The Great Mystery

                                                                                                                                            

Aloha Dearest Family,

In the Bible there are many mysteries. But only one can truly be called "The Great Mystery"!. Now a mystery remains a mystery until it is revealed, 

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever..." (Deuteronomy 29:29a) 

This is certainly true regarding God's Great Mystery, the Lord's "sacred secret". A mystery so secret that only God alone knew until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul. Let's look at a few verses.

"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:" (Ephesians 3:9)

"Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began." (Romans 16:25).

"Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints." (Colossians 1:26)

The Bible tells us that this mystery was "hid in God". God was the only one that knew this secret. I Corinthians tells us a bit more about this mystery. 

"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (I Corinthians 2:7 and 8) 

The phrase "princes of this world" in this verse refers to the devil and his devil spirits. Not even the devil and his hosts knew the mystery, for had they known it, they would not have crucified Jesus Christ. This was a very BIG deal. What could be so important that God could not reveal it to anyone and needed to keep it hidden from the devil?

To find out what this mystery is we need to go to Ephesians chapter three. Paul writes,

"If ye have heard of the dispensation (administration)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 before in few words, hereby, 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;" (Ephesians 3:2-5) 

After many ages and generations, God is finally revealing this mystery to the Apostle Paul. 

"That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:" (Ephesians 2:6) 

This is the secret that God had hidden in himself from before the foundation of the world. Now, you may say, "Uh, I don't get it. What is the big deal?" I didn't get it at first either until I learned how the Gentiles were looked upon by the Jewish people.

Before this time there were only two types of people in the world, Jews and Gentiles. Israel were God's chosen people and if you were not of the house of Israel you were a Gentile. The Jews had great animosity toward all Gentiles. Jewish people considered Gentiles dogs, defiled and unclean. Jews never hung around with Gentiles and certainly never ate with them. Jews never ate with someone that they considered their inferior. Furthermore, Gentiles could not enter in the Jewish courts of the temple without facing the death penalty. Jews held Gentiles in continual contempt because they were the "uncircumcised" and therefore excluded from all of God's blessings. But everything changed on the day of Pentecost.

On the day of Pentecost, when anyone believed on Jesus Christ, that person was filled with holy spirit, which allowed him to walk like Jesus Christ, doing all the signs, miracles and wonders that he did. This is why if the devil would have known this mystery, he would not have crucified Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ could only be at one place at one time and the devil would rather deal with Jesus Christ himself then tens of thousands of believers all around the world with "Christ in them." This is also why Paul's words were so earth shattering to the Jewish people. The Jews thought salvation was exclusively for them (after all, Jesus Christ was their Messiah). They could never have dreamed that God would open salvation to everyone, whether they were Jews or Gentiles.

To give you a bigger picture of all of this, take out any map of the world. Now, find the country of Israel on the map. You will find that Israel is a miniscule country compared to all of the other countries on earth. This is how big God's plan was. God had now opened up salvation to the entire world and Jesus Christ now became the savior to all man-kind, not just to the Jews . There is now no difference between anyone else in Jesus Christ. 

"There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28) 

We are all the same in Christ and we can all walk in the power of Jesus Christ. This is the secret that was hid in God before the foundation of the world. The age that you and I live in is the greatest secret the world has ever known.

Love Always, Ray

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God." (I Corinthians 2:9 and 10)