1 TIMOTHY 3:16
GREAT IS THE MYSTERY!
of godliness, i.e., of the true Faith, which [Mystery] was manifested in the flesh.
The R.V. gives "He who” in the text, and rightly says in the margin, "The word God, in place of He who, rests on no sufficient ancient evidence. Some ancient authorities read which. This is our belief. We believe that the original word was Ho, which, neuter, to agree with the word musterion, which is also neuter. Then some scribe, not understanding the sense added, an "S,” thus turning it into hos, which made it masculine, who, or He who, though the sense is thus made more obscure. Finally, some later scribe put a little mark in the "O,” thus making it into Th, and making the two letters ThS and abbreviation of the word Theos, God. A microscope reveals the fact that the little mark in the "O,” in the Alexandrine MS. Is in different ink, and was evidently added by a later hand. This, we believe, to be the evolution of the reading, and that originally it was simply "O,” which.
This passage is generally taken of Christ personal. But if read, as we submit it ought to be read, of Christ mystical, then in the six sentences we have the whole truth, concerning the Body, revealed.
The place occupied by the Revelation of the Mystery in 1 Tim. 3:16 will be best understood by the important position it occupies in contrast with the "Mystery of Iniquity.” When viewed in the position given to it in the Epistle, the two central numbers, E and E, the two Mysteries or Secrets of God and Satan, are seen to stand in solemn and awful opposition.
THE STRUCTURE OF 1 TIMOTHY
A/ 1:1-2. Benediction.
B/ 1:3-20. Doctrine.
C/ 2-3:13. Discipline.
D/ 3:14-15. Intended visit and interval.
E/ 3:16. The Mystery of Godliness.
E/ 4:1-2. The Mystery of Iniquity.
D/ 4:13-16. Intended visit and interval.
C/ 5-6:2. Discipline.
B/ 6:3-21-. Doctrine.
A/ 6:-21. Benediction.
We have what is true of Christ personally, of course; but we have more; we include what is true of the members as well, if we take it as referring to the Body of Christ – the Head and the members.
What is it?
1.
"MANIFESTED IN FLESH.” True of the members, and true of the Head (
2. "JUSTIFIED IN SPIRIT.” True of Head, and members as set forth in Rom. 5:12-8:39.
3. "APPEARED TO ANGELS.” This is explained by Eph. 3:10, where we are told that now unto principalities and powers in the heavenlies, God is making known His manifold wisdom by means of the Church.
4. "PROCLAIMED AMONG THE GENTILES,” not merely Christ personal, but the Body of Christ, is now proclaimed, "made known to all nations” (Rom. 16:26), "made known among the Gentiles” (Col. 1:27), preached "among the Gentiles” (Eph. 3:8).
5. "BELIEVED IN THE WORLD.” It is made known "for the obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:26) [i.e., faith-obedience].
6. "RECEIVED UP IN GLORY.” If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together, also with Him” (Rom. 8:17). "For whom He justified, them HE also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).
This then is the end of the Body of Christ, as it was of Christ personal. The members are waiting to be "Received up in Glory,” as the Head was. This is our hope, our "blessed hope.”
So that waiting for God’s Son from heaven is part of our Christian position. It enters into the very foundation of our standing in Christ.
It is not the mere study of prophecy, which may, or may not, be taken up by Christians as an "extra subject,” but it is the warp and woof of our Christian standing in Christ.
The three pairs of statements may be thus contrasted: Nos. 1 and 2. Though manifested in the "flesh,” we know what it is to be "justified” as to the spirit.
Nos. 3 and 4. It is being made known to angelic beings in heaven above; ant it is being proclaimed to men on earth beneath.
Nos. 5 and 6. By grace, we believe the wondrous testimony now while in the world, and we are waiting to be
"RECEIVED UP IN GLORY.”
(Fifth Paper, Things to Come, Jan. 1896, 2(7):116-117))
V.- OTHER PASSAGES RELATING TO THE SECRET.
We have now considered the four important passages which contain the revelation of the great secret, viz., Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:1-11; Col. 1: 24-27, and 1 Tim. 3:16.
But there are other passages which refer to it
and throw light upon it. Some writers treat these as all referring to so many
different mysteries; buy we shall see that they all refer to and throw light
upon that which is called THE GREAT MYSTERY (except of course those we have
already considered, connected with the Present interval, the Kingdom,
(1) EPHESIANS 1:9-11.
Here we read how the same grace which was wrought redemption and forgiveness for His people, has also caused us to abound "in all wisdom and knowledge.”
What is this wisdom? – "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will.” These words convey no sense to the English reader, unless we translate (instead of transliterate) the word mystery, viz., His secret purpose, i.e., the secret which He hath willed of His good pleasure. God has now caused us to abound in all wisdom because He has revealed to us His secret purpose which He purposed in Him (i.e. in Christ – so R.V.); that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one (re-unite under one Head) all things in Christ; both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in Him, in Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
Here we have the great secret and its purpose referred to, and in verse 22 we are told how "” the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory… hath put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all [the members of that Body] with all [spiritual blessings]” (verse 3).
(2) EPHESIANS 6:19.
Here the Apostle prays "that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the secret of the gospel,” i.e., the doctrine of the Body of Christ, which is the great secret and the great subject of the gospel. It was specially the good news revealed to and made known by Paul according to what he calls "my gospel” (Rom. 16:25). It was in a very special manner his gospel.
The gospel – the good news of a Saviour for lost sinners – was (as we have already seen) never a secret. It was "preached before unto Abraham” (Gal. 3:8), and all the saints of God rejoiced in it. But the good news concerning the Body of Christ was kept secret, and then became, and could be called, Paul’s special gospel to be made known among all nations. It is the good news of the Body of Christ. Hence, in 2 Cor. 4:4, it is called "the gospel of the glory of Christ,” i.e., the gospel of Christ’s glory. God highly exalted Him and gave Him to be the Head of the Body. This is now "the secret of the gospel.”
(3) COLOSSIANS 2:2.
Here it is called "God’s secret,” i.e., the secret which God purposed, and kept in silence through times eternal and in His own good time made known. He prays for these Colossian Saints that they "might be comforted and knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God (i.e. God’s secret) even the Christ* in whom (marg. wherein) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” That is to say, all the treasures of divine wisdom are contained in the Mystery – i.e., the Body of Christ.
[* Note: According to the R.V. and the Ancient Text, the words "and of the Father” go out. They were doubtless added by a later hand for some purpose, and by someone ignorant of the Mystery. Indeed that ignorance is manifested by the Revisers’ note: "The ancient authorities vary much in the text of this passage.”]
This is the secret, which, according to
(4) 1 TIMOTHY 3:9,
We are to hold, as the essence of "the Faith.” "Holding the Mystery (the secret) of the faith in a pure conscience.” Here again the great secret of Christ’s Body is the central object of the Christian Faith.
These are all passages which refer to the great secret, but there is one other which is full of instruction for us,
(5) 1 CORINTHIANS 2 AND 3.
True, the word Mystery is not in the Received Text, but according to the R.V. and all the great Critical Greek Texts we must read the word musthrion (musteerion), secret, instead of marturionmarturion), testimony, in 1 Cor. 2:1. It will be seen that there is but little difference between the two words – just one or two letters changed by some scribe who did not understand the Mystery, made the word "Testimony,” instead of "Mystery.” (
It is worthy of remark how the ignorance of this Mystery on the part of Scribes has led to so much confusion of the Text in the passages which refer to it.
The condition of the Corinthian saints was such that they were not spiritually fitted to receive instruction in this wondrous truth. When the first epistle was written to them, the apostle explained this to them, and says: "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the Mystery of God (i.e., God’s Secret). For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Instead of declaring to them the Mystery, he had to confine himself to the simplest truths of the Gospel. He preached only a crucified Saviour. He could not declare all the great truths involved in a risen and glorified Saviour. He had preached "the Gospel of the grace of God,” but he could not proclaim "the gospel of the glory of Christ.” The reason why he "could not”, he now proceeds to explain.
"My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom,… howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect,” or that are initiated. This word was the technical term for those who were initiated into the ancient and wrong heathen "mysteries”, or "the wisdom of this world.” I could not speak "wisdom” to you, he says, "howbeit we do speak wisdom to those who are initiated into it,” "yet not the wisdom of this world,… but we speak the wisdom of God in a (concerning the) secret, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory (i.e., with a view to our glory).” Here is again a reference to the great secret, which had been hidden in God, and ordained by Him before the ages. "None of the princes of this world knew” about it, he says, for "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 it unto us by His spirit.”
These words are usually taken in a general sense, as teaching that the natural man cannot receive spiritual things. This fact is perfectly true, of course, as is definitely stated elsewhere and further on. But it is not what these words say here. these words have a special reference to the "hidden wisdom,” i.e. the Mystery, and what is stated here is, that no human being ever dreamed of it. It never entered the head or heart of mortal man. "BUT GOD HATH REVEALED IT BY HIS SPIRIT.” It will be noted that the word "them” (in verse 10) is in italics, and we are quite at liberty to insert the word "it” as referring to the secret (as indeed the R.V. suggests in the margin).
Then he goes on to explain what is the essence of a secret, in verses 10 and 11, and argues that as no one can tell what a man’s secret was unless He had been pleased to reveal it. And this He has done, as verse 12 states: - "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 spirit teacheth, declaring to spiritual persons spiritual things.” With this the R.V. margin agrees, "interpreting spiritual things to spiritual men.”
Why? Because the next verse goes on to explain that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
"Declaring to spiritual persons spiritual things”: the three words which follow have been variously rendered and interpreted. In the Greek they are pneumatikois pneumatika sunkrinontes. The first word is in the dative case, masc., plural "to spiritual [persons].” The second word is in the accusative case, neuter, plural, "spiritual [things],” and the third word is peculiar. The A.V. and R.V. render it "comparing,” but the R.V. margin suggests "combining” or "interpreting.” It occurs only here and in 2 Cor. 10:12 in New Testament, and means literally to separate and compound anew; hence to explain a thing, as is done when one takes it to pieces and puts it together again; to explain by comparing one thing with another; or to compare with a view to explaining; to expound, make known, declare. It is used in Numbers 15:34 of those who had caught the man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, and it says: "they put him in ward because it was not declared what should be done to him.” The word in this sentence is used to represent the word "declared.” Hence, it means to declare, make known, explain, or expound. The words here mean simply this that we speak the words "which the holy spirit teacheth, declaring spiritual things to spiritual persons.”
Westcott and Hort, in their Greek Text, preserve an ancient reading, but not being supported by the other MSS., they put it in the margin. It is pneumatikos, spiritually; and would read, "declaring spiritual things in a spiritual manner.”
Then chap.3:1 comes in, taking up the thought where it was left in 2:1, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it (or to receive it), neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are yet not carnal and walk as men (or marg., according to men). For while one saith, I am of Paul’ and another, I am of Apollos: are ye not carnal?”
The great central truth of the whole argument is that these Corinthian Christians were taken up with "Bodies” of men, as we now call them, and they were therefore totally unfitted to receive the truth of the "one Body” of Christ. While they were putting the members in the place of the Head they were carnal and not spiritual, and therefore not in a position to have the truth concerning "God’s Mystery” declared to them.
Hence, when the Apostle went to Corinth he determined not to go beyond the simplest elementary gospel teaching, to feed them with milk, to proclaim a crucified Saviour; for they were not in a condition to hear about the glorified Saviour – "the gospel of the glory of Christ,” and all the glorious things which are freely given to us of God, and which He has prepared with a view to their glory, the glory of the members of the Body in Christ, their glorified Head in heaven.
[Here was what we put at the beginning as the "Introductory thoughts” for these studies.]
(First Paper, Things to Come, Sept. 1895, 2(3):42-44)
1- THE MEANING OF THE WORD MYSTERY.
There is no subject of greater importance to the
God’s Gospel concerning His Son Jesus Christ had been promised through the Prophets in the Holy Scriptures, as we read in Rom. 1:1-3; but the Mystery of the Body of Christ had never been revealed, and did not therefore form the subject of Old Testament Prophecy.
It was the subject of a special revelation to Apostles, and Prophets, and Saints through St. Paul, to whom and by whom this Mystery was first announced in mortal ears And it was communicated only to the Saints who had been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, who had been justified by faith, and sealed with the holy spirit of promise; only to those whom God, who is rich in mercy, was pleased to make know that which has hitherto been hidden in Himself, and was never previously revealed unto the sons of men.
When Christians left their first love in the earliest days of the history of Christendom, this precious revelation was apparently the first which became obscured and lost sight of. Then the true teaching concerning the holy spirit in the Church became less and less clear, especially while the simple foundation of the truth of justification on the principle of faith alone was also being departed from.
These precious truths – by the Lord’s long-suffering patience and mercy, have been partially recovered in these last days out of the wonderful treasury of His Word, but never, perhaps, in their pristine freshness and clearness.
It is our object now, in dependence on the Lord’s goodness, and reliance on the holy spirit’s guidance, to do something to recover the blessed truth concerning the "Mystery,” and thus endeavour to be a "good scribe,” bringing out of the Mater’s treasures something that is old but yet new, and new but yet old.
It will be well at the outset to define our terms, and to have a clear understanding as to
THE MEANING OF THE WORD.
The word "Mystery” is not an English word at all; it is a Greek word, transliterated. True it has become Anglicized, and is in common use to-day, but its meaning has changed, and is very different from the meaning which the Greek word originally had, and still has of course, in the Scriptures. We use it of something which no one can understand. This is not altogether wrong if we add the thought – until he is initiated!
In the Greek, the word musteerion means simply a secret. It occurs in the Septuagint only nine times as the equivalent of the Hebrew word ratz, which means to conceal hence, a secret. It occurs in Dan. 2: 18, 19, 27, 28, 29, 30, 47 (twice), and in 4:9, and is translated secret.
It was the king’s secret which had gone from king Nebuchadnezzar, and which no one could tell him, until God revealed it to Daniel…
Thus, it is perfectly clear and certain that the word Mystery, as used in the Scripture, is simply a secret. But by the end of the second century after Christ the word musteerion had acquired an additional use. It was used not only of a secret, but of a secret sign or symbol. In this sense the Greek fathers employed it to denote any such sign, whether of words or actions. They spoke of the offering of Isaac as a musteerion, i.e., a sign or symbol of the secret purpose of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ. And they used it interchangeably with the words tupos, type; sumbolon, symbol, and parabolee, parable. It has a sense, therefore, similar to these words.
Justin Martyr (A.D. 148) says that in all false religions the serpent was represented as "a great symbol and musteerion” (Apol. i. 27). So in his reference to the Paschal Lamb, he says, "the musteerion therefore of the Lamb… was a type of Christ.” Speaking of Isaiah 7:14, "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,” he says, "since this refers to the house of David, Isaiah has explained how that which was spoken by God to David, in a mystery, would actually come to pass. Perhaps” he adds, "you are not aware, my friends, of this – that there were many sayings written obscurely; or in parables; for secret signs; or in symbols, which the prophets who lived after the persons who said or did them, expounded” (Trypho, c. 68).
Mystery was practically
synonymous with a symbol, and yet there was a slight difference. Perhaps
a secret sign would best express it; and this was the usage of the word
when the Revelation was given to John. Hence, in that book, we must give the
word this signification. In Rev. 1:20, it is used of "the mystery of the seven
stars,” and in chap. 17:5, 7, it is used of "
It is remarkable also that soon after this we find the Latin version translating the word mystery (in Eph. 5:32) by the word sacramentum, i.e., sacrament. From this it is positive that at that time the word sacramentum or sacrament meant merely a secret sign or symbol! It had not then acquired its later theological use; but the word "sacrament” had reference merely to a symbol, or a symbolical act, a secret sign, shewing forth the Lord’s death.
The popular etymologies of the word are therefore all wrong and misleading. If the word (according to Tertullian) had any reference to a military oath, it was only because in the administration of that oath some secret sign was given or made which symbolically represented it.
It is certain, therefore, that the modern and ecclesiastical use of the word "sacrament” is not only a gross misrepresentation of the truth, but it is founded on ignorance of the history of the word.
1) The Greek musteerion means a secret; and later a secret sign or symbol.
2) The Latin sacramentum is used in the Vulgate as the equivalent of musteerion in Eph. 5:32, therefore sacramentum meant, and means, a secret sign or symbol.
This gives us the true meaning of the word as used by the Reformers in one of their prayers. When they say "these holy mysteries,” they mean "the special commemoratives of bread and wine,” i.e., these signs and symbols which are used to "show forth the Lord’s death.”
Thus, in our search for truth, two great errors are, at the outset, corrected: - The true meaning of the word Mystery in the Scriptures is not something that cannot be understood, but something kept secret – a secret truth or sign, revealed to those who are initiated. And the theological word Sacrament is not some act of ecclesiastical jugglery, but a simple symbolical act, by which the Lord’s people show forth their Lord’s death.
We are now prepared to apply the meaning of the word mystery, thus ascertained, to the various passages in the New Testament where it is used.
(Second Paper, Things to Come, Oct. 1895, 2(4):64-66))
II. THE SECRET OF THE INTERVAL.
There are several secrets which are there spoken of; and there is one that is called the "great secret."
They are all of them connected with the present interval between the first and second Advents of the Lord Jesus.
That there was to be an interval at all between "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow” (Luke 24:26) was not revealed in the Old Testament.
The "sufferings” themselves were not secret; neither was the "glory that should follow.” Both were subjects of Old Testament prophecy. Both are there fully and plainly revealed. And what is very remarkable about those prophecies is this, that while we have many prophecies of the glory without any reference to the sufferings; we never have a prophecy of the sufferings without finding, in the immediate context, a reference to the coming glory.
The prophets who prophesied, and all who heard or read their words, were perfectly well acquainted with these two great facts; but they were wholly ignorant as to what interval, if any, should separate them. They knew not whether the "glory” would follow immediately upon the "sufferings” or whether there would be an interval of one year, or then years, or a hundred, or a thousand years between them. There was nothing to tell them. Hence, they were doubtless perplexed. We are, indeed, told by the holy spirit (1 Pet. 1:10-11) that they "enquired and searched diligently as to what, or what manner of time, the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow.” But there was nothing that could throw any light on the "manner of time” which should elapse, between the sufferings and the glory. It was clear that they could not be simultaneous. But "what manner of time” could there be between them?…
The "manner of time” was untrackable. That is the meaning of the word "unsearchable” in Eph. 3:8, where we read of "the unsearchable riches of Christ.” True, the riches or Christ are "unsearchable.” No one can estimate what riches have been laid up in Christ for those who are the members of His body.
"How vast the riches we possess
In Christ the Lord our Righteousness”
But this is not what is meant in Eph. 3:8. The word here rendered "unsearchable” occurs only in one other place, Rom. 11:33, and there it is rendered "past finding out.” It is anexichniastos (Gr.), and means that which cannot be explored.
The word rendered "unsearchable” in Rom. 11:33, is a different word altogether anexereuneetos (Gr.) and means, past comprehension.
No one could find out "what, or what manner of time” should elapse between "the sufferings and the glory.” It was past finding out.
There were riches which could be explored. Many promises and prophecies connected with Christ could be understood, searched out, traced, and enjoyed by the faithful. The prophets conveyed their readers from hill-top to hill-top, but the valley that lay between could not be explored. Its mines of wealth could not be discovered. Its riches could not be searched. We, who by grace, have been initiated into the secret, and who have the key to unlock those treasures, can know something about these riches of (or pertaining to) Christ; but there were other riches connected with Christ that were untrackable – past finding out.
Connected with this secret of the present interval, and, indeed, forming part of it, there were, as we have said, several other secrets: -
3) THE DURATION OF
That blindness was to happen to
"Go and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed,
but understand not;
and see ye indeed,
but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat,
and make their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and convert,
and be healed.”
"Then said I, ‘Lord, how long!’”
"How long?” Yes, that was the great and anxious question of Isaiah. The prophet "searched and inquired diligently as to what manner of time” was signified.
"How long?” he asked, shall this
blindness happen to
That decree of judicial blindness was pronounced under most impressive circumstances. There was everything which could add solemnity and importance to the occasion. And when we come to the New Testament we find the prophecy there times referred to: Matthew 13:14 (the prophetic Word of Jehovah), 15; John 12:40 (Isaiah saw Christ’s glory); and Acts 28:26 ("well spake the Holy Ghost, by Isaiah”).
So that this blindness itself was the subject of special revelation, and was no secret. It was there revealed that it was to last as long as the land remained desolate. But there was one thing connected with it which was kept secret, ant that was afterwards revealed in Rom. 11:25, where, speaking of this blindness, it is written, "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, or this secret, that blindness in part hath happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” Here the secret was revealed, and the answer is at length given to the question "How long?” We are no longer "ignorant” as to the duration of this "blindness in part”; we know its decree was announced, and we know when it will come to an end.
4) "THE SECRETS OF THE KINGDOM” (Matt. 13:11, 35).
It was no secret that the kingdom, so long prophesied, should be rejected; that the King should not be received; that Messiah should be "cut off,” and not then receive the kingdom. All this was a plain matter of Divine revelation. Many prophecies declare this.
But what was to happen to the kingdom during the rejection of the King was not revealed; this was kept secret. There can be no kingdom without a king, therefore, while he is away, the kingdom must be in abeyance.
In the Old Testament we have the kingdom prophesied. In the Gospels and Acts we have the kingdom rejected. In the Epistles we have the interval between this rejection, and the future setting up of the kingdom in Divine power, judgment, and glory, which is foreshewn in the Apocalypse.
In this Epistles we have the interval, but chiefly in its relation to the Church. We do not learn in them what was to happen to the kingdom; the secrets concerning this are not there revealed. It is in Matt. 13 that the Lord Jesus, in seven parables, describes the course of the kingdom from the first sowing of its seed by the Son of Man, to the final setting up of the throne of His glory; and this without any reference whatever to the Church.
The Church, as we shall presently see, is not the subject of these parables, being itself another secret, emphatically called "the great secret.”
These parables concern the kingdom, and we are clearly told why they were spoken, and what was their subject as well as their object.
In verse 10, the disciples came and said unto Him, "Why speakest Thou unto them in parables” He answered and said unto them, "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries” (i.e., of course, the secrets) "of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given,” etc. Then in verse 34, we read "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (Ps. 88:2), saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
Hence, in these seven parables, we have the revelation of the secrets concerning the kingdom of heaven; i.e., what would happen in consequence of and after its rejection, and we are told that these things had been kept secret all through the ages. And further, that when the Lord Jesus spake in parables, He spake, not to reveal the secrets to the multitudes, but to hide them; and also that His disciples and we might afterwards understand.
It is clear, therefore, that we are not to look for the Church in these parables, but that, whatever we may learn from them, we must distinguish between these "secrets of the kingdom” and the "great secret” concerning Christ and the Church.
[see The Kingdom and the
Church, by the same Author and Published by Messrs. Eyre and
Spottiswoode,
5) "THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY” (2 Thess. 2:7).
The rejection of the kingdom would, we are taught, lead up, at the time of the end, to the "time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7), when the Man of Sin will be revealed. He will be manifested in his own appointed season. But we are told also that even now, yea, even when the revelation was given in 2 Thess. 2:7, that the secret of lawlessness was already at work.
[see The Structure of the
Epistles to the Thessalonians, by the same Author. Published by Messrs. Eyre
and Spottiswoode, Great New Street,
Even now we see this secret
purpose working. Lawlessness is already being developed. We see it in the
Family, in Society, in the church, and in the State. If we were asked to
describe the one great feature which characterizes our times, we must say it is
lawlessness. Ant this is the working of the secret counsel and purpose of the
coming Antichrist, whose open manifestation will be the signal for the closing
of this present interval, and whose final destruction will usher in the
(Sixth Paper, Things to Come, Feb. 1896, 2(8):142-144))
VI. – PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
When once we have grasped the great secret of God, we have a key to open several other difficult subjects, which have been made difficult and dark through the shutting out of the only light that could explain them.
Many false notions have sprung up, as the necessary consequence of having lost the truth of the Mystery.
(I) WHY WAS THE SECRET KEPT?.
But first let us ask, why was the great doctrine of the "Mystery” ever kept secret at all? Why did God hide it in Himself, so that no one could possibly discover it till He chose to reveal it?
The reason is clear. Had it not been kept secret, the Jews would have had a reason for their rejection of Christ again in the Acts of the Apostles! They could have pleaded that they were only fulfilling the prophecies, and would have lost at once all their responsibility.
True, the rejection of Christ was foretold, but there was not a word about their rejection of the renewed offer of the King and the Kingdom, which was made authoritatively after the Ascension.
In Acts 3:18 (R.V.) the holy spirit, by Peter reminds the nation how "the things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets that His Christ should suffer, He hath thus fulfilled.” There was an end of the matter, so far as Old Testament prophecies were concerned. Christ had suffered, but now, as to His entering into His glory, and fulfilling all the prophecies concerning that glory which was to follow, - what of these? What hindered their fulfillment? Why should there be delay in their accomplishment? The condition had been laid down in Lev. And Deut. And reiterated all through the Prophets that "Repentance” – that National Repentance must precede National Blessing. The call goes forth therefore in the very next verse (19). "Repent ye, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ which hath been appointed for you, even Jesus; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began, etc.” (R.V.).
The question is, Was this most formal offer
merely a mockery? Suppose they had obeyed that call and repented, and turned to
the Lord, Would not the times of refreshing have come from His presence? Would
He not have sent Jesus Christ? And in that case Would not all that He had
spoken by His prophets have been fulfilled? True, Christ had suffered; the
Heavens had received Him, but not for ever; only "until”
We must never adopt any system of interpretation
which would have necessitated that rejection of Christ by
[Note: This would not have affected the fulfillment of the Seventy Weeks of Dan. 9. All would have gone forward; and before the actual "times of refreshing” would have come the "time of Jacob’s trouble”; and before the sending of Jesus Christ would have come the revelation of Antichrist, as there foretold; to say nothing of the shortening of the days provided for in Matt. 24:22 and Rom. 9:28.]
Their present dispersion with all its sufferings, is in consequence of that rejection, and God is righteous in all His acts.
(2) A KEY TO OLD TESTAMENT INTERPRETATION
The second consequence which flows from the
doctrine of the Mystery is this: Had Israel obeyed the call in Acts 3:19-21,
and the Lord Jesus had been sent, there is not a prophecy in the Old Testament
or in the Gospels which would not have been fulfilled! This is a great truth
and an important principle far-reaching in its results. It tells us that the
Gospels are the conclusion of the Old Testament history, and not the
commencement of Church teaching; except of course, so far as Christ crucified
is the foundation of all blessing, whether for Creation, for
The Gospels are a record of the rejection of
Christ on the part of
To go to part 3: http://fdocc.ucoz.com/index/0-52