Ephesians 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his
will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
God’s salvation is offered only by God’s grace. This is
something we need to get down. We were not worthy of it or could we attain it.
God’s salvation is given us to deliver us from God’s wrath. Without God’s
salvation, there is no deliverance from God’s wrath that is certain to come.
God chose His plan of salvation before the foundations of the world, because He
knew that giving man a free will would include sin and man would need to be
saved from sin. These facts are obvious from the scriptures and expressed more
clearly in chapter 2.
God’s plan for the salvation of man included both Jew and
Gentiles from the beginning. The process was the Jew first, then the Gentiles,
Romans 1:16. This was God’s intended method revealed in the scriptures. Paul
uses the word “mystery” several times in this letter. It has two meanings from
the Hellenistic Greek spoken in Paul’s day.
Something secret and known only to a select few. The mystery
of many religions. As used in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Jewish
Old Testament writings, 2) describes what God reveals. Daniel 2:29. The Jews
used the word to describe some secret plan that God would reveal at the end of
the age.
In the New Testament, the word refers to a truth formerly
hidden but now made known to people-in this case, to us, meaning all believers.
Revelation in the scriptures or the mysteries of God are always progressive.
Look at 1 Peter 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched
diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11 Searching
what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory
that should follow. 12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but
unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them
that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from
heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
God knew that man could not handle everything He knows at
once. So he reveals things to us in a sort of “need to know” method. When we
need to know the what we need to know, would be revealed to us. Colossians 1:26
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations but now is
made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory. In this case, the revelation is, God’s plan to unite things in
heaven and earth in Christ.
It was God’s will from the beginning to give his people
glorious privileges. The fact that Paul used the word “mystery “ in with “God’s
will” reveals the certainty of the outcome of God’s plans and promises. This is
the why of the use of the term “according to His good pleasure.” It pleases God
to make known to us the mystery of His will.
Pastor Tony Kim
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