Tonight I want to look at the mystery of Gods will.  You know thats what prophecy actually is, its the revelation of the mystery of Gods activity in creation.  Jesus is that revelation.  The mystery of Gods activity is revealed in Christ, and perfected by the Holy Spirit. John says in revelation 19 that Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.  When Paul says to pursue the love of God, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.  The prophesying he’s talking about there is the declaring of the mystery of Gods will.  

Eph 1:9-10 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness 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:

The apostle Paul says the mystery of the Fathers will is he wants to gather together all things whether in heaven or in earth in His Son.  The Father wants to be all in all.  Paul says in Eph 1:23 that the Father is able to be all in all through Christ filling all things with his fulness. 

When Paul talks about God being all in all, and Christ filling all things.  He’s talking intimacy.  He’s talking communion.  He’s talking about something that’s deeply intimate and relational between God and the created order. God is eternally relational.  God is eternally Father, Son, and Spirit.  Creation is a love child born out of the communal love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and born for the communal love of the Father, Son, and Spirit.  God isn’t a principle to be worked.  God is a perfect family, a communion of love, and we were made to be the benefactors of this communion.  

Heb 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Hebrews says the Son is the brightness of the Fathers glory.  He’s the express image of the Fathers person.  He is light from light true God from true God.  

Hebrews says the Father appointed Jesus heir of all things.  He brought the Son forth to make the heavens and the earth so all things whether in heaven or in earth would consist in his person.  Thats what makes him the heir of all things.  The Son possesses the heavens and the earth in his person.  The very fabric of our being comes forth from the substance of Christ.  Thats why Hebrews says all things are held together by the power of his word.  Paul tells us in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, he says its by Christ that all things were created, whether in heaven or in earth.  He says all things were created by Jesus, and for Jesus.  He says Christ is before all things, and by him all things consist.  All things consist in Christ.  There’s nothing that was made that wasnt made by him, so everything is held together in the person of Christ.  The entire cosmos lives and moves and his its being Christ.  

We already see intimacy and communion in the work of creation.  The Son is in creation and creation is in his bosom.  The Father pouring himself out into the Son when He said “let there be light”.  The Son pouring himself out to create all things  because the Father wants to give himself to mankind and through mankind the created order.  There’s even intimacy and communion in the way God made man and the earth.  We have union and communion with the earth and all its creatures because our bodies are made from the dust of the ground.  The earth is in us and we are in the earth.  Thats why the sin of one man Adam was able to plunge all of creation into the abyss of corruption and death.  Thats why Paul says in Romans 8 that all of creation groans in travail with us desiring to see the manifestation of the Sons of God.  

The Father wants to know all of creation the way he’s eternally been knowing the Son.  He wants all of creation to be part of the eternal communion He shares with the Son, in the Spirit.  So what does He do?  He brings forth the Son to create the worlds, so that through the Son creating the worlds, all things whether in heaven or in earth are gathered together in the Sons person.  That through the Son having communion with creation, creation can dwell in Him, and the Father can give himself to creation through the Son, and creation can partake of the Father through the Son.  That just as the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, creation, through being in the Son, can partake in the same love and intimacy the Son has always been sharing in with the Father.  And through that God fill all things with themselves, and their divine nature.  And their communion with one another is all in all.  

Paul says in Colossians 1:16 All things were made by Christ and for Christ … all things were made by him, so they consist in him, so they can be fully known by the Father, through him.  And 

But something happened.  There was a detour.  Not a change in the plan itself.  Christ has always been plan A.  Theres no other plan except for Christ.  The plan can only ever be the one who is the brightness of the Fathers glory and the express image of His person.  It’s just that once Adam sowed all of mankind and the earth into corruption, the manner in which the eternal Son is able to gather all things to himself has changed.  

Heb 2:10  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.  Hebrews 2:14 echoing this same sentiment says, Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same

The Son was appointed heir of all things when the Father said let there be light.  He was appointed heir of all things to bring us to glory; to give us communion with the Father; that we can partake of the Father in the depth of His being; partaking of His glory; through Jesus. Its fitting that once mankind and creation was sown in corruption, that the Son would partake with us in flesh and blood; since he was appointed heir of all things when the Father brought him forth to begin with.  

The Father didn’t give up on His dream when Adam sowed corruption in the earth.  It’s just that now in order for the Son to gather all things to Himself, to be known by the Father.  The Son, who is eternally generated from the Father, would now have to be begotten in time as a man, joining himself to the creature, the Father communicating all that He is to the flesh of the Son, when he prepares a body for the Son, in the Spirit.  

Jesus is the Lord from heaven, he descended to our estate.  He partook of flesh and blood.  He embraced our humanity; he communed with us; he adopted our humanity into his divine person through his incarnation, gathering mankind and the earthly realm to himself.  Paul says God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.  God was in Christ gathering all things whether in heaven and earth to himself.  The Son coming into the earth as a man opening himself up to mankind.  Partaking of our humanity, pouring himself out for us at the cross, so we can partake of him.  That when the Father opens himself up to be fully known by the Son, giving of Himself to the Son, holding nothing back, and the Son opens himself up to be fully known by the Father, holding nothing back, giving all that He is to the Father at the cross.  The communion isn’t only between the Father and the Son, but now mankind and creation is part of the everlasting communion because we are in the bosom of the Son.  

This is the fellowship between the Father and the Son the apostle John is describing when he says God is love.  We have communion with the Son because the Son was made flesh, adopting our humanity in his person, and through our intimacy with the Son we are partakers of the everlasting communion between the Father and the Son.  Where the Father is eternally pouring the substance of His being; His divine nature, into our humanity through the body of Christ.  It’s a river of living water that flows from inside of us, the communion of the Father and the Son making their home in us through the Holy Spirit, eternally pouring themselves into our humanity, and through our humanity, all of creation.  Grace for grace.  

Rev 22:1  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

John the revelator sees the image of the Father, and the lamb, which is Christ, the Son of God, the Word made flesh.  John sees the lamb sharing the same throne with the Father, and out of them comes a pure river of the water of life.  A river of living water.  This is the image of the everlasting communion of the Father, Son, and Spirit … the Father is pouring himself out for creation, through the Son in the Spirit.  The Son is the lamb, having given himself to the world to know and be known by us.  The Holy Spirit is the river of living water that proceeds from the Father through the Son …. This isn’t an innovation in God; this is a function of the eternal communion that’s always been between the Father, Son, and Spirit.  The Father and the Son have communion in the Spirit, and out of that communion the Spirit comes pouring out of the Father, through His intimacy with the Son, a river of living water refreshing creation with the presence of the Father.  The eternal procession of the Spirit by the Father through the Son.  The everlasting communion of the Father, Son, and Spirit, pouring themselves out a continuous river of divinity into mankind and creation; fully immersing themselves in us, and through us creation.  

The Father opening Himself up to be fully known by mankind and the creation, through the Son, in the Spirit.  The Son dwelling in the bosom of the Father.  The Father in him and he in the Father.  Mankind dwelling in the bosom of Jesus.  Jesus in us and us in him.  And the creation dwelling in our bosom.  Us in the creation and the creation in us.  All of us in each other’s bosom, intimately knowing one another.   
And through the Father now pouring himself into us through the Son, in the Spirit, all creation is now having intimacy with the Father, partaking of all that the Father is.  It’s a co-immersion in one another.  It’s a Baptism.  God and man, and the created order being immersed in each other.  It’s a total immersion in all that the other is, and has in themselves.  A full knowing of one another.  This is the filling of all things ….. it’s the whole of the created order being fully immersed in God, and God fully immersing Himself in the created order.  

Eph 4:10  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)