God truly has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Perhaps the question needs to be asked: How has God done this? The answer is very clear in the Scriptures: He has done this through His Word, which is His Revelation. In the context of Ephesians 1:9–12, His revealed Word is called the “mystery.” God has given this mystery to His saints, those who believe His Word, those who enter into His Truth. He gives wisdom and intelligence in divine things which none of the unredeemed has ever had in all the ages of the past. While there were numerous saints of God in former times, none has had the intelligence in divine things which we ought to have through the fullness of God’s Word today and the insight appointed for the End Time of the last days. Even the angels were never given a complete revelation of what was coming; nonetheless, they are learning the wisdom, the counsels, the purpose of God, as they behold His grace displayed in us. We are not to view divine mysteries simply as lines of truth upon which to exercise our human intelligence; we are to be sanctified through the truth. The Word is given by God for the spiritual man as well as for sight for the times of history.
The mysteries of the Word of God are hidden and none can understand them until they are revealed. God’s ministers are to become the “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1). From this treasure of God’s Word we are ever to be drawing out “things new and old” (Matt. 13:52, the Old Testament and the New Testament). As stewards through prayer and honorable study, we must open up these mysteries to God’s people so that they may enter into the good of them.
God’s Economy
As this context continues, Ephesians 1:10 mentions “the dispensation of the fulness of times.” In this article we must carefully mark, what is a dispensation? The word dispensation is used a number of times in the New Testament. There are several English words used to translate the Greek word oikonomia: stewardship, order, administration, and dispensation. From this Greek word oikonomia we also gain our English word economy. This passage could easily be written as “That in the economy of the fullness of times He might head up everything in Christ.”
What is an economy? An economy is “an ordered condition of things.” Domestic economy is the ordering of a house; but the economy of one house is not necessarily the economy of every other house. Then there is political economy. The ordering of the affairs of one nation is not the economy of another. The economy of Soviet Russia is not that of the USA. These nations have their own ways of ordering their affairs, and if one came from Soviet Russia to the USA and attempted to order his conduct according to the economy of Russia, it would not be tolerated here. It might be lawful and right over in Russia, but not here in the United States. The term economy also means “a managing of affairs and resources so as to avoid waste; a management.” In theology, economy or dispensation is the method of the divine administration of the world by God Himself, especially as it affects a particular nation or time period in history.
The Bible gives evidences of various economies running throughout the Word of God in the light of history. Although the theological system of Dispensationalism has limited and confined the term to its own presupposition, the truth of dispensation must be seen from a biblical perspective in its broad meaning. A dispensation, an economy, then, is that particular order or condition of things prevailing in one season of time which does not prevail in another season of time.
It must be made clear that there is a difference between a dispensation and an age: an age is a period of time in which a particular economy of God prevails. God’s dealings or management of His providences, His approaches to man, His dealings with man or His own people change from age to age. His purpose and plan may be the same, but when man changes or the age changes, God may change His economy or dispensation of dealings with humanity.
There is coming the “dispensation of the fullness of times” where another economy of God will arise—it will be the last glorious age, that of the Millennium. We read in Ephesians 1:10, “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.” How important it is for us to understand our own age, and the economy of God, His ways and doings in the light of our age. One of the great problems in any generation is that professing Christians tend to believe that God is presently working the same as He did in a previous generation. I must come to know the mystery of the will of God for my age, and how the economy of God is to be seen for my age, my generation. Augustine, back in the early 400s, made a staggering observation: “Distinguish the ages, and the Scriptures are plain.” We must make a distinction between the ages of history, and thus the Scriptures will become plain in their understanding.
We must understand that the Bible is a unit of Truth, composed in our English Bible of 66 books; everything that God wants us to have and know is in it. It is the total Great Conversation of God with man. It covers many generations, many ages, many centuries, and many segments of history. It presents over 5,000 disclosures, over 8,145 prophecies, along with many shadows and types.
Sometimes distinctive seasons are found within an age: God’s economy is filled with blessing, success, prosperity, and increase; in other seasons His economic methods are the opposite. Therefore, I must be careful how I interpret the various economies, when they happened, and come to know why God dealt a certain way with humanity or with Israel or with the Church the way He did. I must be careful as to what becomes my example, my exhortation, my pursuit, my pattern, and not automatically think what I have read is what I am to do today, or that God is going to do the same thing as He did in a previous time period.
God’s economy or His workings may not be the same from one generation to another when it comes to His providences. Principles of truth are the same, but the dealings of God may be different from one generation to another because man is different, the moral climate is different, and the spiritual climate is different. How often the modern evangelist goes to the Book of Acts and proclaims that what we read of those days should be happening today (thousands coming to Christ) and that the movings of God’s Spirit will produce the same results. Others will write and exhort the need today for the same move of God that came in the Great Awakenings or in the Evangelical Revival of the 1700s. We read in the Bible of great moves of God; and we read in the Bible of what seems to be no movings of God. We read in the Bible of many coming to Christ in evangelism; and we read in the Bible of the falling away with few coming to Christ.
What do I do with all the scriptures? Do I interpret them the way I want them to be, with the hope that this is the way things will turn out? Or must I honestly view the times in which I live and find the scriptures that honestly describe my times? Everybody reads the Bible and comes up with something different. A Richard Roberts can read it and come up with prosperity and healing. A Joel Osteen can read it and come up with God always wanting to lift us up in self-esteem. A John Piper can read it and come up with Christian Hedonism. A Benny Hinn can read the Bible and come up with the belief that a mighty move of God is coming to America very soon that will transform this country and overthrow the Muslims. A Rick Warren can read the Bible and believe that the Church is going to take over the world. A Pat Roberson can read the Bible and believe we can enact the promises of the Millennium now if Christianity can take over the White House. All professing Christian movements have found their scripture verses and tell us this is what is going to happen.
In contrast, when reading the Bible we see we are in the prophecies of the End Time of the last days. We see that the institutional Church is in a global apostasy, that all the compartments of life in a public context on this planet have been destroyed. We do not see that we are in days of revival or some great awakening in America. Fundamentalism has gone so far in its falling away that there will be no return to its former days of glory before God. In fact, the new Fundamentalists do not want to even return to such days. We read the Bible and its disclosures and see the country of America with no hope of recovery. It has rejected biblical Theism and entered into the explosion of a New Theism; yea, even its public Jesus is one contrary to the Bible. We see that we are in the days of Noah—where the godly and ungodly are mixing the seeds, where the imaginations of the thoughts of man’s heart are only evil continually. We see that we are in the days of Lot—where sodomy is beginning to pound on our very doors, crying out for the possession of our children, our schools, and even our churches. Yes, this is where we are today, according to the Scriptures!
Thus we must find out how God is working in this age and what His economy is now. I remember the former days of my childhood and youth when God healed me of polio; after being paralyzed from my waist down, doctors told my parents I would never walk again. God healed me instantly early one morning in a polio ward with no one present but Himself. I also remember several years later when a large church furnace exploded in my father’s face totally disfiguring his face; I remember the stench of burnt flesh so strong that it was difficult for us to stay in the same house with him. Yet one week later, early one morning, God instantly healed his face completely without any remaining scars. Although there have been other healings in the past, we are not now seeing in God’s present economy or dispensation such healings as frequently.
I witnessed in my early years of the ministry many coming to the Lord in almost every service; but it is not as evident today. Among the staggering statistics of the Neo crowd, where are the truly radically changed lives? At the time when I was called into the ministry, there were many other young people being called as well. How few today are receiving callings into the ministry? It seems now that there are more individuals leaving God and the Truth than coming to the Truth.
We can note a similar change of economy in God’s ways by comparing the opening and closing of the Book of Acts. Early in Acts there are obvious, outward displays of miracles and conversions by God; toward the close of the book we do not read the evidence of as many coming to Christ and not as many miracles. The question needs to be asked: what was the difference between the two economies of God in those two seasons of time?
In the light of these candid observations, we must distinguish the ages of the past from this present age. If we discern this truth, it will cause the Scriptures to become plain. But if we do not see this truth, the Scriptures will be confusion to us, or we will be in a quandary with our ministries and the slow growth in our evangelistic endeavors. What most evangelists do today is leave much of the Scriptures out in their messages and not even deal with the passages declaring the apostasy and its powerful effect in the End Time. Many hyper-evangelists today limit the verses of their preaching in order to accommodate the massive, public show of the Church today and the popularity of the Contemporary Christian Music. One minister told me recently that if he preached according to the Bible and its principles, there would be but few attending his services.
We must in this economy discern how God really is presently working; we must discern what is true and what is false. We dare not look to the modern church to find out what God is doing, but directly to the Scriptures. We must find the “mystery of His will” for this dispensational season of history.
The Mystery of His Will
One of the great enigmas of the theological systems throughout church history has been the various concepts of the “will of God.” One of the problems has been the misunderstanding concerning the term itself. This is a classic example where the Greek language will help to dispel these misunderstandings and bring insight to the word and how it is to be applied.
Though several terms are used, there are two which become prominent for this burden of truth. There is the Greek word boulema, which declares “a deliberate design” or “that which is purposed.” This would be a “decretal will” of God or His will that is unalterable. The Calvinists draw heavily from this concept of the will of God. Decretal will is found in Romans 9:19: “Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?” No one can resist the boulema of God.
Nevertheless, there is another word of equal importance used in the New Testament, and we must carefully acknowledge when and where it is used. It is the word thelema. It is used to define the “wish will” of God from His heart. It is His desire, His will for our lives. God’s “wish will” (thelema) can change as man responds; however, his “decretal will” (boulema) is forever unalterable. Thelema is God’s declaration, “I want you to do this.” Man may or may not obey the “wish will” of God. God will never coerce me in this will of His. When seeking the will of God for my life, I am seeking His thelema will, His desire. I can follow it or I can refuse it (with consequence). Yes, man has the power within his own will to reject and make null-and-void this will of God for His life.
Second Peter 5:9 states, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” This word willing here is not boulema, but thelema. Though it is God’s will for all men to be saved and to come to repentance, He will not coerce them nor force them to do so, even if it is His wish will from His heart.
There are passages in the Bible where both boulema and thelema are used: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). The first “willing” is the Greek word boulema—“If thou be willing,” your decretal, unalterable will. The second “will” is the word thelema—“nevertheless, not my [wish] will but thine [your thelema], be done.” In Romans 12:2 we read, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” This is not three different wills, but according to the Granville Sharp Rule, this is three descriptions of the one will of God. The word here is not the decretal will of God but His heart’s wish will for a person’s life. It can be accepted or rejected by the individual.
It is thelema not boulema that is used in Ephesians. Note carefully the verses where this term is used:
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God (1:1).
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will (1:5).
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will (1:9).
. . . who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will (1:11).
Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is (5:17).
. . . but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart (6:6b).
In all of these passages it is not the decretal will of God, but His wish will from His heart. Men can accept or reject this will of God.
Perhaps a final passage can be viewed in Acts 13:22 and 36, where both words are used. In verse 22 we read, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” This word for “will” is also thelema. After looking back over David’s life, the summation of that life is that he fulfilled the wish of God for his life. Yet in 13:36 we read, “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God.” In this verse the word for “will” is boulema. It was God’s divine appointment and decree for David to live and serve God in an appointed generation of history.
Therefore in the burden of Ephesians chapter one, we must come to know the mystery, the revelation of God’s will for this generation, and how to fulfill the will of God for this generation. Yet, we can resist it, reject it, and turn our back against what we know (according to the Scriptures) that we need to do and preach in this dispensation of God. We must get in harmony with it, and no matter what the church says or how Fundamentalism falls away, we must come to know God’s will through Scripture, the mystery of God, and live in accordance to it. I must find the mystery of that will within the mysteries of God.
I am not in the Millennium, I am not in a Fourth Great Awakening, I am not under a Christian President in Washington, I am not in a revival in Fundamentalism, I am not witnessing the greatest hour of the Fundamentalist schools and colleges, and I am not in an economy of God where He is being accepted by the world or even by the institutional Church. Dare we say today that we do not even live at a time when the last bastion of Truth on the planet, the Fundamentalist movement, is in touch with God. Nevertheless, I must see God’s economy at this time in history and must get in harmony with it. I must find His will and do it in my generation: in my living, in my preaching, in my stands, in my witness, and in my separations both from the world and from disorderly brethren. Others may not see it because of their secret heart-rejection of Truth; and in light of this, God is withdrawing insight from them concerning the mystery of His will.
We all will have to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ for what we saw in the Bible, and what we believed was revealed to us as the will of God for us to live. If we read it, see it, and then back off from it, we will eventually lose the sight or insight of it. May the Lord enable us in this economy of God in the End Time of the last days to know “the mystery of His will.”