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The Mystery Revealed • Jul 01st 1996

Rochester Conference Part 3: The Mystery of Christ Revealed – Ephesians 3 Explained

Eternal Purpose New Testament The Epistles

In this powerful message from Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul unveils what he calls “the mystery of Christ”—a truth hidden for generations, now revealed through the Spirit.

This teaching explores the profound meaning behind Paul’s words: that Gentiles are now fellow heirs, fellow members, and fellow partakers in Christ. This is not merely a doctrine—it is a revelation of something far deeper. The gospel is not simply about salvation as an event. The gospel is Jesus Christ Himself, and within Him lies an unfathomable richness that cannot be exhausted.

The message walks through key themes in Ephesians 3:

  • The mystery once hidden, now revealed
  • The church as the living expression of Christ
  • The shared inheritance of all believers
  • The “unsearchable riches of Christ”
  • God’s eternal purpose beyond time, creation, and redemption

One of the most striking insights in this teaching is that the mystery is not individual—it is corporate. “I do not inherit—we inherit. I do not partake—we partake.” The Christian life is not meant to be lived in isolation, but as part of a living Body.

This message also challenges modern Christianity’s discomfort with the depth of Christ. The riches of Christ are described as bottomless—like a rope dropped endlessly into the sea, never reaching the end. This is the Christ believers are invited to know, experience, and proclaim.

Even more, Paul reveals that the church itself is God’s instrument to display His wisdom—not just to the world, but to unseen realms. Through the church, the manifold wisdom of God is made known.

At the center of it all is what Paul calls God’s eternal purpose—a purpose that existed before creation, continues through time, and will remain beyond it. That purpose is this:
Christ and His people becoming one.

This message is a call to rediscover the depth, wonder, and reality of Jesus Christ—not as a concept, but as a living, inexhaustible Person revealed in and through His church.

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So now you tell me there’s not a romance going on between the Lord’s people and the church player. Why would they lose heart in Colossae? I don’t know, but they did. They were concerned about Paul being in prison, even though they had Epaphroditus. I’ve told you all of this so that you won’t lose heart; that what is happening to me is for your sake.

Now, God gives us churches, of which when you hear, I’ve been thrown in jail by the Baptists, they’ll say that was for us. And when a brother goes to China and gets thrown in prison there, it was for your sake, and you will rejoice in the strength that he is being thrown in prison, it gives the churches, that the things we go through are for your sake.

I want to tell you something, saints. I don’t understand that, and don’t ask me to explain it, but I am telling you that there is a relationship between church and church planter that enriches both of their lives, and when you suffer, we suffer, and when we suffer, it’s for your building up. That is absolutely magnificent and beyond my understanding, but may God hasten the day when that makes sense to all of us. Praise the Lord.

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