Transcript

Donald Barnhouse recounted how he once employed a woman named Elizabeth. She was a terrific employee. She was single and so far as he knew she had never dated anyone. And this was fine with him because he did not want to lose her.

However, one Sunday morning as he parked his car, someone approached him saying, “Max and Elizabeth are engaged.” He couldn’t believe it.

When he got to the church door someone else said the same thing, “Did you hear? Max and Elizabeth are engaged!” When he stepped into his office there stood Elizabeth beaming radiantly, confirming the engagement.

She and her fiancé were engaged, and they planned to serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Mexico after they got married.

Barnhouse reflected: “Here was a true mystery in the biblical sense. It had been completely hidden, absolutely unknown, totally unsuspected. Then suddenly it was revealed, made known, and the good news spread like leaves in the wind.

The key word we’ll take a look at in this episode is the word “mystery.” The Greek word translated as “mystery” in the Bible does not mean something mysterious or puzzling, as the English word suggests, but rather something that was once hidden, but is now fully revealed.

The Apostle Paul tells us that Christ made known the mystery to him. And Paul made this good news known to others, and it spread far and wide.

And we are tasked with making it known to others as well. A big reason we should is because understanding the mystery given to Paul is the key to understanding your Bible.

Romans 16:25 reads, “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”

As Paul closes the book of Romans, he wrote “Not to Him that is of power.” God is the One who is “of power.” God is the source of all power. He is all-powerful. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think.

When Paul speaks of being established, he means for us to be put on solid, stable ground, spiritually speaking.

We’ve all probably sat at a table where all four legs don’t touch the ground at the same time. It rocks and is shaky. You might try to establish, or stabilize, by fixing it, so that it would not rock or wobble. If it was me, I’d probably put something under one of the legs.

But that is the idea that Paul has in mind with the word “stablish.” God wants to bring you and me to a place where we are no longer wobbly, shaky, or unstable spiritually. Instead, God wants our faith to be solid and secure and firm.

The resource that the apostle relies on to make our establishing happen is God Himself. God, is of power to establish us, and He transmits His power through the Holy Spirit in our lives. And the Holy Spirit works by His Word to establish us.

This is the goal of God’s Word, and especially the goal of Romans, that believers might be established and brought to that place of security, strength, and stability in our faith.

Paul notes that we are spiritually established specifically “according to my gospel.”

Paul’s gospel was the gospel of the grace of God. The gospel given to Paul is the power of God unto salvation under grace. As Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…”

Paul’s gospel entails the truths of Romans, and all his epistles, regarding the preaching of the Cross, and all that we have in Christ because of His shed blood. It entails the fact that salvation is by faith alone.

Understanding all that is true of us based on the Cross of Christ establishes us. When you know you are declared righteous by God, that you are at peace with God forever, that you have been redeemed and set free from all your sins, these truths, among many others, give us stability and strength for our life.

Paul calls it “MY gospel” for a reason. It’s because Paul’s gospel was revealed directly to him by Christ for this dispensation of grace. Paul had a unique gospel. He was given a special revelation that no one else possessed or ever received.

It was a gospel that Peter, James and John and other writers of Scripture did not know and had not received from the Lord.

Paul wrote the Galatians, “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11-12).

Paul was not taught his gospel by any man. He did not receive it from Peter or the twelve apostles. Paul received his gospel directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord revealed it to Paul from heaven after He temporarily set Israel aside in her unbelief.

Paul’s gospel teaches that Gentiles no longer have to become proselytes of the Jews’ religion to be saved, which required them to be circumcised and to obey the Law.

Paul’s gospel teaches that salvation is by grace through faith alone, apart from the law. It is to just trust that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again.

When we trust that simple gospel message, Paul’s gospel teaches that the Holy Spirit immediately baptizes us and places us into Christ and the Church, the Body of Christ, and it reveals that all who are in the Body of Christ have a heavenly hope.

These are things that are new and unique to the good news committed to Paul by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Understanding these things, we are established in our faith. We are established by truth, by the truth of God’s Word rightly divided. We find stability, security, and strength by a proper understanding of God’s Word, knowing and living in light of it by faith.

Paul further teaches that we are established by “the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery.”

“The preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery” defines and explains what Paul’s gospel really is. It is concentrated on the Person of Jesus Christ. It is about His Cross and resurrection and how He is working today under grace.

Now the Lord Jesus Christ can be preached according to the revelation of prophecy and He can be preached according to the revelation of the mystery.

Peter and the apostles preached Jesus Christ according to the revelation of prophecy.

Jesus Christ preached according to the revelation of prophecy has to do with His office as King over Israel, her Messiah and Deliverer, the One who will establish a kingdom on the earth, deliver Israel from her enemies, and that He will reign over all the earth in righteousness, justice, and peace.

However, Paul preached Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, which had not been foretold by the prophets or revealed to them.

Jesus Christ preached according to the revelation of the mystery has to do with His office as the Head of the Church, the Body of Christ, and how Christ is currently seated at the right hand of God in the heavenlies, exalted far above all. It has to do with Christ’s heavenly ministry today and how He is offering grace and peace to the world.

Paul says we are established in our faith by the “preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery.”

The heart of Paul’s gospel is Jesus Christ. Everything centers in Christ. He is the heart of the gospel. He is the Church’s foundation, He is the Church’s life; He is the Church’s hope; He is the Church’s power. He is the Church’s, living, exalted Head.

And the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery is all about Christ’s sacrifice, His shed blood, the preaching of His Cross. The gospel given to Paul explains all the glorious accomplishments of the Cross.

And the most wonderful thing about the preaching of Christ according to the mystery is that it helps us to know Christ better and more fully. It enables us to grow even deeper in Him and have a closer relationship with Him because we understand what He is doing in this current dispensation of grace and how He is working today in our lives.

Paul refers to the preaching of Jesus Christ according to “the revelation of the mystery.” What is “the revelation of the mystery”?

“Mystery” in the Greek literally means “the shut the mouth.” It means that which is hidden, concealed, or secret, something about which God never spoke or opened His mouth to reveal to mankind.

“Revelation” speaks of an uncovering, revealing, a disclosing of something which had been hidden, concealed, or kept secret.

Putting these two terms together, the “revelation” of the “mystery,” speaks of God’s truth which had been hidden in the past, now having been revealed and disclosed.

The mystery was kept hidden and a secret until it was given to the apostle Paul.

By direct, divine revelation, the Lord Jesus Christ personally made known unto Paul, “the mystery.” In Ephesians 3:3, Paul tells us, “How that by revelation He [or Christ] made known unto me the mystery.”

Paul told the Colossians, “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” (Col. 1:26).

The “mystery” is God’s body of truth which reveals our current administration of grace. Since this body of truth and this current administration was “hid from ages and from generations” it necessitated a direct revelation from God to reveal this new, previously unknown truth. And God revealed it to Paul first.

God has two programs in His Word, a program for the nation Israel made known in prophecy and a program for the Church, the Body of Christ made known in the mystery.

Each program is a program to reach the world. Each program has its own eternal hope. Each program has Christ as its foundation and center.

God’s program with Israel is according to the revelation of prophecy that God had revealed and made known since the world began.

That program was for one nation to reach all the other nations, as a light and a blessing. Its hope is the millennial kingdom, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem.

God’s program with the Body of Christ is according to the revelation of the mystery. It was a program that God had said nothing about and kept secret since the world began.

But then He revealed it to the Apostle Paul first, and it has now been revealed for all to know. As Colossians 1:26 says, “but now” the mystery “is made manifest to His saints.”

This program for the Body of Christ is for the Church to reach out to the world with the gospel of the grace of God. The Church is God’s light and channel of blessing to all. Its hope, our hope, is to rule and reign with Christ in the heavenlies for all eternity.

The mystery, God’s body of truth for today, is multifaceted and has many unique truths and characteristics that were revealed to Paul.

By the mystery, we learn that Paul is our apostle. Paul tells the Church in Romans 11:13, “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.” God revealed the mystery, His body of truth for today, to the Apostle Paul. And the revelation of the mystery is only found in Paul’s writings.

Contained in the mystery is the truth of the dispensation of the grace of God. This was a dispensation which was not foretold in prophecy. It was hid in the mind of God.

To Paul was revealed the dispensation and also the instructions for its administration and its destiny. Paul told the Ephesians,” If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward.”

Through Paul, we learn that we are not under the law, but under grace. Like Moses was God’s spokesman under the law, Paul is God’s spokesman under grace.

Like those under the dispensation of the law found their instruction from Moses, we who are under the dispensation of grace find our instruction from our apostle, Paul.

We do so remembering that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” We do not neglect the rest of God’s Word. All God’s Word is for us, but it’s not all written directly to us.

We interpret the Word in light of God’s two programs, God’s program with Israel according to prophecy, and God’s program with the Body of Christ according to the mystery.

Doing so keeps us from mistakenly claiming promises that were not made to us and were made to Israel, and to understand what God has promised us the Body of Christ.

By the revelation of the mystery, we learn how God out of His sovereign right as God, chose to have a program with the Gentiles, or the nations. Romans 9-11 teaches us this.

The mystery shows us how God temporarily suspended His prophetic program with Israel, and set her aside in unbelief. Israel temporarily fell, and “through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles” Paul wrote.

God has The mystery also reveals a new Church for this dispensation, called the Body of Christ. Today, God is saving individual Jews and individual Gentiles out of the nations, and forming a new creation called the Body of Christ.

The truth of Jew and Gentile believers, united and one in Christ, being joint-heirs in Him, reconciled to God in one body as the Church is found only in Paul’s letters.

As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:16, “And that He might reconcile both [Jew and Gentile] unto God in one body by the cross.”

The mystery tells the Church about its current commission, that we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. As ambassadors for Christ, we are sent by God to the world in Christ’s stead to beg people to be reconciled to God by faith alone in Christ.

Part of our commission also is “to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery,” to clearly explain and teach what the mystery is and what it means to our lives.

The mystery, God’s previously hidden truth, reveals that we have a new hope. Heaven was not people’s hope prior to the dispensation of grace. In time past, under the revelation of prophecy, the hope for believers was Christ’s eternal kingdom to be set up on the earth.

Today, through the revelation of the mystery, we learn that believers have a heavenly hope. As Paul wrote the Colossians, “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.”

Paul taught the Ephesians that “[God] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).

The mystery reveals Christ’s teachings for His Church for how to walk and to live in this dispensation. Colossians 2:6 reads: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” We received Christ Jesus the Lord as our Savior by grace through faith in Christ. We are to live the same way we are saved, by grace thru faith in Christ.

The mystery teaches us the return of Christ for His Church, the Body of Christ, at the Rapture, prior to the tribulation period. This you cannot find outside the letters of Paul. The Rapture is only revealed in the mystery, the body of truth given to Paul.

What you find outside Paul’s letters is a coming of Christ after the Tribulation where Christ comes to the earth to crush Israel’s enemies and to establish His kingdom.

In Paul’s letters, however, he wrote, “Behold, I shew you A MYSTERY; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

This coming of Christ is “a mystery” Paul wrote. God did not reveal this before Paul, and not until Paul. The Blessed Hope is only for the Body of Christ, to raise the bodies of those who died and to raise the living off the earth to meet Him in the air and take us to heaven.

The Lord delivers the Body of Christ from the Tribulation because we are not appointed to wrath, 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says. The Tribulation is the resumption of God’s dealings with Israel. It is part of prophecy. The Tribulation is the time of Jacob’s trouble.

This dispensation is not part of prophecy. No prophecy given to Israel is being fulfilled in it. Thus, we are taken out before God’s resumes His prophetic program with Israel. And then everything God has prophesied and promised to Israel in the future will take place.

In Paul’s letters we learn these things about the mystery. God has made it known: “Having made known unto us the mystery of His will” (Eph. 1:9).

This is listed amongst the spiritual blessings for the Body of Christ in Ephesians one. It is a spiritual blessing for our lives to see and to know the mystery.

By it, we see God’s master plan. We see God’s plan and will for the Body of Christ in heaven. And we see the difference between God’s plan and will for Israel on the earth.

God has made the mystery known, and it is His will that all see it: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery” (Eph. 3:9).

Paul asked for prayers for open doors to make it known: “Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:3).

Paul asked for boldness to proclaim the mystery: “that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19).

The mystery was part of God’s plan from eternity past and is God’s wisdom for today that we make known: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (1 Cor. 2:7).

A knowledge of the mystery imparts spiritual comfort and understanding: “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God” (Col. 2:2).

Believers are established by revelation of the mystery: “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25).

The mystery with its truths of the dispensation of grace, a program of God with the Gentiles, no difference between Jew and Gentile, a gospel of salvation by faith alone apart from the law, the Body of Christ, a commission of reconciliation, a heavenly hope, a catching away of believers before the Tribulation, was all “kept secret since the world began.”

Imagine how absurd it would be to try to search the archives of ancient history to find a reference to an iPhone as a form of communication.

That’s what it is like trying to find the revelation of the mystery or these truths I just listed in the pages of the Old Testament. You can search, but the search will be in vain.

God’s truth of the mystery is nowhere to be found in the law and the prophetic Scriptures, it is not in the four Gospels, it was not given to the Twelve. It is not hidden in prophecy nor foreshadowed in the types. It was hid in God, kept secret by Him.

God kept this dispensation of grace hidden and a secret since the world began when He created all things, and throughout the thousands of years of history in the Old Testament time period, through the period of the four gospels, and early Acts.

But then Christ appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road and saved him, and following this the Lord revealed to Paul “the mystery,” the teachings of grace, by a series of revelations.

“A mystery-lover took his place in the theater for opening night, but his seat is way back in the theater, far from the stage.

“The man called an usher over and whispered, ‘I just love a good mystery, and I have been anxiously anticipating the opening of this play. However, in order to carefully follow the clues and fully enjoy the play, I have to watch a mystery close up.

“‘Look how far away I am! If you can get me a better seat, I’ll give you a handsome tip.’’ The usher nodded and said he would be back shortly.

“Looking forward to a large tip, the usher spoke with his co-workers in the box office, hoping to find some closer tickets. With just three minutes left until curtain, he found an unused ticket at the Will Call window and snatched it up.

“Returning to the man in the back of the theater, he whispered, ‘Follow me.’ The usher led the man down to the second row, and proudly pointed out the empty seat right in the middle.

“‘Thanks so much,’’ said the theatergoer, ‘This seat is perfect.’ And he then put a quarter in the usher’s hand.

“The usher looks down at the quarter, leaned over and whispered, ‘The butler did it in the parlor with the candlestick.’’’ The mystery is revealed!

As the revelation of the mystery has now been “made known” and “revealed” so it should be made known and revealed to all men.

It was a mystery, kept secret, but no longer, as Paul wrote in Romans 16:26: “But now is made manifest.” Now the mystery is fully revealed! It is in the pages of God’s Word within the letters of Paul, Romans thru Philemon.

As the revelation of the mystery has now been “made manifest” and revealed, so it is to be made known to all people. God, according to Ephesians 3:9 instructs the church to “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery.”

We do so and are driven to do so, because it is a message of Jesus Christ in His grace providing salvation for all and offering reconciliation to God to anyone by faith alone in Christ and His sacrifice on their behalf.

We do so because it opens up the understanding of God’s Word, as we see what God is doing today under grace and what His will is for our lives.

And as we properly apply God’s Word and God’s truths of grace for today, we will be transformed by grace.

And to us under grace, under this mystery program today we find that we have our own apostle who is the Apostle Paul: “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office” (Rom. 11:13).

We have our own Scriptures: “…the things that I [Paul] write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37).

This program has its own church: “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Rom. 12:5).

We have our own baptism: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles.”

We have our own circumcision: “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11). (Spiritual: cross of Christ).

We have our own position: “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

We have our own relationship to God the Father: “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4:6). (Access and Abba Father).

We have our own relationship to God the Son: “And He is the head of the body, the church” (Col. 1:18). “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” (Col. 1:27).

We have our own relationship to the Spirit: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26). (Temple)

It has its own walk: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him” (Col. 2:6), “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (II Cor. 5:7).

It has its own commission: “[God] hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ…” (II Cor. 5:19,20). “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery” (Eph. 3:9).

It has its own gospel: “and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works” (Eph. 2:8,9).

It has its own last days: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers…” (II Tim. 3:1,2).

It has its own return of Christ: “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout…and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up…to meet the Lord in the air” (I Thes. 4:16,17).

It has its own resurrection: “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible” (I Cor. 15:51,52).

It has its own judgment before Christ: “for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Rom. 12:10).

It has its own hope: “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven” (Col. 1:5).

Our own inheritance: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).