Mysteries Revealed

The Bible speaks of the “mysteries” of God, His ways that are hidden from human wisdom and defy our expectations. As Jesus declared, not everyone can understand the “mysteries of the Kingdom.” It is God who reveals the deep and obscure things to whomever He pleases, and in His Son, He has done so for all men to see. The previously hidden mysteries of God are revealed in Jesus, especially in his Death and Resurrection.

[Photo by Davide Cantelli on Unsplash]

God did not disclose a full understanding of His redemptive plans until the appropriate time. Indeed, the disclosure of His plan to save humanity marked the arrival of the era of fulfillment, the “Fullness of Time”:

• “Now, to him who has the power to establish you according to my gospel, even the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, in age-past times kept silent, but now made manifest” - (Romans 16:25-27).

• “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” – (Galatians 4:4).

God did disclose truth and principles in the elaborate rituals and sacrifices of the Levitical code and the “Law and the prophets.” But those earlier words were partial, promissory, and preparatory. The substance of the Gospel was foreshadowed in the words and images of the former covenant. As the author of Hebrews wrote:

• “In many parts and many ways of old, God spoke to the fathers in the prophets, but upon the last of these days, He has spoken in a Son…” – (Hebrews 1:1-2).

The prophets did foretell the coming salvation that would be revealed in the Messiah, though they did not comprehend all the ramifications of the promise. For that matter, even angels lacked full insight into the mysteries of redemption:

• (1 Peter 1:10-12) – “Concerning which salvation prophets, who concerning the grace for you did prophesy, sought out and searched out, searching into what particular or what manner of season the Spirit of Christ which was in them was pointing to when witnessing beforehand as to the sufferings for Christ and the glories after these, to whom it was revealed that, not to themselves but to us they were ministering them, which things have now been announced to you… into which things angels are coveting to obtain a nearer view.”

NOW

But now, the “mystery” that was concealed has been revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, and at the appointed season. Above all, the mysteries of God have been unveiled in the Death and Resurrection of His Son.

The “Law and the Prophets” were vital parts of His redemptive plan, but in them, many of His “mysteries” remained hidden and obscure. The Mosaic Law was an interim stage in Salvation History:

• ”In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, disclosing to us the mystery of his will, according to his good -pleasure which he purposed in him” - (Ephesians 1:7-9).

The Apostles were appointed as the ministers of Christ and sent to proclaim the “Mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations, but now has been manifested to his saints.” This disclosure was the “riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”- (Colossians 1:26-27).

With his coming, the rituals and regulations of the Mosaic legislation were relegated to the status of “shadows and types.” Jesus is the one who was foreshadowed by the “types” of the Hebrew Bible. He is the substance that the men of God of Antiquity anticipated in faith:

• “Let no one, therefore, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths, which are A SHADOW OF THE COMING THINGS, and the body is of the Christ” – (Colossians 2:16-17).

Returning to the outmoded rituals and partial truths of the old system would be regression, not revelation, a reversion to bondage under the “elemental things” of the old era. The promise of a New Covenant meant that the old one was deficient, and its inauguration by the Messiah demonstrated that the former covenant had become obsolete - (Galatians 4:8-11, Hebrews 8:13).

Neither should believers turn to mystical practices such as the observation of lunar cycles for deeper insight into Divine Mysteries. In “these last days,” the nature of God and His “mysteries” are revealed fully in His Son, and they are available to anyone who hears the word that God is “speaking in His Son.”

The “Mystery” that the prophets and angels desired to understand is unveiled to all men and women of faith. What is required is not secret knowledge or mystical insight, but the “obedience of faith.” The Mystery “not made known in other generations has now been revealed” in Jesus, the “Word made Flesh,” for all men to see.

Moses gave the Law, but “grace and truth came to be in Jesus.” In him, the knowledge of the Father is disclosed. No one has seen God except the only born Son who alone, therefore, is qualified to “interpret” the Father. The fullness of Yahweh, the Creator of all things, is found only in the “face of Jesus Christ.”

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• His Name is Jesus - (The name Jesus means ‘Yahweh saves.’ In the Nazarene, the salvation promised to Israel has arrived in all its glory)

• God has Spoken! - (God spoke His definitive word in His Son, Jesus of Nazareth. All previous words spoken in the prophets were preparatory, promissory, and partial)

• The Word Made Flesh - (The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found only in the Word made Flesh, Jesus, who alone has seen the unseen God – John 1:14-18)