Lesson 10 - The Mystery Revealed!
Read Ephesians 3:1-13 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/eph.3.esv
God gives us a wonderful reward here and now, while we’re still on earth, when we walk in His righteousness. The Apostle Paul called that reward an understanding of the ‘mystery of God’, it was his greatest wish that every believer in Jesus would be able to understand this mystery as Jesus had taught him to understand it.
A mystery is something we have to work at to uncover all the facts. It is something that has been hidden from others, but now waits to be discovered by those who strive to do so.
When God gave the Law of commandments to His people Israel, He hid this mystery from their sight. Some of the prophets, such as Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others were given clues to this mystery; but they didn’t have enough clues to uncover it. This was also God’s plan – because His final clue to the world would be Jesus Himself. After Jesus came, all the clues received by the other prophets would make sense to the believer who made it a priority to uncover this great mystery.
The mystery is - the greatness and magnitude of God’s plan of salvation available to all mankind.
Once we have uncovered this treasure, once we begin to understand, we cannot help but become involved in spreading that wondrous news to others – God loves them! God wants them to come and live in His home for eternity! God wants them to be free of the sin that enslaved them for so long!
But verse 10 gives us a very interesting statement – it is not only people around us who hear this message, but “the rulers and authorities in heavenly places.” That’s angels! God is using us to proclaim His plan of salvation to the angels!
Why would God need to do that? Don’t the angels see Him now as He is? Yes, they do; but they do not understand grace and mercy. When Lucifer sinned against God, all the angels were given the choice to follow God or Lucifer, and their future judgment based on that one choice was final. God displays His righteous judgment to all creation.
But to us God gives a second, third or more chance to accept His gift. That is mercy and grace – something the angels are learning from us as we teach God’s complete mystery of salvation. They watch us struggle, sometimes fail, win whenever we trust God completely, and they’re learning something about God, too.
Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us we have a great cloud of witnesses – both those who have gone before and left us their testimonies, and the angels who watch and learn now. Our responsibility to walk in righteousness means that we “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
*God displays His righteous judgment to _____
*God’s plan of salvation is available to 1) men 2) women 3) all mankind. _____
*God gives us more than one chance to accept His gift. That is _____ and _____