An important principle can be seen in a standout Old Testament miracle. A widow, unable to pay her creditors is about to be taken away, along with her two sons, to work off the family debt. So, she begs the prophet Elisha for God’s help (2 Kings 4:1-7). He provided her with this Link:
“What have you in the house?” he asks the widow.
“Nothing but a jar of oil,” she replies.
“Gather as many jars as you can from your neighbours and lock yourself and your sons inside your home. Then pour the oil into all the jars.”
The most amazing thing about this miracle is not that God fills every jar the woman borrows, but that the supply of oil ceases only when the last jar is filled. This implies that God’s supply is limited only by how much of it we are able to contain. His supply runs out only when we have reached our capacity to receive it.
The apostle Paul concludes his second prayer for the Ephesians with these heartfelt words, “That you might be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19) The idea of a church, however large, being filled to capacity with the supply of the Spirit of God is beyond comprehension! And this is the apostle Paul’s point.
Bowing his knees to God in prayer for the Lord’s people at Ephesus, Paul knows that he cannot quantify Christ’s love for them any more than all the containers gathered by the widow could contain God’s potentially endless supply of olive oil. Potentially, because the only limit to an endless supply was the total capacity of the containers.
Paul’s prayer in Ephesians, chapter 3, reads: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.”
In seeking to make this more understandable we would make it less wonderful. The King James Version of the Bible is not known for its economy of words, and neither are Paul’s prayers, doxologies, and benedictions — and for that we thank God! How could Paul contain them?
“Yes,” you might agree, “But does not Paul then introduce the dimensions of Christ’s love, so that we can fully comprehend that love?” I would question whether we are really meant to comprehend what is surely incomprehensible. Only with the heart can we know what passes knowledge.
Try comprehending “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of Christ’s love, intellectually — the mind simply cannot grasp it! Instead, let’s allow these dimensions to open to us Christ’s love for His church (bearing in mind that it’s not the world but the church that Paul is addressing).
“The breadth”: how inclusive is Christ’s love for the church? It is all-embracing! It encloses every believer, everywhere.
“The length”: how infinite is Christ’s love for the church? Christ is able to save “to the uttermost”. This refers to the continuous and endless care for us by our Great High Priest. Grasp the infinite love of Christ for you — if you can!
“The depth”: how fathomless is Christ’s love? Depth speaks of God’s hidden riches of wisdom and knowledge (Romans 11:33). Just how deep is Christ’s love? As an old hymn puts it: “Deep, deep as the deepest sea is God’s love for me…” His love is as deep as our needs determine!
“The height”: how elevating is Christ’s love? How uplifting and inspiring? As another line in the same hymn puts it: “High as the heavens above!”
We can see that Christ’s love far exceeds our capacity to contain it, just like the supply of oil exceeded every jar gathered by the widow. Paul does not attempt to provide us with the entire dimensions of God’s love so that we can try to comprehend its capacity, but he does provide us with its height, breadth, length and depth, so that our hearts can expand and contain more than they do now, so that we can develop a much greater capacity for the limitless love that He has shown to us in Jesus Christ!
But we should not forget the all-important, practical link between the widow and God’s supply! She used some of the oil to pay off the family debt, and then with her sons lived off what remained. Her energy and God’s supply — what a combination! An example of free enterprise in antiquity!