Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:10b-Paul Defines the Millennial Dispensation

Ephesians 1:3 The God, namely the Father of the Lord ruling over us, who is Jesus Christ, is worthy of praise. Namely, because He is the one who has blessed each and every one of us by means of each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. 4 For He chose each and every one of us for His own purpose because of Him alone before creation in order that each and every one of us would be holy as well as uncensurable in His judgment. 5 He did this by predestinating each and every one of us for the purpose of adoption as sons because of His love through Jesus Christ for Himself according to the pleasure of His will. 6 This was for the purpose of praising His glorious grace, which He freely bestowed on each and every one of us because of the one who is divinely loved. 7 Because of whom, each one of us are experiencing that which is the redemption through His blood, namely the forgiveness of our transgressions according to His infinite grace. 8 This He provided in abundance for the benefit of each and every one of us because of the exercise of a wisdom, which is absolute and divine in nature resulting in the manifestation of an insight, which is absolute and divine in nature. 9 He did this by revealing the mystery of His will for the benefit of each and every one of us according to His pleasure, which He planned beforehand because of our faith in and resultant union and identification with Himself. 10 This was for the dispensation which brings to completion the various periods of history. Namely, to unite for the benefit of Himself each and every animate and inanimate object in the sphere of the sovereign authority of the person of the one and only Christ. Specifically, to unite for the benefit of Himself those things in the heavens as well as those things on the earth in the sphere of the sovereign authority of Himself. (Lecturer’s translation)

The prepositional phrase eis oikonomian tou plērōmatos tōn kairōn (εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν), “This was for the dispensation which brings to completion the various periods of history” (Lecturer’s translation) presents the purpose of the Father being pleased to plan in eternity past to elect church age believers by predestinating them for the purpose of adoption as sons for Himself alone because of His love through their faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ.

It asserts that He did this for the dispensation, which brings to completion the various periods of history or dispensations.

This prepositional phrase is modified by the infinitival clause anakephalaiōsasthai ta panta en tō Christō(ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ), “Namely, to unite for the benefit of Himself each and every animate and inanimate object in the sphere of the sovereign authority of the person of the one and only Christ.” (Lecturer’s translation).

This infinitival clause is epexegetical clause because it describes this dispensation as when the Father will unite for the benefit of Himself each and every animate and inanimate object in the heavens and on earth in the sphere of the sovereign authority of the person of the one and only Christ.

This will take place during His millennial reign, which is being referred to by the phrase “the administration of the fullness of the times.” (NET)

Church age believers who are in union with Christ and identified with Him (Rom. 6; Col. 3:1-4; Eph. 2:6-8) and are members of His body (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12, 18, 20; Eph. 3:6; 5:30) and His bride (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:28-33; Rev. 19:7; 21:9; 22:17) will reign with Christ over the earth during the latter’s millennial reign.

The articular neuter plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “each and every animate and inanimate object” pertains refers to the totality of inanimate and animate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and the earth or in other words, that are contained in creation, which would include all marine life, bird life, terrestrial life, human beings and angels.

The adjective is used in a distributive sense meaning “each and every thing” was created by Jesus Christ.

The word refers to the totality of animate and inanimate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and the earth: (1) Stars, satellites, and planets that compose the stellar universe. (2) Earth’s sun and moon. (3) Vegetation on the earth (4) Marine life (5) Bird life (6) Terrestrial life. (7) Human beings (8) Angels.

This adjective would include the orderly arrangement of the heavens and the earth and all things in their complex order and composition as created by God, created in perfect order and subject to the laws God established to govern its operation (Matt. 13:35; John 21:25; Acts 17:24).

The noun Christos(Χριστός), “the person of the one and only Christ” contains the figure of metonymy which means that the person of Christ is put for His sovereign authority.

The articular construction of this word indicates that the referent of this word is in a class by himself and the only one deserving of the name since there were many individuals in the first century A.D. who claimed to be the Christ or were proclaimed to be the Christ.

This word is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions here as a marker of sphere, which indicates that all of creation will be united “in the sphere of” the sovereign authority of the person of the one and only Christ during His millennial reign.

The verb anakephalaioō (ἀνακεφαλαιόω) pertains to uniting things under one person.

Therefore, this indicates that the totality of inanimate and animate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and the earth, which would include all marine life, bird life, terrestrial life, human beings and angels will be united in the sphere of Christ’s sovereign authority over all of creation.

The middle voice of this verb is significant and is an indirect or benefactive middle, which means that the subject act for himself or herself or in his or her interest.

Therefore, this would indicate that “for His own benefit,” the Father will place each and every animate and inanimate object in the first, second and third heavens and on the earth in the sphere of His Son, Jesus Christ’s sovereign authority during His millennial reign.

It will benefit the Father by doing this since it will restore the authority of humanity over the earth, which was the Father’s original plan for humanity.

However, this authority was lost due to the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and assumed temporarily by Satan and his angels until Jesus Christ’s Second Advent.

The Son of God had to become a human being in order to restore the human race to rulership over the earth (cf. Heb. 2:5-13).

The Father placed His incarnate Son Jesus Christ as ruler over the earth as a result of His Son voluntarily suffering a spiritual and physical death on the cross as a substitute for the entire human race (Phil. 2:6-11; Heb. 2:9-11).

When He ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father, He was given the title deed to the earth and rulership over it (Rev. 5:1-5).

At His Second Advent, He will bodily assume rulership over the earth (Rev. 19:11-20:4) and at that time, He will imprison Satan for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3).

He will along with the church assume rulership over the earth for a thousand years.

Satan was instrumental in the fall of Adam and Eve because he tempted Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in disobedience to God’s prohibition to not do so and consequently, Adam did so as well as a result of his wife’s prompting.

Thus, the entire human race was not only enslaved to sin but also to Satan and his kingdom.

However, the incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus Christ destroyed his works according to 1 John 3:8 as a result of His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

Those sinners who trust in Him as their Savior are delivered from not only eternal condemnation, i.e. the wrath of God but also delivered from enslavement to sin and Satan and his cosmic system.

At His Second Advent, the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride the church will dispossess Satan and his angels from the rulership of the earth and will restore the human race to the rulership over the earth.

God’s plan from the beginning was that Adam and Eve would rule over the works of His hands according to Genesis 1:26-27, however, they lost this rulership because of their disobedience.

However, Jesus Christ, and His bride, the church will restore the human race to its rightful place as rulers of the earth (Heb. 2:5-9).

The sentence of Satan and his angels to suffer eternal condemnation in the lake of fire will be executed at the end of human history according to Revelation 20:10-15.

Now, in Ephesians 1:9, “the mystery of His will” refers to the Father electing church age believers by predestinating them for the purpose of adoption as sons for His purpose because of His love through Jesus Christ.

These adopted sons are church age believers.

We also noted that this mystery is further developed further in Ephesians 3:5-6 in that it asserts that the Gentile believers are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus with Jewish Christians.

Both groups compose those who have been elected by the Father which was accomplished by predestinating them for the purpose of adoption as sons for Himself alone because of His love through their faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ.

The church is the bride of Christ according to Ephesians 5:32.

So therefore, a comparison of Ephesians 1:5, 9-10 and 5:32 implies that the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride, the church will restore humanity to its rightful place as rulers of the earth.

In other words, the mystery of the Father’s will is tied to the millennial reign of Christ because it reveals that the church will be the bride of His Son and together the two will restore humanity to rulership over the earth.