The Mystery

Realize Who You Really Are!
(It’s a Mystery...)

'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'-1Cor. 2:7,8

Everybody loves a good MYSTERY; the more difficult to solve, the better. Well, how about the greatest MYSTERY ever known to man? How about a MYSTERY that existed for 4,000 years and no one, not even Satan, who is called ‘the god of this age’ nor any of his ‘princes’ (or high commander devil-spirits) could figure out? How about the fact that, as a matter of fact, this MYSTERY was, and is, THE primary purpose of the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation!

Now my personal-favorite TV detective was always ‘Columbo’. Not only did I admire his analytical style, but I also really enjoyed the format of those stories, where you already knew ‘whodunit’, how and why; The fun part was witnessing just how the trench-coated lieutenant figured out the puzzle while the villain did everything he could to evade the detective’s keen wit.

We have a similar situation here, as: we have a deed that’s already been done, a MYSTERY which has already been revealed and an enemy who’ll do anything he can to keep us from finding out how badly he’s blundered! We need to become that kind of detective who won’t give up but who’ll search out and find every detail, who won’t be fooled by the enemy’s deceptions, dogging the trail until we find the truth; So let’s put on our trenchcoats and start digging God’s Word!

The fruit, or results, of this MYSTERY were first spoken of in the Old Testament, but the first really juicy clue we find is in the gospels at the time our Lord Jesus began His ministry. When He reached the age of 30, He was baptized by His cousin, John and He received the spirit upon him; Then God’s Word says that the Lord was led by that spirit into the desert where He was (unsuccessfully) tempted by Satan himself for 40 days while He fasted.

After that, it says the Lord ‘returned in the power of the spirit’ to His home state of Galilee and became well known for His teaching in their synagogues; When He came to His hometown of Nazareth where people thought of Him as the illegitimate carpenter’s son and a member of a ‘bad family’, going into the synagogue to teach on the Sabbath, the Lord stood up and read from Isaiah the exact words which announced the purpose of His ministry, found in Luke 4:18-21:

'The spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.' and he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them 'This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.' '.

The Lord read from the scroll the words which had been written by His Father specifically for Him to read on this day! Isn’t that awesome? But even more wonderful is the perfect accuracy with which our Lord handled the Word! The place He found in Isaiah is marked in our bibles as Chapter 61:1,2, but the really remarkable thing is what He didn’t read! If you look at the end of verse 2 in Isaiah you will see that He actually stopped right in the middle of a sentence!

What verse 2 says is: 'To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, AND the day of vengeance of our God'! Why didn’t He read the rest of the statement? Do you think He made a mistake? Do you think maybe He just got tired of reading? I don’t think so. Jesus quoted the scripture many times, verbatim, without error ('Know ye not?', 'Have ye not read?', 'It is written!') and He didn’t even have a bible He could carry around with Him to look it up; But here He was with the scroll right in His hands! What happened?

Elementary, my dear Watson! 2Timothy 2:15 says:

'Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'

The Greek word translated 'rightly dividing' means “right or correct cutting', the inference being that there is only one way to cut or divide it! That’s exactly the way God’s Word is. Many people believe, and even teach that you can interpret the bible however you want to. This cannot be the case because it says right in your own bible, in 2Peter 1:20 that the first thing we must know is that:

'no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.'

That means exactly what it says! No one has the right to interpret God’s Word! Not you nor I nor Billy Graham nor the Pope nor anyone! The reason for this is given in the next verse:

'For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.'

The prophets of God and the men who wrote the scriptures down did not just make it up! The process is described many times in the old testament. God would talk to the prophet; 'Say unto my people', and then the prophet would go and repeat what God had told him to say word for word! That’s exactly how all scripture was given!

Our Lord Jesus Christ handled God’s Word accurately. Even when Satan tried to tempt Him by twisting the words of the scripture, trying to deceive and mislead him, the Lord answered him with the exact words which proved that what the devil was trying to say couldn’t be true! God’s Word is perfect and it cannot contradict itself because 'God is not a man that He should lie'! (Num.23:19)

When the Lord read the scroll of Isaiah up to that point, closed the book, sat down and said 'This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears', He meant exactly what He said! This is what the scribes and Pharisees and everybody else could never 'rightly divide'. They never saw that there was a gap that existed between 'the acceptable year of the Lord.' which referred to the coming of the Messiah and 'the day of vengeance of our God' when Jesus shall come back to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! (which is still coming) It was, and is, THE MYSTERY! Luke 17:20a:

'(And) he (Jesus) was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come'

Even His own apostles never quite caught on. They were always arguing among themselves, who among them was the greatest (Mat. 9:34, Luk. 9:46) because they truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah and, in their minds, the coming of His kingdom was going to happen any day and they all wanted the top positions of power! In Luke 19:11b:

'because they (the apostles) thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear'

Jesus tried so patiently, time after time, to make them see that He had to die on the cross and that He would be raised, as in Luke 18:31-34, but they just couldn’t seem to understand. Take a good, hard look at verse 34:

'And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.'!

Were they stupid?! The answer is: in a way, Yes!; But to understand why we must, once again, go to God’s Word for the answers. We began this study in 1Cor. 2:7&8. Let’s pick it up now in verse 9:

'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 searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God, for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him’ Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual, but the natural man (without spirit) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned, but he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man; for who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he (the spiritual man) may instruct him (the natural man) But we have the mind of Christ.'

The apostles did not (yet) have holy spirit (like we do now) and, according to what we just read, without spirit, they just literally couldn’t ‘receive’ what Jesus was saying because what He was telling them were ‘spiritual things’! Even after the Lord’s resurrection, on the day He ascended into the heavens, they were still ‘in the dark’! Acts 1:6:

'When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel'

You see, being the Lord’s ‘cabinet’, so to speak, they were all looking forward to becoming men of position and power. They had a vested (selfish) interest in the Lords kingdom coming to power. (This didn’t mean they were evil, just very human (and spiritless)) Can you imagine their surprise when, after they had seen Him crucified and then seen Him raised from the dead, as they were standing there, He was taken up into the sky right before their eyes! Even our friend, Columbo, would’ve been scratching his head at that point!

Ten days later the practical part of this wonderful MYSTERY came into being when the first people became ‘born-again Christians’ on the day of Pentecost and the ‘dispensation’ (or age, or administration) of grace, the gap between the 'acceptable year of the Lord' and the 'day of vengeance of our God' began!

Later this MYSTERY was first revealed to the apostle Paul who, in turn revealed it to us in the epistle of Ephesians 2:19-3:11:

'Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household (family) of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone; In whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation (home) of God through the Spirit. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation (administration) of grace 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; (here it comes!) That the Gentiles (all those who couldn’t be God’s people before!) should be fellowheirs, 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 (and for) Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers (the devil’s kingdom) in heavenly places might be made known by the church (the called-out people of God) the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed (decided and planned) in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

Paul was given the task of revealing the answer to this MYSTERY which 1Peter 1:12 says was 'your salvation (wholeness) which ‘even the angels desired to be able to look into’, and which ‘in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men’, which ‘from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God’ and, here, in Ephesians he had the incredible privilege of proclaiming it for the first time to anyone, anywhere!

Then, In Colossians 1:25-27 God’s Word states something very significant which few Christians even realize, much less truly claim! Here, in an epistle of correction (for the purpose of bringing people back to the ‘right doctrine’ of Ephesians) setting forth the ‘riches of the glory’ (the practical reality for you and, in effect, who you really are) we find:

'I am made a minister, according to the dispensation (administration) of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; Even the MYSTERY which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but NOW is made manifest to his saints (That’s you! One who is set-apart): to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this MYSTERY among the gentiles; which is (This is it!!) CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY’!!!

Man, Oh man, let’s throw a party! Let us rejoice at the awesome wisdom and mercy and LOVE of our God! Don’t you see that this was His plan from the beginning of time? Just think of it! As I showed you at the start of this sharing, 1Cor. 2:8 states that ‘none of the princes of this age (The devil and his kingdom) knew (THE MYSTERY); for had they known it, they would NOT have crucified the Lord of glory’!!

Why? Thanks for asking.

Remember when they were having the trial of Jesus and Pilate offered the people the choice between Jesus and the murderer, and the Jews (the Pharisees) demanded that our Lord be crucified? Just pure logic, or even a little good old common sense should tell you that these guys were being inspired and directed by God’s enemy, the devil!

Just as he had possessed the mind of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus (as he’d done to all the other key players along the way), there at that ‘trial’ he was making sure that, against all sanity and reason, Jesus would be crucified! For 4,000 years Satan had been doing everything he could to stop the coming of the Messiah, to ‘cut off the seed of David’; Then, when Jesus was born, Satan inspired (possessed) the mind of Herod to commit the horrible atrocity of killing all those male infants in a desperate attempt to slay one child only! Then, the bungled attempt to personally confront and tempt the Lord in the desert!

Picture the typical ‘Columbo’ villain; He’s planned and he’s plotted; He’s tried to trick and deceive his victim; He’s made repeated, failed attempts to murder the guy and botched it every time; Then, at the trial, when Pilate is doing everything he can to ‘wash his hands’ of the situation and find a way to get out of condemning what he believes (rightly) to be an innocent man by offering the people, according to custom, a choice of who they might allow to go free rather than pay the penalty of their crime.

The Law of Israel was very clear on what to do with a murderer: ‘And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death’ (Lev.24:17); Yet, Jesus had not committed any act, nor could He justly be accused of anything that even came close to justifying such a penalty as crucifixion! The villain is now cursing, grinding his teeth, wringing his hands and tearing his hair out! He’s desperate, and in a last-resort maneuver, he throws caution (and deception) to the wind and inspires the very people who were supposed to judge and command that the law of God to be carried out, against all logic, to openly approve the release of a murderer in place of an innocent man!

BUT, what that stupid devil didn’t know was that three days later God would raise His Son from the dead!; And then (after 40 more days) ascend Him to be seated at His right hand of blessing, glorifying and empowering Him as Lord. Then God really cut loose as He began pouring out His Spirit on the day of Pentecost upon all who believe, (and He’s still pouring) and, thereby, forming a ‘Body’, one by one, of spirit-filled sons and daughters, all directed by ‘this same Jesus’ as the Head or ‘brain’ of that Body, directing us as we yield to Him as our Lord and Savior! (Take a look at Ephesians 4:4-6!)

Finally, when it was way too late for ‘old splitfoot’ to do anything about it, Jesus revealed it to the apostle, Paul, so that you and I would know and understand our calling and our salvation: That when you were saved and you received the Holy Spirit, you also were ‘glorified and empowered’ by His grace (or unmerited favor); That you were given all the LOVE and power and authority of Jesus Christ himself to heal and to help and to completely deliver others ‘from death unto life’ by, in turn, leading them to Jesus; and that you would be, individually and collectively, with your brothers and sisters in Christ, ‘As He is in this world’! (1John 4:17)

When our Lord walked this earth, He was one man. From the enemy’s point of view, in terms of practical reality, if Jesus was teaching in Nazareth, for example, he (the devil) didn’t have to worry about the Lord healing or delivering anyone in Jerusalem, because, although He was (and is) the Lord, He was a man and, therefore, could only be one place at one time!

Now, because He sacrificed His life for us, there are millions of us with the same (His) ability and wisdom at our disposal! HE LIVES IN US WHO BELIEVE! Now, where there once was only one Son of God, every time the enemy turns around, there’s another one, and another, and another, all taking their direction from that same Lord, Jesus Christ, ‘walking in LOVE’, as He walked, all over the world, delivering the prisoners of Satan ‘from the darkness into the light’!

Exactly how He accomplished this is a beautiful thing. Not only did Jesus fulfill every prophecy concerning Him, He also fulfilled every single requirement under the law for His and our salvation to be complete and undeniable.

First, by His loving sacrifice, we are fully redeemed, which means, literally, that our debt was paid in full for us! We cannot pay, or be held accountable for that debt, because the payment has already been made! Eph. 1:7:

‘In whom (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.’

Secondly, in His resurrection, the Lord was (and, also, we were) cleansed, and thereby sanctified (or set-apart) and, thirdly, justified so that we can ‘come boldly before the throne of grace’. 1Cor.6:11:

‘And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.’

These three conditions had to be legally fulfilled because each and every one of us had to be made righteous- 2Cor.5:21:

‘For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.’

-so that we could carry out the ministry of reconciliation! 2Cor.5:17-20:

‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: (creation) old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new and all things are of God, who hath (already) reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.’

Reconciliation, or ‘bringing (us) back together (with God)’ only became possible after Jesus Christ paid the price of His blood (his death) for all mankind.

Once we believed, we received the full reward He earned by His obedience! (see Rom.5:8-21) We became Ambassadors for Christ with the ministry of reconciliation committed (and limited) to us and what we do and do not do by our free will! God is not going to send an angel or a prophet or even a burning bush to communicate His LOVE to man in this day and time! If anyone is going to be reconciled to God, it’s going to have to be by you and by me, because He ‘hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation’!

But, why do you care whether anyone is reconciled’ Good question! The reason is because when you were saved and received holy spirit, you also received ‘the mind of Christ’ (1Cor.2:16) and the qualities of His heart, as well as the ‘tools’ to do the job; (Nine of each!) Gal.5:22,23:

‘But the fruit (result) of the spirit is LOVE, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.’

Note that the first one listed is LOVE! This is why you care! You love because, and only because God's spirit lives in you. Love is not a human quality. It comes from God for 'God IS love'!

Your ‘tools’ are found in 1Cor.12:7-11:

‘But the manifestation (NOT gifts) of the Spirit is (are all) given to every man to profit withal, for to one (profit/benefit) is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he (that man) will(s).’

Eph.1:15-19a:

‘Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and LOVE unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know 1) what is the hope of your calling, and 2) what (is) the riches of the glory (Col. 1:27) of his inheritance in the saints, and 3) what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe'

Eph. 5:1:

‘Be ye therefore followers (imitators) of God, as dear children; and walk in LOVE, as Christ also hath LOVED us, and hath given himself for us; an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.’

The people who had no holy spirit inside them, before Pentecost, and therefore, no LOVE, needed to be told not to kill each other, not to lie, not to steal, and so on. They were prone to do such things! You have holy spirit, and therefore, LOVE, inside you and you are prone to heal rather than kill, to speak the truth in love rather than lie, to give rather than steal!

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not die on the cross for nothing! He accomplished something! He literally gave you a new nature plus the power and authority of His Name to do the job! You don’t need to stop sinning so much as you need to start LOVING! (‘It’s In Your Nature’)

Yes, you can believe me, or better, much better, believe God, that, had that devil known this wonderful MYSTERY was, he never, ever would have crucified our Lord, Jesus Christ because now it’s:

CHRIST IN YOU, The Hope Of Glory!!!

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