We want sinners in darkness to see the light of Christ, to grasp those very things that baffle the angels.  We want cold and miserable souls to feel the Sun of righteousness rising with healing upon them.  We want the truth about Christ —who He is and what He has done —to banish the dreariness, inject vigor into the malaise, flood the dungeons of sorrow and bondage with the flaming light of God’s truth, so that sinners might find their chains falling off, their mouths confessing, and their feet following Jesus. 

Introduction

In our previous articles on the glorious subject of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, we’ve explored two aspects of gospel ministry.  We’ve discussed the proper estimation of our ministry, and we’ve seen the essence of our preaching.  We come now to the end or the goal of gospel proclamation.  Paul is empowered by grace and enamored with the inexhaustible, immeasurable, infinite riches of the Redeemer to the end that he would, (Eph 3:9) “bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.” 

Paul has already plumbed a paradox for us; namely, he’s preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ.  How do you search out in a declaration what is unsearchable?  You can’t, of course.  It’s as if language itself is breaking as Paul tries to convey the depths of the glorious riches found in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Making Known The Mystery

But now Paul provides another paradoxical phrase.  He’s bringing to light or making known the mystery.  If there’s a mystery, doesn’t that mean, by its very nature, that things are hidden?  In the purpose of God, who rules over all things as Creator (Eph 3:9), the eternal plan in Christ bringing Jew and Gentile together was hidden.  Paul means to communicate that this insight into God’s redeeming purposes lay beyond the grasp of humanity.  Man in his finitude cannot comprehend the infinitude of God.  What God has chosen to conceal is thereby closed. 

The prophets of old sought to understand the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow (1 Pet 1:10-11).  Even the angels longed to look into these things as though they’ve been standing on their tiptoes to get a peek (1 Pet 1:12).  But now the things hidden have been unveiled.  Indeed, this is the wonder of Paul’s preaching role in general.  He is called to clarify what formerly confounded men.  He is given the gracious privilege of taking the depths of God (His eternal plan, His manifold wisdom, His thoughts, which are not our thoughts), and conveying those things to sinners.  Or even more specifically, Paul is announcing the mystery formerly hidden to the Gentiles.  What is this mystery? 

Paul defined it in Eph 3:6. “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel.”  This gospel of Gentile inclusion through the seed of Abraham was present in the Old Testament.  It is in Abraham’s seed that all the nations of the earth are blessed (Gen 22:18).  In other words, the Messiah will bring blessings to the nations.  The Psalms and the Prophets hinted at these blessings namely, that the Servant of the LORD would be, not merely a restorer of Israel, but a light to the nations (Is 49:6).   

What was revealed in shadowy statements awaiting fulfillment is now brought front and center in Paul’s preaching.  Light has come.  Substance has arrived.  The King of the kingdom, who rules over the nations (Ps 22:28) —He is here.  He died and rose.  And He, the Lord Jesus, is the Savior of the world (John 4:42).  

Heralds Of The Mystery

Paul’s specific role then is to preach Christ, to spread abroad the glories of the Savior, so that, as Christ is preached, light may shine on Gentile sinners.  What a remarkable thing it is that the former Pharisee, the Gentile-hater and man breathing out threats and violence against Christians, now goes around consumed by Christ’s commission and a love for sinners.   

More than that, that this insolent opponent, a man once mad with rage (Acts 26:11) now insists on the mercy found in Jesus. He does so that he might be an instrument to awaken the dead among the nations.

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