Ephesians Lesson 4 part 2

Ephesians 3:8
"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, (this unmerited divine favor and spiritual blessings are given out from the very heart of God) that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;"
Now it's interesting if you want to really do some language work. This word unsearchable really means "you can't find the beginning of it." It just goes back so far that we can't trace it, and it began before Christ ever created anything. Now reading on, and remember what we're talking about. This was revealed only to the Apostle Paul on this side of the resurrection and ascension.

Ephesians 3:9
"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, (this secret held within the cup) which from the beginning of the world (ages or time period, as a meanings of measurement) hath been hid (the same word in Deuteronomy 29:29) in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:"

That's the mystery, this whole package of revealed Truths that now comes only from the pen of the Apostle Paul. Let's name a few of these truths that were revealed only to this Apostle.

1. Our beautiful salvation Gospel as recorded in I Corinthians 15:1-4, and Romans 16:25.
2. Redemption by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Our redemption price has been paid.
3. He has justified us.
4. He has forgiven us.
5. He has given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit our first of many such blessings.
6. He has baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ, and what are we always saying about this term? You won't find this term Body of Christ anywhere else in Scripture except in Paul's writings. And here he refers to this Body of Christ, this composition of saved people, black or white, rich or poor, east or west, it makes no difference. Every believer becomes a member of this Body of Christ. That's one of the revelations of the mystery (but let me caution you as we learned in what we shared from the pen of St. John of the Cross we must learn how to hear God's voice correctly in order to gain His perspective of things). It had never been revealed to anyone before. In fact when does this actually take place? When we rightly part take of the Lords Last Supper and the finished work of the cross through even His ascension to the Father of spirits right hand. It is then that we can say with Paul, it is no longer I that live but Christ Lives His resurrected Life in me!(Galatians 2:20 as this becomes a Living reality within us and we can bear witness of Christ in the flesh. For we'll know no man after the flesh again even Christ Jesus.)
7. Another one of the mysteries given Paul is the departure of the Church this sudden out-calling of the saints when we meet the Lord in the air is another one. We get such a kick out of people sending us articles and books about the Church going into or through the Tribulation. And we just can't read them when we see where they're headed. We just lay them down. They're all doing the same thing. They are ignoring the Apostle Paul. We know where they're coming from, Matthew 24 where Jesus is speaking to the Nation of Israel, and His second coming to the earth. Now listen, we aren't concerned about the Second Coming, we're concerned about the out-calling of the Body of Christ, the departure to meet the Lord in the air, and that is strictly a Pauline revelation. No body else even mentions such a thing. Though it is revealed within the confines of the early parts of the Old Testaments teachings.


Yes, all the rest of Scripture speaks of the Second visible Coming, and He is coming, but before that happens, we're out of here, because we won't fit into that Tribulation scenario. It's like trying to put a square peg in a round hole; the true Church won't fit. The Tribulation is God dealing with the Nation of Israel, the Tribulation comes out of all the prophet's statements of the Old Testament. The only time Paul even mentions it is in II Thessalonians chapter 2, where he makes it so plain that after we have departed then shall appear that man of sin, for its the Body of Christ (the invisible Body) which is the restraining force which holds him and the Tribulation back, and all the rest of it. Otherwise the Second visible Coming has nothing to do with Paul's teachings. We just get so frustrated, why do people keep sending us this stuff that the Church will go into or through the Tribulation when all they would have to do is read Paul's I Corinthians 15:52-58 and I Thessalonians 4:13-18. He's the only one that has had these secrets revealed concerning the Church. The other prophecy has to do with the judgment of the household of God and its being shaken first, this has happened already in 66-70 AD as Daniel 9 reveals it. So remember the departure and the Second visible Coming are two different events - separate by at least seven years.


Now there's nothing secret about the prophetic things that the Old Testament prophets wrote about. There was nothing secret about Christ coming to the Nation of Israel was there? Why it was even revealed where He would be born. It was revealed to Mary that His name would be called Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. There's nothing secret about that. The Old Testament in Psalms and Isaiah are full of crucifixion, His burial and resurrection, it was all back there, it isn't secret. It's the same way with the Book of Revelation. There's nothing in that Book that's a secret. It all fits with the Old Testament prophecy. All we have to do is read Joel and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and they all fit with Revelation, that's not a secret. But when the Holy Spirit is denied then man remains in darkness as these things are all of them spiritually discerned. Which simply means we are in need of the Holy Spirit within us to receive the illumination of revelation in order to perceive them. But when we come to these things like we're looking at now, that here we are by God's Grace having wisdom and prudence given out on us, the likes of which had never happened before, nor will it happen again once the Church the Body of Christ is removed. We mean, we're on separate special grounds as believers in the Church Age, within the New Covenant. Now let's look at another one of the mysteries in Colossians we've already mentioned 6 or 7 of them, and we haven't touched on all of them.

Colossians 1:23b,24
"... whereof I Paul am made a minister; (Paul has to let us know that he's God's authority.) Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, (not His body of flesh, but what") which is the church: "
Now we don't find Peter using this term. We don't find Jesus in His earthly ministry talking about the Body of Christ, because all He dealt with was Israel and the prophetic period which it states this, "until John" or until John the Baptist came. But in Paul's writings he's constantly reminding us that we are members of the Body of Christ, a special combination of believers from every walk of life, from every corner of the globe, by virtue of having believed this Gospel. Now verse 25.

Colossians 1:25-26
"Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation (stewardship, economy) of God which is given to me for you, (Gentiles) to fulfil (or bring to completion, to correct) the word of God; Even the mystery (the secret) which hath been hid (most people don't even want to read that. We think they must close their eyes when they come to some of these words, but here it is, these things which have been hidden) from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints."
Now that's from the pen of the Apostle Paul. He said in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4, “the fulness of time” and then here in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 10 he says, “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ” and we'll look at it in more depth when we get there. Oh! goodness go on up into chapter 2.

What does Amos say about two walking together? Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" The two here are God in Christ and us as individuals, we have to be in agreement with Him or else we oppose Him.

Colossians 2:2-3
"That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, (listen this isn't Greek, this is all so plain if we'll just read and study it) to the acknowledgment of the mystery (secrets) of God, and of the Father, and of Christ: In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Because He's God! But what are we reading? He has now seen fit by His Grace to release these things that had been kept secret, and is now sharing them with us through the Apostle Paul. God has never revealed these Truths before. Now just for a moment let's go to II Corinthians chapter 11. We studied these verses, but they've blessed our hearts so that we've been using them over and over. You see this is what we've got to get people to understand. Oh! they only want to go by what Jesus said. Well that's all right up to a point, but Jesus didn't reveal the mysteries in His earthly ministries. Because He was limited by restraint of the Holy Spirit and the command of the Father. For He said that He only spoke as the Father said or gave command. Some say, "Oh I'm going by what Peter says", but Peter didn't have the mysteries, and why? because his heart was still not right before God. But look at what Paul says in verse 5

II Corinthians 11:5
"For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles."
He's not a step behind Peter in authority, in fact he's ahead of Peter. Then he repeats it again in verse 22 and 23, and he's referring to the Twelve in Jerusalem.