The deepest chapters in Ephesians are chapters one and three. The positive things unfolded in these chapters are far beyond our ability to grasp or apprehend. For example, in 1:10, Paul says, “Unto a dispensation 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.” I do not think that very many Christians have an adequate understanding of this verse. This word does not refer to the preeminence of Christ, to the authority of Christ, or to the expression of Christ. This verse is unique, and no other verse in the Scriptures can be compared to it. When we read about husbands loving their wives or about wives submitting to their husbands, we readily understand, for such things as love and submission fit into our natural concept. But in order to grasp the meaning of verses such as 1:10, we need a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
As we consider 1:9 and 10, we see that the economy or dispensation which God purposed in Himself is to head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times. The times refer to the ages. The fullness of the times will be when the new heaven and new earth come, after all the dispensations of God in all the ages have been completed. When God’s economy has been completed, Christ will head up all things universally. God has made Christ the Head over all things (1:22). Through all the dispensations of God in all the ages, all things will be headed up in Christ in the new heaven and the new earth. This will be God’s eternal administration and economy.
Because our physical body has a head, it is possible for our body to stand upright. Although we stand on our feet, it is actually the head which enables us to stand erect. This indicates that our head causes our entire body to be headed up. If a person has his head cut off, his body will collapse. Because the head causes every part of the body to be headed up, all the things that are on the body—clothing, shoes, eyeglasses—are headed up also.
The entire universe is under Christ’s heading up. However, some things are still in a state of collapse because the process of the heading up of all things in Christ has not yet been completed. At the economy of the fullness of times, everything will be headed up in Christ. Nothing will continue to be in a state of collapse, and nothing will fall. In Christ God will head up all things. At present many things in the universe are still falling or collapsing. But at the dispensation of the fullness of the times, nothing will fall. Not even a leaf will fall from a tree.
We have pointed out that our head functions to head up every part of our physical body. In the same principle, God is using Christ to head up all things in the universe. As the universal Head of all things, Christ needs a Body. This Body is the church. Just as clothing and other items rest on a person’s body, so one day everything in the universe will rest on Christ’s Body, the church. We have seen that if a person has his head cut off, his body and everything on it will collapse. The principle is the same with Christ as the Head over all things to the church. If all the things in the universe are not headed up in Christ through His Body, they will remain in a state of collapse.
Scientists have their explanations for such phenomena as the falling of leaves from trees. They put forth their reasons for the various physical changes that take place in the universe. These scientific explanations and reasons may be correct temporarily, but they will not be correct eternally. I do not know physics or biology, but I do know the process of the divine heading up of all things. Furthermore, I believe 1:10 when it says that in the dispensation of the fullness of times this process will reach its completion. From that time onward, nothing in the universe will collapse. Everything will rest on the church as the Body of Christ. Christ is the Head, and the church is the Body. Christ is heading up the Body, and all the billions of items in the universe will rest on this headed-up Body. Although we do not see a full picture of this today, we do see it in miniature. We also can enjoy a foretaste of the heading up of all things in Christ.
We should not think that a person can stand upright mainly because his legs, ankles, and feet are strong. We have pointed out that it is actually the head that enables us to stand erect. Apart from the heading up of the body by the head, the body and everything on it will fall down. This is a picture of the heading up of all things in Christ. Firstly, Christ heads up His Body. Then in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, God will head up all things in Christ through the Body.