THURSDAY January 25th
Ephesians 5:32
‘This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.’
We continue today on our ‘mystery’ tour and to Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus.
The word ‘mystery’ here is used to describe a divine truth once hidden but now revealed in or through the gospel. That is, that the whole concept or idea of the church was completely hidden in the Old Testament, but has now been revealed to the apostles, and is a fulfilment of the declaration that Jesus made himself, that he would build HIS church!
One writer* describes the church as ‘The Divine Masterpiece’ for in Ephesians 3:21 we read ‘. . . to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.’
So the church was the unveiling or the revelation of a mystery, of how God would redeem to himself a people who would be called the church or the body of Christ upon the earth, made up from individuals from ‘every tribe and language and people and nation’ (Revelation 5:11) who one day would be in the eternal presence of God for ever and ever, and would eternally be for the glory to God.
Now this mystery includes how a man or woman would be incorporated into this church, and it is revealed for us in Revelation 5 (the same chapter and verse I have just quoted from) ‘. . .and by your blood you ransomed people for God’. The church consists only of those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the mystery of godliness which we considered in our previous devotion includes this, that wrapped up in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ was the whole work of redemption, in particular the atoning work at Calvary which would make it possible for you and I to be redeemed and included in the church. As Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 1:18-21 ‘. . . knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.’
The whole idea of the Church was God’s idea and it was a good idea that he had even before the foundation of the world, but it was a mystery, kept hidden until it was realised in and through Christ Jesus our Lord, Ephesians 3:8-11 ‘To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord . . .’
* Pastor Thomas Rees