He Made Known to Us the Mystery

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." Ephesians 1:3-10

These last couple of verses intrigue me. When I read that God "made known to us the mystery" of how everything will turn out in the end, I am stumped. Why do I feel it is so mysterious? I've read Revelation several times. It fascinates me, but I don't understand it. I get the basics: Jesus is coming back. He will win in the end. The ends times will be scary. But Christ will prevail, and we will reign with Him.

I was thinking tonight about Matthew 16 where it says:

"When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."

Jesus was talking to the pharisees here. He was rebuking them. Oh, how I don't want to be a pharisee! But isn't it true? I get up every morning and look out the window to see what the weather is going to be like that day, so I know how to dress. If I feel like I can't interpret the sky, I go turn on the weather - to listen to someone who thinks they can. I depend on it to plan my day.

But how often do I plan my day around how things will turn out in the end? Are the mysteries of how things will "reach their fulfillment" still mysteries because they are really that hard to understand? or because I simply don't think about it enough.

Revelations says that the one who reads the words of this prophecy will be blessed. When I was a kid, I used to think that there was just some magical blessing that happened because it was read. But now I think there is simply a blessing in being focused on how things will reach their fulfillment.

I don't know if I will ever understand all of this until it happens, but I do know that God wants us to understand that He is coming back. That He will win. That we will reign with Him. We are royalty - heirs of God, adopted by Him and predestined for a secure future.

He wants us to have the wisdom to focus on that and let that focus trump the everyday things that get under our skin.

I'm asking God to help me with my focus today. What about you?