Hidden But Now Revealed: A Biblical Theology of Mystery

On no. 1, re: Ephesians, make note of the overtones from Isaiah (esp. Ch. 1, Ch. 57). Second, in the rhetorical flow of Paul's argument in Ephesians that shifts from Jews to Gentiles, the point of Eph 2:3 is to describe Jewish Christians like himself who were formerly dead. Paul teaches the mystery that in Messiah the Jew and Gentile converts are made equals in the new eschatological order of the inaugurated new creation. Jesus taught it to the Twelve upon returning to the house after having told the Parable of the Sower to "those outside," where he rehearses the Isaianic language of spiritual death due to idolatry. We cut to the chase today with Federal theology; simply emphasizing creation, fall, redemption, new creation. But the first emphasis in Paul is on Jews, like himself, who had to come to terms with the fact that they were spiritually dead. Adam's rebellion is recapitulated in Israel who get exiled. What's worth noting very early from Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy is the cluster of verbs used to denote creation, as in Gen 1, and notice their repetition in the speaking to, separating and naming of Abraham. And then also to note their order being reversed to denote "destruction" as judgment and exile, with the naming of Adam and Eve, separating, and final speech of YHWH in Gen 3. You'll note the same use of "destruction" language in Exodus and Deuteronomy where in the first instance it denotes judgment and exile from God's presence as Temple at Sinai and later as exile from the land as the LORD's sacred space. Familiarize yourself with inaugurated eschatology, creation-destruction language in the Bible, John's use of kosmos across all the Johannine literature, Paul's use of the same (kosmos), and think carefully about the places in the NT where kosmos (world) and ktisis (creation or "heaven and earth" as in Eph 1) occur together or in close proximity. It also helps to understand something about the way that Genesis describes the formation of a cosmic temple and Eden as the holy of holies. The way that that gets expressed in Jewish intertestamental/rabbinical lit is embellished quite a bit, but the Temple idea is still central, though Torah is thought to uphold creation and creation was thought to have expanded out from the "navel" of the Temple in Jerusalem. That'll help you understand several of Paul's points in Ephesians. If you don't feel like doing a bunch of legwork, buy or get from the library GK Beale's NT Theology and read Part 1. Once you've done a basic analysis of how biblical words are used on the Bible's own terms, you can revisit the purpose of Israel's creation in the first place and think about God's world purposes through Israel. That will help make sense of the Prophetic language where on the one hand the LORD cannot allow Israel to put his plans at risk, and on the other, how his love and justice require their exile. But his justice doesn't outrun his love, as in Isa 57. Though by the same token, the Prophetic testimony makes it clear that judgment is coming upon Jerusalem in the Day of the LORD. The message centers clearly on the call to repentance from idolatry for anyone between now and then in order avoid being swept up in the judgment, when again the LORD will execute a salvation though judgment patterned after the Exodus. In that day the repentant righteous will be vindicated for all they suffered and they will join the LORD as light to the Gentiles. They together will rebuild the Temple that will fill the earth, because the original creational goal of bringing creation to perfection, through human agency - filling creation with glorious image bearers - will re-commence.

Third Mill has some decent stuffGospel Coalition has some good stuffBiblicalTraining.org has some good stuff (you have to know who you're looking for) No matter what you do, buy these: https://www.amazon.com/According-Plan-Unfolding-Revelation-Bible/dp/0830826963https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-But-Now-Revealed-Biblical/dp/0830827188https://www.amazon.com/Story-Retold-Biblical-Theological-Introduction-Testament/dp/0830852662