I want to welcome you to "Part 2", concerning and continuing our theme of; 'The Mystery.' Numerous times, I've seen that when a person starts to learn their Bible, they discover that there is a bushel full of mysteries contained in it. The one I hear people talk about the most is "When is the end of the world coming? Really? Who knows?
Now I am talking about me, Pastor Paul, of Suburban Community Church here, when I say that I think the second mystery people try to decipher the most is 'Who is the Anti-Christ and when will he appear?' I get that one a lot.
Then last but not least (not to be out done by biblical mysteries) is the question that alot of America's mom's ask anybody who might be able to help them, 'How can I get my kids to eat broccoli? Now that is a great mystery.
All kidding aside, none of the above questions concern the great mystery that I am referring too. The mystery I am eluding to is a mystery that the prophets tried to see, tried to figure out and tried to understand, but could never enter into it.
In 1 Peter 1:10-12, Peter wrote, "This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ's suffering and His great glory afterward.
There was still something God was planning....there was something else hidden in the heart of the counsels of the Almighty that the prophets looked ahead to, yet couldn't seize, they couldn't understand it, they couldn't grasp it; it escaped them. There was still something more and they couldn't reach it.
Let's continue on in the reading, They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you (those of us ahead of them), And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Now look at this, it is so awesome...It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen! The angels knew there was something yet in the counsels of God, and they couldn't understand it, this 'mystery.'
Look at Acts 1:11, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" Do you see it there? The angels says, "This Jesus ascending into glory shall descend back to earth in the same way that you saw Him go away." There in that tremendous verse you can see two very powerful works of God.
The one is: THIS SAME JESUS: the life of Christ here on earth, His incarnation, His miracles, death, resurrection and ascension. Then following that great statement is the second powerful work, "shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." The angel speaks in one breadth, side by side in almost the same clause about these two works. But that is all they knew. And what they saw was all they could know. God gave them only a glimpse. The prophets saw this as well. They understood these two works, but that was all they could see: the one, the life of Jesus on earth, His sufferings and death - - and the second His coming back, the consummation of the ages, His descending from the clouds. These were great revelations to them but they were just glimpses. And to some of the prophets it was so far away, so vague, so much in the distant future, they could see nothing else. To them they stood together, side by side, one taking place after the other or both taking place at the same time. It was a mystery to them.
But those events are not the mystery I am talking about. Go ahead you can ask. ?Well what is the mystery then? (let's do that in our concluding part 3)
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
The Mystery, Part 1
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of
Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the
grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.
Ephesians 3:1-12
He says in the third (3rd)verse, “That by revelation God hath made known unto me the mystery…which is that in other ages it was not known unto the sons of men, but it is now revealed that the Gentiles shall be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel” [Ephesians 3:3-6].
Then in the ninth verse, God committed to him this gospel message”
To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known through the church this mystery, this manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Ephesians 3:9-11]
Paul says there is a
divine purpose, which he calls “a mystery,” that God hid in His own infinite
counsels, and no one knew it; not the principalities and powers in heavenly
places, least of all the prophets and the saints of the earth.
This great mystery was only made known when the day of Paul came and his fellow holy apostles. That’s a strange and unusual thing; because back in the Old Testament are prophecies, lots of prophecies, many prophecies of the purposes of God in the ages that were and are to come.
Yet Paul says that this thing that has been revealed unto him is a mystery that no one in heaven and no one in earth knew, until it was revealed at the time appointed.
That word “mystery,” a musterion, is not the kind of a thing that we describe or define as a “mystery.” To us a mystery is an unfathomable, inexplicable secret; nobody knows what it is. You can’t understand it.
That word musterion in the Greek language, translated “mystery” here, isn't used the way we know it; its not even close. The word is taken by Paul from the mystery religions. In the day that Paul lived, the whole Grecian-Roman world was filled with mystery religions. They were all over the regions Paul labored in, rooted in darkness and evil, designed to keep men in bondage and oppression to false idol gods.
And the word musterion, the word mystery, that our apostle is using here, refers to a secret that was known but only to the initiators. And when a man was initiated into those mystery religions, the secret of the religion was revealed to him. And that revelation, that secret, that thing know to them but unknown to the others, they called a musterion. It was something that was hid until it was revealed to certain people. Now that is the exact meaning of the word of Paul here in the third chapter of Ephesians. He uses the word musterion to refer to a great secret that was hidden in the counsels of God, and a secret that no man could learn by reason, by rational study, by scientific probing. It was a thing that no man could ever have known except were it revealed by God Himself. Now what is this great mystery that Paul refers to as having been kept in the secret counsels of God from the beginning of the creation? (Sept. 6th,2014, the rest will be continued in Part 2) (Reminds me of the teasers they do during the evening news!!)
How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.
Ephesians 3:1-12
He says in the third (3rd)verse, “That by revelation God hath made known unto me the mystery…which is that in other ages it was not known unto the sons of men, but it is now revealed that the Gentiles shall be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel” [Ephesians 3:3-6].
Then in the ninth verse, God committed to him this gospel message”
To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known through the church this mystery, this manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Ephesians 3:9-11]
Paul says there is a
divine purpose, which he calls “a mystery,” that God hid in His own infinite
counsels, and no one knew it; not the principalities and powers in heavenly
places, least of all the prophets and the saints of the earth. This great mystery was only made known when the day of Paul came and his fellow holy apostles. That’s a strange and unusual thing; because back in the Old Testament are prophecies, lots of prophecies, many prophecies of the purposes of God in the ages that were and are to come.
Yet Paul says that this thing that has been revealed unto him is a mystery that no one in heaven and no one in earth knew, until it was revealed at the time appointed.
That word “mystery,” a musterion, is not the kind of a thing that we describe or define as a “mystery.” To us a mystery is an unfathomable, inexplicable secret; nobody knows what it is. You can’t understand it.
That word musterion in the Greek language, translated “mystery” here, isn't used the way we know it; its not even close. The word is taken by Paul from the mystery religions. In the day that Paul lived, the whole Grecian-Roman world was filled with mystery religions. They were all over the regions Paul labored in, rooted in darkness and evil, designed to keep men in bondage and oppression to false idol gods.
And the word musterion, the word mystery, that our apostle is using here, refers to a secret that was known but only to the initiators. And when a man was initiated into those mystery religions, the secret of the religion was revealed to him. And that revelation, that secret, that thing know to them but unknown to the others, they called a musterion. It was something that was hid until it was revealed to certain people. Now that is the exact meaning of the word of Paul here in the third chapter of Ephesians. He uses the word musterion to refer to a great secret that was hidden in the counsels of God, and a secret that no man could learn by reason, by rational study, by scientific probing. It was a thing that no man could ever have known except were it revealed by God Himself. Now what is this great mystery that Paul refers to as having been kept in the secret counsels of God from the beginning of the creation? (Sept. 6th,2014, the rest will be continued in Part 2) (Reminds me of the teasers they do during the evening news!!)
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