In Matthew 9.27 two blind men cry unto the Lord Jesus, ‘Thou Son of David, have mercy on us’. At first the Lord seemingly does not respond; He enters a house and is followed by the two blind men. The Lord then turns to the two blind men and asks them the question: ‘Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord’ (Matthew 9.28).

In the case of the two blind men, it was whether they believed that the Lord Jesus Christ could give sight to their blind eyes. Their response was that the One who could raise Jairus’s daughter from the dead and the One who could heal the woman with the issue of blood would have no difficulty in restoring sight. So they answer Him, ‘Yea, Lord’.

Now, I want to take the question which our Lord asked them, ‘Believe ye that I am able to do this?’ and do that which no preacher should ever do: take it out of its immediate context in Matthew 9 and apply it elsewhere throughout the New Testament.

There are eleven things that we are told in the New Testament that Christ is able to do. For example,

1. ‘he is able to succour them that are tempted’ – Hebrews 2.18
2. ‘he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him’ – Hebrews 7.25
3. Paul says, ‘he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day’ – 2 Timothy 1.12
4. ‘he is able even to subdue all things unto himself’ – Philippians 3.21
5. He ‘is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy’ – Jude 24
6. He and the Father are able to keep you safe: ‘And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand’ – John 10.28–29. By implication, therefore, He and the Father are able to keep the sheep in Their hands.
7. He ‘is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified’ – Acts 20.32
8. ‘what he had promised, he was able also to perform’ – Romans 4.21
9. Concerning the Jews, He ‘is able to graff them in again’ – Romans 11.23
10. He ‘is able to make all grace abound toward you’ – 2 Corinthians 9.8
    

But briefly I want to turn your attention to Ephesians 3.20, ‘Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us’.

This doxology summarises one of the watchwords of the Reformation: the glory of God alone. A doxology is an expression of adoration which rises above the level of ordinary speech. It is the language of spiritual expression, a fervent utterance of praise, a realisation that He is due infinitely more praise than we are capable of rendering unto Him. We are lost in Him, overwhelmed with a sense of His infinite glory. 

This doxology forms a fitting climax to Paul’s prayer and should to ours as well. There is nothing more that we can do but to praise and glorify the God of our salvation.

The Apostle has been praying that we may be ‘strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man’ (Ephesians 3.16). That is a remarkable request in and of itself. But he has gone on to pray that Christ ‘may dwell in your hearts by faith’ (v. 17), and then that we might ‘know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge’, and above all that we as the church might be ‘filled with all the fulness of God’ (v. 19). 

What the Apostle has requested for us is such a glorious possibility that he burst forth into this great hymn of praise, worship, and adoration. His one desire is that all the glory be ascribed unto Him ‘by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end’ (vs. 21).

The greatness of God’s power has been in the mind of the Apostle from the end of the first chapter. Indeed, in chapter 1 he has reminded them that he prays for them without ceasing, asking that ‘the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling’ (1.18).

They have already believed the Gospel; they are already saved; they have already been sealed by the Holy Spirit.

But Paul prays that they might be enlightened in order that they might know ‘what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints’ (1.18).

Then he works this out experimentally in detail. He wants them—and he wants you and I—to know ‘what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe’ (v. 19).

Now, in this tremendous doxology at the end of chapter 3 the Apostle strains human language. Language is utterly inadequate. The Apostle seeks to define that which can never be defined, to measure the immeasurable. He is trying to put into human language that which is illimitable.

It would have been a wonderful statement if he had just said ‘Now unto him that is able to do all that we ask or think’. But the Apostle, moved by the Holy Spirit, adds superlative upon superlative: ‘Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think’.

Our greatest superlatives cannot describe the power of God. EXCEEDING! ABUNDANTLY! ABOVE ALL! Add one to another, multiply them and add them together, and multiply them again and still you have not described the infinite power of God.

John Newton understood something of this:

‘Thou art coming to a King;
Large petitions with thee bring;
For his grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much’.
(Gadsby’s Hymns no. 379)

He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

There is a difference between what we ask and what we think. Sadly we so often limit the eternal and absolute power of God to the measure of our own minds and understandings. We limit the Holy One of Israel. However, there are times when we soar in our minds and imaginations to think and to dream of impossibilities. We can be thankful that our God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask, but also beyond what we can ever imagine.

What is it that we request for this Society?

♦ That the Lord of the harvest would raise up more Godly and gifted translators of the Word of God who are committed to the principles of TBS;

♦ That the Lord would sustain and strengthen those who are already labouring in the painstaking task of accurately translating the pure Word of the Living God;

♦ That the Lord would open doors of Gospel opportunity for the distribution of the Word of God, for there are isles and tribes which are still waiting for the law of the Gospel of Christ to be brought unto them for the first time (see Isaiah 42.4);

♦ That the Lord would provide the necessary personnel for our London Headquarters and our overseas Branches in Canada, USA, Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia;

♦ That the Lord would move the hearts of His people to supply all the financial needs of the Lord’s work through the Society.

Let us bring our most daring petitions, our most impossible requests, and then multiply them. And let us join together in prayer and bring our wildest desires and demands to the Throne of Grace. There is no danger of exceeding the limit of God’s grace, for He ‘is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think’ (Ephesians 3.20).

First published in Quarterly Record 627. Edited 2 December 2024.