In Ephesians 3:7-10, the Apostle Paul writes about the ministry he has received from God. Of course, that ministry includes preaching the gospel message to early churches, like the church in Ephesus. However, another part of his ministry often gets overlooked: making known the power of the church in the heavenly places. Ephesians 3:8-10 reads: “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
The church on earth has the power through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit to reveal the wisdom of God not just to human beings but to angels and demons too. Even though we live in a physical world where the spiritual realm is mostly unseen, the church on earth affects it by revealing God’s plan. John Stott, in his commentary on Ephesians, puts it this way. “It is as if a great drama is being enacted. History is the theatre, the world is the stage, and church members in every land are the actors. God himself has written the play, and he directs and produces it. Act by act, scene by scene, the story continues to unfold. But who are the audience? They are the cosmic intelligences, the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. We are to think of them as spectators of the drama of salvation. Thus, the history of the Christian church becomes a graduate school for angels.”
Have you ever considered the power of the church? It’s not simply a gathering of people joining together for worship and fellowship. It’s not merely a society joining together to figure out how to ‘do good’ in the community. Those are all good things, but there is more. Paul says that the church, the unity we have in Christ, and the grace revealed in the gospel are seen in the unseen halls of the heavenly realm, where they powerfully display the mystery of the wisdom of God, the gospel message that Jesus saves. When you are part of the church, you are part of God’s ongoing plan of Revelation. Think about that the next time you come to church for worship, because your worship, as part of the church, reaches farther than you know.