“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:8-9).
For anyone who might have the idea that the Christian Age with Jesus at its center was a spur-of-the-moment decision by God the Father, this verse should convince otherwise.
God did not just realize the Mosaic System was not working as He had hoped, causing Him to implement a newer system under Jesus that might work better. This newer system was in the mind of God “from the beginning of the ages.” God does not make mistakes.
Since the older system did not have the atoning factor—that is, the voluntary shedding of the blood of a perfect human being to satisfy for forgiveness—God had in mind all along to offer His Son as such a sacrifice. This sacrifice is the central part of the Christian system.
And it is this system that was the core message as Paul preached “the unsearchable riches of Christ” among the Gentiles. He felt deeply grateful that God had extended him this special “grace”—that is, this special privilege of making know this mystery that had been hidden in God.