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| He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. |
| —Ephesians 1:9-10 |
Life often seems like quite a perplexing mystery. Just when we think we may have figured out what is going on around us, something will occur that turns us upside down. But, we can take comfort from the verse at the beginning of this blog post.
In writing to the Christians at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul speaks of God in a very special way. Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that life is really not the mystery that they may have thought it was. In fact, Paul insists that God has made known to us the mystery of His divine and perfect will through His Son, Jesus. The terms for all of life rest with God. He created all things. He sustains all things. He controls all things. Everything in life proceeds according to God’s good pleasure.
As much of a mystery as life may seem to us, it is no mystery to God. At such a point when time reaches its fulfillment, God will bring everything and everyone—in heaven and on earth—together under Christ, who will reign as the head. These words are intended to give us assurance and comfort.
Every time I see an advertisement for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, I cry. That’s right. Whenever an advertisement comes onto the television screen showing these little children afflicted with cancer fighting for their lives, I begin to shed tears. Even as I am writing these words, I feel tears welling up in my eyes. It breaks my heart to see these little ones having to deal with the horror that cancer represents. Theologically and intellectually I recognize that cancer has come into existence as a result of the sin curse placed on Adam and Eve at the dawn of human existence because they could not follow the one and only rule that God gave them. It grieves me that these little children must suffer because of Adam’s sin.
At the same time, I recognie that God remains fully in control of all that occurs and that some day He will bring order to all things under the headship of Jesus. There will be no more sickness, no more death, no more poverty, no more heartache, no more sorrow, no more despair, no more mental illness, no more sin. I long for that day. I pray for that day to come quickly.
We who follow Jesus have the great comfort from knowing that in a day not that far away, all things will be resolved under the headship of Christ. We will see Him as He is. And, we will become like Him because Scripture tells us in 1 John 3:1-2:
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
