“… so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
(Ephesians 3:10)
The most significant institution in the world is the church (also known as the universal body of Christ) which God established on the foundation of His Son – the “Rock” and Chief Cornerstone. “On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it,” (Matt. 16:18). If you are a believer, you have been blessed to be an integral part of His church.
God never does anything without purpose, and Ephesians 3:9-11 gives us insight into the great mission He has for His church: “…to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places… according to the eternal purpose which He has realized in Christ Jesus.”
Paul makes it clear in this passage that God’s church has a very distinct mission here on earth, and that is to demonstrate “the manifold wisdom of God” to the satanic forces and supernatural powers that influence and persuade men and nations, rulers and institutions of this world.
What is this divine wisdom we are responsible to demonstrate to the world? It is simply the same wisdom of God that has been revealed to us, His own people. This “plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God” (v. 9) is none other than the “mystery of Christ” (v. 4) that has been revealed by God to His church. It is the revelation of God’s divine and mysterious plan of redemption through Christ Jesus, that through this Gospel both Jews and Gentiles alike are members of the same body, His church.
According to God’s eternal plan, in connection with the coming of the Messiah and the outpouring of His Spirit, the old Jewish theocracy was completely abolished and in its place arose a body of believers who are one in Christ – both Gentiles and Jews on a footing of perfect equality. Christ came to save Jew and Gentile alike and to unite them together into one new family – the family of God. This is His church.
So the mystery of Christ that the church is to demonstrate to the world is the wisdom that is bound up in this glorious gospel of God. Through Christ’s death on the cross He purchased His church – His bride – so that “in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus,” (Eph. 2:7). In 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 Paul says, “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
We, God’s people, demonstrate His wisdom, by being light and salt in the world… by living in the power of God, by loving the brethren, by being one body with differing members that work in harmony to share the gospel and glorify God. In short, we demonstrate God’s wisdom by showing the world that Christianity is real, and that God’s mysterious plan is true. The world – both natural and supernatural – is watching, and God’s collective people need to show them that God’s divine plan of redemption was not for naught.
In the latter half of Ephesians 3, the apostle prays that through the indwelling of Christ’s Spirit, these believers at Ephesus may penetrate ever more deeply into the mysteries of Christ’s transforming love, with the purpose of seeing that love in all its dimensions, and learning that it is so rich and so marvelous that it can never be fully known.
“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This is our mission.
Andrew Willet said, “Ascribing all glory to God signifies a respect of God, to glorify Him in His manifold wisdom, in wondering at its depth, astonished at these incomprehensible mysteries. Paul cries out in admiration of the unsearchable depth of God’s wisdom (Rom. 11:33).”
Let us believers come together to carry out our God-appointed mission to demonstrate the mystery of the glorious gospel of Christ, so that by the church the world may come to know the manifold wisdom of God.
- Lord, Your mercies are great (Neh. 9:19, 27), Your wisdom is great (Eph. 3:10) and Your grace is great (1 Peter 4:10) and diverse. All are more than enough to pardon my transgressions, help me in my struggles, and keep me from temptation (Amos. 5:12, 1 Peter 1:6).
- Christ the Lamb and Savior, slain from the beginning of the world, was depicted in the Old Testament in types and shadows. But once the fulness of time was come, Christ came to earth not only to make manifest and fulfill those types and shadows, but to also open the way for Gentiles to hear the clear testimony of the Gospel, that they may also be saved (Eph. 3:10).
- Lord, it is amazing that You put Your plan of redemption in place in eternity past, and then chose to reveal the riches of Your plan through the mystery of Christ in the fulness of time. You established Your church on this same Christ, the Chief Cornerstone, and through Him – the Head of all things – chose those whom You will to be members of that universal church, this body of Christ. Thank You for charging Your church with the mission of demonstrating this gospel to the world – both those who are in it and those principalities and powers in heavenly places – to show that Your plan of redemption is not only divinely wise but also effective in delivering Your love to the world.
Further References for Eph. 3:10
Eph. 1:8; Ps. 104:24; Matt. 11:25-27; Rom. 11:33; 1 Cor 1:24, 2:7
