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. Ephesians 3:8
Elon Musk is believed to be the richest man in the world. His wealth is calculated at $684 billion, followed by Larry Page at $252 billion and Larry Ellison at $240 billion. Those figures are hard for ordinary mortals like you and me to grasp. Even a million dollars is far beyond what we could expect to ever see, so numbers in the billions are almost meaningless. But such wealth is not infinite. If someone were to gather Musk’s billions into one place in large bills, and assembled enough people, it would actually be possible to count it all, given enough time. But Elon Musk will die someday. And two seconds after his heart stops beating, all those billions will belong to somebody else. Let’s compare that with the unsearchable riches of Christ. That is wealth far beyond the ability of any group of counters to tally, even with all of eternity to do it. And it doesn’t expire at death, either, but endures forever. That’s the type of riches that poor Elon Musk knows nothing about. How much do we know about them?
Someone made a list of the riches of Christ, and it’s worth sharing: the riches of heavenly knowledge, of redeeming love, of pardoning mercy, of sanctifying grace, of consolation and hope, of immortality and glory. What a list! What riches! And as we look at that list, it should strike us as amazing that not one of those riches is dependent on or based on anything of ourselves. These are all freely and abundantly provided to us within the treasure of God’s salvation. What’s more, that list is not complete: there are vast treasures far beyond even these. Is it any wonder that Paul in our text describes them as unsearchable?
One of the times that God’s riches toward us become precious is when we see the departure of a child of God from this world into Glory. My heart is touched as I receive news of a childhood friend who has died. This man had much to appreciate during his lifetime, as he made a decent living, had wonderful family, and enjoyed a good testimony among all who knew him. During his lifetime, he learned to appreciate the riches of Christ. But now, he has entered into an even greater appreciation, uncluttered by the passing and paltry things of this world. And so it will be with us, when the time for our departure arrives.
What joy it will be to spend eternity searching the unsearchable riches of Christ! And there is also no better use for our time here than to use it in the same exciting search. – Jim MacIntosh