Ephesians 1:18
The Seven Main Points Of The Mystery
Truth is a fact or an aggregation of facts. It is not fiction, imagination, or even wishful thinking. Laying hold on truth constitutes knowledge. So we find that knowledge is then a collection of facts, whether related or not. But when one begins to relate facts, organize them, and use them, then that is wisdom. So it is possible to have a great fund of knowledge but no wisdom. But it is hardly possible to have wisdom without knowledge.
Now in coming to a knowledge of The Mystery, it is likely that one will first ask why it is necessary. It did not just appear out of thin air with no purpose in view. There must be a reason.
That God knew The Mystery and then hid it in God before the ages began, even before the overthrow, demands that we must look back into those dim times past and search for the reason.
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The Bible speaks of 4 Classes of Humanity
(1) The lifeless, (2) Those who have life, (3) The Dispensation of Promise, (4) The Dispensation of The Mystery
The last is that group which is said to constitute The Church which is The Body of Christ. It has some characteristics and possessions which none of the others ever had. It is unique in many ways.
1. 'Every blessing that is spiritual.' This is not said of any other children or sons. Those under promise have spiritual blessings, but they also have material blessings as well. First of all, they have a land promised, and this land is to be fruitful someday. They have special protection; those that bless them will be blest, and those that curse them will be cursed.
So having 'every blessing that is spiritual' is something new. To try to count those spiritual blessings would be an impossible task.
2. 'In Heavenly Places.' This is where the spiritual blessings are enjoyed. Nothing like this had ever been heard of before. No sphere beyond the earth has ever been mentioned as a place of blessing before Ephesians 1:3. In all the Scriptures before this, man has been earthbound, and his dominion was limited to the earth. But the church, even now, is making known the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies. This is a part of the kingdom of His dear Son. And those who suffer shall also reign with Him.
3. 'Before the overthrow of the world.' This group called the church was chosen before the overthrow of the world. No other group of humanity can claim such a unique distinction as this. The kingdom is spoken of as being prepared from the foundation of the world. This gives us some important information. The dispensation of the mystery with its heavenly mission was first in the plan and purpose of the ages, first in the mind of God. This has something to do with the great promise of life in Christ made before the ages began, which was not revealed until the dispensation of the mystery was made known. So we learn for the first time that redemption does extend as far in creation as sin and ruin have gone. God will reconcile The Heavens and the Earth.
4. 'Made to sit together in Heavenly Places.' This position is in Christ. It is a great honor. A seat or throne denotes honor. That mere man who was first made to have dominion over beasts, fish, and fowls (and not over other men) should someday reign with Christ in the heavenlies is almost unbelievable. And few actually believe it, so a few will have this great and high privilege. The members are few and scattered, but the Lord knows they that are His.
5. 'The twain created one new man.' At one time, there was a difference, yes, even enmity, between Jews and Gentiles who were believers. But when the nation of Israel was laid on the shelf for a season, such Israelites and Gentiles as believed the gospel of the dispensation of the mystery were reconciled to each other, created in one body as a new man (husband), and reconciled to God. This is The Church of the Dispensation of The Mystery.
The Two Mysteries are The Mystery of Godliness and The Mystery of Iniquity.
The word mystery does have a pagan origin. It started in Babylon in the great rebellion against God and His commands. But God has taken the language of man and purified it for His own use.
Running down through the ages are two mysteries. They seem to be parallel, but someday they will meet. That will be a terrible time when absolute holiness comes face to face with the epitome of unrighteousness. It is hard to imagine the result.
The two mysteries are the mystery of godliness and the mystery of iniquity. The first one is of God; the latter is of the wicked one. The one is manifested in Christ Jesus. The other will be manifested in the Antichrist. Closer examination will reveal the terrible truth that one is a very close counterfeit of the other, so close that many will be deceived and led to destruction. So many people think Antichrist will be a wicked ruler out to make men sin, but in reality, he will be a counterfeit for The True Messiah. He will speak of love, peace, and kindness with generosity and demand people everywhere live a sinless life. But hiding behind those words is a false messiah. He will be accepted by "good" men everywhere, mainly in Israel, where they will let him become the high priest. Now, would Israel let one who is not a descendant of Abraham ever become the high priest and enter The Holy of holies in The Temple? So the false one must be able to prove he is of the Abrahamic line by DNA. So many think the Antichrist and the Beast are the same, but not according to Scripture. The Beast controls the military power of the air, the Antichrist the hearts and minds of the people, for we see from the Book of Revelation that many are deceived.
The mystery of godliness is expressed in Phil. 2:5-9, 'Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant ...Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.'
The mystery of iniquity is expressed in Isaiah 14:13-14, 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation ...I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' These are the words of Satan as he aspired to be equal with God. But Christ has that Holy place forever.
We are told about the mystery of godliness in 1 Timothy 3:15-16, '. . . the pillar and ground of the truth, 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.' The Lord came that He might declare or manifest the Father.
The pinnacle of the mystery of godliness is the administration (Dispensation) of The Mystery. It was a perfect secret, for we are told that it was hidden in God and also hidden from ages and generations. Other mysteries were not so completely hidden or secret as this perfect one.
This mystery is the program or purpose of the ages that man had never dreamed of before; he never saw anything about, never heard anything about it, and never even thought anything about it. The prophets of old searched for a period between Christ's ascending back to Heaven from whence He came and His Mighty return in the clouds, coming with countless groups of ten thousand angels each. They searched in vain for what God had hidden and what angels longed to see of the untrackable riches of Christ. God made the riches sure to us by hiding this Secret so that Christ Jesus our Lord could accomplish His Purpose. This secret concerns the headship of Christ over all things in all creation. It tells of a people chosen to have a place in heavenly places in the resurrection. It tells of all blessings which are spiritual and enjoyed in the Heavenly Places in Christ. And this Church of The Mystery is now making known (witnessing) to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies this Perfect manifold (variegated: multi-colored) Wisdom of God. The surprising thing about all this is the fact that these chosen people are all Gentiles (even though some are by birth Jews), not Israel.
After Acts 28:28, it was the avowed purpose of Paul to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery. That also should be our goal today; if so, be that we have trusted in this great gospel.
We understand that God's plan concerning Israel is still in abeyance. But we must not be careless. The mystery of iniquity is working in the world yet today. But there is a provision. We are to put on the whole armor of God and stand. We should be able to withstand the evil day.
Ephesians 2:4-6
But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
There are three main items in this passage. They are quickened, raised up, and made to sit. At present, we wish to draw attention to the third item. We hear it mentioned often, but we fear the meaning is unclear to most folks.
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Job 9:2
. . . how should a man be just with God?
In what is probably the oldest Book in the Word of God, Job asks the question, 'How should a man be just with God?' In the end, Job discovered that he himself had no righteousness and had to confess, 'I am vile ...I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' Job had discovered that righteousness is only of God. When Job finally spoke that which was right of God, then righteousness was given to him.
Next, in time, we find these words concerning Abraham, 'And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness' Gen 15:6. Abraham was justified by faith, and Paul quotes this passage in Romans 4:3. Paul says that if works had justified Abraham, then he could have boasted about it, and then quotes this verse to prove that Abraham was justified by faith.
Both these examples are concerning Gentiles and happened before the giving of the law at Sinai. So we must conclude that justification by faith is not an administration or dispensational truth. It is foundational truth or truth for all time.
Again we find it set forth in Habakkuk 2:4, 'Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.' The apostle Paul quoted this passage, each with a different emphasis, three times in his writings; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38. See notes in the Companion Bible.
In ignorance of the Scriptures, many have caused the error of the thinking and teaching that Paul originated justification by faith and that it was a part of The Mystery, which had been hidden in God for ages and generations. But the foregoing paragraphs will soon dispel such an idea. Furthermore, when we reference the concordance, we discover that in the proclaiming of The Mystery in his Epistles after Acts 28:28, Paul mentions justification just once in connection with believers, and that is in Titus 3:7. So we must conclude that justification has to do with life, a future life (Hab 2:4) and not with dispensational truth.
Justification is by grace and not by the deeds of the law, as Paul insists over and over. It was a part of his Gospel of the Grace of God, but it was known ages before that Gospel was made known. The Gospel of The Grace of God was the Good News that Gentile Christians from Acts 10 to 28 could partake of the blessings and hope of Israel without keeping all of Israel's laws. That was no mystery, for Paul goes on to some length to show that it was not unknown in former ages (see Romans Chapters 10 and 11). Now since the law was given to the Jews and they have been off the picture for close to 2000 years, just where is the law today?
Paul declared before Agrippa in Acts 26:22 that from the beginning of his ministry to that point, he had said none other things than what could be found in the prophets and Moses. And he goes on to outline his Acts ministry up to that point by stressing the fact that he had preached the sufferings and resurrection of Christ (the Jehovah of Israel) and that He would show light unto the People (the Jews) and the Gentiles.
