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THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY

Victor M. Eskew

 

            When we hear the word “mystery,” we often think of something that is puzzling, perhaps even inexplicable.  In other words, a mystery is something that is supposed to be kept hidden.  The meaning of a mystery is not supposed to be known.  Yet, there are times when the meaning of mysteries are discovered.  Scientists research to discover the secrets of mysteries.  Detectives investigate and question to find answers to crime mysteries.  Parents sometimes have to watch their children very carefully in order to uncover mysteries that seem to be happening in their homes.

            In the Bible, we find the word “mystery” in the New Testament twenty-two times in twenty-two verses.  It is the translation of one Greek word, “musterion.”  It is from a word that means “to shut the mouth.”  In the Old Testament, a word that corresponds to the word “mystery” is the word “secret.”  Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is referred to as a “secret” several times in Daniel 2 (vs. 18, 19, 27, 28, 30).  His dream was truly a secret thing.  Not even Nebuchadnezzar remembered the content of the dream.  “And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.  Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live forever:  tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.  The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me…” (Dan. 2:3-5a).  Many of us may have had a similar experience to that of the Babylonian king.   We have dreamed a dream in the night.  We wake from the dream troubled by it, but we are not able to remember the details of the dream that caused us to be afraid.  Truly, dreams of that nature are secrets or mysteries. 

            There are three nuances of the word “mystery” in the New Testament.  Let’s consider them in this article.  First, a mystery can be something that is NOT OBVIOUS or not easily seen or understood.  The parables of Jesus fall into this category.  When Jesus spoke to the disciples in parables, they were intrigued.  “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” (Matt. 13:10).  Here is Jesus’ response:  “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given” (Matt. 13:11).  Parables were designed for two types of hearts.  First, they were designed for the good hearts.  These hearts would readily hear and understand the message of a parable.  Second, they were designed for evil hearts.  These hearts would hear the words of the parable but would not be able to understand its message.  Whether the Lord’s teachings were obvious or not had to do with the condition of the heart of the hearer. “Therefore speak I to them in parables:  because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand…But blessed are your eyes for they see:  and your ears, for they hear” (Matt. 13:13, 16).

            Second, a mystery can be something that is COMPLETELY HIDDEN FROM HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.  Before the foundation of the world, God designed a plan to redeem man.  This plan involved Jesus Christ.  Peter reveals that our redemption through Jesus Christ “was foreordained before the foundation of the world…” (1 Pet. 1:20).  For thousands of years this plan was a mystery.  It was hidden from the understanding of both men and angels.  “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently…searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow…which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Pet. 1:10-12).  Regardless of how long and hard one investigated this mystery, he could have never learned its meaning.  It rested solely in the mind of God. 

            Third, a mystery can be something ONCE HIDDEN BUT NOW REVEALED BY GOD THROUGH REVELATION.  This is the dominate meaning of the word mystery in the New Testament.  Paul told the Corinthians:  “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (1 Cor. 2:7).  In verse 8, he writes:  “Which none of the princes of this world knew…”  They did not know it because God had not revealed it unto them.  Man’s eyes had seen none of those things.  Man’s ears had heard none of those things.  None of those things had ever entered into man’s heart.  They were a mystery.  “But,” Paul declares, “God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit:  for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10).

            In Ephesians 3:3-6, Paul uses this nuance of the word mystery when writing to the saints at Ephesus.  “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 fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”  Look at two phrases Paul uses in this text.  One is found in verse 5.  He says:  “Which in other ages was not made known…”  There was a time when the things Paul is speaking about were hidden.  They were a secret.  Such, however, was no longer the case.  In verse 3, Paul said:  “How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery…”  Now the mystery was revealed to Paul by God.  And, Paul wrote the mystery down so the Ephesians could understand Paul’s knowledge in the mystery of Christ. 

            All of the mystery that was hidden in the past is now set forth in the pages of the gospel of Christ.  Nothing that God wants man to know is hidden from view.  We can read of the mystery in our New Testaments.  Paul summarizes the contents of this mystery in 1 Timothy 3:16.  “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”  It is now our duty to do things with this mystery.  First, we need to hold it in a good conscience (1 Tim. 3:9).  Second, we must courageously open our mouths to make known the mystery of the gospel (Eph. 6:19).  If we do, men will come to know the eternal purpose and manifold wisdom of God manifested in the church for which Jesus Christ died (Eph. 3:8-11).