To Wish You were Paul

The Apostle Paul was someone God entrusted with secrets—in a unique way. In fact, you know the thorn in his flesh he discussed in 2 Cor. 12? The reason he got that affliction, which many believe was an eye problem, was so that he wouldn’t get proud over the many revelations God gave him.

Even Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus was a dramatic, direct revelation from God. Paul’s salvation wasn’t a result of the disciples’ witness or of reading the parts of the Bible available at that time. He had a God-orchestrated encounter with the Almighty.

Later, in the 2 Cor. 12:1-7 account that ends with his thorn in the flesh, Paul talks about being caught up into paradise and hearing amazing revelations. What he took away from that life-altering experience was not the beauty he saw, but the words he heard (12:4). He had a message from God.

This shouldn’t surprise us. After all, the Old Testament prophets received secrets from God in dreams. They recorded them by inspiration from God for us to read, though they didn’t understand them. It was a matter of progressive revelation in which God didn’t make His whole plan plain all at once. His design was to build understanding on the prophets’ truth by the apostles. (Eph. 2:20) Enter the Apostle Paul.

Paul was God’s choice to open up some of those Old Testament hidden secrets, which he revealed in the New Testament books he wrote, and most notably the book of Ephesians, as far as mysteries are concerned. How did I figure that out? Did I read a commentary? No. I went to my Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK) via my eSword app and typed in the word mystery. You can do it too. You’ll see the word shows up in 22 verses, all in the New Testament. Ephesians is the book with the most mystery mentions. (And interestingly, all but five of the 22 verses show up in the books Paul wrote.)

Now, just what were those mystery revelations? Anyone can look them up and be amazed, but I’ll just focus on the ones from Eph. 3:3-10 and its companion verses in Col. 1:25-27.

Before I share the secret, it’s important to understand that up to this point, everyone’s understanding was that the promises of God were for the Jews. He made kingdom promises to their forefathers Abraham, (Gen. 13:15-16) Isaac, (Gen 26:24) Jacob (Gen. 28:13-3) and David (2 Sam. 7:12-13).  

What hidden mystery was revealed to Paul for such a time as that (and now)? “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” (Eph. 3:6) That’s the simple answer. He expands it a bit by naming that body the church.

I hope that I don’t need to explain another mystery we know somewhat. That is that us humans aren’t all there is. There are spiritual beings out there called principalities and powers in heavenly places. They aren’t omniscient. They also marvel at the revelation of God’s mysteries as they unfold in progressive revelation. That secret revealed about the Gentiles being fellowheirs and of the same body and partakers of God’s promises in Christ by the gospel was equally news to them. “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” (Eph. 3:10)

The body of Christ, the church, is a witness of the gospel truth to the world and a witness to powers and principalities.

Paul expounded on this previously enshrouded mystery in Col. 1:25-27. Remember, to these first readers and to the powers and principalities, this was novel. “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27)

Here’s an exercise. If you do a TSK search on Col. 1:27, you’ll find that in many ways, when Jesus was on earth, he told his followers that He would be in them. Here’s just one: And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;  (17)  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:16-17)

The gospel, Christ in you, the body of Christ—it was all a revelation given to Paul that is now common to us.

Let me end with this. Does this mean God’s promises to the Jews transferred to Gentiles and that He is finished with the Jews? We’re living in an age that increasingly believes that’s the case. They even have an elevated name for the false teaching—replacement theology. But a good Bible student sees another secret that shows how God will deal with the Jews in the future. It’s fascinating, and it’s progressive revelation with elements still enshrouded in a bit of mystery because it hasn’t happened yet. Stay tuned.

Jody

The Secrets of God

Don’t you hate it when everyone around you knows a secret—the same secret—and you don’t? Your mission becomes to find out what everyone else knows so you can be in on it.

But now, what if the one with the secret is God? Are you curious? The truth is, God does have secrets. It raises many questions. Does he intend to keep them secrets, or does He like to share His secrets? Here’s an answer: “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” (Psalm 25:14) “For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.” (Proverbs 3:32)

Just a casual look and you can see that not only does God have secrets, He likes to tell them, but only to certain people—those who fear Him and the righteous, according to these verses.

Those two verses are enough to make me curious. Why does He have secrets? What are they? Who all does He show them to, and who does He hide His secrets from? Where do I find out these secrets? Why would God show them to some people and not to others? Why is it a good idea to find out the secrets?

For some perspective to this discussion of God’s secrets, let’s start here: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33) Whatever I learn of God’s secrets is just a drop in the bucket of the magnitude of what God knows. After all, He’s the creator God with a master plan for everything that happens to everyone that lives. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being…” (Acts 17:28a)

Consider Job, who had everything taken from him—from his family, to his possessions, to his health. The giant secret was why? The whole book is an account of him and his friends trying to figure it out and explain it. His friends often get a bad rap, but one of them said something truly profound: “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” (Job 11:7) The answer is no.

It’s worth a read to hear what God said in the end (Job 38-41). In a long discussion of His creation, God divulged a lot of prophesy, though He didn’t answer the simple question of why. But He did reveal secrets. While Job didn’t get the why, he got the bigger picture. We know why from the side discussion between God and Satan in chapter 1 that Job was not privy to. I guess you could say we know the secret that Job didn’t hear. But Job got the wisdom he needed to not question God, but rather to bow to His power and sovereignty.

We may not get the answer to some secrets, but we have access to unimaginable mysteries. Immense curiosity and a humble prayer for wisdom is what it takes to learn them. Do you have that curiosity? If so, you can learn some of the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

Stay tuned. We will explore secrets and mysteries further. In the meantime, tell me what you think.

Jody