Alright, Ephesians chapter 1.
I just want to read one verse to you this morning. In verse
10. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
10. That in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, God may gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even
in Him." Now, you and I have been concerned with God's purpose. We've been studying that now
for several weeks. That's mainly been our thoughts,
what we've concentrated on in these few verses that we've been
studying. His plan, His purpose concerning all things, the world
and heaven and even hell, is included in God's purpose. And
we see this word purpose mentioned several times in the scriptures.
It's mentioned here in verse 9, having made known unto us
the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He
hath purposed in Himself. And then, of course, there in
verse 11, given us an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all
things after the counsel of his own will. And then of course
we have that familiar scripture in Romans 8.28, that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to those who are
the called, according to his purpose. And then that scripture
in Romans 9 and 11 where it says that God has a purpose according
to His election, that election might stand according to God's
purpose. And then in 2 Timothy chapter
1 and verse 9, God hath saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our will or our works, but according
to His own purpose and grace. So what verse 10 does here that's
so important that it reveals to us, it tells us what this
purpose of God is. We look in other places and we
read, I purposed it and I'll also do it, but we come here
to verse 10 and we're looking at this purpose. was staring
it, as it were, in the very face, the ultimate purpose of God,
the consummation of His plan that He says you are concerned
in things in heaven and things in this earth. Now, what could
be more amazing than that? I hope you and I, as we look
at this this morning and begin to consider it, will be amazed
that we have in our hands a book that not only speaks to the purpose
of the eternal God, but it tells us what that purpose is. And
by telling us what this purpose is, it does this. It assures
us that this purpose will be accomplished. How do we know
that it will be accomplished? Well, we have it here written
down of what the end of that purpose is. Now, some people,
If some person stepped forward today in our society and he told
us that he had a plan that would get us out of the mess that we're
in, that they tell us we're in, the financial mess we're in,
the dangers in our society of the wars and all of this, and
he told us within a year what he was going to do, And sure
enough, after a year's time, we look back and we say, it's
just like he said it was going to be. He told us what he would
do, and he's done it. We'd almost worship a man like
that, wouldn't we? We'd brag about how intelligent
that he was. Here's this brilliant man. Well,
here we've got this eternal God. And He's told us not only that
He's purposed to do something, but here He tells us what that
purpose is. Now what do you think about a
God like that? Don't you just want to praise Him? Don't you
want to worship Him and render thanks? Don't you stand amazed
at this? I trust you and I will as we
look at this. You and I look around us today,
we're all concerned with the present time. We're concerned
with what's going on now in the present in our country. and the
immediate future. What's it going to be? Is our
economy going to fail? Is it going to revive? What about
the dangers of war? Are we going to have war? Is
there going to be peace? And you and I are concerned as
well we should be with these things. But we don't know what's
going to happen. We don't know what's going to
happen even at the present and what's going to happen in the
months ahead. We just don't know. But as we come here to verse
10, this is what makes this statement so wonderful. It's not dealing
with the present. It's not dealing with the immediate
future, but it's dealing with the ultimate future. It's dealing
with the end, with God's ultimate plan. And that's what makes this
so wonderful. If you are a Christian this morning,
if you are in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is one of the most
tremendous and one of the most encouraging and comforting statements
and aspects of this Word that you and I can begin to lay hold
on because it doesn't matter in the long run what takes place
in the present. And it doesn't matter in the
long run what happens in the near future. It doesn't matter
what nations do. It doesn't matter what our relatives
do, what individuals do. God's purpose is not dependent
upon that. His ultimate plan is fixed, and
it's sure. And this verse here doesn't talk
about chance. It doesn't talk about conditions. We've heard some people, and
this always bothers me, and I don't want to be offensive when I say
this, but you and I hear some people, and they make this statement. They say, God has a wonderful
plan for your life. Don't we hear that so often in
our time? And then they continue on, and it's almost, if it's
not blasphemous, then it borders on blasphemy because they continue
on and they say that he has a wonderful plan if you'll just let him accomplish
it in your life. If you'll just let him have his
way as though the plan of God is dependent upon fallen man. Brothers and sisters, if God's
plan is dependent upon fallen man, then God's plan And God's
scheme, if you'll call it that, and God's purpose is no better
than the plan of our politicians or some other mere man. God's
plan is not dependent upon what you do, or upon what I do, or
what nations do. God's plan is dependent upon
Himself. He's dependent upon His power
and His wisdom and His grace and His might. He doesn't look
to man to accomplish His plan. We look to Him to accomplish
His plan. He's not dependent upon us, but
we are dependent upon Him. And that's what this verse comes
here to tell us, the ultimate plan of God. And as you and I
look at it this morning and understand it and believe it, I think we'll
be apt to sing in our hearts, Fade, fade each earthly joy. Jesus is mine. And not only that,
but fade, fade each anxious fear, anxiety about the present and
the immediate future. Fade all of that, because we
know what the ultimate future holds. And that's what we see
here. in this verse this morning. Now,
we're going to have to take it apart. That's the nature of Paul's
writings. You may have noticed this if
you've read this chapter before, but this entire chapter, consistent
of 23 verses, is made up of only 5 sentences. Just 5 sentences
in this whole chapter. I would challenge you to write
23 verses and use 5 sentences. And that's what the Apostle Paul
does. He just goes on and on and on in this sentence. And
what we find ourselves doing is having to come here and take
these two or three or four words within this one little verse,
and we have to take it apart and look at it. There's no wonder,
Peter says, Paul wrote things that's difficult to understand.
And the way we find ourselves having to do sometimes with Paul's
writing is just to break these things down. So here we have
it. Let's break this verse down and
see what God's plan is. First of all, we have this here.
We have to deal with this first portion of verse 10. That in
the dispensation of the fullness of time. Now what does that mean? In the dispensation. I've heard
this word all of my Christian life, and I was always led to
believe that it meant a period of time. They talk about the
dispensation of conscience back after the fall, the dispensation
of innocence before the fall, the dispensation of the law,
the dispensation of grace, and then the dispensation of the
millennium. And I was led to believe those were periods of
time. But as I begin to study this
Word, it has nothing to do with time. And I want to narrow it
down in the shortest definition that I can. It means two things. When you see this word dispensation
in the Scriptures, the New Testament, the Apostle Paul uses it sometimes. It either means a plan, a scheme,
if you will. I never did like that word, but
that's all right. It means a plan. And secondly,
it means an office or a stewardship, one under authority, to manage
the affairs of one who is in authority. It means one of those
two things, a plan or a stewardship, an office. Now, how do you and
I know which definition to apply when we come to this word? Well,
we have to look at it this way, and I like what Martin Lloyd-Jones
said about this word. He says, here is the way to define
it when you see it. Is he speaking of one under authority? If it is, that's a stewardship.
That's someone who has been put in an office by one in authority. If the Word is speaking of one
in authority, then it means a plan. So we can look at it like that.
Now let me give you an example of this. Look over in the third
chapter. Look in the third chapter and look in verse 1. We have
it mentioned, and look how we can look at the definition we
can put on it by just looking at the context where the Word
is mentioned. Look in verse 1. Well, this calls
I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you
have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is
given me to you." Now, what does it mean here? Well, it's something
that has been given to Paul. Paul doesn't have any authority,
but somebody in authority has given something to him. And what
is it? They made him a steward. Read
on. How that by revelation he made
known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words,
whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ. It is not by education, the Lord
has taught me this. Which in other ages was not made
known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit. that the Gentiles should
be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise
in Christ with the gospel. Whereof I was made a minister,
a steward. According to the gift of the
grace of God which was given to me by the effectual working
of His power unto me, who am less than the least of all saints,
is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the
world have been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ."
So what's Paul saying up here, this dispensation? He says it
simply means, I'm a steward. The Lord's made me a steward
of the grace of God. And he says that in another place.
He says that we're ministers of Christ and stewards of the
grace of God. He was a man in authority, and
he says, I'm a steward. according to the dispensation
of God. He's made me a steward. Now, when we read it here in
chapter 1 in verse 10, it's not speaking here of one under authority,
but it's speaking of one in authority. Do you see that? Who's this talking
about here in verse 10? That isn't the dispensation of
the fullness of time. That's speaking of what God's
doing. God is in authority. That's what you and I have been
seeing all through this chapter. What God's doing. What God has
purposed. What God has planned. So when
he's speaking of one year in authority, this word dispensation
simply means a plan. And that's what the word means
here in verse 10. Now, if I asked you to raise
your hands, if you understood that before, I bet very few of
you would raise your hands, would you? Because you're just like
me. If you've never studied this
out, you have no idea what this word means. When you find this
word, dispensation, in the Bible, see if it's speaking of someone
in authority. God is the authority, so this
means plan. If it's speaking of someone under
authority, it simply means a steward. I'm a steward of the grace of
God, the gospel of His grace. That's the first thing. The plan. So remember that. Secondly, we've
got to take this word and look at it. The fullness. of times. This tells us that God has carried
out His plan, that He has a plan and He has appointed the times
and the seasons in which that plan will ripen. His plan is
being put into effect. It is ripening according to His
own seasons and His own times. Now, verse 4 tells us that God
had a plan. He had it before the foundation
of the world, and then there came a time, at the beginning
of time, when He began to implement that plan. He began to put it
in motion. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. It came time for God to create
in the beginning. And then in six days, the Lord
made all things, and then what happened? The Sabbath day he
rested. And then what happened? Man fell. He fell into sin. He brought
the judgment of God upon him. And God gave Adam and Eve, our
first mother and our first father, a promise of the coming Messiah.
He shall come who shall bruise the serpent's head and redeem
us, Glenn, from the curse of that awful law. And in the Old
Testament, they kept waiting for the Son of God to come. And
then in Galatians chapter 4-4, Glenn, you quoted it this morning,
when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son. God had planned all along to
send His Son. And when did He come? In God's
own time. In God's own season at the fullness
of time. Now let me give you some more
Scriptures and more events that had to take place, and it shows
us that what God had planned He brings to pass in His own
time. The Lord had planned for the
Lord Jesus to come and preach the gospel and go about doing
good. Well, listen to Mark chapter 1 and verse 15. Then Christ came
preaching the gospel of the kingdom and saying, The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. The time that he was to preach,
begin his mystery, was planned by God, and it came to pass at
that very time. The death of Christ was planned
by God, but it was at a set time. How often the Lord Jesus said,
My hour is not yet come. The time of my death is not yet
come. And the Apostle Paul said, when
we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. You know what that due time means.
We experience that all the time. When is this bill due? When is
the electric bill? When is the gas bill? That's
something we fear anymore, isn't it? When is it due? That's the
death of Christ took place right on time. God had planned it,
and in due time, Christ died. The coming of the Holy Spirit
was God's plan, and in Acts 2, verse 1, he says this, when the
day of Pentecost was fully come. It was fully come. The hour,
the time. And then the Apostle Paul was
telling us that the elect of God have a time when they're
called. Every one God has chosen to salvation. He's already set the season,
He's set the time which He'll call that person to the Lord
Jesus. And Paul said it like this, he
was speaking about himself being a rebel against the Lord, and
then he said, but when it pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in
me. It happened as God had planned
it according to His own time. And then when the Lord was speaking
of the fall of the Jewish nation and the conversion of the Gentiles,
He was telling us it's all according to the plan of the Heavenly Father. And here's what He says concerning
that. The Jews shall fall by the edge of the sword, and they
shall be led away captive unto all nations, And Jerusalem shall
be trotted down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles
be fulfilled." And that's the same thing the Apostle Paul tells
us, that blindness in part has happened to the Jews until the
fullness of the Gentiles be come in. It seems like to me, as you
read the Scriptures, that it's God's plan now to save His elect
out of the Gentile world, but eventually He'll turn from the
Gentile world and He'll turn back to the Jews. When is He
going to do that? In His own time, in His own season. And then in Acts chapter 1 and
verse 7, along this same line, Peter asked the Lord Jesus, Just
before the Lord went back up into heaven, He said, will you
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Will you restore
the kingdom of God to the Jews? And the Lord Jesus said, it's
not for you to know. The times are the seasons which
the Father hath put in His own power. So He has a plan, seemingly,
to restore them, but it's in His own time, in His own season. And then the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's the plan of God for Christ
to come again and raise the dead and save His people, their bodies. And that's going to happen in
the fullness of time. Paul was talking there in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, and he said the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout with the voice of the archangel, and the dead in
Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord." And then he says, but of the times
and seasons, brethren, you don't have any need that I write unto
you. Because the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. No man
knows the day, no man knows the hour, but it's in God's plan. And in the fullness of time,
the Lord Jesus will come again. Now I want to show you a passage
over in Revelation. If you'll turn over to Revelation
chapter 10 with me just for a moment. And this speaking here of the
end of time, when God's plan is fulfilled and accomplished.
He has a plan. And he is working out that plan
in his own times and in his own season. And look here what he
says about the end of this time. In Revelation chapter 10, and
look in verse 4. And when the seven thunders had
uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice
from heaven saying unto me, Seal up these things which the seven
thunders have uttered, and write them not. And the angel which
I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his
hand to heaven, and swore by him that lives forever and ever,
who created heaven and the things that are therein, and the earth
and the things that are therein, and the sea and the things which
are therein, that there should be time no longer. But in the days of the voice
of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery
of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants
the prophet." God has a plan, and He's bringing this plan to
pass at every age, at all times. But there's coming a time when
His plan will be finished. His plan will be completed and
then there will be time no longer. And this Sabbath angel, look
at him over in chapter 11 of Revelation and verse 15. Chapter 11, verse 15, And the
Sabbath angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven,
saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and
ever." That's the end of time. God is accomplishing His plan
and will do so until that plan is completed and time ceases
to be and we end eternity. Now, what do we find here first
of all? Well, we have God's plan. The
dispensation, God's plan, And he's implementing that plan,
he's fulfilling that plan, he's accomplishing that plan when?
In the fullness of time, at his own season. Now, back over in
our text, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 10, now we begin to get here
to the heart of this plan. We've seen that this means plan,
and all the fullness of times, God is fulfilling His plan. Now,
let's get here and begin to get at the heart of this plan. And
this is an amazing thing. I hope you can get a hold of
this. I hope the Lord will help me to relate what I saw in this
as I begin to study on it to you. He says that in the plan
of God that He's accomplishing in His own time, and here's what
it is. that he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are in earth, even in him." Now, we've got to break this
down in two things. You see, two things from this
verse. First of all, that he might gather together in one. Gather together. And I've studied
all the commentaries I think I have, and I have several of
them. I did word searches on this, and everybody, all the
commentaries and all those brilliant men who know something about
words, says this is a compound word. Now, I don't know a bit
of Greek. I can't hardly read English. So I have to depend
upon these men who can. And I don't just take one man's
word for it. I searched everything that I
could find, and as I studied this subject on these two words,
gather and together, all of the authorities that I could find
agreed that this word is a compound word, and it means this, to gather
together again. And that's so important when
we read that. I don't know why, I have no idea
why our translators didn't put it that way. I know this, that
when I've learned this, even though I don't know any Greek,
I've learned enough about Greek and English to know this, I would
imagine the most difficult thing in the world to do was to translate
something out of the Greek into the English language and have
the same message, have it as clear as it is in the Greek.
It would be a difficult thing for us to do. This word here
simply means, they tell us, It points us back to a time when
the Lord, when everything was whole and in harmony. And He
says here that He will bring together again in one. Again. It speaks of a restitution. A gathering together again. There
is a verse of Scripture, I think there are many verses, but there
is one verse that speaks of this, and let me quote it to you in
Acts 3, verse 21. The Apostle Peter was speaking
of Christ in heaven, and he says, Whom the heavens must receive
until the times of restitution of all things. And Peter seems
to teach us there that there is going to be a restoring of
things back to their original state. That word is only used
one time in the noun farm, but it's used several times, that
word restitution, in the verb farm. And you'll recognize it
when I quote it to you. You remember when the Lord was
preaching in the temple, and there was a man in the temple
with a withered arm. He couldn't stretch it out. And
the Lord spoke to him, and the Scripture says he stretched forth
his arm, and it was restored whole as the other. That's what this word restitution
means. It means to restore or to make
whole. And this word that we're reading
says he's going to gather together again. He's going to restore
again. And then we have this little
word, the next little word, that he might gather together again
in one. Now that's so important, to get
a hold of this little word. It's not speaking of Christ.
That's so. But he went ahead to say that,
all things in Christ. If this word in one means in
Christ, then we'd have to read it like this, that in the fullness
of times, he might gather together in Christ all things in Christ. That wouldn't make any sense,
would it? But what the word one means here is to bring all things
together again in harmony, in unity. to gather together again
in one. This word, in one, speaks to
the unity and the harmony of all things when all things are
gathered together again in Christ. Now, I want to show you something.
I want you to look over at Colossians. Just turn over to your right
a few pages in the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. You know there was a time when
everything had perfect harmony. There was a time in our world
and in heaven which there was perfect unity in this creation
and in heaven. And that was when the Lord Jesus
Christ first created everything. He's the head of all creation. Now let's read that. Look in
Colossians chapter 1 and look in verse 14. He's speaking of
Christ, the Son of God, in whom we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible
God. He's the firstborn of every creature. Now look at this. Look how great
the Son of God is. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers. All
things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all
things, and by Him all things consist." See that? Christ is
the head of creation. He is the head of the creature.
He made everything. Paul keeps talking about these
things in heaven and these things in earth. These thrones and these
dominions, things that we can see, things that we can't see,
they were all created by the Son of God. And they have their
being from Him. He not only created them, but
He upholds them. He gives them their being, their
life. They exist and are held together by Him. Now we find
this in Revelation chapter 4 and verse 11. They are worthy, O
Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You have created
all things, and for Your pleasure they are and they were created."
When the Lord Jesus first created everything in heaven and in earth,
He looked upon it, and you know what He said about it. He said,
It's good. No, that's not what He said.
It's very good. It's very good. You remember how our Bible starts?
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The
heaven and the earth. And in six days, He created everything. And then on the sixth day, after
He had made man, He looked upon everything that He had made,
and He says, It's very good. And I looked up that word there
in that place, good, and you know what that word meant. It
means beautiful. It means best. Bountiful, cheerful,
glad, joyful, loving, merry, pleasant, precious, sweet, well-favored. You get the message, don't you?
What was it that made the Lord's creation so wonderful? Everything
in heaven and earth. It was this oneness. It was this
harmony that they all enjoyed. There was Christ the living head.
He not only created all things, but He supplied it. He held it
up and held it together. And then, in turn, all things
rebounded to His glory. They lived for His glory. They
lived in His praise and honor and worship. There was one Creator,
one Head, and there was one creation. And there was perfect harmony.
And when He looked upon it, He said, This is so pleasant. This
is so sweet. This is so wonderful. That's
the way it was in the beginning. But it didn't stay that way,
did it? We know it didn't stay that way from the Scripture.
Sin entered, and when sin entered, what happened? Separation came.
Discord came. Alienation came in all the creation. Listen to this. A great host
of the holy angels sinned. They left their first state and
they failed. Sometimes you read a most amazing
thing over in Ezekiel chapter 28 and Isaiah chapter 14. Go there sometime and read what
the scripture says about Lucifer who became the devil, who became
Satan. And read about what the Lord
says about him when God created him. He was a beautiful creature,
a mighty creature. You know what's said about Him?
That He was perfect in beauty. And He was full of wisdom. He
was a bright creature until iniquity was found in Him. Until He said,
I'm going to be like the Most High God. And He tried to overthrow
the throne of the Son of God. And then the Lord Jesus said
there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought,
and the devil and his angels fought, and there was found no
more place in heaven for these angels that sinned. And the Lord
Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. There
was war in heaven. There was separation of these
angels. Sin entered the human heart.
Adam and Eve sinned. And those two people who were
upright and good suddenly became alienated from God. And the judgment
of God fell upon them. They were sent out of that garden
to suffer and to finally die. What happened to the earth? It
was cursed. Cursed be the ground for thy
sake. Because you sinned against Me,
I not only pronounce judgment upon you, but cursed is the ground. And here's what it's going to
produce to you. Thorns and thistles shall it produce for you all
the days of your life until you return to the dust. Dust you
was taken out of, and to dust you shall return. And how often
do you read the Scriptures and you find out such things as this,
How long, O Lord, shall the land mourn Therefore shall the land
mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish." And
you know what Paul said about this creation? The whole creation,
it groans and travails in pain together until now. It's groaning. There's a place out, and Brother
Glenn may know where this is. I forgot exactly. I went through
there three or four times. But there's a place somewhere
out between San Diego and Yuma, Arizona. I think it is on Highway
8 or one of the major interstates. And you go through there, and
for miles and miles on each side of that interstate, there are
these rocks that are as big as this building. And they are just
piled on top of each other. It looks like some large explosion,
eruption has just torn that place up and blown those humongous
stones up, and they just come back down and are scattered everywhere,
setting up on top of each other. What happened to that? What happened
to that? There was some chaos that had
went on in creation there. You know, we hear about this
big bang theory that they tell us there was a sail or some kind
of a earth or something, and they had this explosion, and
they say everything blew out. And you go out into space, and
the further out into space they get, they realize there's chaos
out there too. Everything's separated. Everything's
separated. Well, that's what happened to
this creation when sin entered into it. It almost turned against
itself. There was this explosion, this
eruption, and now this earth is groaning, creation is groaning
within itself. It's in pain. What's happened?
Well, there's chaos. There's division. There's a scattering
that's taken place in this world. And ain't that what the Scripture
says? Oh, we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way. What's happened in heaven with
those angels? What's happened with society? We've scattered. We're scattered. We've lost the oneness. We've
lost the harmony. There's no peace in this world.
You look around yourself today, and what do we see? Everybody's
going his own way. Everybody's doing his own thing.
Everybody's concerned about self. If you don't think that's so,
you just ain't lived long enough. Put a man or a woman in the right
condition and the right situation, and you'll find out it's every
man for himself. This world is divided. The nations
are divided. The families are divided. There's
chaos. There's separation. There's division. And in the light of all of this
separation, we come here now and we read Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 10, and it tells us that God has this wonderful
plan. And in the fullness of time,
in His own season, He's bringing this plan to pass. He's bringing
it to finality. And that plan is this, to bring
all things in heaven and all things in earth back into this
harmony again to restore the unity, to restore the peace.
And how is He going to do it? In Christ. In Christ. Now, look back there in Colossians. If you're still there in Colossians,
look in verse 18. Look in verse 18. We see that
Christ made all things. He was the Head. and earned the
beginning, what harmony it was. But it failed. There was chaos.
But now look at what He's going to do. In verse 18, He's the
head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, and in all things He might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
And look at this. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto
Him, By Him, I say, whether they be things in heaven or things
in earth, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body
of His flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in His sight." Notice Paul keeps using these
words, all things. Christ made all things. Then
all things had the split, all things lost the harmony, even
in heaven. But now he says that Christ has
reconciled all things in heaven and in earth to himself by his
blood upon that cross. I'm sure of this this morning,
that I don't realize how far-reaching the death of Jesus Christ is.
You and I limit it sometimes, I think, wrongly to humanity. Namely, to God's elect. And we
rejoice in that. That's the very heart of the
Gospel. That Christ was punished for our sins. That He put away
our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. But here in verse 20,
it seems to teach the death of Christ is as far reaching as
the effects of sin is in itself. Has sin affected us? Yes, it
has. We can see that, can't we? Has
it affected this universe and this earth that we live on? Sure
it has. It wasn't always the chaos in
nature that we have now, but has sin affected heaven? Yes,
it has. There was war in heaven. There has been sin in heaven. And while Colossians 1.20 must
exclude the fallen angels because they will never be reconciled
to God, and while it must exclude those who die in their sins and
unbelief, they will never be reconciled to God, yet it is
teaching us what Ephesians 1.10 is teaching us, that in Christ,
And by Christ and through Christ, the harmony, the oneness of all
things in heaven and all things in this earth will eventually
be restored. I think Isaac Watts hinted at
this in his psalm. I think he hints at this, what
the end of God's purpose is going to be in Jesus Christ. And he
says it like this. No more let sins and sorrows
grow, nor thorns infect the ground. He comes to make his blessings
flow far as the curse is found." Where does the blood of Christ
flow to? Far as the curse is found. And how far reaching was
that curse? Did it not reach into heaven?
And old Watts here is not comfortable, he is not satisfied just to say
this once. He repeats himself. For as the
curse is found, for as, for as, for as the curse is found. He
wants us to stop and think of this. How far reaching is the
effects of sin? Well, there is something that
reaches far, far further than the effects. And I'll say it
like this. I don't know how it's better
to say it. Is there a sense in which heaven needs to be purged? Is there a sense in which heaven
has been affected by sin? That it has to be in some way
or other, in some effect, washed? Well, here's blood to wash it.
Here's the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that can reach as
far as the curse is found. Does this earth need to be washed? Does it need to be cleansed?
Well, here's blood to cleanse it. Does our hearts need to be
washed? Do we need to be cleansed from
sin? The curse has reached us, hasn't it? Well, here's blood
to reach our hearts, our spirits, and to cleanse us. Brothers and
sisters, the longer I read about the cross and the blood of Christ,
I see that it is far more reaching than at first I even thought
about it. There is no blessing that God
has purposed to give. There is no smile upon anything. There is no new heaven. There
is no new earth except it must come out of this cross and the
blood of the crucified one. God hath reconciled all things
to himself. He has planned to restore this
harmony, this unity by things in heaven and things upon this
earth. And how is He going to do that?
Even by the blood of the cross. By the blood and the sufferings
and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is going to restore the oneness. That in the dispensation of the
fullness of time, He may gather together again that harmony,
that oneness, in Christ Jesus the Lord. At that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenant of promise. You had no hope in without God
in this world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off, you Gentiles, you were made nigh by the blood
of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath
made both one." See that? He's made Jews and Gentiles one. How did He do that? He's broken
down the middle wall of petition that was between us. We were
divided. They had the law and we didn't.
We were a bunch of Gentile dogs. They hated us, and we hated them. There was enmity between the
Jews and the Gentiles. But verse 15 says that Christ
has abolished this enmity in His flesh, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, to make in Himself of two one new man,
so making peace. You say, Bruce, there's not much
peace between Jews and Gentiles. Brothers and sisters, there is
peace between converted Jews and converted Gentiles. We all
look at the same Christ. We all find our peace and our
harmony and unity in Him. There is peace. And this peace
has already started between heaven and earth, between saints and
between angels. Listen to Hebrews chapter 12.
You are come unto Mount Zion. and to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to that innumerable company
of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn written
unto heaven, God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just
men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling." See how heaven and earth is being
joined in harmony? Listen to Revelation 7. I beheld,
and lo, a great multitude, that no man could number. They were
there in heaven. They were all nations, and kindred,
and people, and tongue, and they stood before the throne, and
before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes,
and palms in their hands, and they cried with a loud voice,
salvation to our God which setteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne. And the elders and the beasts
fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God, saying,
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and
power be unto our God forever and forever." See what he is
restoring? The harmony. Between saints here
in this earth, whether they be Jew or Gentile, between saints
and angels? And what about this present earth
that you and I live on, that is suffering the consequences
of the curse? Romans 8, verse 21 says, The
creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
unto the glorious liberty of the children of God. Peter said,
We, according to his promise, look for a new heaven, and a
new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." Harmony. Isn't that what we want?
Oh, to think about that restored just amazes me. All the chaos
and the division we have now in our world, and it's going
to continue. There's no peace in this world. There's no harmony.
At any cost, there is none. But there's coming a day, and
there's coming a time when God's plan is fulfilled. and the curse
is done away with, there will be complete reconciliation and
harmony. And as you and I read and understand
this verse 10 in our text, we begin to realize that we're looking
here at one of the most glorious and tremendous subjects in all
the Bible. And what it does is carry us out of our present time and our immediate future. And
whatever trouble we may have and trials we may be suffering,
whatever we anticipate going to happen, this verse carries
us out of that. And it comforts us, encourages
us to hope and to look for a time, God's own time, when there's
going to be oneness again. Christ will be the head, and you and I will be one. All
we have we'll receive from Him and we'll acknowledge it with
glory and honor and praise to Him. Oh, what a purpose. What
an ultimate plan. And God will do it. He'll carry
it out. Gracious Father, we thank You
for Your Word. What a tremendous subject, Lord,
that we face this morning. And I pray of all times that
you'll be your own interpreter, that you'll bless these few comments,
forgive the sin that's in it, bless it to the hearts of your
saints. We bless you, Lord, for letting
us look at it, take such a tremendous subject before our eyes, to know
what your ultimate plan is. Oh, precious Lord, thank You.
Thank You for letting us see it and reading it. And it gives
us hope. It encourages us. We pray You'll bless our food
today. Thank You for it. Bless our fellowship. Bless our
friendship. In Christ Jesus' name we ask,
Amen.