Revealed in Jesus

The previously hidden mysteries of God are revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, and especially in his Death and Resurrection.

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.

[Sun Rays - Photo by Davide Cantelli (Bologna, Italy) 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 Time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” – (Galatians 4:4).

The God of Israel did disclose truth and principles in the elaborate rituals and sacrifices of the Levitical code and the “Law and the prophets.” 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 foretold the coming salvation that would be revealed in the Messiah, though they did not comprehend all the implications of the promise. Even the angels of God 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 IS THE TIME!

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, Jesus of Nazareth.

The “Law and the Prophets” were vital parts of the Divine redemptive plan, but in them, many of God’s “mysteries” remained hidden and enigmatic. The Mosaic Law - its priesthood, rituals, and sacrifices - was an interim stage in Salvation History:

• ”In Jesus 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 of Jesus were appointed as his ministers 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 Christ's coming, the rituals and regulations of the Mosaic legislation were relegated to the status of “shadows and types.” Jesus is the Messiah and Savior who was foreshadowed by the “types” of the Hebrew Bible. He is the substance that the ancient men of God anticipated by 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 or progress, a return to bondage under the “elemental things” of the old era. The promise of a New Covenant meant that the old one was deficient and always destined to disappear, and the inauguration of this New Covenant by the Messiah demonstrates that the former covenant has become obsolete - (Galatians 4:8-11).

• “In saying, of a new sort, he has made obsolete the first, but the thing that is becoming obsolete and aged is near disappearing” – (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.”

• “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” – (John 1:14).

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 Christ for all men to see.

Moses gave the Law, but “grace and truth came to be in Jesus.” In him, the knowledge, nature, and glory of the Father are disclosed. No one has seen God except the only born Son who alone, therefore, is qualified to “interpret” the Father. The fullness of the Creator of all things is found only in the “face of Jesus Christ” – (2 Corinthians 4:6).

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SEE ALSO:

• Jesus, the True Tabernacle - (Jesus is the Greater Tabernacle in which the presence and glory of God dwell and manifest for all men to behold – John 1:14)

• The Divine Glory - (Ever since the Word became flesh, the Divine Glory has been manifested in Jesus of Nazareth, and all who follow him behold it – John 1:14)

• Seeing God - (Jesus is the interpretive key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures, Bible prophecy, and the Mysteries of God. He alone reveals the Father)

• God's Fullness - (The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found only in the Word made Flesh, namely, Jesus of Nazareth)