The word “mystery” may invoke a mental picture of Sherlock Holmes piecing together clues to solve a crime, but the term means something that has been hidden in the past that is now revealed to all God’s saints. Paul uses the term “mystery” several times in his letters, but here one can’t help but wonder if the word was chosen because the false teachers at Colossae believed there were spiritual mysteries available only to a select few. But the secret kept for ages and generations was not that you needed special wisdom or worship of many angels and spirits; the mystery is that the Messiah would equally come for both Jew and Gentile. The Old Testament prophets revealed that the Messiah was coming. However they envisioned a warrior, mighty to save them and restore their nation. What they did not understand was that the Messiah would not only come for all mankind, but He would dwell in the very bodies of those who believe. The mystery is that even the Gentiles, who were completely outside of covenant with God, become fellow spiritual heirs through the Gospel.
The sad truth is that most people today fail to realize the wonder and awesomeness of this mystery. Some chose to disbelieve it all together as just another religious fairy tale. Even believers forget what an amazing thing it is that we would be grafted into the family of God when we deserve to remain so far outside the covenant that he should view us as enemies. The common trend is to believe we deserve good things in this life and the next when all we really deserve is destruction! Despite this, God has chosen us to be "the temple of the living God, just as God has said, 'I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people.'” (II Cor. 6:16) Isn’t it amazing that a perfect God would chose to dwell not only among us through Christ, but within us through the Holy Spirit? Every person with whom we come in contact should be coming in contact with the hope of glory within us!
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:16-19
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