The Beautiful Mystery

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The ground is level at the Cross. Have you heard that expression? We are all on equal footing in Christ. When you come to Jesus Christ, you stand before God on par with everybody else.

When Paul encouraged the Ephesians towards unity, he had in mind the split between Jews and Gentiles. Jew and Gentile believers have equal access to God. It was a new thought.

Previously, Gentiles were allowed in the Jewish temple but kept in a far corner. But now Gentiles who are in Christ could come near. Gentile and Jew are put together in Christ and not only have peace with God but peace with each other.

Before the Cross, God separated Jews from other nations. They eventually developed a spiritual pride, leading to hatred between Jew and Gentile. But now there’s peace in Christ, and there’s something new. They are new creations. And there’s a new body, a new temple.

This all is a mystery that God is revealing in Christ. A mystery is something that was hidden but now is obvious—like the church. God hadn’t revealed the church in the Old Testament. But now, He lets us in on the divine secret. (God doesn’t tell us everything!)

So what precisely is the mystery? Gentiles and Jews were placed in the body of Christ on the same level. By faith in Christ, they were brought into a new body as equals.

Therefore, now there is a threefold division in the human race:

• All people were Gentiles from Adam to Abraham—2000 years (plus)
• All people were either Jews or Gentiles from Abraham to Christ—2000 years
• The threefold division is Jews, Gentiles, and the church from the Day of Pentecost to the Rapture—2000 years (plus)

We live today in the third economy, in the gospel of grace.

As this mystery is revealed, angels now see the complex wisdom of God’s plan working out through the church. This all is new to them. They not only see God’s love on display and lavished on us, but they see God’s wisdom. They see us as God’s trophies of grace, having access to God by faith in Christ. This is remarkable to them.

Paul wanted these great truths to be a reality in our lives, too. He calls the church “the poem of God,” the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the mystery of the ages, and invites us to experience all the riches of God’s grace in Christ Jesus.

Paul lets us eavesdrop on his prayer for us. He asks that:

1. We would “be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (3:16). He asks for our physical needs but also the needs of our inner man. We need power to live the Christian life and to grow in grace—all the work of the Holy Spirit.
2. “Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (3:17). Christ has not come as a temporary visitor but as a permanent resident by means of the Spirit to live in our lives.
3. We would grasp what is beyond our understanding about the love of Jesus Christ; it’s one of many paradoxes in the believer’s life. Only the Holy Spirit can lead us into this vast experience of the love of Christ.
4. Finally, Paul prays for God’s all-consuming fervor to fill us “with all the fullness of God” (3:19).

As he closes his prayer, he worships God and blesses us. How good God is and how small we are. We can’t contain all of His blessings. We end these first three chapters of Ephesians on one of the highest mountain peaks in the New Testament. As we continue on in Ephesians, our focus turns from the heavenlies to our daily walk on earth.

1. How can the gospel bring peace, not just with God, but with people who have been against one another?

2. What can the way in which God revealed the mystery of the church teach us about Him?

3.What do you think were the emotions of gentile believers, who had been separated and kept outside the temple, who were now being told they were true equals with Jewish believers?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee's complete audio teachings of Ephesians 2:14—3 Intro, Ephesians 3:1-13 and Ephesians 3:14-21.