The Mystery of His Will
The Mystery of His Will
Bruce Billington
Ephesians 1:9 – He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.
Ephesians 1:10 – with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
Introduction
Jeremiah 29:11 – ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
This great verse, which was made to a nation not an individual – is not the place to start if we want to discover the mystery of God’s will.
Jeremiah is writing about God’s plan for His people of the day, and before we can understand it we must understand that when God makes a plan for us, it is built out of His plan for planet earth. It is from this place we must begin and then we are able to properly understand what role we are to play.
God’s plan is not or ever first about us – it is about why He created the planet, what He is working to achieve, where does the coming of Christ (both first and second) fit into this, and then finally, what is our personal role. It is only by doing this, that we can truly walk in harmony with the Lord, both as His bride, and as an individual disciple.
This means that any discussion about His plan must begin with Genesis 1:26-30,
V26 – Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
V27 – God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
From here He commissioned us to rule and reign over the earth as His co-agents (V28-30).
These verses reflect how God consults with humanity about His purposes for the planet and the role He desired them to play in executing them. This is a huge honour for humanity. The Holy, most High God takes us into His counsel and testifies about something great and wonderful that He has planned and how He has made us part of it.
We are made in the image of God, and, before the fall, we were in a perfect state to achieve the purposes of God. The fall changed all of this but under the New Covenant, we are being restored to what was lost and are now being transformed to this image again.
In the New Covenant the image of God is found in Christ. In Christ, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the glory of God shines forth in human nature, where the mind, the will, and all the senses, are being transformed to the Divine order (2 Corinthians 3:18). This extends way beyond anything the people of God were able to produce before the Incarnation. In this way we can once more be trusted, in Christ, to be vice-regents with God, ruling and reigning over all that He has created.
God furnished the world with all that we can ever need and more, making us rich before we were born. The only reason shortages, resulting in human need, come upon this planet, is because of our fallen nature demanding more than what we need and exploiting the planet and its people to get it.
The Mystery of His Will
The word mystery does not mean His will is not able to be understood. God wants us to understand what His will is – otherwise we cannot serve Him in it. What makes it a mystery is the fact that it can only become known by revelation. It has been deliberately hidden so that boundaries can be placed around it, because of the power that comes with it.
Unless we are in Christ, we do not have access to this revelation or its power. As a result, many great philosophers throughout history, despite making some great discoveries of truth, have never discovered this truth – often declaring that the Universe and its purpose is the one great mystery that no one can work out. In fact, many deny that it has any purpose.
Scripture tells us that the least of those in Christ, can discover this truth – He makes it available to the base and despised of this world (1 Corinthians 1:28). This mystery is not something that is too deep to be understood. Rather, it is a truth that has been locked up in God’s plan for ages until He was ready to reveal it to His people, in Christ.
Part of the mystery was that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, was open to Gentiles as well as Jews. In Christ, God reveals His love, care, grace, and mercy for everyone. So, what do we specifically learn here? A very helpful answer is given in the POSB commentary. It says,
[T]he purpose of God is to gather together and unify all things in a spirit of peace and harmony—all things, both visible and invisible. All things are to be brought to a peaceful and eternal state under the authority and glorification of Jesus Christ. God is moving history toward that climactic consummation.
This is the vision and calling that is meant to shape the whole of our existence in Christ. We are called and empowered to be about this amazing plan of action.
Three Points
- God has an eternal purpose and plan for the world, and it is His pleasure, His great joy, to bring it about. We are given the privilege of having a significant role to in it.
- As we are all aware – there is terrible division and disharmony throughout the universe. One of God’s primary endeavours is to bring harmony back into every arena of life. One of the great themes of the Book of Ephesians is reconciliation.
- There will ultimately be a consummation, a climax of history – a fulness of time, a new order – in which all things will be unified and harmonised and brought to a harmonious state under the authority of Jesus Christ. When Christ returns, He will bring this with Him.
History is in the hands of God – not the devil, not circumstances or random events, not Governments or military forces and definitely not unbiblical dispensations or ages that claim that the Kingdom of God is for another age.
All of history belongs to God and God alone. He is guiding it to its intended end, and we are in the age where this will happen. This age began at the first coming of Christ.
Households
It is incredible that Paul here, chooses a surprising word for administration as in the administration of the ages (V10). The word is oikonomia which literally means, “household arrangement.” The idea is that the universe is a house under the management of God. God is handling, planning, arranging, and administering all things toward a climactic consummation for Christ and His followers. Ultimately a new and perfect and eternal creation will be established for the Lord and His followers throughout the universe.
The reason this was disclosed at this time (the time of Christ) is that it is this time that the ultimate purpose that God has for this planet was restored and all those in Christ are empowered to produce a powerful expression of it in this present age.
This is a gradual, progressive event that is constantly unfolding as history unfolds. This is totally consistent with Daniel’s description of the kingdom of God in Daniel 2:44 – where it tells us that this Kingdom will never be destroyed and will eventually crush all those kingdoms that oppose it.
As Paul makes obvious in his choice of words – it begins in the family unit with the proper management of the household. Now we should spend a bit of time gaining an understanding of this because it is so important.
Oikonomia extends way more than just household. The depth of this word refers to a community that God builds up through the work of His people that He has called. We are to see our role here as stewards only in that we are held accountable by God for our work here. This does not negate the fact that we are sons – it is merely reinforcing the fact that we will be held accountable for our work – and the time we are given to play a part in this (our lifetime) is a gift to us.
It is from this foundation that we then move out into every sphere of life, in accordance with our calling in God, and become a witness and a testimony to the Gospel of the kingdom of God.
Mystery
An element of mystery remains here, as it does in so many things in relation to the Father. Although we know that the return of Christ, will bring all of this about, we do not know when that time will be; we do not know how many will be numbered in the ultimate, redeemed bride of Christ; we don’t know what the completed creation will look like; and we certainly don’t know how God is able to cause all things to work together for good (Romans 8:28) when we look out into the world outside our window. This of course, is where faith comes in – we must accept so much of this through faith and trust God’s word in all it tells us about this.
As Paul expresses in 1 Corinthians 13:12,
For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
Hebrews chapter 11 gives a great account of those who had received so many amazing promises and endured much to contribute to laying a foundation for these promises, although never seeing the final fulfilment of them.
We live in an age they could only dream of because of what has been made available to us in Christ. As a result, we are also called to labour and persevere towards the same end goal – despite not knowing when the imminent return of Christ will take place, along with the ultimate fulfilment of all these promises, and the great marriage of the bride – us – to Christ.
In this regard the writer of the Hebrews urges us to stand fast and stay on the journey.
Hebrews 12:1 – Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:2 – fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
It is the result of us being trusted with this great mystery that we draw our hope, that we encourage one another daily and that we push on, in the knowledge that God is faithful and just and the greatest joy in life is in entering into this great adventure which can only be found in Christ.
God Bless.
Bruce Billington