Shalom everyone. Please open your Bibles today. We are going to read today the first part of Ephesians chapter 3. This third chapter of the letter to the Ephesians really is going to conclude the first half of the book of Ephesians, which has to do with doctrine, with teaching. From chapter 4 on, the Apostle Paul is shifting from teaching to practice, from doctrine to duty. But we are still in the first portion of the letter to the Ephesians, and chapter 3 is an extremely important chapter for us to understand. I'm going to read actually only the first 13 verses. And in the will of the Lord, we'll conclude the third chapter next ministry meeting.

Let's follow with me with the third chapter, the first 13 verses. Paul is writing and he says, For this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to your word, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

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, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to their eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

Wherefore, I desire that ye faint not at my tribulation for you, which is your glory." And I stop here with verse 13. Now this is a very important chapter to understand in order for us to be in tune with the plans and the purposes of God. Number one for the church, number two for the nation of Israel, number three for the world in which we live in. As I mentioned many times, and it is very unfortunate, that in the body of Christ, in the body of Messiah, often times we make what you call a solid, we're mixing verses that apply to Israel the nation, or verses that apply to the body of Messiah, or verses that apply to the world, and we are not rightly dividing the word of truth.

And here the apostle Paul, here Shaul, continuing now to write doctrine, teaching to the believers at Ephesus, and he arrived now to chapter 3, after he had shared with them in the previous two chapters the great privilege that the goyim, the gentile believers have been brought into because of the gospel, he is now ready, beloved brothers and sisters, to go into a time of prayer. But as he was ready to go into a time of prayer, something had happened, and the apostle Paul, instead of going into a time of prayer, he gives us this, what some call, parenthesis, which he gives us an additional information that he wants the believers to grasp.

And that information is including the mystery of the Messiah and the believers, the church. The mystery of Christ, of the Mashiach. In fact, that word mystery, I want to highlight this before you. Notice the word mystery is mentioned three times in these verses that we read. First of all, in verse 3, he said that by revelation, he made known unto me the mystery. Notice in verse 4, he says, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Mashiach, of Christ. And then a little bit further down, in verse 9, he said, And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God.

Now, this is a very interesting word, because the word here for mystery comes from the Greek word mysterion, M-Y-S-T-E-R-I-O-N. In Hebrew, we call it sod, S-O-D, S-O-D. It's a mystery. But when God, in the present day dispensation, talking about mystery, he doesn't talk about mystery that happened somewhere there, and nobody knows what has happened. It's very mysterious. But here, the mystery, it is simply, in the context of where we are now, in the book of Ephesians, mystery is simply truth that was hidden in God in past time, but now is revealed to his own people through the word of God. That is what Apostle Paul is presenting here in the third chapter.

So, we are going to talk a little bit today, in this ministry meeting, about the mystery of the Mashiach, Christ, and his believers, his body, the body of Messiah. We can call it simply, as the Apostle Paul mentioned it here in this chapter, the mystery of the Mashiach, of Christ, of Christos. So, we are going to talk about this, and I want us to see how he developed this truth here in this third chapter. I want you immediately, just before I'm going to go on, you notice he used the word in verse 1 of chapter 3, "For this cause I." Notice those words? Paul, what are you really saying?

Paul just, in the previous chapters, spoke about the goyim, the believers from among the nations, the privilege that they have been brought into. You remember in chapter 2 and verse 1, time passed, he says, verse 2, "Ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." And he said to them in chapter 2, that they were in the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh. That's what they were in the past. But then, verse 4 of chapter 2, he says, "But now God was rich in mercy towards you Gentiles." Then we also mentioned in verse 11 of chapter 2, "Remember that in time passed, you were Gentiles in the flesh who were called uncircumcision, you had not a Messiah, you had not a citizenship, you had not a covenant, you had no hope, you were without God in this world, but now, because of what Yeshua has done, you have been brought nigh." So after he shared this with those gentle believers and he was impressing this upon their souls, now he was ready to give thanks.

That's why in chapter 3 he says, "For this cause I..." Now if you notice, if you jump to verse 14, it says, "For this cause I bow my knees." He was now ready to go to a time of prayer. He says, "Because of what the Mashiach have done for you Gentiles who became believers, I'm ready now to give thanks and praise to him." But, uh-uh, something happened. The Holy Spirit of God seems to take the Apostle Paul and to say to him, "Paul," we don't read how it happened, but he says, "Paul, just a minute, before you go into a time of prayer, I want you to give to those brethren additional information concerning the privilege that they have been brought into." And that's why the Apostle Paul, instead of going immediately into prayer which he will do in verse 14, "For this cause I, Paul, bow my knees." He gives them those 13 verses and he shared with them about that great mystery of the Messiah, Christ, and his church, the assembly.

And so he began to develop this, and I want you to notice how in four ways he is presenting this mystery. First of all, in verses 1 to 5, that mystery of the church in relationship to the life of Paul himself. First of all, in verses 1 to 5, verses 1 to 5. Secondly, the mystery of the church in relationship to the Gentile believers, from among the Gentiles. This is verses 6, 7, and 8. Thirdly, in verses 9 and 10, the mystery of the church of Christ and his body in relationship to angels, to the heavenly beings. And finally, verses 11 to the end, verse 13, it is the mystery of the church in relationship to you and I as believers in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Paul is a very systematic Bible teacher. He was a man that when he gave doctrine, he gave teaching, first of all, then later on he is moving into practice. You will notice that in chapter 4, 5, and 6. But now he is dealing with teaching, with doctrine, with, we say in Hebrew, limud, limudim. The truth concerning the position of all believers in the body of Messiah. So now let's look at this passage systematically, verse by verse. First of all, verses 1 to 5, the mystery of the Messiah and his believers in his church in relationship to the person of the apostle Paul individually. He began to share, notice in verse 1, that Paul calls himself a prisoner for the sake of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

This is because I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus the Messiah for you Gentiles. Now remember that Paul, Shaul, was in prison when he is writing this letter. He was actually in the city of Rome, he was chained there, though he had liberty to speak to many people who came to hear from him the word of God, but he was actually a prisoner. And as he had been a prisoner, he doesn't say I'm a prisoner of Rome. He doesn't say I'm a prisoner of this person in this home. He says I'm a prisoner of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He was a prisoner, but he was a prisoner for Yeshua's sake.

A very interesting word for prisoner. It's D-E-S-M-I-O-S, desmios in the Greek. It comes from the word to be bound. In other words, Paul is saying I'm bound, but not necessarily with those chains, but I'm bound in my heart and my conscience to be a servant of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. His main focus was to realize that the reason that he's in jail in Rome is not because of anything wrong that he has done, but because of the sake of the gospel. And because of the sake of the Gentiles whom he was called to serve as the apostle to the nations of the world. So he's telling them in verse one, he called himself, I am the one that is in prison.

I'm a prisoner of Yeshua HaMashiach for you, beloved brothers and sisters from the nations of the world. I'm committed to do the things that the Lord have called me to do. It's not the only time he called himself a prisoner. Notice in chapter four and verse one, he says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. Again, he mentioned the word that the fact that he is a prisoner. Notice in chapter six and verse 20, he says, for which I am an ambassador in bonds. It's not the first time that he's calling himself a prisoner. He was a prisoner for Yeshua the Messiah on behalf of the goyim of the nations because he was preaching the message of the gospel.

And he became the prisoner for the sake of the nations of the world. How did the apostle Paul, Shaul became a prisoner? You remember he went to Jerusalem, Acts chapter 21, the conservative Jewish people, the Pharisees, the Sadducees. When they found out that this Paul who was preaching to the Gentile world that Yeshua is the Messiah and that they can be fellow heirs in the gospel with all believers. The religious leaders of Israel did not like it at all. So they captured him, Acts chapter 21. They bound him and they took him eventually to the city of Rome. And so the apostle Paul had this long journey from chapter 21 all the way to the end of the chapter of the book of Acts where he found himself in prison in Rome.

And now you see he became a prisoner, but it is for the sake of the preaching of the gospel. Now I don't know about you and I. Will somebody capture you and I put us in jail because of the preaching of the gospel? Are we willing to take such a sacrifice to be placed in jail because I shared that Yeshua is the Messiah and the only answer for sin is through Yeshua the Messiah? Most of us will say no, I don't want to be in such a condition. But Paul was called for this ministry. He was called to serve the Gentile world. He was called to be a minister of the gospel to the Gentile.

That's what Yeshua told him when he was on the way to Damascus and he got saved. This is Paul, this is Paul, how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. That's what Yeshua told him when he was on the way to Damascus and he got saved. He accepted the Messiah. He became a prisoner of Yeshua the Messiah. But it was for the Gohim, for the nations of the world that they will hear the message of the gospel. So this is a very important verse to remember. And so now in verse 2, he's using a very interesting word. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me towards you.

Now again, here's another hard word, dispensation. The word dispensation comes from the Greek word oikonomia, O-I-K-O-N-O-M-I-A. And it comes from the English word economy or administration. You see, God is administrating his ways in various different dispensation differently. It is the same message. It is the same grace and provision of God. But he administrate this in a different dispensation in a different way. Those of us that have been with us yesterday for our Bible classes, we said that there are seven dispensations or seven economies or seven administrations in which God is dealing with men throughout the history of mankind. Let me quickly give them to you.

There is the dispensation of innocence. That was before sin came into the world in the Garden of Eden. There is a dispensation of conscience. When Adam fell into sin, he received that conscience, the matzpun we say in Hebrew. Thirdly, we have the dispensation of human government. When Noah came out of the ark and he began the new world, it was a new dispensation of human government. And the leader of the government failed the moment he came out. He got drunk. And he began the new dispensation of human government by failing. And the rest of us have failed under human government. Then we have the dispensation of the promise.

Where God called our father Abraham and gave him a promise. Genesis chapter 12. Get thee out of thy house, out of thy country, out of thy kindred into a land which I will show you. And God gave the dispensation of promise to one nation, one people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then we have the next dispensation called the dispensation of the law. When Israel, our people of all came out of Egypt, had been brought to Mount Sinai, to Har Sinai. And God gave our people the law. And then we live today in the dispensation, in the economy called the dispensation of the grace of God.

John chapter 1 verse 17 says for the law was given by Moses, Moshe, but grace and truth came by Yeshua the Messiah. And yet there is another dispensation that is awaiting this human race. And that is the dispensation of the messianic kingdom. Where God is going to restore Israel. The Mashiach Yeshua going to reign and rule over the nation of Israel and all the nations of the world. That's called the dispensation of the messianic kingdom. But we don't live under the dispensation of innocency or conscience or human government. Or even not under the dispensation of promise or even not under the dispensation of law. We live under the dispensation of the grace of God.

And that's what our pastor Paul is emphasizing here in this third chapter. And I want you to see that as we are moving along. So notice what he says in chapter 3 and verse 2. Since so, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me towards you. So Paul received a special revelation in order to minister the truth concerning that present day dispensation of the church age. Which Jew, Gentiles, believers in Yeshua are united to one body called the church, the ecclesia. The head is in heaven. The body is on earth waiting the day that we are going to be taken to be with him.

But for 2,000 years we live already under the church age, the dispensation of the grace of God. And even our very own family who are Jewish, born in the land of Israel, if they are not saved, they are not part of this dispensation of the grace of God, the chesed Elohim. They need to be part of the body of Messiah to accept Yeshua as their Lord and Savior. So Paul had received a special revelation himself. That's why he called himself many times, I am the apostle of the Gentiles. He received special revelation from the Lord. You can read it in various passages, including Romans chapter 11, when he was writing to the Gentiles believers at Rome.

He says, "I am an apostle of the Gentiles." So we see in verse 1 that he was calling himself a prisoner of Yeshua. In verse 2, Paul received a call to teach the Gentiles concerning the dispensation of this grace of God in which we live here today in this present age. Then you notice now in verses 3 and verse 4 that Paul received a very special revelation. Notice he says now in verse 3, how that by revelation. The word revelation means apocalypse. The very same word is being used here in that verse 3. I receive an apocalypsis. I receive a special revelation from the glorified Mashiach concerning this present day of the church age.

So, in verse 3, that by revelation he, this is Yeshua, made known unto me, and here is the first time we have in this chapter the usage of mystery. That by revelation he made known unto me, as I wrote it in a few words. Whereby when you read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Sod HaMashiach. Now notice that Paul received a special revelation from the glorified Messiah. Now we do not know exactly when he received that revelation. What we do know, that he received truths that were beyond his grasp. First of all, he received the revelation from the Messiah on the way to Damascus in Acts chapter 9.

But in addition to that, the Apostle Paul received more information. I want to read this. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. In chapter 12, Paul said in verse 2. I knew a man in Mashiach. Before or above 14 years ago. Whether in the body I cannot tell. Or whether out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth. Such a one was caught up into the third heaven. And then he says in verse 3. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth. How that he, this man, and he's really speaking about himself. He was caught up into paradise. And he heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for men to utter.

You see, apparently Paul had been taken up and received specific revelation concerning the church age in which you and I live in today. And so he's quoting this. He's mentioning this to the Corinthians. And now he's telling this to the Ephesians. And he says, listen, beloved brothers and sisters. I don't give you what I'm giving you out of my sleeves. It's not something that I provide with my own ideas and my own thinking or my own ingenuity. No, he said. I received this revelation by the Messiah or from the Messiah about this mystery. And I'm writing to you about this mystery in a few words.

Whereby when you read that, I want you to make sure that you understand why I have this knowledge concerning the mystery of that Messiah. And, you know, when you use the word Messiah, he's linking the Messiah who is the head with the body on this earth, Christ, the Mashiach. The head is in heaven. The body is here on earth. And he's telling them, listen, what I'm telling you about this wonderful mystery. It's a revelation that I have received from the glorified Messiah. Again, I want to emphasize that in Hebrew, it's called sod. Sod is like a secret, a sacred secret, but it's not secret that we don't know anymore.

But it is a secret that is now revealed to present day dispensation believers while it was hid from them in past history. Let me read one more verse, if you may please turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Again, in connection with this. What is the mystery of Christ, the Messiah, and the church, the ecclesia? In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, he says there in verse 12, 13, and 14. For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is the Christ, the Mashiach. Verse 13. For by one spirit, we all, Jewish people and non-Jewish people, have been baptized into that one body.

Whether we are Jewish people, or whether we are goyim, Gentiles. Whether we are bound, or whether we are free. And we have all been made to drink into that one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. So, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 12, 13, and 14. The Apostle Paul shows us how a person becomes part of this Mashiach and the church. The body of the Messiah. Well, we all have entered in on the basis of faith in the Messiah. We all came in on one ground, accepting that he is our Lord and our Savior. And we have all, whether we are Jewish or non-Jewish, bound or free, male or female.

All come into this body on the ground of faith in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He is the head, we are the body. And there is a link between the head, which is in heaven, and the body, which is on earth. So, he received that revelation. It was a mystery, but mystery that is now revealed to the Apostle Paul, and also to the rest of the Apostles. Because he doesn't come here with his own ingenuity. He immediately says in verse 5, God did not make the mystery known to men in other generations. Look at this, brothers and sisters, listen to that. It says this mystery, according to verse 4, now verse 5, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, but as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit of God.

Now, I want you to understand this. I did not write this. This, the Spirit of God tells us very clearly here in verse 5, that in other generations, this mystery of the Messiah and his own, was not made known to the sons of men. Nobody knew concerning the present day of the ecclesia, of the church age. Not Adam. Not Noah. Not even Abraham. Not even Moshe. No one knew concerning the present day dispensation of the church age. There were maybe types. There were maybe symbols. But no one understood the mystery that Jewish people and Gentiles will be united in one body in relationship to the Messiah in this present day dispensation of the church age.

I did not write it. Paul wrote it by divine inspiration. Notice that again, verse 5, which in other ages was not made known unto Bnei HaAdam, the sons of men. Notice, I want to read a verse in Matthew 16 for a moment. Yeshua said to the apostles that were with him, when Peter was challenged by the Lord and all the apostles, who do men say that I, the son of men, am? In verse 13, when they were in Kessariah, Philippi, Yeshua asked them in verse 13, whom do men say that I, the son of men, am? And they said, some say you are John the baptizer, other ones Eliyahu, another one Yirmiyahu, or one of the prophets.

But he said unto them, but whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter says, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. And then Yeshua answered, and he said to him, in verse 17, Blessed art thou, Simon, bar Yonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. And then he said, and I say unto you, that you are Petros, and upon this rock I will build the church. He didn't say, I am building. He didn't say, I have built. He said, I am going to build. It is a future tense. The church was not found in previous generation.

It was hid in God. And the beginning of the building of the Ekklesia started right after the Messiah died, rose again. The Spirit of God came in Pentecost, in Shavuot, and the Messiah and the church was born there in Acts chapter 2. There was a new and fresh beginning. The church began by totally only Jewish people in Acts chapter 2. But later on the Samaritans came, Acts chapter 8. Later on the Gentiles came, Acts chapter 10, Cornelius. And then the gospel was spread to the nations of the world. And more and more from among the goyim have been part of the assembly, of the church. But it was not in the past history.

It was something that he was going to build in the future after he finished the work on the cross, on the tree. So, notice how very clear, and this is where we have a lot of problems. First of all, for Israel, the nation, when we tell our people that Jesus is the Messiah, and now you have to believe on him, and he is the sacrifice, and he is the answer for our sins, and he is the one that is the head of the church. The church are people saying, well, are you out of your mind? We are the chosen people. Israel is a nation that God has established his covenant with them.

And you cannot tell me that there is such a thing called the church. Well, of course. If you are not saved, if you do not have the knowledge of Brit Hadashah, and you don't know the present day dispensation, that's the way we all said that. I said that before I became a believer. I said, are you out of your mind? What are you talking about? We are the chosen people. Look at the Bible. Look at the scripture. Look what God had promised our people. Well, look. 2,000 years passed by, and where are our people today? Our people still haven't been restored as a nation. This is something that will come to pass yet in the future.

Once the church age had been completed, God will restore Israel. God will bless our nation Israel. He will fulfill every promise he spoke to his own people, the nation of Israel. But it's not today. Today, he is building that which is called the Ekklesia, the called out ones out of Jew and Gentile, here in this world, in this present dispensation that he called it in verse 2, the dispensation of the grace of God, the economy of the grace of God, uniting both Jew and Gentile into that one body. Let me also show you two more verses that you will not say, oh, Gideon, you're holding on into one verse and you make theology out of that.

Let me read you two more verses. Romans chapter 16, Romans chapter 16, Paul concluded, notice that, verse 25. Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Yeshua the Messiah, listen to these brothers and sisters, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret. Now you don't need to be a theologian to change the Bible. You either accept this or reject this. You either accept this or reject this. I did not write it, you did not write it, let the Spirit of God speak. He says it was secret, kept secret since the world began. Now, if you and I know better than God, then really God is going to challenge us on that.

He's going to show us, my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways, say the Lord. You will have to challenge God about this. That's why, by the way, brothers and sisters, Paul was not a loved person by our own people. But he loved our people so much that he was willing to be accursed from the Messiah on behalf of our nation Israel, but he would not deviate from the truth that God gave him. Look at another verse. Look at another verse. Colossians chapter 1. Look what he says in verse 26, talking about the same mystery. The mystery of the body of Messiah and the Messiah in this dispensation of the grace that he called it in our chapter.

Notice verse 26. Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. What was this mystery? Verse 27. To whom God would make known what is the richest of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is the Mashiach in you, the hope of glory. You notice that, brothers and sisters, in almost all the epistles, when he's writing to the believers from among the Gentiles, he specifically explained to them that what they have today. Others haven't known about this whatsoever. Now, people sometimes say, well, so you say that the Old Testament didn't talk about the fact that the Gentiles will be saved?

No, of course not. Many Old Testament scriptures in the Tanakh, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, Zechariah, many, many of our Old Testament brethren, the prophets of Israel, have written concerning the future Gentile salvation as well. But we must distinguish between the future time where the Messianic kingdom, many of the nations will come to know Yeshua, the Messiah, in relationship to the nation of Israel here at that time in a future day on earth. Many Gentiles will be saved in the future day, there is no doubt about that. But we must distinguish between the future salvation of Gentiles in view of the coming kingdom, then the present day dispensation where Jew and Gentile are united in one body in the present day dispensation in which we live in today.

We must distinguish this altogether. We must distinguish this altogether. Don't tell me that the fact that the Gentiles will be saved in the future was hidden. It was not hidden. It was revealed by the Hebrew prophets through Isaiah, Jeremiah and other passages. Very clearly that many Gentiles will come to faith in the God of Israel. That was already taught in the Tanakh, but not concerning the present day of the ecclesia of the church age in which you and I are speaking about today in the present day. Let me just read you for a moment a couple of verses from the Old Testament about the future of the Gentile salvation.

Isaiah chapter 2, just turn there for a second with me. Verses 2 and 3. Here's Isaiah, it was revealed, it was very clearly proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah, 750 years before Yeshua came to this world. He said in Isaiah chapter 2, verse 2, and it shall come to pass in the last day, that taking us all the way to the end of the tribulation, to the Messianic kingdom. That the mountains of the Lord's house shall be established. Israel is restored in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above all hills and all nations shall flow unto it. Well, you tell me how you can say that this happening today, all nations are flowing to it, you know, all the nations are ready to go and to destroy Israel if they could.

The armies of the world are being preparing now to destroy the people of Israel. God will not allow this to happen. He has a plan for Israel. But we cannot say in the last 2,000 years that that have happened. It haven't happened yet. Notice verse 3. Many people shall go and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us of his ways. And we will walk in his path. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Well, you cannot say that it happened today.

You cannot go now to Jerusalem and say, wow, you know, you know, the vast majority of our people do not submit to the authority of the word of God today. You know, in Israel today, it is so unfortunate that I was born there, I raised there, I know it but myself. We did not follow the instruction that the Lord had given to us. You know, the religious community is a minority among the rest of our people Israel. It's not happening today, but it will happen. There will be a time coming where all the people will say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.

That's future. It's not today, unfortunately. I wish it would have been today, but it's not. So, we cannot make solid and mix what applied to Israel, the nation, what applied to the present day dispensation of the church age. And Paul, a theologian, presenting to the brothers and sisters at Ephesus, the truth concerning the mystery which was hid in God, but now revealed, as he says in verse 5, to his holy apostles and the prophets by the Holy Spirit of God. Now, what those Hebrew apostles? Yeshua had chosen twelve apostles. He set them apart. He had given them the truths concerning the church age. They had a hard time to understand it themselves.

Because they wanted so much to restore the people of Israel, and yet the Lord said to them, "It's not for you to know the time and the season, but ye will receive power." Acts 1:8 "And ye will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost part of this earth." And the church age began after the Spirit of God came, and the gospel was preached to all the nations of the world. This is important to understand, to rightly divide the word of truth, and not to mix it. I don't know how to explain it except read the text and apply it to myself, and we all need to understand it and apply it to ourselves.

If we know better than Paul, that's fine. Or if we know better than Yeshua, that's fine. If you think you know, if we think we know, but let's read the text. Let's be like the Berean who received the word of God, studied it to see if those things were so. And so, Paul in the first five verses says, "Listen, the mystery of the church in relationship to me, I receive a specific revelation, so I am now declaring this unto you, brothers and sisters at Ephesus. And I want you to grasp it as he says to them, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God." So now that he said this to them, now in verses 6, 7, and 8, he's now saying this mystery of the church in relationship to the goyim, to the Gentiles.

And look how in those three verses, he's pointing out what is the blessings that came to the non-Jewish people together with Jewish believers. So, verse 6, the mystery is the church, a union of Jew and Gentiles in one body. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promises in the Messiah by the gospel. Now notice there are three things that he says here. Number one, the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. You know what is an heir? An heir is a person who receives that which was left for him. He's an heir. Somebody can be an heir to become a king.

Somebody can be an heir to inherit many blessings. Now the Gentiles, the goyim, believers, they become not fellow heirs. That means there are others from among Israel, from among the Hebrews, the Jewish people who are also heirs, who are also believers in Yeshua. So now together, they are fellow heirs of that which the Lord had for them. Secondly, in verse 6, they are of the same body. See, there are not two bodies, one body for the Jews and one body for the Gentiles. There's not two bodies. There's only one body. That one body, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, is a composition of Jew and Gentile. We cannot have the church for the Jews and the church for the Gentiles.

The assembly for the goyim and the assembly for the Yehudim. We cannot have. There's no such thing in the Bible. So we are part of the same body. The body is the Gouf HaMashiach, the body of the Messiah. The Messiah is the head and we are the body. And I think we are here a measure of testimony to the truth that there is only one body. There are not two bodies. Let me read you a verse, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 32. Paul said to the Corinthians, Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. You notice that? Don't offend the Jewish people.

Don't offend the Gentiles. Don't offend the body of Messiah, the church. Who are the church? Well, it is. Some from among our Jewish people, some from among the goyim, the Gentiles, united together in one body. There are not two bodies, beloved brothers and sisters. That's what the Apostle Paul is saying. This mystery is really the body, the church, the assembly, the congregation. And then he says that you are being fellow heirs, the same body. Then thirdly, he says, and partakers of his promise. Now, that is interesting because partakers does not mean overtakers or takers over. Now, what does that mean? God has a promises for Israel.

He is going to fulfill all the promises that he promised to the nation of Israel. But the Gentiles believers became partakers, not takers of us, but partakers of the promises in the Messiah, but it is by the gospel. So, there are three things that we have here in verse 6. The Gentiles became fellow heirs. The Gentiles became of the same body. The Gentiles are enjoying partaking of the promises that God has in the Messiah by the gospel. And I am emphasizing again the word, they are not takers of us, because God has many, many promises that he promised to our nation Israel. And he is surely going to fulfill them to the latter in the coming days.

The Gentiles become partakers, not takers of us, as it is also mentioned in Romans 11 and verse 7. So, the mystery is the union of Jew and Gentiles in that present-day dispensation. Now, verse 7. Yeshua is now enabled the Apostle Paul to serve by the power that he had given unto him, because he says in verse 7, "I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power." Where do you think Paul had the ability to do what he did? Can you imagine? Suffering after suffering after suffering. You would think that the light that he had will be quenched, and they will put him away completely, and he will not be able to continue to do what he did.

But Paul says, you know what? I became a servant to the Gentiles to hear the message of the Gospel, not because of my strength, but it is by the effectual working of his power. He gave me that dynamite, that power to do that service. I could not do it on my own. You know, sometimes we wonder where there is a persecution of a country, or believers in a certain country. We wonder how they continue on. How those people in the former Soviet Union, or in China, or in North Korea, or in Islamic country, how they continue on in the things of the Lord? How is it?

Because they were trying to quench them to destroy the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah. And yet we find out that they continue on. Somebody said that the seed of the growth of the church is the persecution and suffering that believers experience. But when we don't suffer, and you know how it is, we have an easy time. We are believers. We can lay down and have a good time. We don't have to exercise in sharing the Gospel, in speaking about Yeshua the Messiah. We are saved. Our tickets have been paid. We are going to heaven. We are going to heaven. But no power. One had said, today we preach 3,000 sermons, and maybe one person is being saved.

In Acts chapter 2, in the beginning of the church, Peter preached one sermon, and 3,000 souls got saved. Why we are not in that same condition here in this country in which we live, in which we thank the Lord for the liberty that we have. But why? No power. Why no power? Because we are not in tune with the plan and the purposes of God. And that's why there is no power. No power to walk for the Lord, to walk with the Lord. That's why Paul says, listen, I don't do it. I became a servant. Notice, I was made a servant, a minister, according to the gift.

God gave me the gift of grace. And He given unto me effectual working. In other words, for working is energia, in the Greek, is energy. He gave the energy that was by His power, the dynamite. It was His power that enabled me to continue to do it. I couldn't do it on my own. You see? And now we continue here in verse 8. And Paul presented to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of the Messiah. He says, unto me, in verse 8, who am the less of the least of all the saints, is this grace giving that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

You know, Paul was a humble man. He never sought glory for himself, yet he was always under persecution. People accuse him, find fault in him. And I'm sure they could find a lot of fault in Paul. But nevertheless, he had opposition from without, opposition from within. But he, according to what we read about him in the scripture, he was a man that never sought any position, any glory for himself. He says, I don't understand. How is it that I received that gift from the Lord, the gift of grace from God, to me, he said, verse 8, who am less than the least of the saints, of all the saints.

Now, you and I are saints. If Shaul Paul would have been with us today, he would say, you know what? I am less than the least of the saints. I don't know how God gave me this gift, but God chosen me as a vessel, as a diakonos, as a minister. And he empowered me by the Spirit of God to share what I'm sharing with you. He revealed to me this mystery by revelation, this mystery of the church and the Messiah Christ and his own. And I'm simply presenting this to you. And I was enabled to do so, not by my power, by the power that the Lord had empowered me to do so.

So at the end of verse 8, he says, this grace was given to me that I should preach among the Gentiles. And look at this expression, the unsearchable riches of the Messiah. What does that mean? Unsearchable. You know, when you search for something, you want to find more. If you find gold somewhere, you search, you're going to find some more. You dig deeper. You try to find more, deeper and deeper. Let's see how much more I can find. You know what Paul said? You can dig and dig and try to find the wealth that is found in the Messiah. You will never be able to get to the bottom because there is so much more to learn about the glorious person of Yeshua the Messiah.

The more we hear about him, the more we want to hear more about him. The more we are in relationship with him, the more we want to know more about Yeshua because he is such a wealth that is found in the person of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. The unsearchable riches of the Messiah. Verse 8. And this is very beautiful. I have two verses that I must make a reference to. The wealth that is found in the Messiah. Colossians chapter 2. Just turn with me to Colossians chapter 2 verses 1, 2 and 3. Paul is writing to the Colossians. "For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, be knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of the Messiah." And look at this, what he says in verse 3.

"In the Messiah, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." You want to know the wisdom of God? It is found in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. You want to know about the knowledge of God? It is found in the person of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. The unsearchable riches of the Messiah. You know, brothers and sisters, when we are going to get to heaven, and we are going to surround Yeshua in glory as we have in Revelation 5, we are going to fall and prostrate before him and say, "Thou art worthy." Throughout eternity, we will never be able to fathom the greatness of the person of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.

The eternal Son of God, who became the Son of Man, Ben-Adam, who suffered on the tree for our sins, and redeemed us to be a people for himself. You cannot fathom the greatness of the person of our Lord. The more we will learn from Him, the more we will find out that we know just a little bit about the greatness of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. And everyone will realize this in glory, and that is why we are amazed why people reject Him, why we rejected Him in the beginning before we have accepted Him as our Messiah. So, verses 6 to 8, the mystery of the Church in relationship to the Gentiles.

Now, let's move on quickly. Verses 9 and 10, Paul is saying now, here is the mystery of the Church in relationship to the angels, to the angelic beings. You see that? Look at this. What we find out in verses 9 and 10, it says, "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus the Messiah, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenlies or in heavenly places might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God." Now, notice in verses 9 and 10, he is saying that even the angelic beings, they are going to learn an amazing truth when they see the believers, Jew and Gentiles, united together in the body of Messiah.

All men ultimately will see what is the fellowship that we have together with the Messiah. The fellowship that we have together with the Messiah, but beyond us, even the angels. Look at this. Again, I'm reading verse 10. "To the intent that now unto the principalities," those principalities are angelic beings and powers, these are also angelic beings. They are called principalities and powers, and where they are, they are in heavenly places. They are in the heavenlies. That they might know by the Church the wisdom of God. You know, angels are learning from us. When angels are seeing Jew and Gentiles, Goy and Ivri, united together, they are learning the wisdom of God.

How is it possible? How is it amazing to see in one body, Jew and Gentiles who had an animosity before, they were the distance before, now they are united together with the head, the Messiah in glory, and now they learn through us the manifold wisdom of God. You know, the angels, look at us, they see how we behave, they see how we conduct ourselves, they are learning, they are in a school, you might say, through the believers. It's not the first time we find out about angels learning from the believers. We have the famous verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 about even the head covering for the sister.

You remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 10, it says, for this cause a woman ought to have power covering over her head because of the angels. Well, angels looking at us, and when a sister cover her head, symbolically having a sign of submissiveness to headship. And when an angel is seeing there, they say, ah, ah, ah, ah, here is a lesson that we learned right here. At the place of order in the local assembly, in the local church, there is an order here. Angels look at this and they see the order among the people of God. The angels are seeing, they observe. You know, we always think of angels, the demons affect us and how demons have entered into all sorts of people in the time when the Messiah was and influenced them and so on.

Angels cannot enter into believers, but they look upon believers and they observe the believers. And through the church, they learn certain things that they have never known before. I think I'm going to read one more verse in connection with the angels. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 12 says here, "And to whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them which preach the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into." Notice that? Angels want to know how things are going among the people of God.

Now it is amazing. They desire to look into 1 Peter 1 verse 12. So angels are being affected by what's going on in the church of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So in Ephesians 3 verse 10 angels are being affected and they learn through the church the manifold wisdom of Christ or God as it says here in verse 10 of our chapter. Ephesians chapter 3. So verses 1 to 5 the mystery of the church in relationship to Paul. Verses 6, 7 and 8 the mystery of the church in relationship to the nations, the Gentiles. Verses 9 and 10 the mystery of the church in relationship to angels. And let me zoom in and now close with the last three verses, 11, 12 and 13, the mystery of the church in relationship to you and I, to believers today.

Not only to Paul, not only to the Gentiles some time ago, 2,000 years ago, but also for you and I today. How is that the mystery of the church in relationship to us? And so look at this verse 11. He says that God have a purpose for the church in the Messiah. Notice what he says in verse 11. According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. In other words, God has a purpose for the ecclesia, for the body of Messiah. He has a plan. He has a purpose for you individually, for me individually. He has a purpose for our local church groups.

But you also have a purpose for the whole church at large, the body of Messiah. It is in Christ, in the Mashiach, as it says in verse 11. In verse 12, every believer now can have the boldness to share this message with others. To whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Now we as believers, we have the boldness. Why do we share the truth concerning the body of Messiah with the head in heaven today, the church, the ecclesia? We have that boldness that has been given unto us by the Lord to enable us to do so. Maybe we have different level of boldness, some more, some less.

But Paul says we have boldness and we have access. Boldness to share with others, access to come to approach the throne of grace, to receive strength, to be able to continue on in sharing the message of the word of God with others concerning the church, the body of Christ and the head in heaven. And finally, verse 13, the Ephesians and us are exhorted not to faint, to continue on. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulation for you, which is your glory. And Paul said, don't get tired. And Paul said, don't get tired. Don't get discouraged. Don't get discouraged. Because when they look at Paul and they saw that he is in prison, they could get very much discouraged.

He says, why in the world Paul is in prison? If he has such a ministry to do, why he is in prison? But Paul says, don't faint. Just carry on. Continue on. Be a testimony to the Lord. Share the truth concerning the body of Messiah. Don't be discouraged because there is things that the Lord would encourage you to carry on to do that which the Lord has intended for you to do. And so he says to Timothy, 1 Timothy 6, fight a good fight of faith. Lay hold of eternal life where unto thou art also called and have professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give you charge, Paul said to Timothy in verse 13 of 1 Timothy 6.

In the sight of God, who quickens all things and before Jesus the Messiah, who before Pontius Pilate, witness a good confession that you shall keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Timothy, don't get discouraged. Don't faint. Carry on. Share the truth concerning the mystery of the church, the Messiah and his own people of the present day dispensation that was hidden in God and was revealed to the apostles and to you and I in these days of grace. So now when Paul finished these verses, now he's ready to burst into a time of prayer after the Spirit of God carried him and gave him the ability to share concerning the mystery and this present day dispensation in which we live in.