The text of Ephesians 3 references the “fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ” (9). While it was hidden through the ages, it was finally revealed as first came John, then Jesus Himself, and then the ambassadors that Jesus sent into the world, inspired by the Holy Spirit (cf. John 15:13-15).
Those who lived faithfully toward God, but lived and died before Jesus, “did not receive the promise” apart from us (Hebrews 11). Paul writes about this in 2 Corinthians 3:15-16, “But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord the veil is taken away.”
Peter referred to the prophets who sought to know this mystery, but Peter made clear that the prophets were ministering to those of us who live in these last days, when the gospel of Christ would be preached, “things which angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12).
So in the revealing of that mystery, we return back to our initial text in Ephesians 3. It has now been revealed “by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets” (5). This revealed mystery is encapsulated in the promise that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, “should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel” (7).
