God’s Plan for the Fullness of Times – Ephesians 1:8-10
As we come to this point in
Paul’s doxology here in chapter 1, we need to stop and take stock of where we
are. The apostle began expounding the
spiritual blessings in verse 4 by beginning with God’s eternal purpose “before
the foundation of the world.” Now we
come in verse 10 to “the dispensation of the fullness of times,” which, as we
shall see, points to God’s purpose for the end of history as we know it in the
establishment of Christ’s kingdom over all.
John Stott reminds us in his exposition of these verses that we all need
to share Paul’s vision. Though he was
chained to a Roman soldier under house arrest in Rome as he penned these
verses, yet “though his wrist was chained and his body was confined, his heart and
mind inhabited eternity. He peered back
‘before the foundation of the world’ (verse 4) and on to ‘the fullness of time’
(verse 10), and grasped hold of what ‘we have’ now (verse 7) and ought to ‘be’
now (verse 4) in the light of those two eternities. As for us, how blinkered is our vision in
comparison with his, how small is our mind, how narrow are our horizons! Easily and naturally we slip into a
preoccupation with our own petty little affairs. But we need to see time in light of eternity,
and our present privileges and obligations in the light of our past election
and future perfection. Then, if we
shared the apostle’s perspective, we should also share his praise.”[1]
We often focus on our problems in
the here and now. As we have noted
before, one the oft-repeated objections to Christianity is that it is so
focused on the next world, to the neglect of the present. Sadly, there have been Christians who have almost
completely neglected the present for the future. But I think that we are plagued with the
opposite problem today. This is true
even in the religious world. It seems to
me that a lot of people are only interested in religion for the benefits it
brings to them now. Like the people who
came to Jesus in John 6, they are laboring for the food that perishes (Jn.
6:27), even if they are seeking it from Jesus.
Of course, food is necessary.
These people were probably really hungry. It was a legitimate need. But if you seek Jesus for material needs,
even if they are legitimate, merely for the purpose of using Christ to serve
yourself, then you should not be surprised if you end up walking away from
Christ in the end (Jn. 6:66). You will
be disappointed because Christ did not come to subsidize our idolatrous love of
this world, but rather to give us everlasting life in him.
If we not share the perspective
of the apostle Paul, we are just going to use Jesus to make our lives more
tolerable and comfortable in this world.
We will be serving him from mercenary motives, not from real love and
devotion. This does not mean that to be
a genuine follower of Christ, you must forget about this world altogether. It does not mean that you abandon the
responsibilities you have in your family, job, or church. There is a way to be a “worldly
Christian.” Not in the sense of being
worldly in being like the world, but
being worldly in being in the world
and not of it.
How do we do this? How do we live to the fullest in this world
while remaining faithful to Christ? (By
“living to the fullest” I don’t mean having your best life now. After all, the apostle is handcuffed to a
Roman soldier as he writes these verses, hardly an enviable position! Rather, I mean living a life that is even now
characterized by the joy and peace and satisfaction and fruitfulness that can
only come through fellowship with God through Christ.) I think the answer lies at least partly in
sharing the apostle’s viewpoint that he lays before us in these verses. With him, we need to focus on God’s plan for
the fullness of time. To share the
apostle’s perspective, however, we need to tap into the “wisdom and prudence”
(8) that enables us to see the “mystery” (9) of God’s plan. Only then will we be able to see what God is
doing “in the dispensation of the fulness of times” (10) and live our lives
accordingly. In other words, we not only
need to see what God has revealed to
us but also how he has revealed these
things to us. In our message, we will
start with the “what” (verse 10) and then go back to the “how” (verses 8-9).
To understand what God has
revealed to us, there are a couple of words we need to carefully define. The first is the word “dispensation.” The Greek word behind this can either refer
to the office of an administrator or to the work of an administrator. Because a steward or administrator is meant
to carry out the plans of the one whose property they administer, the word came
also to refer to a plan or a strategy.[2] Here it refers to the carrying out or
administering God’s plan or purpose for the fulness of times.
The next important word that
needs to be clarified is the one that stands behind the phrase “gather together
in one.” Paul uses the same word in
Romans 13:10, when he says that the whole law is summed up in the command to
love one another. The idea here is to
unite various things under one head.[3]
Thus, we could paraphrase Paul’s
meaning in verse 10: “God purposed that in carrying out his plan for the fulness
of times, he would unite all things in heaven and earth under the headship of
Christ.” This is the content of God’s
purpose in verse 9, and unpacks the what is meant by “the mystery of his will”
(9). Since the Fall, this world has been
infected by sin and rebellion. According
to the apostle in Romans 8, this rebellion does not only affect humankind, it
also affects the physical creation.
Thus, because of sin, the universe is discordant and at cross-purposes
with God’s original intention for his creation as a place that reflects his
glory in being “very good.” Sinful men
and women have especially walked away from God’s purpose for them. Far from being united to God in friendship, we
are separated from God in hostility. We
could liken this fallen world is an orchestra whose members refuse to follow
the leadership of the Grand Composer. We
are out of tune with God’s good purpose for us, out of harmony with God’s word
and each other.
What the apostle is saying, then,
is that God has purposed to remedy this situation in Christ. It is through Christ that the discordant
elements of this universe will be once again united in perfect harmony under
the headship of Christ. Paul was saying
something very similar to the Romans when he wrote, “For to this end Christ
both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and
the living” (Rom. 14:9). Except here,
the breadth of Paul’s vision has widened.
Here, he not only included humanity as that which will be united under
Christ’s headship, but also “all things in heaven, and which are on earth.” This is Paul’s way of saying that his
sovereignty includes everything. There
is nothing in the universe that will not one day acknowledge his Lordship. And so, God’s broken creation will one day be
fully restored in Christ.
Now some have wrongly concluded
from this that Paul was a universalist.
Their argument is that if everyone and everything in heaven and earth
will be united under the headship of Christ, then doesn’t that mean everyone
will be saved? Isn’t that implied in
being united under our Lord’s headship?
The answer is no. After all, the
apostle will later argue that God’s wrath is coming upon the children of
disobedience (5:6). The apostles argue
that one day everyone will bow the knees to Jesus as Lord and will acknowledge
his rule over them. Like rebels that
have been vanquished they will be made to submit. But this is not the same thing as being
saved. Active rebellion will one day be
completely vanquished. But that does not
mean that they will start loving God or that they will enjoy eternal life in
the presence of God.
Nevertheless, we should not miss
the scope of our Lord’s sovereignty. He
is Lord over all, and as such, he is going to unite everything in perfect
harmony under his rule. This is why the
Scriptures don’t teach that the heavens and earth are going to be replaced, but
redeemed (Rom. 8:19-26). You don’t
redeem that which is destroyed. This
earth is not going to be destroyed but purged and cleansed. New heavens and new earth don’t mean new in
the sense of completely different. There
will be continuity. They are new in the
sense of being renewed.
This is important for the
following reason. God is not done with
this world in which we live. The idea
that this creation is something inherently evil and that the way to become holy
is to put as much space between you and the world as possible is not an idea
inherited from Scripture but rather one that has found its way into our
thinking from the pagans. Unfortunately,
this idea began to create problems for the church from the very beginning. Paul had to address it in the church at
Ephesus during his lifetime. He wrote to
Timothy, that there were those who were “forbidding to marry, and to abstain
from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them
which believe and know the truth. For
every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received
with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim.
4:3-5). What is a “creature of
God”? Everything. There is nothing that falls outside this
category. As such, they are good and not
to be refused.
Those who give the impression
that to be holy you must have as little to do with this world as possible is
falling into the theological error about which Paul was writing. This world is not to be refused. Why? Because it belongs to God. Because in Christ he is going to redeem
it. In Christ, he is going to make it
good again.
When God created man, he gave him
dominion over the creation (Gen. 1:28).
He made us stewards over the physical world that he had created. This mandate was not removed at the Fall;
that did not change. What changed is
that the world that mankind administered for God became cursed (Gen.
3:17-19). But sin did not make the world
evil, it made it hard. And this hardness we
see all around us: we see it in natural disasters; we see it in the cruelty of
men against men. It is hard to live in
this world. It is hard to live in a
world that is groaning under sin and it is hard to live in a world inhabited by
sinful and selfish men and women.
But here again, the perspective
of Paul can help. Knowing that Christ is
Lord over creation and that he is going to redeem it will keep us from
over-spiritualizing the mission of the church.
But even if we recognize the mandate to be good stewards over God’s
creation, the hardness of this fallen world can still make us want to withdraw
from it and give up on it. I read a
story not too long ago of a pastor who labored for many years in a very poor
neighborhood with all its endemic problems.
Over the years, many young men who aspired to the pastorate came and
went in this neighborhood. But this man
persisted. When he was asked why he
persevered and these other guys didn’t, he responded that he kept reminding
himself that our Lord told us that the poor will always be with us (Mt.
26:11). This helped him remain realistic
whereas the others had simply been idealistic.
We need to recognize that no matter how faithful we are, we should not
be surprised that the world around us remains hard. It will because God has not promised to unite
all things under Christ until “the fulness of times.” This is obviously a reference to the end of
history as we know it. It is a reference
to the Coming of our Lord in his glory when he will establish his kingdom in
its fulness. Until then, we are laboring
in a fallen world.
But we should not give up on
it. It is still the Lord’s. Moreover, the fact that Christ is Lord over
all means that he is very interested in the way we are exercising our stewardship
over his world in the here and now. The
implication is that we don’t just glorify God when we sing his praises in
church; we don’t just honor him when we share the gospel with others. We can also glorify him in our jobs and in
our hobbies; we can praise him in the arts and in the sciences, in the mundane
as well as in the exciting aspects of our lives. “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or
whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).
However, it means that the
Christian ought to sanctify everything into which he or she comes into contact
because of this perspective. We do not
seek to excel as stewards of God’s good earth as an end in itself; still less
in order to get glory and recognition from men.
Rather, we ought to so in order to advance the kingdom of God in this
world and to bring others to see how everything in this world points to the
glory of Christ. This world is still
broke, and for us to pursue life in this world apart from joining Christ in his
redemptive mission is ultimately to contribute to the world’s brokenness
instead of to its healing. Rather, our
prayer ought to be the prayer of the psalmist: “God be merciful unto us, and
bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; that thy way may be known upon
earth, thy saving health among all nations” (Ps. 67:1-2).
This also means that God will
bless us and strengthen us as we use this world for his glory and the advance
of his kingdom. The promise of grace is
not just future; it is present. As we noted
last time, the apostle says that we now have redemption in Christ (7). He doesn’t just wait to bestow grace upon his
child; he lavishes it upon us now (8).
We’ve looked at the what; this brings us to the how.
How do we come to possess this perspective? For most people do not share it; even those
who are aware of it through the Bible.
What makes the difference?
To answer this question, we need
to go back to verses 8-9. Verse 8 begins
with the words, “Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and
prudence”. The word “wherein” points
back to “grace” in verse 7. What God has
abounded toward us, or lavished upon us, is grace. And this grace is manifested in the fact that
God has given to us “all wisdom and prudence.”
Though some evidently argue that the wisdom and insight here refer to
God’s wisdom and insight, it seems clear to me that they are meant to refer to
wisdom and insight that God gives to us.
After all, in the very next verse, the apostle continues by saying that
God has made known to us the mystery of his will. How has he made this known to us? By giving us wisdom and prudence. This argument is strengthened by comparing
this verse with the parallel passage in Colossians, where Paul says that his
desire for them is that “ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (1:9). There, it is clear that the “wisdom and
spiritual understanding” are given to the Colossians to help them understand
the will of God for them. In the same
way, Paul is telling the Ephesian believers that they have been graciously
given wisdom and prudence so that they might know and understand the mystery of
God’s will.
As Lloyd-Jones has pointed out,
the best exposition of this verse is 1 Corinthians 1 and 2. There Paul argues that the wisdom of this
world is not sufficient to give insight into the reality and relevance of the
gospel. It takes more than a grand
intellect to perceive the glory of God in the gospel; it takes the grace of God
opening our eyes to see it. Paul says
that he and the other apostles do not speak the wisdom of the world (1 Cor.
2:6), but the “wisdom of God in a mystery” (7).
He goes on to say that the only way to see this wisdom is to have God
reveal it to you: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit” (10); “the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him neither can he known them because they are spiritually
discerned” (14). The gospel is a great
leveler. It is not intelligence that is
required to be able to see the glory of Christ; what is needed is the work of
God in the heart and mind granting wisdom and insight. This is why we can preach the gospel with as
much confidence in a third world country as we can among the most sophisticated
and urbane. The problem to be overcome
in each case is the same: it is spiritual blindness, not a low IQ. And it is the same God who bestows it in each
case, who is ever present to open the blind eyes and soften the hard hearts.
This does not mean, of course,
that the gospel is irrational. It just
means that what prevents men and women from universally receiving the gospel is
not a lack of reason but a heart that is opposed to God. The wisdom and insight that the apostle is
talking about, is not therefore merely the bestowing an intellectual perception
into the truth of the gospel, but that wisdom that sees the beauty of the
gospel, that tastes and sees that the Lord is good. Unless this is given, we would all remain in
darkness. Or, as the apostle puts it in
2 Cor. 4:3-6, “if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” This is why the ability to see and understand
the gospel is a gift of grace. It is
grace lavished upon us that gives us wisdom and insight. If you are a Christian, it is not because you
are cleverer than the next person; it is because God in his grace has given you
the eyes to see and the heart to believe.
This brings us to the meaning of
“mystery” in verse 9. The wisdom and
prudence that are given in verse 8 are given specifically to help us to know
“the mystery of his [God’s] will.” We
have already noticed that this mystery refers to God’s plan to unite all things
in heaven and earth under the redemptive Lordship of Christ. Why does Paul it a mystery?
First of all, “mystery” does not
refer to something that is unintelligible.
This word is no cover for those who want to evacuate Christianity of all
its doctrinal content, who want to reduce the intellectual content of Christian
doctrine to a bare minimum.
Second, this is not a reference
to the mystery religions that were common in Paul’s day. These religions claimed to have “secret
knowledge” that only its inner circle was privy to. Even when you obtained access to this
knowledge, you were not allowed to share it with others. Unfortunately, there are still religions and
secret societies that operate like this.
The Christian religion is nothing like this. This is not a mystery that is kept secret,
but one which is made known, not just to a few but to every follower of Christ.
Rather, in the NT, “mystery” is a
reference to a truth or reality that is unattainable through human inquiry and
must be revealed by God. This is the way
our Lord used the word in the parables in Matthew 13: “it is given unto you to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (11). It is the way the apostle uses it in 3:3, 5:
“by revelation [God] made known unto me the mystery . . . which in other ages
was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” So
here, the mystery of God’s purpose is something that he has to reveal to us in
order for us to know it. This is the
same thing as saying that the gospel is special revelation. You don’t look up into the heavens to discern
God’s eternal purpose in Christ. He has
to reveal it to us.
What is the bottom line
here? It means that we are utterly and
completely dependent upon God for the knowledge of the gospel and plan of
God. We are utterly and completely
dependent upon God for the eyes and heart to receive the gospel and see the
truth and importance of it to our lives.
And that means that we ought to join with the apostle in praising God
for the wisdom and understanding given to us by his grace. And it means that as we share the gospel with
others we need to be praying that God would accompany the truth we share with
his Spirit to soften hearts and open eyes.
We ought to be living every day
in the knowledge that every part of this world belongs to Christ. He is Lord over all. As Abraham Kuyper famously said, “There is
not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ,
who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’” And we can thank and praise God that there is
coming a day when all who belong to Christ will participate with him in his
victory over all.
Comments
Post a Comment