The Spiritual Blessings of God’s Glorious Grace: Revelation

Introduction:

Illusion is always a fascinating experience to the eye and mind of the beholder. With illusion, something that appears as a reality is shrouded in mystery. The audience sitting before a famous illusionist like David Copperfield or David Blaine sit in awe and amazement as the mind trick is performed. To reveal the mystery behind the illusion is to rob the art of its true wonder.

But in 2018, David Copperfield was ordered to reveal the mystery of one particular illusion when an audience member suffered a serious brain injury after participating in his famous floating platform trick. During court proceedings, the illusionist revealed step by step how the participant was quote “ whisked through secret corridors to the back of the theatre.” This participant slipped and fell in the process, resulting in alleged brain injuries from the experience.

Imagine how those in the jury were no longer mesmerized by such an illusion once they knew the key to the trick behind it? That is the key to illusion…keeping the mystery a mystery!

Today, I want to us to look at another type of mystery, the mystery revealed by God to humanity. Scripture uses the term mystery throughout the NT to refer to the revelation that God has given about himself and his works in the world. But this revelation, as we will see today, remains a mystery to some, but to others, the mystery is decoded which leads not to disappointment, but to eternal joy and salvation.

Review:

Remember briefly with me that we are looking at the spiritual blessings that God has given his people by His glorious grace. We have seen the gift of election, adoption, and redemption. The fourth gift that we will look at today is revelation.

I. A Proclaimed Mystery

A. The Revealer

Ephesians 1:9 (NASB95)

9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him

It is proper to begin this sentence, with the root of the grammar. “He made known the mystery” God, by his Spirit, has revealed to us by illumination a glimpse into to the perfect plan of God’s redemption of his people to save sinners chosen before the foundation of the world. These chosen ones will be saved, atoned for, forgiven and glorified at the return of Christ. The emphasis is this sentence of the great revelation that God has displayed for the church. He did not keep it a secret in his infinite wisdom, but he shared it through the progressive revelation in time.

This revelation comes in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The incarnate word, as the apostle John calls Jesus, is the revelation of God to man and Jesus spoke the truth of God about his plan of salvation with people from different nations. Both Jews and Gentiles heard from Jesus the truth and pathway of salvation can only be found in and through Jesus, the Messiah.

But through the apostles and prophets, God’s people were also passed down the revelation of God which as Paul states is wisdom and insight into the plan of God’s redemption. This work of revelation through the writers of the Old and New Testaments was inspired by the Holy Spirit as men were moved to write God’s word without error in the original manuscripts in order to manifest the wonder of God and his works in the world. Look at Col 1

Colossians 1:25–27 NASB95

25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

B. The Recipients

Therefore, the disciples of Jesus in the church are the recipients of this revealed word, this mystery as Paul calls it. He refers to it as a mystery because to those in this culture, mystery was a pregnant word with meaning. There were mystery cults like gnosticism that portrayed a wisdom that surpassed all others that provided the members of such cults with elite status and higher knowledge. Paul uses mystery to reveal that those of the redeemed people, they were true recipients of a higher knowledge, a knowledge of God, not of man’s making.

Paul states this in 1 Cor 2:6-7

1 Corinthians 2:6–7 NASB95

6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

This is not a wisdom of this world, but from God and given to man, not to accomdate an arrogance in us but to lead us to a humble realization that a holy God has manifested himself to sinful creature out of his sheer grace.

Remember again, that we receive the revelation of God’s plan or will only by the gracious good pleasure of God. As he said “according to the intention of his will.” Remember that Paul already used this phrase in v 5 to describe out adoption in Christ. Now the revelation of Christ to the church is also given as God’s good pleasure. He is pleased in you knowing that grace found in Christ alone. His pleasure comes in the realization of grace which leads to His glory.

B. The Blind (1 Cor 2:14)

Its also called a mystery because some people in this world and throughout cannot or could not see the truth of it. It was foolishness to them because they were perishing and not given spiritual eyes and ears to understand the concepts of God. They are the blind as God allows them to remain in their sin and corrupted state. Jesus stated in Matthew 13:13-15

Matthew 13:13–15 NASB95

13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; 15 For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’

God continues to show the church through his word that the illumination of God’s revelation and truth is not for everyone. Some are blinded and yet in their blindness, God is opening eyes up through the proclamation of the gospel. This leads us to be faithful to share Christ’s mysterious truth for the church cannot perceive who God will give ears to hear and eyes to see. Without that insight, we must not be idle with out gospel witness.

II. A Decoded Mystery

What is the mystery? Paul gives us what he means by the mystery in these verses. His definition is identified as “the summing up of all things in Christ.” Another way to say this is God is gathering all things in heaven and earth under the rule and reign of Christ, through his redemptive victory over evil on the cross. This of course is spoken of in the future tense as Christ will bring this to completion at his second coming but that victory is already here but not yet realized. It will be realized at the second coming when as Paul told the Philippians

Philippians 2:10–11 NASB95

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

All of creation will be under the rule and reign of Christ as Lord and King over all. His triumph over sin, dearth and Satan was manifest in his death and resurrection and his ascension was the pre-curser to his return. As he sits now at the right hand of the Father ruling and reigning, he will return in full dominance and victory over his enemies.

But Paul elaborates with specifics this mystery in v 1-9 of Eph 3. Turn with me

Ephesians 3:1–9 NASB95

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; 3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. 4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, 7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;

Within the gathering and bringing together of all things under the rule and reign of Christ, the church will constitute a remnant of the lost world. The church composed of people from every tongue, tribe and nation, are the elect of all the nations of the world. Therefore, specifically Paul wanted the Ephesians to understand that as Gentiles, God’s plan was to bring them as well as Jews in to the family of God through faith in Christ. This is what Jesus said in John 10:16

John 10:16 NASB95

16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

To the majority of the churches that were formed after Pentecost were comprised of Gentiles who had heard the truth of the unfathomable riches of Christ and who believed. This came as the Jews rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah. In that rejection, the gospel proclamation turned to the Gentiles who also were destined to hear and believe in Christ. This is the mystery that Paul wants the churches to see.

The church cherishes this mystery that has been revealed to us as Gentiles. We are divorced from the idea that YHWH is only the god of the Jews because for over 2000 years, the gospel has been declare for both Jews and Gentiles to believe. Young people- Gentiles are everyone in the world not born into a Jewish family. You are Gentiles and the good news of Jesus is that all who desire to come to Christ, no matter ethnicity or culture, no matter gravest of sins committed against the Holy God of the Bible, all can come to faith in Christ alone.

Galatians 3:27–28 NASB95

27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

This leads us to the third point here…

III. An Administered Mystery

Ephesians 1:10 NASB95

10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him

A. The Administrator

God runs the office of administration of his own plan of redemption. He is Chief Administration because He is sovereign over time. Notice the administration of the mystery of Christ and the summing up of all things under Christ is revealed through the fullness of time. God’s goal in glorifying himself is to carry out that goal of uniting all things in Christ. Specifically, as we said, that uniting of all things includes people from all nations under one head, Christ in His church.

Who works to in this office of administration? God’s appointed stewards to carry out the tasks of God carrying out that mission.

B. The Appointed Workers

Paul uses this same wording in Eph 3:5-10

Ephesians 3:5–10 NASB95

5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, 7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

How does the Chief Administrator of the mystery of God bring about his plan…he uses appointed stewards to deliver his messages to the people about the opportunity of salvation in Christ. Paul mentions in v 5 of Eph 3 that God administrated the revelation of his word through the apostles and prophets. They declared to the people and nations what the Lord had to say about his promises and plans.

Apostles and Prophets

But not only the prophets and apostles, but in the church today, he uses great men of God to preach the revealed word in our churches so that the mystery can be understood. Paul tells Timothy

2 Timothy 4:2 NASB95

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

This message to Timothy as an appointed pastor and elder of the churches signifies the method by which revelation from God continues forth in this world. Preachers of the gospel proclaim all of God’s word to the nations so that the mystery of God can be heard by those whom God is calling out of sin and bondage and into freedom and grace.

But that mystery does not only fall to the responsibility of just preachers. For God’s purposes his for his elect (or predestined people ) to also pass along the mystery of his revealed word. We all men and women have the responsibility to “make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Paul again tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:14-15

2 Timothy 2:14–15 NASB95

14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

All of God’s people who possess the belief in totality of God’s revealed word then have a calling as God’s workman, to honor him by accurately handle the word of God. The Gk word which is translated “handle” means to guide others along a straight path. Paul is speaking to timothy about the entire church body, not just preachers. Therefore, the workman is all of God’s people and our calling is to accurately know the intended message of the totality of God’s word and to pass it on to others.

Can you imagine a meteorologist that knew the science behind studying the weather, who was able to accurately predict hurricanes, tornados and yet did not feel compelled to warn others of the impending dangers to their homes? In the new movie ,Twisters, that recently came out in theatres, there is such an attitude of some of the storm chasers. They get wrapped up int eh science of it all that they stop caring for the people to whom those storms are effecting.

As you know, in our men’s and women’s bible studies this fall, we are studying missions as a theme. The great call of God on our lives is to take the message to the nations, to not sit idly by and keep the warning of impending doom to ourselves. Instead, as those who have experienced the work of reconciliation in our own lives with our Creator, so we too are given the command to be “ambassadors of God to spread a message of reconciliation with God to the world.

We all here today would probably agree that we can improve on this in our lives. We all can be more faithful with sharing the mystery of God’s redemptive plan with the nations. Will you commit with me not to withhold that message from the lost world but instead be intentional with sharing with others.

Parents, that means we start in our homes…being strategic with our kids. Pointing them to Jesus every chance that we get. Making known the mystery so that the Spirit can work in their hearts and create belief in them.

Citizens of Bartlett, Cordova and Arlington, let us be challenged to get to know our neighbors in spite of the difficulties we face in living in proximity with one another. Let’s be strategic to meet them so that we can share this message with them.

As we learned this past week, let’s no forget about the gospel reach across the world. Yes the Lord has called us to be missionaries here but also for some, abroud. Let us be free of fear so that if God calls us to nations, we will go!