How to Face Your Future With Joy

How do you view your future?

Do you face your future with confidence and joy or with anxiety, even fear?

Timothy Radcliffe observes that,

The forces of death and violence do seem to be on the rise. … Anxiety mostly finds other expressions. An obsession with health and safety, the desire for everything to be measured, the fear of the unexpected, all express a deep insecurity.[1]

We all know that suffering and trial are part of life. But wouldn’t it be better to face your future—your ultimate future—with joy? For joy, we could substitute confidence, expectation, courage, anticipation, or any number of equally positive words. Joy seems to capture them all with zest.

In the previous post, we learned that the past makes sense as we view it from the perspective of ‘in Christ.’ As we listen to Ephesians 1:10, we now turn around and view the future. As before, I encourage you to read afresh the context of 1:3-14.

The text

Here is Ephesians 1:9-10 (NASB):

(9) He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him (10) with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.  

There are three terms in 1:10 that we will dig into so we can understand our text better. Those terms are:

• Administration,
• Fullness of times, and
• Summing up.

Let’s deal with each of these in turn.

“Administration”

“Administration” translates the Greek word oikonomia, which is a combination of “house” (oikos) and “law” (nomos).

BDAG[2] (697) defines this word as

the responsibility of managing, arranging, planning, ordering.

It describes the management of a household and can be expanded to refer to a nation, or as in this case, the universe— “… things in the heavens and things upon the earth.”

In our context, God is bringing all things together under one head in Christ.[3] Despite rebellion against God and the misuse of human free will, the ultimate purposes of the sovereign God will not be frustrated. His sovereignty is at work ‘in Christ.’

“Fullness of times”

Harold Hoehner comments that “fullness of the times”

has the idea of the state of being full in the sense of completeness or having reached its goal.[4]

Also note the use of the plural for times (kairos), indicating this as the culmination of all “times,” periods, or eras—the climax of cosmic history. Most likely, the completion of this fullness refers to the physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ as the King of kings, the Parousia. (See: “5 Ways the Return of Jesus Matters to You.”) 

“Summing up”

The Greek word anakephalaioō is rendered as “summing up.” This word is only used twice in the Bible, here, and in Romans 13:9. In classical Greek literature, this term was used in mathematics for the sum or total and in speech as the main point of an argument.

Lynn Cohick helpfully remarks that the word

… intends a sense of complete cosmic unity accomplished in Christ. All that is brought together is free of any evil, full of the joy only bounteous grace can provide. All share harmoniously in the Beloved as each element and being in the heavens and on earth enjoy their created purpose. Paul does not promote a universalism of salvation outside of Christ, nor is Paul particularly interested in the individual here. Rather he is concerned to show the all-sufficiency of God’s power to make all things right and God’s unfailing love to accomplish this purpose (see also Rom 8:22-24).[5]

With an emphasis on ‘in Christ,’ Peter O’Brien adds,

Now in vv. 9 and 10 the stress is placed on the one in whom God’s overarching purposes for the whole of the created order are included. The emphasis is now on a universe that is centred and reunited in Christ. The mystery which God has graciously made known refers to the summing up and bringing together of the fragmented and alienated elements of the universe (‘all things’) in Christ as the focal point.[6]

As God’s purposes in cosmic history are revealed ‘in Christ,’ God’s ultimate purposes will be fully realized ‘in Christ.’

A summary

Let’s reinforce what we have been learning.

In Ephesians 1:9, God has been at work all along to redeem and reconcile his Creation, and He has done this (and continues to do this) ‘in Christ.’

In 1:10, God continues to manifest his sovereignty by strategically administrating events so that His ultimate purposes are fully accomplished ‘in Christ.’ In the “fullness of times,” He will deal with all sin’s alienation, injustice, and destruction through the redeeming, reconciling, and glorifying work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Knowing the end

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie when you knew the ending?

You might not know any of the twists and turns, confusion and pain, defeats and victories of the main character, but you do know how the story ends.

Ephesians 1:10 is like that. It’s a “spoiler” of sorts— it tells us how the story of cosmic history ends. Its culmination is the absolute victory of our God in Jesus Christ! That also means that for everyone ‘in Christ,’ the story ends well.

The vital question for you is, “Are you ‘in Christ’?” If you answer ‘no,’ or if you are not sure, I recommend you watch and act on the video “From ‘in Adam’ to ‘in Christ.’” You can also read and act on the helpful booklet, The Four Spiritual Laws.

If you are ‘in Christ,’ there is no doubt you will experience disappointment, injustices, suffering, and a whole lot more— but you can face your ultimate future with joy.

If you have anything to add, you can write using this link.

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Notes: 
[1] Timothy Radcliffe, Alive in God: A Christian Imagination (London, UK: Bloomsbury, 2019), 83.
[2] BDAG refers to Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd edition.
[3] Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 217.
[4] Hoehner, 218.
[5] Lynn H. Cohick, The Letter to the Ephesians, NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2020), 108.
[6] Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 112.

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