The Bible speaks of 4 Classes of Humanity
(1) The lifeless, (2) Those who have life, (3) The Dispensation of Promise, (4) The Dispensation of The Mystery
The last is that group which is said to constitute The Church which is The Body of Christ. It has some characteristics and possessions which none of the others ever had. It is unique in many ways.
1. 'Every blessing that is spiritual.' This is not said of any other children or sons. Those under promise have spiritual blessings, but they also have material blessings as well. First of all, they have a land promised, and this land is to be fruitful someday. They have special protection; those that bless them will be blest, and those that curse them will be cursed.
So having 'every blessing that is spiritual' is something new. To try to count those spiritual blessings would be an impossible task.
2. 'In Heavenly Places.' This is where the spiritual blessings are enjoyed. Nothing like this had ever been heard of before. No sphere beyond the earth has ever been mentioned as a place of blessing before Ephesians 1:3. In all the Scriptures before this, man has been earthbound, and his dominion was limited to the earth. But the church, even now, is making known the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies. This is a part of the kingdom of His dear Son. And those who suffer shall also reign with Him.
3. 'Before the overthrow of the world.' This group called the church was chosen before the overthrow of the world. No other group of humanity can claim such a unique distinction as this. The kingdom is spoken of as being prepared from the foundation of the world. This gives us some important information. The dispensation of the mystery with its heavenly mission was first in the plan and purpose of the ages, first in the mind of God. This has something to do with the great promise of life in Christ made before the ages began, which was not revealed until the dispensation of the mystery was made known. So we learn for the first time that redemption does extend as far in creation as sin and ruin have gone. God will reconcile The Heavens and the Earth.
4. 'Made to sit together in Heavenly Places.' This position is in Christ. It is a great honor. A seat or throne denotes honor. That mere man who was first made to have dominion over beasts, fish, and fowls (and not over other men) should someday reign with Christ in the heavenlies is almost unbelievable. And few actually believe it, so a few will have this great and high privilege. The members are few and scattered, but the Lord knows they that are His.
5. 'The twain created one new man.' At one time, there was a difference, yes, even enmity, between Jews and Gentiles who were believers. But when the nation of Israel was laid on the shelf for a season, such Israelites and Gentiles as believed the gospel of the dispensation of the mystery were reconciled to each other, created in one body as a new man (husband), and reconciled to God. This is The Church of the Dispensation of The Mystery.
The Two Mysteries are The Mystery of Godliness and The Mystery of Iniquity.
The word mystery does have a pagan origin. It started in Babylon in the great rebellion against God and His commands. But God has taken the language of man and purified it for His own use.
Running down through the ages are two mysteries. They seem to be parallel, but someday they will meet. That will be a terrible time when absolute holiness comes face to face with the epitome of unrighteousness. It is hard to imagine the result.
The two mysteries are the mystery of godliness and the mystery of iniquity. The first one is of God; the latter is of the wicked one. The one is manifested in Christ Jesus. The other will be manifested in the Antichrist. Closer examination will reveal the terrible truth that one is a very close counterfeit of the other, so close that many will be deceived and led to destruction. So many people think Antichrist will be a wicked ruler out to make men sin, but in reality, he will be a counterfeit for The True Messiah. He will speak of love, peace, and kindness with generosity and demand people everywhere live a sinless life. But hiding behind those words is a false messiah. He will be accepted by "good" men everywhere, mainly in Israel, where they will let him become the high priest. Now, would Israel let one who is not a descendant of Abraham ever become the high priest and enter The Holy of holies in The Temple? So the false one must be able to prove he is of the Abrahamic line by DNA. So many think the Antichrist and the Beast are the same, but not according to Scripture. The Beast controls the military power of the air, the Antichrist the hearts and minds of the people, for we see from the Book of Revelation that many are deceived.
The mystery of godliness is expressed in Phil. 2:5-9, 'Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant ...Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.'
The mystery of iniquity is expressed in Isaiah 14:13-14, 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation ...I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' These are the words of Satan as he aspired to be equal with God. But Christ has that Holy place forever.
We are told about the mystery of godliness in 1 Timothy 3:15-16, '. . . the pillar and ground of the truth, and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.' The Lord came that He might declare or manifest the Father.
The pinnacle of the mystery of godliness is the administration (Dispensation) of The Mystery. It was a perfect secret, for we are told that it was hidden in God and also hidden from ages and generations. Other mysteries were not so completely hidden or secret as this perfect one.
This mystery is the program or purpose of the ages that man had never dreamed of before; he never saw anything about, never heard anything about it, and never even thought anything about it. The prophets of old searched for a period between Christ's ascending back to Heaven from whence He came and His Mighty return in the clouds, coming with countless groups of ten thousand angels each. They searched in vain for what God had hidden and what angels longed to see of the untrackable riches of Christ. God made the riches sure to us by hiding this Secret so that Christ Jesus our Lord could accomplish His Purpose. This secret concerns the headship of Christ over all things in all creation. It tells of a people chosen to have a place in heavenly places in the resurrection. It tells of all blessings which are spiritual and enjoyed in the Heavenly Places in Christ. And this Church of The Mystery is now making known (witnessing) to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies this Perfect manifold (variegated: multi-colored) Wisdom of God. The surprising thing about all this is the fact that these chosen people are all Gentiles (even though some are by birth Jews), not Israel.
After Acts 28:28, it was the avowed purpose of Paul to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery. That also should be our goal today; if so, be that we have trusted in this great gospel.
We understand that God's plan concerning Israel is still in abeyance. But we must not be careless. The mystery of iniquity is working in the world yet today. But there is a provision. We are to put on the whole armor of God and stand. We should be able to withstand the evil day.
Ephesians 2:4-6
But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
There are three main items in this passage. They are quickened, raised up, and made to sit. At present, we wish to draw attention to the third item. We hear it mentioned often, but we fear the meaning is unclear to most folks.
Write comment (1 Comment)Job 9:2
. . . how should a man be just with God?
In what is probably the oldest Book in the Word of God, Job asks the question, 'How should a man be just with God?' In the end, Job discovered that he himself had no righteousness and had to confess, 'I am vile ...I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' Job had discovered that righteousness is only of God. When Job finally spoke that which was right of God, then righteousness was given to him.
Next, in time, we find these words concerning Abraham, 'And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness' Gen 15:6. Abraham was justified by faith, and Paul quotes this passage in Romans 4:3. Paul says that if works had justified Abraham, then he could have boasted about it, and then quotes this verse to prove that Abraham was justified by faith.
Both these examples are concerning Gentiles and happened before the giving of the law at Sinai. So we must conclude that justification by faith is not an administration or dispensational truth. It is foundational truth or truth for all time.
Again we find it set forth in Habakkuk 2:4, 'Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.' The apostle Paul quoted this passage, each with a different emphasis, three times in his writings; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38. See notes in the Companion Bible.
In ignorance of the Scriptures, many have caused the error of the thinking and teaching that Paul originated justification by faith and that it was a part of The Mystery, which had been hidden in God for ages and generations. But the foregoing paragraphs will soon dispel such an idea. Furthermore, when we reference the concordance, we discover that in the proclaiming of The Mystery in his Epistles after Acts 28:28, Paul mentions justification just once in connection with believers, and that is in Titus 3:7. So we must conclude that justification has to do with life, a future life (Hab 2:4) and not with dispensational truth.
Justification is by grace and not by the deeds of the law, as Paul insists over and over. It was a part of his Gospel of the Grace of God, but it was known ages before that Gospel was made known. The Gospel of The Grace of God was the Good News that Gentile Christians from Acts 10 to 28 could partake of the blessings and hope of Israel without keeping all of Israel's laws. That was no mystery, for Paul goes on to some length to show that it was not unknown in former ages (see Romans Chapters 10 and 11). Now since the law was given to the Jews and they have been off the picture for close to 2000 years, just where is the law today?
Paul declared before Agrippa in Acts 26:22 that from the beginning of his ministry to that point, he had said none other things than what could be found in the prophets and Moses. And he goes on to outline his Acts ministry up to that point by stressing the fact that he had preached the sufferings and resurrection of Christ (the Jehovah of Israel) and that He would show light unto the People (the Jews) and the Gentiles.
Philippians 3:20
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This begins with the word for, which ties it in with something before. And we note that in this context, there are some who walk in such a manner that they are enemies of the cross. It is hard to believe that a member of The Church, which is The Body of Christ, would do such a thing. But there it is, and we see this sort of thing happening around us today. These are so amoral that they brag about their shameful behavior. They mind earthly things, which are defined in Colossians 3:5 as fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. These things are to be mortified; this word originally meant to die or be put to death.
And why? Because our citizenship, our homeland, is in Heaven. And certainly, this sort of thing should never be the character of those who claim Heaven as their homeland. This Heaven is the same as The Heavenly Places mentioned in Ephesians five times.
How does one get this citizenship? God... hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6). Our citizenship is there because we are potentially there at this moment. We all have our citizenship papers on the basis of this testimony in The Word of God.
Then we must look at the little word also. It is not there to emphasize the place, nor even the looking but has to do with the character of The One for Whom we are looking. So it would read (in Greek), From whence we look for A SAVIOUR also - the Lord Jesus Christ.
Note here that the full Title of Christ, and as it is used among and for the Gentiles, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Since this is so tightly bound together, we did not use commas in the expression. Nothing between.
Israel's homeland is the Promised Land that was promised to Abraham. This is where their Kingdom will be. This is where their King will reign. So they are citizens of their homeland. But at the present moment, they are Lo-Ammi, strangers to this land, outcasts, not God's people, which is the meaning of Lo-Ammi. They are scattered among the nations. But someday, their King will come, and they will be looking for Him from their homeland, and He will appear in the skies and come to the earth on that Glorious Day.
Then we can see that The Church of His Body will have also been removed to its homeland and then will look for their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in that locale, not some other, and certainly not from the earth.
Truly we can comfort each other with these wonderful words. What a Hope!
And That Hope is The Appearing. 'When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory' Colossians 3:4. Here also is in the right order. Even as He must appear, so must we appear, and in the same place, Glory.
Creation, as we know it, is made up of three elements; time, space, and matter. God, in His essence, is not subject to any of these in any way. He is not measured by time, confined by space, or limited to matter. So we cannot locate God, tell how old He is, or know any form He may have assumed before creation.
But in the beginning, He created the heavens and the earth. The Creator had taken on a visible form to create, His Image. And this Creator, later on, walked in the garden in Eden with Adam, who He made in His Image.
There is a location, a place (for want of better words), outside the Cosmos or creation. It is far above all heavens. It is called The Heaven of heavens in the O.T. The first time we hear of it is in Deuteronomy 10:14, 'Behold, the heaven and the Heaven of heavens is the Lord thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.'
You will find it mentioned nine more times in the following; l Kings 8:27; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalms 8:1; Psa. 57:5; Psa. 57:11; Psa. 108:5; Psa. 113:4; Psa. 115:16; Psa. 148:4.
In all these, nothing is said about it in the way of description. It is where God dwells, and there is no mention of other beings there.
It has no connection with The Kingdom of heaven, which is from the created heavens of the present Cosmos (Genesis 1:6).
'Christ ascended up far above all heavens' Ephesians 4:10. There is an inheritance in the saints, or Holy of holies (Ephesians 1:18). In this same place, members of The Mystery Church are fellow citizens (Ephesians 2:19). Members of The Body have an inheritance in that place (Colossians 1:12). it is where Christ will appear (be Manifested) and is called Glory (Colossians 3:4). The believer who is a member of The Mystery Church has his conversation (citizenship) in that place (Philippians 3:20).
This place has a peculiar designation in the Epistle to the Ephesians which occurs nowhere else in the Bible. The expression in Greek is en lois epouraniois and translated as Heavenly Places (Ephesians 1:3; Eph. 1:20; Eph. 2:6; Eph. 3:10; and Eph. 6:12). A member of the Body of Christ today can say they have been, raised up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus. This is the central member of the five references above.
Let us set these in structure form;
A. 1:3. Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
B. 1:20. He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all...
C. 2:6. And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
B. 3:10. Principalities and powers in heavenly places.
A. 6:12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood in high places (en lois epouraniois) but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness.