The Mystery Revealed: What God Is Actually Up To

Ephesians 1:3-14 | Palm Sunday

Did you know that children between the ages of 2 and 5 ask an average of 200 to 300 questions per day? Over those few years, a child will ask more than 40,000 questions. No wonder new parents are exhausted.

But here's what's interesting: even as adults, some questions remain unanswered. Scientists still don't fully understand why we cry, why we laugh, why we sleep, or why we dream. We don't understand how anesthesia works, what causes déjà vu, or why bicycles stay upright. There are things that might just always sit at the edge of our understanding.

And then there are the questions that keep us up at night. Not the scientific ones, but the personal ones.

What is God up to?

What is God's will for my life?

These aren't abstract puzzles. They're the questions people wrestle with in real seasons of pain, confusion, and transition. And into that uncertainty, the Apostle Paul writes something remarkable.

The Mystery and the Unveiling

There's a Greek word used throughout scripture: mysterion. We get our word "mystery" from it. But biblical mystery isn't a puzzle waiting to be solved by connecting clues. It's a divine secret, a hidden reality that God himself pulls back the curtain on.

The corresponding word, apocalypse, is equally misunderstood. It doesn't mean "end of the world." It literally means an unveiling, an uncovering of what has been hidden.

In Ephesians 1:9-10, Paul writes that God "has made known to us the mystery of his will ... to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him."

That's the mystery. That's the apocalypse.

Whatever it looks like on the surface, whoever seems to be holding power, all things are being brought together under Christ's lordship. That's what's happening behind the scenes.

We got a glimpse of it on Palm Sunday, when a crowd gathered to watch Jesus ride into Jerusalem and cried out: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. They didn't fully understand what was happening. But they knew something was. Something cosmic. Something that would shake the very foundations of heaven and earth.

One Long Song of Praise

Ephesians 1:3-14 is, in the original Greek, a single sentence of 202 words with no punctuation, no paragraph breaks. It's a stream-of-consciousness praise song that Paul couldn't hold in. And remember: he was writing from prison, waiting to find out if he would survive.

The first thing he wanted to say wasn't a complaint. It was blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's walk through what he's praising God for.

God the Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. He chose us before the foundation of the world. He predestined us for adoption into his family, not because we earned it, but according to "the good pleasure of his will." Every good thing in your life traces back to him.

God the Son has redeemed us. In the first century, the word "redeemed" was a financial term: the money paid to set a slave free. Both Jewish and Gentile readers would have understood it. You were enslaved to sin, and Christ bought your freedom with his blood. The slate is wiped clean. You don't have to carry the weight of your failures anymore.

Through Christ, the mystery of God's will has also been made known. We don't have to lay awake wondering what God wants from us. God's will is that we follow his Son, love him with our whole being, and love our neighbors as ourselves. It's been revealed. We know.

And in Christ, we have already received an inheritance. You don't have to wait for the afterlife. Eternal life, the life Jesus talked about so much, begins now.

God the Holy Spirit seals us and serves as the down payment on everything still to come. Like a wax seal on an important document, marking ownership and authenticity. Like earnest money on a property, the Spirit is the guarantee that the promise is real and the inheritance is secure.

Father. Son. Spirit. All at work, from before the foundations of the earth to the very end of all things. All part of one story.

In Christ

The phrase "in Christ," or "in him," appears 12 times in just 14 verses. It's not accidental. It's the point.

Where do you find redemption? In Christ. Forgiveness? In Christ. Inheritance? In Christ. The seal of the Spirit? In Christ. Your identity, your hope, your freedom: all of it is located in him.

Don't Stay Silent

At the end of the Palm Sunday story in Luke 19, the Pharisees tell Jesus to quiet his disciples down. They're causing a scene. And Jesus says: "If they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out."

Paul couldn't stay silent. Sitting in a prison cell, not knowing if he'd live or die, the only thing he wanted to get down on paper was a song of praise. He had experienced something too good, too real, too world-altering to keep to himself.

If God has done something in your life, don't stay silent either. Tell someone. Invite someone. Let the world in on the mystery that has been revealed: that God is not absent, not unaware, not asleep. He is actively at work, bringing all things together in Christ, and he has extended an invitation for you to be part of that story.

The question worth sitting with this week: Is this the right time for you?

The right time to believe? To be baptized? To tell someone what you've experienced? To step into the story?

The mystery has been made known. The invitation is open.