There are two parts in the mystery: 1. All things shall be put under the headship of Christ. 2. The Church, which is His body, will have part in the inheritance. We shall be before God according to the perfection of His nature. Christ having been put to death, God and the sinner have met together. But here it is rather a question of the accomplishment of the mystery of the will of God for the glory of Christ. The Church will have part in the inheritance. "In whom," it is said, "we have obtained an inheritance"; but the whole of the mystery is not the Church only, and this is very simple if we receive the thoughts of the Bible; not, indeed, that we shall understand the whole extent of the glory, but we shall see that all things created are to be gathered together in one in Christ.
In the epistle to the Colossians Christ is presented as Creator; the Person of Christ is in the prominent place rather than the counsels of God as to the Church. Christ is the first-born of every creature, and the first-born from the dead; Head of His body, which is the Church. But here, in the epistle to the Ephesians, it is the privileges of the Church in Him which we are given to know. In verse 6 it is said that what we possess already is to the praise of the glory of His grace; and in verse 12, where He is speaking of the glory to come that is before us, it is said, "that we should be to the praise of His glory." The Church has a portion quite apart and most glorious. All things are to be gathered together in one in Christ. The Church, being united to Him, is made partaker of the inheritance, that we should be to the praise of His glory. The glory of God is understood by its being seen in us; and the world will then see that we have been loved as Christ is loved.
Verse 12 might seem a difficulty, where it is said, "We who first hoped in Christ"; but he is here speaking of the Jews, who have believed before the revelation of Christ to the nation, at His second coming, and before the national call to the Jews at the end: such of the Jews as have believed, as have hoped beforehand, they are glorified with Him.