(Notes of an address.)
Rom. 16:25-27; 1 Cor. 2:7-10; Eph. 3:1-10; Eph. 5:25-32; Eph. 6:19-20; Col. 1:24-28; Col. 2:1-3.
Earlier, beloved brethren, we were occupied with the great truths mentioned in Romans 16:25. We looked first of all at PAUL'S GOSPEL, and saw how that God has come out in grace for the blessing of men, laying the basis in redemption in divine righteousness, so that He can justify the believer in Christ and set him before His face, where no charge of guilt can be brought against him. Among the special revelations given to Paul, we considered the truths unfolded in 1 Corinthians 15, "Behold I show you a mystery," and the rapture of the saints to heaven as communicated to the saints in 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul says, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord." These precious truths, and many more, were ministered in the Gospel by the Apostle Paul, as Christ's chosen vessel, who was called to preach "The gospel of the glory of Christ."
Then we considered THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY. We thought of the many ways in which Christ is brought before us in the Old and New Testaments; in the Psalms, by Isaiah and other prophets; by the four Evangelists and by the Apostle Peter. Then we contemplated the special way in which the Apostle Paul was privileged to see the Lord Jesus, and enabled to make Him known; a presentation of the Son of God that was peculiarly his own. In Ephesians 1 he presents Him in relation to the Mystery of God's will as the Man of God's counsels; in chapter 4 he shows the personal greatness of Christ, Who was powerful enough to enter into the stronghold of the enemy in the lower parts of the earth, then ascend far above all heavens that He might fill all things. From Colossians 1 we gathered something of the pre-eminence of the Son of the Father's love, Who is the Head of the body, the assembly; then saw Him in Colossians 2 as the Head of all principality and authority. In all these Scriptures, the Headship of Christ is seen: for it is as the Head that He is presented according to the revelation of the Mystery.
Let us now consider the great truth of THE MYSTERY. In Romans 16 we read that the Mystery was kept secret since the world began." It was a very great secret, which was neither revealed nor hidden in the Old Testament; it was not disclosed to Abraham, the friend of God; nor was it revealed to Moses, to whom God made known His ways; David did not know it, nor did Isaiah or any of the sages or prophets of ancient days. But "now" says the Apostle, it is "made manifest, and by prophetic Scriptures, according to commandment of the eternal God." The great secret of the ages has come to light, and is preserved for us in the writings of the New Testament, for these are the Scriptures alluded to here. God Himself has given the commandment, not only for the revelation of the mystery, but also for its maintenance in the inspired Word of God, so that it might be handed down to us in all its purity. Much of the inspired word was communicated to Israel, but this precious truth is "made known for obedience of faith to all the nations." Only faith can lay hold of the truth, so that what has been revealed by God is still unknown to those who know not the heart of God.
The word mystery is not used in Scripture in. relation to what is mysterious, as men speak, but rather to present some distinctive truth that God has disclosed for our understanding. What is contained in the mysteries of the New Testament, and there are a number of them, is for the enlightenment of the saints, but only those with faith can profit by these divine unveilings; only the faithful are initiated into their truths; only those who have the Spirit of God have the capacity and the power to lay hold of the mind of God thus revealed. God desires to bring you and me into His secrets: do we desire to know them?
In 2 Corinthians 2 the mystery is brought before us in a special way, "the wisdom of God in a mystery." The wisdom of God is hidden from the men of this world, and hidden in the very language that conveys it to the Christian. This hidden wisdom reveals to us the things that God had "predetermined before the ages for our glory." These wonderful things do not belong to earth or to time: they were in the mind and heart of God before the ages of time, and they were for the enrichment of those that the great men of this world think nothing of. It would not have been surprising if the Scripture had said these things in God's hidden wisdom were for His own glory, or for the glory of Christ; but how surpassing wonderful that He had plans to bring the weak things He had chosen, the ignoble and the despised of the world, into brightest glory with Christ His own beloved Son. But such is the wisdom of God! Our glory will not be found in this world: it will be with Christ in the ages yet to come. The things that God has given to us, that are so glorious, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have (they) entered into the heart of man." Our place down here, beloved friends, is in rejection, the outside place of shame: but "If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him."
This hidden wisdom lies entirely outside the natural vision of the man of this world: he had not the perception to discern it; its fame has never been heard by the learned or the noble: nor have the things it has prepared for the saints of God ever been conceived by the wisest or by the princes of this world. All has come to us through the Spirit of God, who searches into the depths of the divine treasures to reveal them before our wondering eyes. Moreover, we have received the Spirit which is of God that we might freely enter into these heavenly things that He has given us. Revealed by the Spirit, and communicating these spiritual things in a spiritual way, they are left for us in the divine record by inspiration of God, in words taught by the Spirit of God. The actual terms of the mystery are not brought out here, but there is sufficient to show its heavenly character and its eternal existence in the mind and heart of God.
When the Lord disclosed the truth of the mystery, He chose a special vessel to whom to reveal it; this we learn from Ephesians 3 where Paul says "By revelation the mystery has been made known to me." On the way to Damascus, the Lord said to Saul "why persecutest thou me?" and this doubtless contains the essence of the truth of the mystery; the saints on earth are livingly united to Christ their Head in heaven; but the revelation of which the Apostle speaks here would be given later. It was a revelation peculiar to himself; it had not been given to the twelve by the Lord on earth, and even if Paul said "It has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets" he adds, "in (the power of the) Spirit." His revelation was directly from the ascended Head of the church, and this because of "the administration of the grace of God given" to him towards the Gentiles. He was the vessel specially chosen to preach among the Gentiles the Gospel of the unsearchable riches of the Christ, and to enlighten all with the things concerning the mystery.
The administration of the grace of God of which the Apostle speaks embraces his whole mission. Having spoken of the details of the mystery in Ephesians 3:7, he says, "Of which I am become minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me, according to the working of His power." Then he speaks of this same grace in relation to the Gospel in verse 8, "To me, less than the least of all saints is this grace given …" His double ministry, of the Gospel and of the mystery, was in divine grace communicated according to the working of the power of God; it was thus wrought effectually in him for the accomplishment of the service given him to do.
In verse 6 we have the details of the mystery concerning the place that the believing Jews and Gentiles share jointly as heirs, in relation to the one body, and as regards the blessings of the Gospel. The mystery of God's will, in chapter 1 shows the place that Christ Himself has in the purpose of God; this chapter shows the place that Jew and Gentile occupy together; chapter 5 speaks of the "great mystery — concerning Christ and the church."
Here then are things "which in other generations" have "not been made known to the sons of men." Jewish and Gentile believers of this present dispensation share together, without distinction, without discrimination, in a wonderful inheritance. This does not refer to the inheritance to which Abraham was called, and of which Isaac, and Israel became the heirs; an earthly inheritance into which Israel entered, but from which they were cast out because of their sins. That earthly inheritance will yet be possessed and enjoyed by the nation, under the New Covenant. The inheritance of which the mystery speaks is a vast one, in which the saints have part with Christ. It is brought before us in Ephesians 1:11, "In whom we have also obtained an inheritance." "The Holy Spirit of promise — is the earnest of our inheritance," and God desires us to know even now, "The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Eph. 1:14, 18). Earlier we saw that the Lord Jesus has been set down as Head over all things, and it is in this place the church shares all with Him as co-heirs. If we search the Old Testament through and through we shall not find the slightest hint that men would share such a wonderful inheritance with Christ in heaven: it was a deep secret, hidden in the heart of God.
Then there is the joint-body, formed of Jewish and Gentile believers of this dispensation. Neither in the Old Testament, nor in the Gospels, have we this precious truth hinted at; it was part of the mystery, hid in God, and given to the Apostle Paul to minister. It is not only that there is one body, but that it is jointly composed of Jew and Gentile. Over and over again in Paul's writings the truth of the body is brought before us: it is of immense value to the saints, and is the ground of our gathering at the present time, even as it was the ground of the saints' gathering at the beginning, that is, from the time that the truth of the assembly was ministered by Paul. Regarding this, we read in 1 Corinthians 10:17, "For we being many are one bread, one body: for we all partake of that one loaf;" then in Ephesians 4:4, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." This one body is Christ's body (Eph. 1:23; Col. 1:18); it is united to Him, the Head in heaven. What a wonderful privilege for the youngest believer in Christ to know: he is part of that one body of which Christ is the Head.
Another blessed part of the truth of the mystery is that Jew and Gentile are together joint-partakers of God's promise in Christ by the Gospel. We might well ask what this promise is. Is it the promise made by God when in Eden, He promised a deliverer, the seed of the woman? No, it was not that promise, though it is in the same Person the promise was made. Was it the promise given to Abraham in connection with his seed? No! but it is indeed in the true Seed that this promise is fulfilled. The promise in Christ that has come to us in the Gospel is brought before us in 2 Timothy 1:1, "The promise of life which is in Christ Jesus," and also in Titus 1:2, "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." The Apostle John also refers to this promise saying, "And this is the promise that He hath promised us, life eternal" (1 John 2:25). The eternal life that was manifested in the Son of God on earth is now the portion of Jew and Gentile jointly, as having received the Gospel of God. Eternal life, as brought before us in the New Testament, is something entirely new so far as this world is concerned. It was with the Father in eternity, and was never seen on earth until it was manifested in the Son of God. The Old Testament saints had life from God, but it was of quite a different character. Life for Abraham was in relationship with God as Almighty; life for Moses and the saints of his day was in relationship with Jehovah; life for us is in relationship with the Father and the Son, even as we read, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom thou hast sent (John 17:3). J.N.D. said that charcoal and the diamond are the same chemically, but very different in form. So it is with life: all life is essentially the same, whether for Abraham, Moses or ourselves, but the knowledge of God made known in the Son is something very different from the knowledge of the Almighty or of Jehovah. Paul usually speaks of eternal life in connection with the coming day; it is as yet "The blessed hope," for it will be fully realised when, with our glorified bodies, we enter into the Father's house.
In connection with the mystery, we learn in this chapter, Ephesians 3, God's present purpose in the creation. From other Scriptures we learn that God created the earth, and formed it, that it might be the platform on which to work out His counsels of grace. Something of this comes before us in Proverbs 8 where the Lord Jesus as Wisdom, the Man of God's counsels, looks forward to the time when he would become Man. He says, "Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him … rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth." Why did He rejoice in the habitable part of God's earth? Was it not because He would there tell out what lay in the heart of God, and lay in redemption the basis for the accomplishment of all His counsels? But here, the purpose of God in creating all things was to make known now to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places His manifold wisdom. What a wonderful secret is this that God has let us into! We are living in the very time when, in the church, in you and me, and all the saints of God of the present day, God is displaying before the great intelligences of heaven His wisdom in an entirely new way. Those great heavenly beings beheld God's workmanship in forming the earth, "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7); and there His wisdom was made known, even as we read, "Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens" (Proverbs 3:19). Wisdom has also been seen in all God's ways with men from the beginning, whether in dealing with individuals or nations; but the wisdom that God now shows to the heavenly hosts surpasses all the wisdom He has even shown before. It is of an entirely different character; it is all-varied. What a wonderful vessel the church is! Formed in divine power and grace, of those who belonged to the old creation, but who are God's workmanship in new creation. What marvellous wisdom devised such a plan; and now the great intelligences of heaven are seeing it working out: they see what God is producing in you and me by His Spirit; they see God forming the vessel that shall soon display His glory before the whole universe. If the church is a lesson book for angels; the truth of the mystery is for the saints to learn and walk in the light of.
We have seen what the saints share together in Ephesians 3; in Ephesians 5 we learn of the relationship of the church to Christ. When God gave Adam a companion, suited to him, it was not only man of the first order that was before His mind; Christ and the church was in His counsel before the world was made, and was in His thoughts when He took Eve from Adam's side and presented her to him. In chapters 1 and 4 we find that the church is Christ's body, here we learn it is also His bride that He loves. He has manifested His love for the church, a love that passeth knowledge, by giving Himself for it. How dear is the church to God and to Christ! God purchased it with the blood of His own. Christ, like the man who found the treasure hid in the field, for the joy it gave him, sold all that he had. But Christ not only emptied Himself of the form of God, and relinquished the throne of Israel, but gave Himself.
Coming to Ephesians 6 we hear Paul asking for the prayers of the saints on behalf of his making known "The mystery of the Gospel." If the Apostle distinguishes between the Gospel and the Mystery, he will not have them separated, for the mystery is a truth that is deeply embedded in the heart of the Gospel. How many there are today who are content to know the aspect of the Gospel that brings relief to the conscience of the sinner; how few who truly value the wonderful mystery of the Gospel, which unfolds to the heart the deep things of God. Let us hold fast to the foundations of the Gospel, and also to the glorious superstructure that is brought to us in the mystery of the Gospel.
Passing over to Colossians we learn of the wonderful place the mystery has in the divine revelation. Paul says, "Now I rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh, for His body, which is the assembly; of which I became minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given me towards you to complete the word of God, the mystery which (has been) hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been made manifest to His saints." Without the revelation of the mystery the word of God would not have been complete; it comes before us here as the keystone of the arch of divine revelation. If then this great truth has such a remarkable place in Scripture, why are the saints not going in for it? Is it because it will separate them from much they want to go in for down here? With the knowledge of this precious truth in the soul, we look at the things of this world in an entirely new way. Look at the tender and touching way in which the Spirit of God brings this truth before us; "To whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery." God seems to say, "Shall I hide from the saints the deep secret that has been in my heart from eternity? No, I will bring them near to me, and tell them this wonderful secret." We tell our secrets to those who are nearest and dearest to us. This is what God has done. And what is the secret? "Christ in you, the hope of glory." In the coming day, in fulfilment of the prophecies of old, Christ will yet be found on earth among His earthly people; but today, Christ's place is in or among His saints; He dwells in them as their life; He is among them, their Head, to direct them in all His affairs. His glory is not here at present; but we have the blessed prospect of seeing Him in His glory, and sharing it with Him.
In our final Scripture we read of the Apostle's conflict. What conflict was his to bring to the saints the truth confided to him. We too shall have conflict if we value the truth of God. But, if we are to enter into the truth of the mystery our hearts must be comforted and knit together in love; these are the conditions in which we can unitedly enjoy what God has so blessedly unveiled before us. What riches of understanding God has provided for us here; He has hidden for our exploration in the Mystery of God, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Men are searching for wisdom and knowledge in the philosophy of this world, and sad it is that some Christians are numbered among them; they know not that every treasure of wisdom and knowledge is hidden in this great mystery, and therefore cannot be acquired anywhere else. Observe that it is the mystery of God; it belongs to Him; it contains the treasures that are of infinite value; all the deep secrets of His heart and mind are in it. Are we going in for these wonderful things then? There they are waiting for us to acquire. If we go in for them, we shall get them a little at a time, and we shall be enriched with the great things that belong to God.
Wm. C. Reid.
And He that, on His way to save,
Alone to darkest Calvary went,
And there Himself so freely gave,
Shall to Himself the Bride present.