To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Ephesians 3:10
What do you think the angels were doing when the Lord Jesus was suffering on the cross? Both the good angels, God’s ministering servants, and the fallen angels, the devil’s wretched horde, knew who He was and that He was there. The good angels were undoubtedly straining at the bit, wondering why they could not become involved. After all, they had been given a charge by God to protect their Lord and Master during His lifetime: ‘For He shall give His angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee in all Thy ways. They shall bear Thee up in their hands, lest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone’ – Psalm 91:11,12. And now they are being restrained. They were available, too, as the Lord Jesus told his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane when the temple mob arrived: ‘Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?’ – Matthew 26:53. The evil spirits must have been rejoicing at what they would perceive as a huge victory for their side. They had watched their master convince Judas to betray the Holy One, and had seen him lead the sanhedrin and Pilate to convict Him. That He was dying in shame and agony on that tree gave those evil ones hope against their own destruction. Both good angels and evil spirits were in the dark as to what was transpiring. But now, God has given them an object lesson to teach them the truth. We are that object lesson.
Those spirits, both good and bad, are identified in our text as the principalities and powers in heavenly places. God would teach them about His manifold, or multi-faceted wisdom. And He does so ‘by the church’. The word ‘church’, translated from the Greek ‘ecclesia, means assembly, or gathered company. In the universal sense, it refers to all of those saints who through the centuries have trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. In the local sense, it refers to all those companies of believers who have gathered to His Name in obedience to His Word. And in both of these senses, we are an object lesson to the spirit world of God’s manifold wisdom.
Obviously, no treatise on the manifold wisdom of God could be complete in a few lines. Or in a few books, or in a few worlds full of books. But to both men and angels, God opens up glimpses of His wisdom, such as in His church. Did angels wonder in past ages why God created the world, why He showed grace to Noah, why He led Abraham and the patriarchs through wildernesses, why He rescued Israel and gave to His earthly people the promises and oracles, and why He promised through the seed of Abraham to bless all nations? 1 Peter 1:10-12 tells us that both the Old Testament prophets and the angels have desired to look into all of these things. And the angels now see, by looking at us, how God’s purposes for the ages all fit together.
And you thought that God brought us the Gospel and saved us just for our own blessing? Thank God it includes that. But God’s manifold wisdom goes far beyond that! -Jim MacIntosh