God always wanted the church to bless the angels with his nature. It was the eternal purpose.

“10…so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord…”

Ephesians 3:10-11.

When did God come up with the plan for humans and angels? Forever ago. When did God want the plan to occur? Now, 2023.

When will the plan of God for humans and angels filled with Himself end? Forever from now. It is the eternal purpose.

Sin was a detour. Free will was a necessary risk. Salvation was a necessary work.

Hell was an unfortunate consequence.

Angels were created for the fullness of God. Humans were created for the fullness of God.

It is the eternal purpose made real in Christ Jesus.

Any other goal, any other direction, any other purpose is misleading. It is deceptive. Not because it may be wrong but because it is not true north. It does not lead us to the goal of God which was forever in his mind.

Our goals and our purposes, and Christianity’s goals and Christianity’s purposes find their measurement against the eternal purpose. How aligned are the saints and churches to the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus? Is there a place for filling the saints to the fullness of God (Paul didn’t say miracles and emotions) so that from the saint can be seen the wisdom of God? It is much easier to define Christianity according to the works it does, the words it uses and the great need of salvation in our time. But Paul skips those elements for the essential writing of Ephesians. To what will we measure ourselves and Christianity by if not the very book written to let us see past ourselves and our time, and out into the forever place and forever space of the mind and wisdom of God? May God recapture the eternal purpose in the mind of his people.