“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:7–10)
Mankind has been trying to achieve universal peace and unity since the Tower of Babel through the use of human wisdom and knowledge. All that has been produced is the opposite: strife, bloodshed, disharmony, and hatred. We have seen this graphically portrayed in the media over the last couple of years. In fact, the media, journalists in print, talking heads and celebrities on the airwaves, and ordinary yet over-enthusiastic people on the Internet have fueled the strife by blaming, shaming and reporting hearsay, rumor and opinion as fact.
If they had ears to heed the Word of God these media practitioners would discover that the Christian faith provides the peace and wisdom that they, and the rest of the world, seek. And it has done so down through the centuries. The Christian faith through God’s instrument the Church, has stabilized the world though somewhat imperfectly. Yet, despite this, the world continues to slide into chaos. The reason is that our world as a whole has rejected the authority of God and His Word.
Consequently, many people fail to find peace and harmony because they seek it not in Christ Jesus. They fail to partake of the true wisdom that comes only from being united by faith in and through Christ Jesus, wisdom which Paul emphasizes with this great news about unity in Jesus in a doxology of praise to Almighty God. Paul refers to the Trinity as he addresses Father, Son and the Holy Spirit as the source of every blessing which the believer has. He speaks of our calling by God, our election by Him as saints, His redemption in Jesus, His adoption of us as His sons. God has done all that man could not do.
God has brought unity to all mankind in Christ in His Church. This is the mystery of which Paul speaks, a mystery now revealed: the salvation of the Gentiles. Both Jews and Gentiles are equal in Christ. All by faith are united with Christ and so with each other for Christ Himself is the foundation and fullness of the Church. We pray, as Paul did, that all would come to faith in Him.