"that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know" Eph 1:18
In preparation for the sermon I'm preaching at St. Anne's this Sunday, I've been struck again by the way that God's word speaks of heart-knowledge. The phrase "eyes of your heart" is an Old Testament way of referring to the seat of your whole person. And for you to experientally know things - and Ephesians 1:15-23 certainly speaks of incredible things to know.
Have a look at what Jonathan Edwards has to say in his A Divine and Supernatural Light sermon:
"There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former that knows not how honey tastes; but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. When the heart is sensible of the beauty and amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension. It is implied in a person’s being heartily sensible of the loveliness of a thing, that the idea of it is pleasant to his soul; which is a far different thing from having a rational opinion that it is excellent."
And later in the sermon: “As for instance, the notion that there is a Christ, and that Christ is holy and gracious, is conveyed to the mind by the word of God; but the sense of the excellency of Christ by reason of that holiness and grace, is nevertheless immediately the work of the Holy Spirit.”
And this work of the Holy Spirit is what Paul is praying for - that the saints in Ephesus might know God with the eyes of their heart.
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