“To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable 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; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”
Once more let me remind you that Paul began this chapter referring to himself as the prisoner of Jesus Christ, and note that he says ‘…for the sake of the Gentiles…”
In this parenthesis we’re studying, from verse 2 through 13, he is giving explanation for that phrase, and assuring them that he is blessed rather than cursed, even in his present circumstances.
The one who is in the center of God’s will and knows it can find no time or place for bemoaning his lot. Indeed, it never crosses his mind to complain; for once there, he knows that the world’s comforts are quicksand and her conveniences are dark paths to destruction.
Therefore, although it is for the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles that Paul has suffered many things and is now in chains, still, he says, “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ…”
C. H. MacKintosh, who I love to quote, said
“Unbelief...leads us to interpret God in the presence of the difficulty, instead of interpreting the difficulty in the presence of God. Faith gets behind the difficulty, and there finds God, in all His faithfulness, love, and power.”
This is where Paul’s heart and mind were, always; behind the difficulty, basking in God’s faithfulness, love and power.
Now I want to go right to the end of our text passage today, to verse 10, and begin there.
In fact, I want to start at the end of that verse and work backward.
Let’s talk about
THE RULERS AND AUTHORITIES IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES
The first thing I want to make clear here, is that this refers to the good angels. There is reference made to rulers and powers in other places that, by the very context, we know is teaching us about the powers of darkness. Demons. The angels who fell with Lucifer when he was cast from Heaven.
If you look at chapter 6 verse 12 of this letter you will see one of those references, and there can be no doubt.
But God does not reveal His mysteries to the wicked, and the fallen cannot comprehend His wisdom.
No, we’re talking about the angels of Heaven here, and I want us to try and catch just a glimpse of the glory that is being revealed to us in this passage.
First, we mustn’t let it escape our notice that Paul has included in verse 9 the phrase, “…who created all things…”
If that had been left out, we wouldn’t have noticed its absence. No one ever would have asked the question, ‘Why does Paul say, ‘and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known…’? Why didn’t he say, “who created all things”, at the end of verse 9?”
So we know the Holy Spirit had purpose in inspiring Paul to make that point, and we lower the glass and look closer.
I think we get two clues right here in the text as to why Paul would include that phrase. One is in the same verse, when he says, “…to bring to light the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God”, and the second is found beyond today’s text, in verse 11.
“This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord”
In reminding us that He created all things, Paul is really saying, ‘He existed before anything. He is from eternity, and has no beginning, therefore all matter, all mystery, begins in Him!
And if we understand this, then we also should be cognizant of the fact that this mystery, God’s plan of the ages, had an eternal purpose which centered in His Christ.
He created all things, including the angels themselves. Therefore the mystery is His, and the administration of the plan is His, and the outcome is His, and no one, no power, no being other than Him can lay claim to any part of it. And both we and the angels are wise to give heed and look into this mystery that is now revealed.
The prophets of old knew there was something more to come, and they desired to have it revealed to them. Go to I Peter 1 for a moment and read with me there.
(vs. 10-12)
“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, 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. 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 Hoy Spirit sent from heaven - things into which angels long to look.”
MADE KNOWN THROUGH THE CHURCH
Now here is truly a mystery. It’s not the mystery Paul is talking about, but if we’re going to discuss mysteries here, let’s not let this one go by. That God could, through of all entities, the church, make His manifold wisdom known to the angels?
What do we see of the church from a human perspective? What do we harp on and fret over and war over, and discuss and debate and go in circles and more often than not, end with throwing our hands up in surrender?
It is the failures of the church. The floundering. The legalism and worldly error that creeps in. The doctrinal debates that never end and often seem only to widen the gap between camps of thought, rather than to reconcile and unite.
The propensity of Christians to wander, to lose interest, to react carnally to the circumstances of life; oh, my, couldn’t we just go on forever?
However, while we must remain ever-vigilant against error, and continue to purge the body of the foreign substances of the world and worldliness; and while it is certainly our duty to preach the word in its entirety and address issues that tend to divide until they are understood, we should also be aware, and be blessed by the awareness, that God is still in control.
God, who created all things, by His Holy Spirit brings to light the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, …why?… in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church!
Folks, the church is God’s demonstration of His wisdom! The church is the manifestation of His abounding grace and mercy and wisdom, throughout all ages, to all witnesses.
With all of our whining and in-fighting and disagreeing, and despite the picture we often display to the world, we must remember that God sees the church as the Bride of Christ.
What does the Spirit say to the church through Solomon’s song? “You are altogether beautiful, my darling, and there is no blemish in you.” (4:7)
And Paul told the Colossians “…He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach-” (1:22)
When the angels watch the church, they see a body of new creatures, washed whiter than snow from sin and made to stand pure and triumphant and glorious in their Master’s presence.
They see a bride, adorned in glory and made ready for the Bridegroom.
Do you see why Paul considered his call and commission to preach the gospel to the Gentiles an act of God’s grace toward him? Do you see why it was such an honor and a privilege to him, to continue the sufferings of Christ and to die to self and all else for the sake of this calling?
To him was given the grace to shed light on how the Father reckons His Holy Ones, and the wisdom He displays in the working of His power in and through the church.
Seeing it from that perspective, every preacher of God’s word who diligently studies to rightly divide the word of truth can claim this same grace, and rejoice in his calling.
Our great duty and blessing is to bring the Gospel message to light. To tell how through the cross of Christ God has reconciled both Jew and Gentile to Himself, and given us bold and confident access through one Spirit to the Father.
He has assembled us by one Spirit, made us united in Him, so that through this unit; this organism that is the church; this body, He might display His wisdom.
A. B. Simpson called the church the angels’ graduate school. As much as they know and understand about their Creator by virtue of the untainted and unrestrained revelation of Himself He gave them at their creation, they cannot comprehend the apparent paradox of the church, and so they watch and learn as He prepares His bride for the consummation of all things.
HIS MUCH-VARIED, MANY-FACETED WISDOM
As I sat down and began to research for this sermon, I wondered about the word ’manifold’.
Every time I hear or see that word, I remember my dad, who was a mechanic before he was called into the ministry, using the word in reference to automobiles.
Now, since I do not know exactly what a manifold is, I don’t even know if it’s something that is still in cars. Maybe it’s one of those things that went away with the coming of the computer age. I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t want to know. I don’t like mechanical things, and have declared on more than one occasion (usually while standing by my car at the side of the highway, waiting for the tow truck) that there will be no cars in my corner of heaven.
I only remember my dad saying something about an old college prank, and laying limburger cheese on the manifold of someone’s car, so as they drove and the manifold got hot, the cheese would melt and permeate the car with this strong odor.
Somehow, even in my ignorance, I just knew that Paul was not talking about a part of God’s car. So I looked it up. It means: ‘much varied’ ‘of differing colors’
That reminded me of the story of Joseph. So I looked up Genesis 37 and read,
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic.” (vs. 3)
And knowing that the life of Joseph is a type of Christ, of whom it was prophesied that His brethren would worship Him, but was rejected, and went down into death, typified by Joseph’s journey down to Egypt, I couldn’t help thinking that the Holy Spirit was pointing back to that story as an example of what He wanted to convey here in Ephesians 3.
Because you see, Christ is the center of God’s plan of the ages. He is the Author and perfecter of faith. He is the Captain of our salvation. It’s all been about Him, from the very beginning.
Imagine, if you will, that you are an angel, bending down to look and watch the working out of this plan, from the first day of Creation.
You see all that is called into being, and you hear the daily declaration from God that it is good.
On the sixth day He creates Man. Adam and Eve. Before long they sin and death is introduced. As a spiritual being you are able to see the immediate chaos in the cosmos. Everything is turned backwards and upside down. The creation’s relationship with the Creator is broken, and death comes to all living things.
As an angel you don’t question God’s wisdom. That’s the folly of sinful man, in his self-centeredness to have the audacity to doubt God and to call into question His wisdom and His ways.
As an angel, you simply wonder how any good can be redeemed from the turmoil.
As you watch, you see God working through man, through the years of man, through all the rising and falling of kingdoms, through all the events and histories of cultures.
You see, as an angel you know that God is in control of all of it. Men look back on their own history and they think things have happened randomly, or they think they have somehow shaped and molded the events of history, and things are just going to get better and better until there is world peace, and tolerance, and understanding, and brotherly love, and together we’re going to conquer the universe.
In their blindness they don’t understand that the best we can do is to react to what comes upon us and hope to cling to reason and rescue a few broken pieces from the destruction, and survive; just survive.
But God has always been in control. He has never been surprised, He has never been thrown and had to regroup and make a new plan, He has never had to go on the defensive to keep from losing ground, to Satan or to men.
From the very beginning, the entire history of man has simply been the working out of God’s plan of redemption.
So the angels watch and they see throughout the Old Testament record, God using the lowest and the basest of men and circumstances to work out His plan.
When men think a tall, good-looking hero-type would be the king they want, God brings forth a ruddy, unassuming shepherd boy and anoints him to royalty.
When men think great armies are needed to tear down fortresses and defeat formidable foes, God calls for the blowing of trumpets and the marching of obedient feet, and His enemies crumble to dust.
He uses prostitutes and cowards and thieves. He uses the poor, the uneducated, the rejects of society, and brings victories. Total destruction of the world’s strength, and the lifting up of the base and weak, bringing glory to His name.
For His power is perfected in weakness.
Then, in the fulness of time, His Anointed One comes. Not in glory, but in a stable. Not as conquering King, but as a baby.
He lives a life, not of celebrity and acclaim, not of comfort from a throne, but of humility and obedience. No place to lay His head, not being served, but serving.
Then finally, as you watch from your heavenly perch, you see the One who created you, the One you have served and been sent forth by to serve in the world of men, being mistreated by those very men.
He allows them to strip and beat Him, nail Him to a cross, and He deliberately goes down into death.
And you wonder. How can I understand what God has done? To the mind of men this is all foolishness, and to the mind of angels it is a mystery.
But then, as you knew He would, He rises from the dead and returns home to take His place at the Father’s side. He is risen in glory and honor. The Father has said, “Sit at my right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet”
And the day of Pentecost comes and as promised, your Creator sends His Spirit to assemble this body of new creatures He calls His church, … and from that day forward, you are in school.
Now you are seeing the fruit of His works. Now you are seeing His grace poured out and the reversal of that chaos that started in Eden.
Where sin reigned in death, now grace reigns in righteousness.
Those who had no hope and were without God in the world are now brought near by the blood of Christ.
That which was lost to God is now redeemed and reclaimed to His glory and praise.
This church you are watching is like a prism, and through it you are now beginning to see the many-faceted wisdom of God, as you realize that contrary to the wisdom of the world and all the planning and scheming of the enemy, God has wrought victory. He has vindicated His name before all the claims of the enemy that He was unfair, that He was a liar, that He showed favoritism, that He was unloving.
God’s wisdom is much-varied, Christian, in that the working out of His will in and through your life is unique. His wisdom is as many-faceted as there are children in His kingdom.
Every individual in the body of Christ is an individual way for God to manifest His wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, for He loves and deals with each one according to our uniqueness.
And the best is yet to come! The end of this great plan, the final outcome of this mystery that has now been revealed, is that all things will be subjected to Christ, who will then subject all things to the Father.
The church will stand in her completeness before the Throne and sing the song of redemption as one, and still, the angels will stand back and wonder at the manifold wisdom of God.
But they will continue to cry, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing”
Because He wore the coat of God’s multi-faceted wisdom. His much-varied wisdom.
He is the revelation, the demonstration, the manifestation of God’s wisdom throughout all ages.
“And He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle…
…And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, declares the Lord”. (Isa. 59:17, 20)
“And whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32)
Look at Him, believer. Look at Christ. Study Him. Contemplate Him diligently. And with the angels, see the manifold wisdom of God revealed.
