The Mystery , Part 2

What is the Mystery, then?

1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
We remember that this wisdom was founded before the creation began. This concept was brought out in the New Testament by the preaching of Paul.

1Co 1:
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Salvation of the believer is brought about by faith in the Word which must be preached. Since John points out that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, then Jesus is preached for salvation of the believer.

The law did not bring man to a point where he could know God. The law was a schoolmaster which brought us safely to the time when the Word was made flesh. Therefore, man does not know by wisdom who God really is. It is only known by the foolishness of preaching.

22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

To the Greeks this was foolish because logic does not dictate How crucifying a man could save other men. That makes no sense!

To the Jews the life of Christ was not the Messiah they hoped for. He should have been a warrior, not a simple carpenter.

24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

In the beginning, there was a division of light and darkness (Gen. 1:5). Light is used to build, to create and to save, while darkness is used to cover up, dismantle and destroy. It is simple now to see the parallel between light and dark in the creation of a savior who will allow us (the creation) to be saved from the destruction of darkness (Satan).

2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus also refers to this same early relationship between the creation and the wisdom of God:

Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Moses wrote the event like this:

Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The apostles were familiar with the phraseology used to denote the Messiah:

2Pe 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

1Jn 1:5-7 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

This is what Gen 1:5 is talking about. This is the story of the history of the world from before the creation until the time of the New Testament Church. This is told as a story where the past the present and the future are intermingled like a child’s story so that it is presented in a seemingly jumbled way.

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

This is a time-lapse view of that point in time where the rebellion in heaven begins because God has revealed His plan; the woman with a crown. Satan is still Lucifer and is in charge of things under the authority of God. Lucifer expects to be made the senior authority of the kingdom of God, and in fact was created with a nature to do so.

Lucifer will rebel in heaven against the plan of God which was to devise a covenant made with mankind and culminated in a sacrificial man born of woman. This one will be the one that will bring about the kingdom of God on Earth. Lucifer wishes to destroy this plan. You see, Lucifer was to be that one who ordered the day for each human on Earth. That was his mission and his territory.

This is the place and time where Lucifer becomes the enemy of God and starts planning his attempt to build a kingdom on Earth to oppose God.
The “she” in this narrative is the plan of God, His counsel and will.

2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

The many centuries of genealogies of the Hebrew people were going to help produce that body, the body of the Messiah. The people suffered under the destruction of sin. But something would happen first. There was to be open rebellion in Heaven…

3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

Lucifer becomes Satan (literally:the enemy), the deceiving one who has a plan of his own. God said that Lucifer had said in his heart that he was as powerful as God, this means that the rebellion had not become public among the angels just yet…

4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Satan is now removed from authority over the Earth, but was still able to come and go to see “what is up” in heaven, and to stand before God. Satan is now on Earth waiting for the unfolding of God’s plan in order to “nip it in the bud”, so to speak. Satan began a work on Earth with Eve and her firstborn Cain.

Satan came to Jesus immediately after Jesus began his preparations to start his ministry. Satan’s purpose was to afflict Jesus by “biting his heel”. Jesus came to “crush Satan’s head”. To crush the head means to remove the authority from someone. After his resurrection, Jesus held the keys to the grave, death and hell removing the authority of Satan from them.

Next we see the wisdom of God ascending to the throne in God’s plan for the Earth. This is now in the New Testament era when the plan of God brought forth the Messiah.

5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

This is Jesus Christ. He was brought about for a specific purpose and that was to be the final sacrifice for all mankind and then ascend back into heaven. He was also to rule with a rod of iron. That is, he was born to live perfectly thus providing the basis for judgment. This phrase is used on the Old Testament to mean judgment having severe consequences.

Now back to the past:
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Here Satan is no longer allowed to enter heaven to both see and report to God. He is permanently chained to the Earth. Job tells us that Satan came before God with the other angels. He is now no longer able to do that. Something happened to cause Satan to never return to heaven. In the future he will also be barred from heaven as God has prepared a place for him called hell.

This event took place before Jesus the Messiah was born:
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Jesus said in Luke 10:18 “…I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven”.

Jesus saw Satan barred form heaven with the third of the angels. How was that possible as this took place before the birth of Jesus Christ?

It is because Jesus is the name of God both before, and after the birth of the Messiah. The sacrificial body was the wisdom of God to reconcile man to Him, but His name has never changed. Man has called Him by several different labels, but God has always had a name. Jesus. (In Hebrew this is “Yehoshua” which means: Jehovah, The lord saves. Jehovah is derived from the phrase that means “I am” and comes from a basic root that is “the self existent one”).

So this explanation by Paul now fits: The light that was separated from darkness in Genesis 1:5 is the wisdom that God ordained before the world began to bring His power to bear on our salvation. Not only was God’s counsel to create the universe and man, but to bring salvation from the darkness already begun in heaven with Lucifer and his angelic followers. Lucifer was not able to penetrate the light, so it was not something he could plan against effectively. God had separated Lucifer from His plan that would ultimately bring salvation to mankind and defeat Lucifer. This is why there was a “mystery” of godliness.

Col 1:
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

So it is that Jesus was the actual creator, the very wisdom of God that was the flesh that God became. The story plays out even today as we sit in heavenly places because of that wisdom that began before the world was even formed. Because there was a savior promised to Adam and Eve that would one day bring about a joining of humanity to the Light that is God himself.

This strange way of bringing salvation to man may have been to prevent Satan from attacking and destroying Jesus before the right time, or it may have been to remove doubt from those who perceive the mystery, but in any case the mystery of godliness is the way that light was brought into our lives by the Messiah:

1Ti 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.

We now understand clearly what John was talking about. He told this story also but with a different perspective. He talked about the salvation of man as a result of the wisdom and power of God that was evident in the face of Jesus Christ. He tells us how this came about in a more spiritual way:
John 1:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Clearly John is alluding to the fact that the wisdom of God discussed in Proverbs 8 was there from in the beginning and was also the Word of God; in fact the Word was God, the creator of the Universe. The Greek word for Word is logos and implies the thought or plan. This word “logos” would be similar to “counsel” in Hebrew.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

The implication of this statement is that counsel and wisdom were present since eternity as this is the same explanation of “when” God began. The statement is a re-iteration of Proverbs 8 where wisdom declares that he was present form the beginning.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The Word (wisdom, counsel) is what everything was made by. The Ancient Hebrew word for “God the Creator” is Elohiym which means “God of great Power”. Jesus is the wisdom and power of God. That means that the body of Jesus is the factual representation of the all powerful God of creation.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Jesus is the light of the world and wisdom has been separated from darkness since Genesis 1:5.”…God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all”(I John 1:5).

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Satan did not understand the plan of God in any detail as God had separated him from the light. Lucifer did not know anything about what God was doing in this plan by watching events transpire. It may be that Lucifer still thinks he can win a kingdom against God’s kingdom.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ( This is referring to John the Baptist)
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

The true light is Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Of course John later wrote that God was light.

Notice that this light lighted every man that came into the world, from Adam until the mystery is ended.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

The Messiah certainly came in to the world, as this was the culmination of the wisdom of God. This was the pathway that God ordained before the world was made to redeem mankind to Him. Of course many have rejected the Messiah including his own people, the Hebrews. Since it was the power of God that created the universe and the world, it becomes clear that Jesus is truly the power of God. That is, the name (authority) of God is Jesus.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

We cannot of ourselves create a right spirit or clean heart within us. We cannot complete any act that will gain us a place in the kingdom of God. It is the power of God that is the name Jesus that allows man to enter into the kingdom of God. To become a Son of God is to be one who has the power of God in him.

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

There is no sacrifice (even a human one) that can redeem even one man except that Messiah that is the power of God. It is not our will that allows us to be saved, nor is there any will on Earth that can allow us to be saved except that one will (present from the beginning) that wanted us to be redeemed. The one will that created a plan for us.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

According to John, Jesus (the Word made flesh) was the very template from which all things were made. He is the express will and wisdom and power of God to create and also to save. He is also the express image of God. When we get to heaven, Jesus is what we will see, and not another.

The Glory of God here is the strength and power of God. In the Old Testament, glory was often the way the defensive armor and strength of God was represented. In this instance, Jesus is the power of God to save, that which holds all power in heaven and in Earth.

When will it be finished?
Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

The Mystery will end because Satan will be disposed of. There is no need for salvation after this point in time.

If the mystery will have an ending, does that mean that Jesus will have an ending? No. Jesus is the name of the Almighty, for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. He will continue for eternity.

Jesus will never end, but the purpose of wisdom will end. The need for great ability to save will be over after time ends forever and we are forever with Jesus, reconciled unto him for eternity.

The Psalms declares that the salvation that came from God is eternal and will never be abolished. Therefore the power of God to save will never end for those who have been redeemed.