This simple blessing given from the Lord is a gift in absolute disguise…my exegetical paper. For something so daunting, something so draining, something so procrastinated (good night, I’ll admit it…yes, I’ve known about it all semester, but the best students work under pressure, right? Right), it’s been a paper that has made an Easter weekend that hasn’t really felt like an Easter weekend feel like one again.
For those of you who don’t know what an exegetical paper is, it’s a minimum ten-page paper on an assigned Biblical passage, where you combine interpretations, word studies, and meanings into one big, coherent explanation of your assigned passage. All Ouachita students are required to write one, given that Interpretation of the Bible is part of our CORE. This semester I was assigned Ephesians 3:8-13.
“8To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.”
Yesterday, I was specifically focusing on verse 10. In verse 10, Paul tells the church at Ephesus that the wisdom of God, which had been hidden, will now be made known. It hadn’t been known before. And he specifically points out that this wisdom will be made known to the rulers and authorities. Granted, I am far from a Biblical scholar – I feel like a fish out of water as I write this paper – but my immediate thought was to study why Paul would individually address the rulers and authorities. “Why just them? Obviously God’s wisdom would be revealed to all believers, but why did Paul just mention them?”
So, that brings me to 1 Corinthians 2:7-9, also written by Paul.
“7But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.’”
Paul did it again. “None of the rulers of this age…” This time, however, Paul told us why. “If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
Chill bumps. God had this mighty plan, this “mystery hidden for ages”, as Paul describes it, that he kept hidden from the rulers and authorities. Why? Because if they had known, they would have lifted Jesus up as King and worshipped him. But why would this have been bad? Because if that had happened, God’s beautiful plan of sacrifice and salvation would not have worked. God knew that His son had to be nailed to the cross. He knew that the rulers and authorities couldn’t worship him, because if Jesus hadn’t been crucified, ours sins would not have been forgiven through Christ’s blood.
So after all had been said and done, after Jesus had been killed and then majestically defeated the grave, God transforms and appoints Paul, an ex-persecutor of the church, to enlighten the rulers and authorities and the body of believers of the “plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things…”
Now, it can be known. Now, God’s plan has been fulfilled. Now, we are saved.
God has this plan, a plan that has been set for ages, and it is so sovereign over everything else. Sovereign over the death of His son, sovereign over the sins of His children, sovereign over our questions for our life, the worries, the anxieties, the desires…sovereign over absolutely every little thing.
Thank you sweet Jesus for an exegetical paper at just the right time…we serve such a breathtaking Savior. Happy Easter.
-A
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