and resting on Christ. Eternal death, the just consequence of our sin, cannot touch the sinner who is hid in Christ. He or she will certainly have the victory over death, through faith in this glorious, all-conquering Conqueror. You say, What about the solemn reality that, when the believer reaches the end of his pilgrimage, the spirit leaves his body; he dies; people mourn his passing? Ah, remember this: the sting of death, which is sin, has been taken out of death for the believer. Therefore death for the believer is actually the gateway into the glory of heaven.
Christ has also conquered Satan. This evil one is compared by Christ to “a strong man armed”. How powerful he is! What an intelligent being he is! And what great and extensive power he has! But Christ is stronger than the strong man armed; He came in God’s great name to save by exercising His power against this powerful foe of precious souls. Therefore when Christ came “conquering, and to conquer”, He freed His people. You will remember that God said to Pharaoh, “Let My people go”. Although that wicked ruler was determined to continue holding the Israelites in slavery, they were liberated by the God of salvation. Here then is Christ, the blessed Conqueror Himself, overcoming Satan by the exercise of His power and thus effecting His people’s deliverance. Therefore Satan, since Christ has removed his destroying power over them, shall not have dominion over them. That Christ did indeed vanquish the evil one is confirmed by the Epistle to the Hebrews, where we are told that Christ destroyed “him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (2:14).
Christ also conquered sin. Believers are assured: “Sin shall not have dominion over you” (Rom 6:14). Christ bore all the sins of all His people “in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24) and made full atonement for them. Therefore we say to each poor sinner who has received Christ and is resting upon Him alone for salvation: Sin shall not have dominion over you as to its condemning power; sin shall not have dominion over you as to its destroying power; and the sting of death, which is sin, will not be in your death.
How did Christ conquer these powerful enemies? He conquered them by dying, We are to note that it was “through death He [destroyed] him that had the power of death”. Here is something altogether amazing: He conquered these foes of His people by His dying – by His dying on the cross. The eminent Hugh Martin said, “We do not act in dying; we are acted on, and we endure it. Christ acted in dying. . . . We speak of His ‘doing’ and ‘dying’. His dying was His grandest doing.” So this is the stupendous fact: Christ by dying at Calvary conquered those enemies. And He became man for this very purpose: “forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb 2:14). By becoming man and dying, He delivered His people from death and from all their enemies.
Let us not forget that Christ, the blessed Conqueror, is still conquering. Revelation 6:2 tells us that “a crown was given unto Him: and He went forth conquering, and to conquer”. He has conquered in the past and He will conquer in the future. Psalm 110 tells us that His enemies will be made His footstool – that is, they will be completely conquered. And they will be conquered either in judgement or in mercy. His impenitent enemies will be scattered and shall perish because of their impenitence and especially because of their unbelief in rejecting Christ, who came to redeem and rule. They shall be destroyed with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. O what a dreadful end for unbelieving, impenitent sinners! But blessed be this conquering One, for He also conquers in mercy certain poor sinners by making them willing. “A willing people in Thy day of power / shall come to Thee” (Ps 110:3 metrical). O what marvellous conquering is here – bringing sinners down by grace to be His willing, loving subjects and to deny themselves, take up the cross and follow Him.
We need so much that He would exercise His power in mercy on ourselves personally, in our congregations, in the visible Church throughout our land, and within our whole nation. O that He would come in the power of His Holy Spirit, open the windows of heaven and pour down a blessing! This is what He promises to do; He will bring peoples and nations to be subject to Him. However, He requires us to enquire of Him that He would fulfill the promise. Having promised the Jews of long ago that He would bless them greatly, He said to them (but He speaks to us also), “I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them” (Ezek 36:37).
We must pray, “Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord.” The phrase, “arm of the Lord”, is a reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to whom all power in heaven and earth is given. Let us earnestly plead as others did: “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old” (Is 51:9). Only He can do what needs to be done for us. Only He can give to us nationally and personally what we stand in need of – to us poor sinners in our spiritual need, to yourself and myself, friend.
3. Christ is the giving One
This is brought before us in our text by the words, “and gave gifts unto men”. In Psalm 68 it is rendered, “received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also”. That is, Christ received, or obtained, gifts in order to give them to those who are in great need of them. Those in such need are described as “rebellious”, which is what we all are by nature – rebels against the God of heaven and opposed to the Christ of God. “Away with Him, away with Him”; “we will not have this man to rule over us”; this is our response by nature to Christ. What a wonder that there are gifts for such people – that He gave gifts unto men, even to the rebellious.
What are these gifts? Think, friend, of the great gifts of repentance and forgiveness. Repentance is indispensable! “Except ye repent,” said Christ, “ye shall all likewise perish.” And what a great gift forgiveness is! “O blessed is the man to whom / is freely pardoned / all the transgression he hath done, / whose sin is covered” (Ps 32:1 metrical). Christ is ascended on high to give these gifts; “Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). Do you need these gifts, friend? Go to the Giver; go to the Giver! And if you have these gifts, all is well. When death comes you will have nothing less than life that shall never end.
Everlasting life is, of course, another gift which Christ gives. He said about His people, “I give unto them eternal life”. His ascension shows that He is the living One, having risen victoriously from the dead. At the same time He is the one who gives life. He said to Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (Jn 11:25). So every sinner who looks to Him in faith, trusting in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life. To such He says, “Because I live, ye shall live also” (Jn 14:19).
Those who are so favoured as to be given these gifts, of forgiveness and the title to eternal life, stand in need of many other gifts as they proceed along the narrow way to eternal life – for example, the gift of the continued indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Before Christ ascended He promised His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit. “It is expedient for you that I go away”, He said. Why? “If I depart, I will send Him [the Comforter] unto you.” Well, friend, without having the presence and working of the Holy Spirit in our souls, there can be no blessing for you or me; we cannot have such graces as repentance, faith, love, patience and hope within us. Without the Holy Spirit, there can be no profit from the Word or other ordinances of His house. How much we need an outpouring of the blessed Holy Spirit!
The ordinances of His Church are indeed gifts from Christ. Scripture, for example, is called “the word of Christ”. “The Lord Himself did give the word / the word abroad did spread” (Ps 68:11). Holy men of old, as they were carried along by the Spirit of Christ, committed to writing the mind and will of God. Therefore we have from Christ this precious volume, the Word of God. The sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism are also gifts from Christ. “I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you” (1 Cor 11:23), said Paul about the ordinance of the Supper. Also the precious gift of the ministry of the gospel is spoken of in verse 11: “And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers”. We are to pray for this gift. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest” (Mt 9:38). We see something of that this evening in that He has given another pastor to this congregation. How thankful we should be for His gifts! And how much we need that He Himself would be among us in the person of His Holy Spirit.
This is another gift we may mention, again from Psalm 68, where we read that He “received gifts for men . . . that the Lord God might dwell among them” (v 18). Here is a most sublime blessing and privilege – God in Christ dwelling in the midst of His people! Even where there are only two or three gathered together in Christ’s name, He is in the midst. In fact, He also dwells in the very heart of every believer. “Christ in you”, is said by Scripture to believers – not only that they are in Christ by faith, but that Christ is in them by His Spirit.
They must go on looking to Christ to give them what they need. “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven” (Jn 3:27). We must be utterly dependent upon the Lord for every good and perfect gift – for “He ascended up on high . . . and gave gifts unto men”. You can rest assured, friend, that if you are the recipient of these gospel gifts – these spiritual blessings from Christ – you shall have an exceeding weight of glory from His hand at the end. Then on the last, great day, when He comes to judge the world, He will give the inheritance to the redeemed. “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34).
We need all these gifts and we can only have them by having Christ. Indeed, Christ Himself “is freely offered to us in the gospel” (The Shorter Catechism, Ans 31), and He is spoken of as One who is received by those who believe in Him. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God” (Jn 1:12). If you are united to Christ by faith, He is yours and “all things are yours” (1 Cor 3:21). O what great giving is here – great giving that was preceded by Christ giving Himself (“He gave Himself a ransom” for many), and preceded also by God the Father giving Him.
In conclusion, let us consider Him: the ascended One, the conquering One, and the giving One who is opening His hand to sinners to give to them liberally. He is saying to you this evening in your spiritual need: “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Ps 81:10). He is standing at your door, sinner, this night and saying, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev 3:20), calling you to receive Him. O may you heed His voice and have open arms to embrace Him as He is freely offered to you in the gospel! May you know Him for yourself as the glorious One who ascended up on high and who is freely giving innumerable priceless gifts to perishing sinners in their desperate spiritual need!