Others were tortured and did not accept deliverance, so that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trials of mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered around in sheepskins and goatskins, while destitute, afflicted, and tormented. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. These all have obtained a good report through faith, but they did not receive the promise. For God provided something better for us, so that with us they would be made perfect.
-Hebrews 11:35-40
The history of faith is the history of suffering for the truth. From the very beginning of the current ages, believers suffered for their faithfulness.
Therefore I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come on this generation.
-Matthew 23:34-36
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain offered. Through this he was approved as righteous, with God testifying concerning his gifts. He still speaks through his faith, though he is dead.
-Hebrews 11:4
From Abel to the current age, the faithful have suffered everything from ridicule to death. Paul writes to Hebrew believers in the Acts Age (those awaiting the return of the King to take his place on the throne of his father David, Luke 1:32, and the restoration of the Kingdom in Israel, Acts 1:6) encouraging them in their suffering. These were also anticipating the dark days ahead for Israel in the time of Jacob's Trouble (Jeremiah 30:7) before the realization of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31).
The Lord inspired the Apostle to laud the faith of those who suffered for their faith. And he points to a future reward in the form of a "better resurrection" and citizenship in the heavenly city (which comes down to earth in an age to come, Heb 11:16, 12:22; Rev 21:9-14).
We stand with the Apostle (and the inspired text) in our admiration of those who have gone before us in faith. We rejoice in their future reward. We stand in awe of their willingness to suffer despite the surety of the great suffering and death that awaited them.
But for those of us who have stepped into the blessings of Paul's revelation of the Mystery of Ephesians 3:3, we are in even greater awe and our praises rise even higher for the blessings that have been reserved for the current age. These are blessings that God had hidden in himself, hidden from the beginning of the ages (creation, Gen 1:2).
To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ
-Ephesians 3:8-9
The blessings of God in the ages to come all originate with the Lord. They all originate in the grace of God. They all originate in the kindness and love God has for those who take his name. But biblical blessings beyond the free gift of Life through His name (John 20:30-31) are the reward of faithfulness.
We are privileged in the current age. Our riches are not only "unsearchable" they are unfathomable. We are given four dimensions. That is, that which is beyond our experience. In contrast, the blessings of the New Jerusalem is given in three dimensions, the promised land in two.
He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
-Ephesians 3:16-19
The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.
-Rev 21:16
Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.
-Genesis 13:17
We note, too, that the land and the New Jerusalem are blessings connected to the earth. These are also physical blessings. The blessings of Ephesians are spiritual and reserved in the far above the heavens.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
-Ephesians 1:3
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you [believer] the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your [believer] understanding being enlightened; that you [believer] may know what is the hope of His calling
-Ephesians 1:17-18
Paul is praying that God may enlighten those believers called to the blessings in the heavenly places.
We end by turning again to the Post Acts epistle of Colossians, chapter 1, verses 24-28. The truth and blessings and riches of the current age can be known by faith.
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus...
In the current dispensation of the Mystery Body, God is calling men into the unsearchable riches of Christ. We have no ordinances. We have no earthly hope. We look to no temple (for we are the temple). We must start with an understanding of this Mystery if we are to understand the present age and if we are correctly handle God's word (a task for which we will answer before him one day soon).
Related Studies:
- Understanding the Bible Basics
- Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth (2 Tim 2:15)
- Comparing Things That Differ in Scripture (Phil 1:10)
- How Do We Live in the Present Age
- What Happens to the Lost
- Understanding the Completed Work of Christ
- Evil Fruit of Replacement Theology
- Introduction the Parables in Matthew
- Quick Look at the New Covenant
- Scriptural Mysteries
