"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory."
Ephesians 1:3-12
We turn now to the nature of the eternal purpose in view in all this, what Paul calls the inheritance that is ours in Christ (10, 11). The fullness of the time we may take as referring to the glorious consummation at the end of all things. But what does dispensation mean? The word in the original means 'the management of a household or family'. It is a word referring to administration, and it has sometimes been translated as 'stewardship'. This is a significant picture that we are given: the thought is of the entire universe being the Father's House, with the stewardship of that House and the administration of all its affairs, being committed to the Son as the sole Dispenser of its affairs, with all things finding their fulfilment and perfection in and through Him. This wonderful thought gives a new dimension of depth to the great prophecy in Isaiah 9:6, '… and the government shall be upon His shoulder'.
But there is something even more wonderful, and it is this: J.B. Phillips translates 11 as follows: 'And here is the staggering thing - that in all which will one day belong to Him we have been promised a share (since we were long ago destined for this by the One Who achieves His purposes by His sovereign will) so that we, as the first to put our confidence in Christ, may bring praise to His glory'. This is the prospect before us! Well might Paul break into a glad doxology and 'speak well of' such a God and such a Saviour!