There's a great mystery in the Bible. Anyone can take a shortcut and look in the back of the book, but even there, without reading part one; part 2 may entirely mislead us. I read part 2 (The New Testament) many times, but still failed to solve the puzzle presented in part 1 (The Old Testament). When I solved the mystery I was driving to Detroit by myself. I nearly ran off the word when the mystery revealed itself! All along I thought I knew it all, but suddenly my ignorance was revealed to me. Maybe it was a revelation from God or perhaps I just used my head!
Here we see a passage from the Old Testament which revealed a mystery:
Ecclesiastes 11:5 "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. "Early on it was revealed that there was more to scripture than what the Jews could see! They were God's chosen people! He traveled with them as they "progressed" through history until they had established themselves as a great nation in a land of milk and honey. Surely, their days were to be prosperous! However, Ecclesiastes, if read carefully, makes it obvious that the reader (Jews) may be missing the point! Well, what is the point?
Genesis 22:15 "And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."I had read this many times. Here's what I believed: Because Abram was willing to obey God, God stepped in and provided a ram. As a consequence, Isaac life was preserved and the Jews were to grow into a great nation. That's true, but and epiphany came to me! That's not the rest of the story! The writer very cleverly concealed the real truth in writing this. God allowed me to solve the mystery within the story of Abraham, but if I had been discerning I would have solved it much sooner! I was much as the Hebrew people. I had eyes, but failed to see and ears, but failed to hear!
Actually, the mystery was in three parts. I had, at that time, solved the fist part only! I finally realized that by the faith of Abraham, his willingness to sacrifice his only son, was a picture of God's willingness to sacrifice his only son! Abraham was born about 2018 B.C. His name at birth was Abram (meaning "Many"). It seems that at his birth God had plans for him! Upon encountering God his name was divinely changed to Abraham ("Father of Many"). At the time of his birth few knew of the coming Messiah, not being announced until the time of the prophets much later. Abraham not only knew of the Messiah, but spoke with him!
The second part of the "mystery" I came to realize, is that Abraham was speaking with "The Word" as had Adam and Eve in the Garden. It's obvious from Abraham's grandson, Jacob, that Jacob wrestled with God, who was "The Word" manifest". Who is "The Word"? John Chapter One tells us that "The Word" is God in the flesh; Jesus! Hence, part two of the mystery is that Jesus spoke with Abraham and guided him in his sacrifice and provided the grace (the ram) as a substitute sacrifice. That ram is likened to the Lamb who was sacrificed by his Father much later; Jesus the sacrificial Lamb! The "Angel of God" is Jesus before he took on flesh and became the "Son of Man"! So, from the first two parts I realized that Jesus abided with man since day one back in the Garden and that the Old Testament is "The Story of Jesus"! Now for the third part: I realized that God is not only the God of the Jews, he's the God of everyone! The Gentiles were to be the avenue of salvation. There had been a chosen people, but since the Jews rejected Christ, Christ was there for the Gentiles.
The Gentiles are any people who are not Jews. The Jews, in their pride, had a "God of the Jews". They completely misunderstood the grace of God and failed to accept the sacrifice of the Son that Abraham clearly understood to be Jesus!
Colossians 1:26 "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 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: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:"That's part three of the mystery! "... made manifest to his saints: 27 "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..." The mystery is now solved. The saints are Gentiles. They accepted Jesus. All along God's plan was for the Gentiles to accept Christ with his foreknowledge that the Jews would complicate their own belief with rules added to The Law. Verse 28 goes on to say "that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus"! God is no respecter of persons. He died for everyone. Although the saints are gentile, the Jews still have the opportunity to believe, some do now and many will after the rapture of the Saints! Here's more:
Ephesians 3:3 "...How that by revelation he made known unto me (Paul) the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6 That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: ... 9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: ... 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, ... 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.The mystery solved lies in Ephesians 3: 1) Christ is for the Gentiles too, 2) It was intended that way in the beginning, 3) Christ is the Way to salvation. 4) That Christ is in the heart, not the mind nor The Law, and 5) that salvation is by faith in Jesus! An additional revelation of the mystery is 6) that we all can know the love of Christ by indwelling of the Spirit of God.
When this mystery was revealed to me, I wondered why that no one had ever told me that the Old Testament is all about Jesus! I was angry! Preachers weren't doing their job! They did not reveal to me the mystery as they taught biblical "stories". Even today few relate what any of the timeless Bible stories has to do with Jesus. Now, as I read the Old Testament, I asked myself "What's this got to do with Jesus?" Guess what? The Old Testament ceases to be trials of conflict, disobedience and history, It comes alive. It's all a promise. It all points to Jesus! Not only that, but when our patriarchs were speaking with, seeing, standing in the fiery furnace and even wrestling with the Angel of God, it was Jesus with whom they were communing!
It's obvious at the transfiguration that Jesus knew Moses and Elijah. There was no introduction. He had met them before! Jesus stood there talking with these two patriarchs when the apostles saw them! Jesus was renewing old acquaintances! Moses and Elijah had seen Jesus as he was about to be... transfigured. He was changing from the Son of Man to the Son of God! He was now entirely God!
Mystery solved! Paul was given the clues then Jesus inspired him with the solution. Salvation was never about the Jews, The Law and a vindictive God. Salvation is about grace, faith and Jesus and it's available to all! Man, I love that mystery. I'm sorry, God, that it took me so long!
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