Aloha Dearest Family,
Most Christians understand and acknowledge that Jesus Christ died, was resurrected and ascended to God’s right hand more than 2,000 years ago. And most also know that sometime in the future, there will be a final judgement for all men and women. The righteous will live in paradise forever and the ungodly will be destroyed.
But what about the gap between these two monumental events? What does the Bible say about THIS time period that you and I are now living? The answer is wrapped up in a Mystery.
What Mystery?
In
the Bible, God mentions a mystery, a sacred secret, that NO ONE knew but God
alone. The Old Testament does not mention it and the prophets of old never
wrote about it. This is because it was a secret that was “hid in God” from
before the world began.
“Now to him that is of power to stablish 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)
“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)
“The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations…” (Colossians 1:26a)
This mystery God kept to Himself. A secret so precious that, had the devil know about it, he never would have crucified Jesus Christ.
“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 rulers of this age knew (the devil spirt realm); for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (I Corinthians 2;7 and 8) (WOW!)
This mystery that was hidden by God since before the world began, was finally revealed to the Apostle Paul.
“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; (here it is) That the Gentiles
should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in
Christ by the gospel:” (Ephesians 3:4-6)
This is the mystery that had been hidden in God alone for eons of time. This may not seem like a big deal to us today, but to the first century church, it was earth shattering. We must remember that Israel had been God’s chosen people for thousands of years. Gentiles (anyone who was not of the house of Israel) were excluded from the promises of God. Gentiles were considered by Israel as filthy dogs. They were common and uncircumcised, the scum of the earth. This is how Judeans viewed anyone not of the seed of Abraham – unclean dogs. But now, because of the work of Jesus Christ, anyone that confesses Jesus as their Lord, is now a fellow-heir and in the same body (the body of Christ) and partakers of God’s promises. The new birth changed everything. Salvation was now open to EVERYONE. Now whether you were a Jew or a Gentile, you could now have “Christ within”.
This is why, if the devil would have known this secret, he never would have crucified Jesus Christ. Jesus could only be in one place, at one time. But now everyone who is born again has CHRIST IN YOU. (Colossians 1:27) So whenever a believer walks in, Christ walks in. Satan would rather have had Jesus himself to deal with than to have tens of thousands with the spirit of Christ within.
The NEW BIRTH was the mystery that God had kept hidden for so long.
Living in the Age of the Mystery.
The
new birth was the secret of all secrets and it has been available since
the Day of Pentecost, over two thousand years ago. Remember that this period in
time that you and I are living was known to God alone, therefore He did not
have it recorded in any of the ancient scriptures. However, many Old Testament
prophets did try to find out about this time period but could not find it. By
studying the scriptures, they knew there a time gap between Christ’s suffering
and Christ’s glory. But all they knew was that there would be a period of grace
when the spirit would be within people; but they knew nothing about it or how
long it would last.
“Concerning this salvation (the Mystery of the New Birth), the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow…. even angels long to look into these things.” (I Peter 1:10, 11 and 12b)
Even the angels of God longed to look into and discover what the mystery of this period of time was but even they could not find it out – because only God knew it.
It wasn’t until after the day of Pentecost
that God could reveal His most closely guarded secret to the Apostle Paul. The
greatness and magnitude of this mystery is written about in Paul’s seven church
epistles - Romans through Thessalonians.
WE are living in this time period that was kept hidden since before the world began. We are living in the Age of Grace where salvation is open to all, where forgiveness is available to everyone and eternal life is given to all who have confessed Jesus as their Lord. This is the time where the spirit has been poured out freely to all of God’s children, guaranteeing their future in paradise to come.
Love Always Ray
No comments:
Post a Comment