The Mystery of His will

 

Ephesians 1:7-10

In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, the things in heaven and things on earth.”

My precious wife often tells me your sentence structure is too long, I wonder if someone was telling Paul the same thing?  Verse seven begins “In him” and the sentence before that ended in “the Beloved.”  How little real understanding do we have of the unbelievable price the Father paid to redeem you and I, He gave His beloved, His One and only Son.  I am overcome with the value God the Father placed on you and me!  It was not as if we were longing for or looking to the Father for anything.  Jesus the Beloved, states that we were as sheep without a shepherd, (Matthew 9:36) and sheep without a shepherd are open to any and all predators.  Our redemption came through Jesus, giving His blood, to cover your sin and mine; in fact from the original sin of Adam God has shed blood to cover sin.  “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleaned with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”  (Hebrews 9:22)

God in his great wisdom knew we needed boundaries, so He gave us the Law, but we were like a trespasser, who did not ask permission to do and go on the property.   We did not ask God’s permission, in fact we broke God’s law, and then we added rules to live by hoping God would forgive our independent living.

In Scripture this is written, “According to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will.” It should be clear to each of us that grace is something you cannot earn, nor deserve, but is freely given by the Father.  It also should be understood that the Father has it in abundance and His desire is to lavish it upon us, with wisdom and insight.  That is the good news, but the bad news is, He only lavishes it on those who by faith have believed in the One He sent.  Now Paul tells us that the mystery was made known to him by revelation, it was not made known to sons of men in other generations, but has been revealed to the apostles and prophets by the Spirit.  This is the mystery of Christ; “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (Ephesians 3:6)  We who are in Christ, were called to this truth, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

This mystery is you and I who are Christ’s hands and feet are to be salt and light, by abiding in Christ, by walking by the Spirit, by not submitting to the flesh, and this is what the Bible refers to as the Church.  “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3:10)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice