In Eph. 1:9,10 Paul makes a statement regarding the mystery which has baffled many students of the Word:

“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.”

This will be the glorious consummation of the mystery but we, of the dispensation of grace, are to show men and angels that true oneness is to be found only in Christ (Eph. 3:9-11).

The world knows nothing of this perfect oneness and, indeed, the Church does not experience it — except in Christ. There is no true oneness anywhere — in the world or in the Church — except in Christ. We might illustrate this by two members of the body: our two arms. They hang from opposite sides of the body yet work together as one. But wherein lies their oneness? The answer is: In the head. It is the head which makes my arms and hands operate as one, and so our oneness as members of Christ’s Body, is in Christ, the Head. It is the recognition of Christ as our Head, then, and this alone, that can make us one, experien- tially. Thus the Apostle says:

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5).

Soon enough the Lord will take us out of this world and all those events will transpire which will finally bring in “the fulness of [the] times,” when all in heaven and earth will be “gathered together in one… in Christ”! “What a day of rejoicing that will be”!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.