According to Ephesians, a lot is going on in the heavenly realms. The spiritual blessings God has given Christians dwell there (1:3). It’s also the place from which Jesus rules (1:20). Furthermore, believers now participate in Christ’s rulership (2:6) in the heavens.
Combining these, we can say we enjoy the privileges of sharing in the governance of Jesus Christ. Yes, through the grace of His Son, God has given us so much!
But that’s not all! The apostle Paul has more to share.
Brainteaser
“so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 3:10
(Bible verses are from the ESV.)
This verse links “heavenly places with “rulers and authorities.” So Paul broadens the notion of spiritual governance to include beings in the heavens. These individuals need to learn something; they’re missing out on aspects of God’s wisdom. It’s up to the church to fill them in. Who are they and what do they not know?
It’s a brainteaser!
But since verse 10 is a fragment, we should quote the whole sentence to understand what Paul has in mind. And in the ESV, verse 7 is similar to verse 8, so I’m going to include it in the full passage:
“Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of His power. 8To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,10so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 3:7-10
Most of this paragraph is autobiographical; Paul talks about himself and his ministry. Verse 10 widens the scope to stress the role of the church in spiritual ministry.
Paul repeats a few key ideas in this section of Scripture. Here they are according to each verse:
- Verse 7 – gospel, minister, grace, power.
- Verse 8 – least, saints, grace, preach, Gentiles, unsearchable riches
- Verse 9 – bring to light, everyone, plan, mystery, hidden, created
- Verse 10 – church, wisdom, made known, rulers and authorities, heavenly places
Since many of these are synonyms, we can organize these according to their main concepts. We get something like this:
- Contents: gospel, unsearchable riches, plan, mystery, hidden, wisdom
- Speakers: Paul, minister, least, church
- Actions: preach, bring to light, make known
- Audiences: Gentiles, everyone, rulers, authorities
- Motivation: grace
- Abilities: power, create
Paul is talking about evangelism. He begins by ascribing his personal ministry to the grace of God. The Lord called Him to preach Christ to the Gentiles. He ends by telling the Ephesians the church reveals to heavenly beings the hidden wisdom of God.
Somehow the apostle moved from an earthly ministry of sharing the gospel with lost people to a transcendent ministry of informing spiritual authorities about God’s plans.
That’s quite a jump!
So we’re back to the questions I posed above. Who are these individuals and what do they not know?
In light of the theme of Gentile evangelism, I’d say these are the dethroned sons of God. By way of review, this is the group to whom God delivered the nations, while keeping Israel for Himself. Deuteronomy 32:8-9 asserts this reality.
But these angels failed to honor God. Instead, as Psalm 82 describes, they fanned the flames of corruption all over the world, with the result that God promised to judge them.
For centuries, the Gentiles lived under the oppression of fallen angels. And they couldn’t escape; they were stuck in idolatry.
But the Son of God defeated these sons of God! Whereas the latter rebelled against the Father, Jesus obeyed Him. And while the gods enslaved and polluted people, Christ released and purified them.
Not just the Jews; everyone! That’s what the rulers and authorities didn’t realize. The death and resurrection of Jesus provided the means to deliver the nations. The Gentiles no longer have to suffer under false gods. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, which the church proclaims, anyone can draw near to the one true God.
We conduct our ministries down here on earth. But as we do, we need to realize that we’re making a heavenly impact. The authority God has given us grants us the right to “go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). We’re invading the territory of the enemy because it’s no longer his. And these rulers can’t stop us because they lost their jurisdiction. Since we’re seated with Christ, we’ve taken their place. And as we share the gospel, we fulfill the divine plan which they rejected. Through Jesus, we lead the nations back to God.
A brainteaser they never saw coming!
This puts our service in a different frame, doesn’t it? Everything we do can have a kingdom impact. Every word we speak can liberate a soul for eternity. True, not everyone accepts Christ, but we persevere in our ministry.
Our enemy knows this, and he tries to respond. That’s what we’ll look at in the next post.
Recent Comments