The deepest verses in the entire Bible are Ephesians 3:8-10, which say, “To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel and to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, in order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church.” These verses speak of something that unbelievers cannot understand. Even those who have been Christians for years may not understand what these verses speak of because the content of these three verses is extraordinary and cannot be found in the mind and concept of man.
It has been more than one hundred years since Christianity was first preached in the East, and since the middle decades of the nineteenth century, Christianity has been quite influential in China. Sadly, however, the preaching and concepts of Christianity are too superficial and natural and are altogether according to the human concept. They have even unknowingly mingled human culture, religion, and philosophy with the teachings of the Bible. The fact is that although what man says about the Bible is superficial, the revelation of the Bible itself is not superficial; the revelation of the Bible is very mysterious. We can use the human body as an illustration. Outwardly speaking, the human body seems to be quite simple, but inwardly it is very complicated and mysterious. The Bible is the same way. Apparently it is very simple, but actually it is very mysterious.
When the Western missionaries came to preach the gospel in China, because they knew a little Chinese, they put Chinese ethics together with the Bible, telling people that the Bible also says that we should honor our parents and other ethical matters. Although honoring our parents is in the Bible, this is not the central revelation of the Bible. This can be considered to be the “skin” and “feathers” of the Bible and is neither the main point nor the crucial point.
The most important items in the Bible related to our human life and God’s mystery are the many great and precious items that are spoken of in Ephesians 3:8-10. These verses mention three items that we must fellowship about. The first item is God’s New Testament economy. Verse 9 says, “And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things.” In eternity past, before the heavens, the earth, and all things were created, there was a mystery hidden in God that even the angels did not know. God created man in time, and from Adam to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to David, and through the entire age of the Old Testament, God did not allow anyone to know what this mystery was. It was only after the Lord came to the earth that this mystery was manifested.
Moreover, after the Lord’s crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, He gained a group of apostles and prophets, and through His Spirit He revealed the mystery of God to this group of people. After they received the mystery, they spoke to people about it (Eph. 3:5, 8). Among this group of people the main one was the apostle Paul. Paul wrote in his Epistles the main points of the revelation that he had received from God. As a result, this mystery is no longer a mystery to us today; it is an open revelation.
God’s mystery is His hidden purpose, and this hidden purpose is to dispense Himself into His chosen people. For this He has the economy of the mystery. The word economy in Chinese is quite a great word. When we say that a person is “filled with economy,” we mean that when he works, he is full of plans, agendas, and methods. Ephesians 1:10 says, “Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” God has made Christ the Head of the universe, and through all the dispensations of God and all the ages, all things will be headed up in Christ in the new heaven and new earth. This is God’s eternal economy.
From the end of World War I in 1918 until now, throughout this entire seventy-year period, the whole world has been full of disturbances. The reason that the world is in a state of restless dispute is that man has denied Christ as the Head of the universe. However, the time will soon come when all things will be headed up in Christ through the church, the Body of Christ, and will be fully delivered from this state of collapse to enjoy perfect peace and harmony.
When Paul spoke about this marvelous and wonderful mystery, he did not know how to describe it, so he said, “what the economy of the mystery is” (v. 9). The Greek word for economy is oikonomia, which means “household law,” implying distribution. It denotes a household management or administration, and, derivatively, a dispensation, a plan, or an economy for administration (distribution). According to the record of the Bible, God has had different dispensations in different ages. In the age of the Old Testament, God had different ways of dealing with man—He had one way in the time of Adam, another in the time of Abraham, another in the time of Moses, and still another in the time of David. In the age of the New Testament, God’s dispensation toward man is to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people that He may gain a house to express Himself, which house is the church, the Body of Christ.