A Mystery Kept Secret - Now Revealed

Do you like mysteries?  I do to a point. As long as the mystery is solved with a happy ending, I enjoy the investigation, search, and resolution. But, without a happy ending, I’m disturbed. This is one reason why TV season finales sometimes make me crazy.

The word mystery, according to the online dictionary, means something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. It can also be a novel, play, or movie dealing with a puzzling crime, especially a murder. Obviously, television dramas are the latter.

But, in just living we come upon mysteries – things we can’t explain. Some feel compelled to investigate because they need answers – to find each puzzle piece, assemble them, and solve the mystery. Then we are satisfied and settled.

Still, because of this desire within us to know the complete story, doesn’t it intrigue you when God speaks in the New Testament about a mystery kept secret since the world began?

The Greek word translated mystery is mustēriŏn – pronounced moos-tay’-ree-on and it carries the meaning of an imposed silence.

So, the Old Testament patriarchs were not privy to some information. Even Abraham, on the day he obeyed God’s command to offer his beloved son, Isaac, as sacrifice and God intervened, did not have the full picture. And the prophets, curious about the words they spoke, Peter says they probed and investigated the meaning and the time this grace would appear. The angels, too, were dumbfounded at this deep mystery. Yet God softly explained to all, it was not for them to understand, but for us. At the right time He would reveal His mystery.

Jesus hinted at the mystery when He said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." John 8:56. Now, maybe you think you’ve solved this mystery. But wait, Jesus, the Lamb of God, our substitutionary sacrifice, was only part of God’s mystery.

After the last supper, Jesus taught his disciples many things. Among His teaching was this statement:  “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” Yet before that He said, “…I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth…He dwells with you and will be in you.

For the disciples, the Spirit of Truth came ten days after Jesus was taken up to heaven. On the day of Pentecost, in the house where they were sitting, a sound came from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind. Divided tongues of fire appeared upon each one and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and with power. (Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1-4)

Thankfully, all these years later, this miracle still occurs. When seekers hear the voice of Jesus gently knocking at the door of their heart and they open to Him. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

With this, the Sovereign God of the Universe reveals His mystery. ”The MYSTERY which has been hidden from ages and from generations…now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  (Colossians 1:26-27) 

Why did God impose silence? To keep Satan from knowing this mystery until all was accomplished. God gave believers His Spirit and His power to live, move, and work in this fallen world, to have authority over the enemy, to fulfill God’s glorious plan, and to meet Jesus in the air.

Therefore, since you now understand the revealed mystery, this summer enjoy the refreshing breeze of our Triune God’s indwelling Holy Spirit. And then, move out mightily in His great power.