TUESDAY August 31, 2021
A Hidden Mystery Revealed
To me, [Paul] who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places...
Ephesians 3:8-10
In Ephesians 3, the Church is described as a mystery, but that mystery has been revealed. God has revealed Himself to us. Then in Ephesians 4:1, the Apostle Paul exhorted: ...walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Believers in Christ ought to walk worthy in all the ways they live. The purpose of the Church, the equipping of the saints, is revealed in Ephesians 4:11-16. A comparison of the old and new man was given:
...put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Paul concluded Ephesians 4 with many practical applications in living the Christian life. Now as we entered into Ephesians 5, Paul addressed the wife and husband relationship and reveals within this picture of marriage a beautiful metaphor––a great mystery. The Church is the Bride of Christ! We are His wife, and Christ is our husband. At the Rapture, Christ comes for His Bride––His Church. In heaven, we shall be with Christ forever (1Thessalonians 4:17).
In heaven Christ and his Church shall celebrate their joyous nuptials. This affinity as it is more lasting, so is it more near than earthly wedlock. Let the love of husband be never so pure and fervent, it is but a faint picture of the flame which burns in the heart of Jesus. Passing all human union is that mystical cleaving unto the Church, for which Christ left his Father, and became one flesh with her.
~C.H. Spurgeon~
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