MYSTERY AND REVELATION

"Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly." (Ephesians 3:2‭-‬3 NIV)

Mystery

It will interest you to know that God has made known to us his greatest secret that is relevant for our salvation. What is mystery? Mystery, from the Greek mustērion means a hidden plan, a hidden agenda, a hidden purpose, that which is unknown, a deep secret, etc. It refers to something or someone totally unheard of, inconceivable, imperceptible, and incomprehensible. Do aliens exist? This is a mystery. We have no revelation or fact about aliens in our world. Do angels exist? Surely they do. We have revelation concerning angels, and well-meaning Christians have testified about their encounter with angels.

Now Paul is here saying that Christ was God's secret plan for the world. It had been in God's mind to bring Christ down to earth to save humanity from perishing. Not even the angels with God in heaven knew this secret plan of God, obviously neither of the prophets knew this, they only caught glimpses of a coming Messiah. When God's perfect time was up, he chose to reveal this secret plan to Paul, so that he'd in turn share it with the Gentiles for their benefit. The secret is that "through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Eph 3:6) This was totally unheard of and wholly inconceivable to the Jews, the reason for which Paul was brutally persecuted for spreading "lies". 

Revelation

Mystery becomes known through revelation, and revelation is given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Revelation is God's uncovering of himself to his creation so that his creation may discover him, know him and relate with him the way they should. There is a slight difference between uncover and discover. To uncover means to remove a cover from, and discover means to find out or learn about something for the first time. In God's self-revelation, he uncovers himself to his creation and his creation finds out or learns about him for the first time. Without uncovering, there is no discovering. Revelation is to uncovering whiles illumination is to discovering. The two are similar but not the same. 

The Bible writers received an uncommon influence to conceive, perceive and know God's deep secrets for the world and they wrote them down in their own words under the direct supervision of the Holy Spirit. So then, what we have in the Bible are divine revelations, not human interpretations. 

Illumination

Do you need revelation into already revealed mysteries? Or do you need to uncover again what has already been uncovered? Certainly no! You need illumination by the Spirit to help you get insight and spiritual understanding of the divine revelation. Illumination is the Holy Spirit's act of throwing more light on the divine revelation so that as you read, you will see more deeply into the bottom of the truth and discover its original or intended meaning more completely. What you need now is insight and spiritual understanding of the divine revelation. Paul says, "In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ."

Analogy of a Deep Well

When a deep well is open, you can look into it but you may not see into the bottom especially if it is full of water. The Bible is like a deep well full of water. You need the Spirit to open the eyes of your inner man to be able to see deep into the bottom of the well, that is, to see deep into the bottom of the truths of the divine revelation and to understand them. This understanding comes by illumination of the Spirit to help you discover the truths, see deep into them and catch their intended meanings.

Dispensation

Dispensation denotes God's commitment of the rich resources of his grace to his chosen servant to make his people appreciate a divine revelation in particular. For example, Jesus came with a dispensation to bring to bear the mysteries concerning the kingdom of God. Peter was given a dispensation to bring to bear the mysteries concerning the resurrection of Jesus for the benefit of the Jews. And Paul was given a dispensation to bring to bear the mysteries concerning Christ for the benefit of the Gentiles.

Since the Bible is now complete, our dispensation is not about catching newer revelation through the Spirit and announcing it for the whole world to hear it for the first time. Our dispensation concerns stewardship, management, or administration of the divine revelation for the benefit of mankind. 

We are still in the dispensation of God's grace. There is no promise according to the divine revelation that God will give further dispensations to publicly announce unknown secrets from God. Christ completes God's secret plan for our salvation.

Prophecy

According to the New Testament, the proclamation of Christ is the 'breath of life' of prophecy. This implies that biblical prophecy brings Christ to bear in the heart of the hearers with so much power that it causes instant transformation in the hearers. 

Notwithstanding, prophesying goes beyond preaching and teaching. To prophesy is to instantly declare the will and pleasure of God for his people with words that they understand. We preach and teach God's constant will and pleasure but we prophesy God's instant will and pleasure with deep insight and spiritual understanding. Prophesying shows the ability to transform the constant word of God into an instant message that meets the present and futuristic needs of God's people. Do not despise prophesyings. 


Changing lives and society through publishing!

Comments

  1. Sage WordJuly 31, 2023 at 4:02 AM

    Together we're changing lives and society!

    ReplyDelete
  2. OJA CAPSULESAugust 1, 2023 at 3:41 PM

    Impactful message
    God bless you with deeper revelations

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sage WordAugust 2, 2023 at 1:34 AM

      Thank you. We're changing lives and society together!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE DOCTRINE OF SPIRITUAL COVERING: TRUTH OR INVENTION?

  " As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message" (Galatians 2:6 NIV).  Modern Christianity is orienting the Christian away from the belief that the Bible is the highest authority for faith and doctrine toward a belief that a spiritual father is the highest authority for faith and doctrine.  What is the basis for the belief that a father is a covering for the Christian? Is this belief based on the Bible or is it based on a doctrine that a father in the ministry advanced? Some fathers in the ministry have died from gory road accident. Others have died in a plane crush. Still others have lost biological children, sons and daughters in the ministry, in a most painful way. The popular televangelist and healing minister, A. A. Allen, is said to have died after a heavy drinking binge. Autopsy report showed that he died of kidney failure resulting from excessive alcohol intak...
Read more

LIVING BY THE SPIRIT (III)

 The Gifts of the Holy Spirit  Ephesians 4:11-12 NIV [11] So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, [12] to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God to those whom he loves. Why is the Holy Spirit a gift? A gift refers to a provision freely made, a person freely given, or an item freely supplied to meet another person's peculiar needs. Anything that is given to solve your peculiar need free of charge is a gift. Our talents are natural gifts given by God to enable us meet peculiar needs such as our need for a job. Our extraordinary or supernatural abilities are spiritual gifts given by God to enable us do extraordinary works on his behalf. A gift may be in the form of an arrangement made, a person given, or an item supplied to meet the peculiar needs of another person free of charge. From a giver, gift reaches a recipient. The Holy Spirit is God's comp...
Read more

PILLARS OF A GLORIOUS CHURCH

"The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John." (Revelation 1:1 NIV) Every church, no matter the denomination or doctrine, must look so much the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the head and the church is his body. The two parts must be identical in nature and behaviour.   Nature wise, the church is created in the image of Christ, but behaviour wise, the church must learn to live like Christ. Just as a newborn baby, fully possessing the genetic and systemic abilities of a human being, must learn to behave as a human being, so the Christian, created in the image of Christ, must learn to behave like Christ.  We ought to place much emphasis on the revelation of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelations. This is because, in the book, the glorified Christ reveals himself to the church in his full glory as Lord, so that we would see what his glory looks like, and eventually, ...
Read more