Well, let's begin reading in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 1. We're going to be covering essentially verse 10 tonight, although we will be looking a little bit at verse 9 and verse 11 as well. For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable, untraceable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him." Therefore, I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are for your glory. Well, Lord, thank You for this magnificent Word. Pray, Lord, You would teach us Your meaning that You have set forth here for us tonight. Lord, You have shown us Your glorious plan of redemption in so many aspects. And Lord, as You pull it all together for us here through the apostles' writing, we pray that You would give us understanding in our minds and in our hearts, and that this Word would come to us in power by Your Spirit. Beginning in chapter 2, verse 11, Paul has revealed what has long been a mystery. It had been always a mystery. Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ are now one body in Him. In Him, there's no longer any division or distinction between Jew and Gentile believers. In chapter 3, Paul writes that to him and to the rest of the apostles and prophets, in the Spirit had been revealed this mystery of the bringing together of these two peoples who had been enemies into one body. Calls it the mystery of Christ. Because Christ is the one who accomplished this. And it is accomplished in him through joinder to him. It's a mystery which in other generations was not made known to man. that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus with Jewish believers in Christ. And this is accomplished through the instrument of the gospel. All of this harkens back to the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 12, 3. In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. We recall chapter 3 began in verse 1 as a prayer of praise to God. And that verses 2 through 13 are essentially an interruption, a parenthesis from Paul's prayer. And in these verses 2 through 13, he dwells further on the reason he's praising God. And he gives further explanation of the significance and the meaning of God's having brought Jews and Gentiles together in one body in Christ. That's what our passage tonight is largely about. We have to understand what God had revealed to Paul was nothing less than God's eternal plan. His purpose in His gracious plan of redemption of a people in His Son, as He wrote in chapter 1. His eternal Son who had come in human flesh, who had died to atone for the sins of those chosen in Him by the Father before the foundation of the world. The purpose in all of this was revealed to Paul and the apostles. And so Paul and the apostles had been given the mission of proclaiming these truths that had been revealed to them. Paul saw it as a stewardship, a trust given to him. And he tells us what he taught, what he wrote was not of human origin, that he had received it directly from the risen and ascended Christ. I've read it two weeks in a row. I'm going to read it again. It's so important. Galatians 1, 11, For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which is preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from a man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. And we know, many rejected. Paul even took offense to his claim that he had this divine revelation. Many rejected the gospel, took offense to the gospel, both Jews and Gentiles. Many of the Jews tried to kill him from one city to the next. Many doubted his apostleship. Now we've seen that the Old Testament prophets wrote of Gentile blessings. We looked at several passages last week. But in those passages, they made no mention that together with believing Jews, Gentile believers would form this new body. And that's what was happening in Christ. In the Old Testament, remember, a Gentile had to become a Jew in order to be accepted among the old covenant people of God. In this new body, this new man, there's a new people of God on the earth. And in this body, there's no distinction between Jew and Gentile, none. And people try to maintain these distinctions today. But God says there's no distinction, Jew and Gentile. The establishment of this body, this new body in Christ, was accomplished by whom? Jesus Christ. Where? On the cross. The foundation of this body was then laid by whom? the apostles and the prophets, through their testimony of the facts of the gospel, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and their preaching of the gospel, the meaning of His death and resurrection, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life through faith in Him. It's all very simple, really. So, while the promise of Messiah was given to the Jews, And the promise of blessing to the Gentiles had been declared in the prophets. The manner and the means by which these promises would be fulfilled was not understood until after Christ rose and ascended. Now 1 Peter, we're going to see what the prophets thought. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 10. Here's what he says. As to this salvation, The prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." Well, we can think of Isaiah, writing of the sufferings of Christ. Now look at this, 1st Peter 112. It was revealed to them, these prophets, who prophesied of the grace that was going to come to the Gentiles. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven. Things, now get this, into which angels long to look. The angels longed to know the same things the prophets didn't know. What is all of this about? This grace in Christ to the Gentiles. So the Jews had been caretakers of the promises to them had been given the oracles of God. But the blessing of salvation in Christ was always, and not just from Mount Sinai, but from before the foundation of the world, as we'll see tonight. The blessing of salvation in Christ was always intended for believers from every people, nation, tribe, and tongue, both Jews and Gentiles. It has always been God's plan are to be fellow heirs, fellow members of the same body in Christ, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel. And understand, Christ is not merely the instrument through which the blessings come. He is the very sphere in which the unity of Gentile and Jewish believers occurs. It's in union with Him, Israel's Messiah, that both Jews and Gentiles inherit the promise made to Abraham. Genesis 12.3. And the instrument of delivering these blessings is what? The gospel. The gospel is the means by which these blessings are imparted. It's through preaching and hearing of the gospel that one is spiritually joined to Christ and that the gift of faith is miraculously conveyed. All this means, of course, the old theocracy was then abolished and this new community of the people of God had come. Back in 2.15 of Ephesians, look what he says. He's made the two now into one new man. Now here's Paul. I mean, as amazed as we must be as we read these things, imagine Paul, once a persecutor of the church, who had to be absolutely humbled and amazed that God chose him, this persecutor of Christians, to receive the revelation of the eternal mysteries of God. which had been hidden for all previous generations. To Him, God chose Him to proclaim the gospel of grace in Christ and to proclaim what He calls the unfathomable riches of Christ. And when you read these words, you wonder, how can I convey this to anyone? These are unfathomable riches. But we know that there's another phrase Paul has used here, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. These are blessings that are incomprehensible to humans. What we have received is incomprehensible to us. So unfathomable riches, of which Paul writes here, or some translate untraceable riches, are riches that cannot be tracked, cannot be traced. The infinite resources of the grace of God in Christ are treasures that are inexhaustible. So verse 9, he says, to him, it's been given this commission, to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. Now why does he mention God as the one who created all things? Well, we're going to see before we're done here tonight. The purpose of Paul's preaching the gospel to the Gentiles was to enlighten men, to show them a mystery, a way of salvation through faith in Christ. But it was a mystery that was hidden in God for all of time until then. Forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God come to both Jews and Gentiles, not through the law, not through two different ways, but in the same way. Salvation, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, comes only through faith in the death of Christ as the atonement for your sins. The mystery is, all those who believe are brought into one unified body in Christ. So, the attempts to be saved, to gain eternal life, to gain an atonement for your sins through the law, had failed. God knew they would fail. Nobody could keep the law perfectly. Now this eternal plan, though, is being revealed. If you lived in the first century, in the latter half of the first century, you would have been hearing something that was brand new. The eternal plan and purpose of God, nothing short of that, was received by the apostles from God and delivered now to mankind. And that's one aspect of this. And the means of this was preaching the untraceable or unfathomable riches of Christ. This was the means of bringing the mystery of Christ into the light of day. That's how they did it. They just preached it. They preached Christ, the Son of God. Paul and the apostles were bringing to light this mystery for mankind. But in verse 10, now look at verse 10. Here Paul writes, that the mystery was now being brought to light, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places." In the heavenly realm. In the spiritual realm. So that the wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to spiritual beings. Not talking about heaven itself. He's talking about spiritual beings who inhabit the spiritual realm. Which he calls sometimes the heavenlies or the heavenly places or the heavenly realm. The mystery was now being brought to light so that they might now receive the revelation of this mystery. Manifold wisdom of God. That's the first phrase we have to deal with here. Wisdom may be equated with true insight into known facts. To really understand what knowledge brings. Who has the highest wisdom? Well, God does. The best wisdom we have, the best wisdom we can ever have, is that which God has revealed to us. And now he talks about here the manifold wisdom of God. Now this word rendered manifold in most translations is found only here in the New Testament. But we recall that around 275 BC, a group of theologians and translators translated the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek. And they used this word that's translated manifold here about 20 times in the scriptural books. In the Septuagint, This word is used of Joseph's coat of many colors. The manifold wisdom of God refers at least in part to all that Paul has written beginning back in verse 11 of chapter 2. But it's talking about the varied, diverse wisdom of God, the many colored wisdom of God. Wisdom is the divine attribute according to which God arranges all things and carries out His purposes and His plans. It's the attribute by which He chooses His means to carry out His plans. It's the attribute by which He brings forth His desired results. It all begins with His wisdom. The domain, the place where His wisdom operates is where? His wisdom is operating here in the fallen world. His wisdom operates among sinful men. His wisdom is vast. It is varied. It is multi-sided. All of this is encompassed in this Word. Now do we have this kind of manifold wisdom? No. What do we have? We have senses. We have the ability to perceive by our bodily senses, and He's given us the ability to think, and to reason, and absorb knowledge, and reason logically. But His wisdom, and I know I don't have to tell us this, but His wisdom is such that it is far beyond our even being able to comprehend it. His wisdom is not limited to sense perception, and reason, and logic. His wisdom is so large and so diverse as to transcend our capacity. So the knowledge and the wisdom that we have acquired is from Him. And it's but a fraction of His wisdom. Now the Jews, they had some wisdom from God. What was that? What do we call that? The wisdom from God they had received. Yes, the law. That's what they'd receive from God. I'm making my covenant with you. They thought that's where the wisdom of God could be seen. And that's part of it. But now, His wisdom is seen somewhere else. Where? In the gospel. That's right. In the gospel and in the new union of Jews and non-Jews. This is God's wisdom at work. Now His wisdom, again, as the riches of Christ, are both, for us now, unfathomable. So there's multicolored, multifaceted wisdom now. It speaks of the infinite diversity and beauty of God's wisdom. In creation, where do we see the brilliance of God's wisdom? All around us. The whole creation is a manifestation of the brilliance of God's wisdom. He created everything. He designed everything. In the beauty of a flower, a great canyon, great mountain peak, the oceans. You ever sit and look at the ocean? In the wisdom of God, He made these enormous bodies of water. But not just in creation is God's wisdom seen. In his plan of redemption, in every phase of it, God's wisdom is also seen. Think about it. You're an angel up there, and you're watching what God is doing. Let's start with God's calling of Abraham. You see, God calls Abraham. He makes a covenant promise to him, through him. He says this promise is going to come through a son that you and your barren wife are going to have. And then it's going to come through Jacob, not Esau. And Esau, by the way, may have been more deserving to human eyes. He was the one who worked out in the fields, while Jacob was at a minimum a thief. We see God's wisdom through His use of Assyria to destroy the kingdom of the northern ten tribes. And then what does He do to Assyria? He destroys it for its own wickedness. We read some amazing things in Romans chapter 11. There we read that by Israel's fall, salvation has come to whom? The Gentiles. And the salvation of the Gentiles will provoke the Jews to jealousy. This is all in the wisdom of God, folks. That by the mercy shown to you Gentiles, Paul writes, ethnic Israel may now obtain mercy. And then what does Paul say after he's written those things? Oh, the depth of the riches, the wisdom, and knowledge of God. All of these things are by His design. Paul says how unsearchable are His judgments, how untraceable His ways. There's that word again. And think about it. In Christ, God produces life through what? Through Christ's death. He produces glory by means of the shame of the cross. Blessing by means of the curse. And we read it often, power through weakness. So God's wisdom is manifold. One writer says, in that it weaves a thousand apparently tangled threads into one glorious pattern. Now we've seen an example of this here in chapter 2 and 3. What is this example of the wisdom of God and bringing things hostile to one another together? the bringing of Jews and Gentiles into one body. He brings two hostile peoples, two peoples hostile to each other, where men see only impossibility. God works it out in a way that no man would have thought, no angel could have foreseen. He brings them together. And the concept of the Christian church, which is the manifestation of God's wisdom, Now that's something to drink in. But that's what he says here. Look what he says. "...so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church..." That's us. "...to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm." The concept of the Christian church was not evident anywhere in the Old Testament. Even to the angels. Angels didn't know about the church. That's what he's telling us here. But God's plan from all eternity, before He created anything, was always to create the church and to reveal it in the first century. So the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm are spiritual beings. Through the church, the wisdom of God is made known. Now is Paul speaking here of fallen angels or unfallen angels or both? One says both. One doesn't want to answer. Well, it's not that easy a question. Throughout the ages, angelic beings, good and bad, had seen much of the wisdom of God. They'd seen these things, God calling Abraham and the covenant with him. They'd seen the law given to Israel and Israel's fall. Seen God's judgment on Israel in 722 B.C. They'd seen the southern kingdom of Judah to Babylon around 600 B.C. They'd seen all these things. Didn't know about the church though. So they'd seen the wisdom of God and they'd seen the glory of God. I don't know that we think about this, but we're told that they desired to know God's ultimate plan and purpose, but were unable to discern it. 1st Peter 112, it was revealed to them, the prophets, that they were not serving themselves but you in these things which have now been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. They desired to know these things but didn't know them. Hadn't been revealed to them. They were unable to discern them. Until Christ came, the situation on earth was such that only Jews could even come before God. They saw this. The idea that non-Jews could come to God was unknown, apparently even to the angels. Now, in bringing both groups together in Christ, this mystery was made known to spiritual beings. In seeing this, they're beginning to see a manifestation of the manifold wisdom of God. What's God's plan? If you had to put it in one sentence, what is it? It's to bring all things together in Christ. That's His plan. We've already read it in chapter 1. And the birth of the church showed the power of the evil powers was broken. What happened at the cross? What about Genesis 3 was fulfilled at the cross? The head of the serpent was crushed by the seed of the woman. The birth of the church showed the power of the evil powers had been broken. So for fallen angels, this was a sign of defeat. For unfallen angels, this was reason to glorify God and give Him praise. So we have an answer to the question. Talking about good angels, bad angels. The expression here, rulers and authorities, some translate principalities and authorities, is neutral. It's not good or evil. Just like angels. Gabriel's an angel, so Satan. The Bible doesn't identify the angels who did not fall as rulers and authorities. When Paul uses that term, he's usually, if not always, referring to demons, to the ruler of this world, to the dominion of Satan. In Ephesians 6, 12, for example, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness. It's the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. So there he uses rulers and authorities to speak of the evil angels. Colossians 2.15, when he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. There's another indication, another place where he uses this phrase to speak of the fallen angels. But a great many among the best of the theologians and commentators say, Paul's talking about the mercy of God toward the Gentiles, a revelation to the angels who had not fallen. Here's what Calvin says. Paul's meaning is this. The church, composed both of Jews and Gentiles, is a mirror in which the angels behold the astonishing wisdom of God displayed in a manner unknown to them before. They see a work which is new to them, the reason of which was hid in God. the glory of the gospel and of the church would only be a glorious revelation, in other words, to good angels. But some say he's speaking of both. And I think that's the best view. Others say his particular focus is with the hostile angels because their authority, they know, is now broken. forever and that all things are now going to be made subject to Christ. These things are being preached now. They can't hinder the advance of the gospel to the Gentiles. They cannot hinder the union of Gentile believers with Jewish believers into the body of Christ. The body of Christ is now being grown. This is what's affirmed in Revelation chapter 20 verse 2. Here's what it says, "...he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who was the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." Now he didn't put a chain around him. What did he do? He threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him. Also figurative language. He didn't actually throw him into something because he's still prowls about like a roaring lion. But he cannot deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years are completed. The period of the church. So they can't stop now the building of the body of Christ, the building of the church. God's eternal plan was hidden before, but now the veil has been withdrawn. It's been opened up. And what is the church? People gathered from all over the world are being formed into one great spiritual household and body. Was this happening before Christ? It was not. And the angels didn't know about it. And in all of this, Paul says, God's wisdom shines forth. Now, what's so amazing about this passage to me is that this has been God's plan, all of it, from before the creation of the world. And now in Christ, it had been accomplished. And now it was being manifested in the church. This union of Jews and Gentiles. One writer said, the church appears here as God's pilot scheme for the reconciled universe of the future. The uniting of Jews and Gentiles in Christ, he says, was God's masterpiece of reconciliation. Gave promise of a time when not only Jews and Gentiles, but all the mutually hostile elements in creation would be united together in Christ. Church is not only the pattern, it's the means God is using to show His purposes are moving triumphantly toward their ultimate conclusion. You know, the angels had long been interested in these things. We've read from Peter. But if you doubt that the angels have been following along the progress of God's unveiling of His plan, think about Luke 15.10. There is joy in the presence of the angels in heaven over one sinner who repents. They're paying attention to these things. Didn't understand it yet at the time that Jesus said that. So Paul is saying here, and this is the point, the very existence of this new multiracial community in which Jews and Gentiles have been brought together in unity, in one body, is the manifestation of the riches of God's wisdom. Church is the manifestation of the riches of His wisdom. Its presence is the means, now get this, the presence of the church is the means by which God Himself discloses to spiritual beings His own diverse wisdom. God's wisdom is manifested not merely in the existence of the church, but what the church does, what it is. We remain so man-centered. We get all caught up in the world. The church here doesn't exist for itself. It exists for God. It exists to serve His purposes. It exists for His glory. When the angels in heaven behold the works and the wisdom of God that He displays in the church, His bringing together of groups hostile to one another, their knowledge of the God whom they have always worshipped increases, it grows. Now Paul uses this phrase, the God who created all things. To bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things. Why does he mention God who created all things here? creation itself was just a part of God's eternal plan. wasn't the whole thing. The ultimate, the ultimate purpose of God's eternal plan is a new creation, a new heavens, a new earth. Creation is an integral part but just a part. It serves God's plan of redeeming a people for Himself. Ultimately what He desired to create was a people joined into a union with Him through His Son. So the whole of the mystery revealed shows even the spiritual beings that God who created all things is going to ultimately sum up all things in Christ the God-man. Did God decree, did He purpose and plan before the foundation of the world that His Son would become a man? He certainly did. Paul showed us that back in chapter 1. That in and through Him would be the union of the eternal with that which God has created. The union of the eternal with that which has been created. So the church The union of both Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ into one body is a foretaste of the reality that God will ultimately bring all things together in a new creation, a new heavens, a new earth, all brought together in one who is both God and man. This is to be a union of the eternal with the created. And it's by the very existence of the church that this was made known to the angelic beings. This is almost overwhelming. I struggle to find words to describe something so amazing. God's bringing those two enemies together. And they were enemies, Jews and Gentiles, in Christ. By joining them together and joining them to Him, there's a demonstration that He's going to bring all things together. If you want to know where we came from, why we came to be, and where things are going, and how things end, this passage tells us. From among blacks and whites, Chinese and Latin, from among men and women, slaves and free, all things will be brought into one unified body in Christ. We all began as sinners, as fallen men, because we all have a common progenitor. And he fell. Did God know Adam would fall? He sure did. In the glory of God's eternal plan and purpose in Christ, which he speaks of in verse 11, is that God knew all these things and planned before He created anything to bring all things together in Christ. That's always been the purpose of all things. When He was choosing those He would call in Christ, it was to this end. The whole of the new creation, except those cast into outer darkness, will be in and of Christ. And that's the mystery that was now revealed to the angels through the bringing together of Jews and Gentiles into one body in Christ in the church. The joining of all things together, brethren, was always the purpose of creation. There's no plan B. There's no God didn't anticipate this or that. No. All of this is His manifold wisdom being worked out. And this plan and purpose of God was carried out in Christ Jesus, fully God and fully man. And now we can see why the divine took on human flesh. It was ultimately to bring all these things together. Verse 11 he says, this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. So what Christ Jesus did was part of an eternal purpose. And he says, through Him we have boldness and confidence and access through faith in Him. It is He that connects the created world with the eternal God. In light of these glorious truths, Paul shows us in verse 13 where he says, look, don't worry about my tribulations. What he's saying to us is that our earthly tribulations are such a small thing. They really are. If our hearts and minds were set on things of this fallen world, which is passing away, John tells us, makes our earthly trials seem like big deals. They're not. If we understand and truly believe in the great plan and purpose of God in Christ, the problems and the difficulties of this life shrink in comparison. That's why Paul says here in verse 13, which we're going to look at next week, in light of the glory that he knows awaits, he says, don't lose heart of my tribulations. Don't worry about me. What He's also saying to us is this, don't be consumed by your own temporary earthly problems and trials. There's such a small thing in light of God's eternal plan and purpose and all of the spiritual blessings He has given us. Well, I tried to make all of this into one teaching, but clearly it's going to have to break into two. So we'll finish this chapter next week, Lord. For now, let's take a moment and reflect on the things the Word of God has spoken to us tonight. And then we'll close in prayer. Lord, You overwhelm us with Your majesty, with Your goodness, Your compassion, and yes, with Your wisdom. Lord, thank You that You have seen fit to reveal these things to us. Thank You, Lord, that You have called us. All those unworthy people, You've called to Yourself and Your church to be the manifestation of Your wisdom. Lord, I pray that You will revive Your church. That You will make it what You desire it to be. And though we fully trust, Lord, You will bring all things together in your Son. Lord, we long to see your name honored in this world. We long to see people come to the knowledge of the only truth that can save anyone. So, Lord, we cry out to you. Let the gospel go forth and let people be given ears to hear that they may be saved in Christ's name.