25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Mystery, suspense—the makings of a great novel! I met a young man who set out on a spiritual journey, beginning with the reading of the Bible. He knew virtually nothing of the plot, but he was a literature major in college, so he read it like a piece of classical literature. As he indulged his literary and spiritual curiosity through the beginnings of God’s working on the earth in the first five books of the Bible, he became enthralled. He couldn’t put the book down.
As he moved from the foundations of the nation of Israel into the failures of God’s people to keep their part of the agreement (or covenant) with God, the story enthralled him. As he found himself working through poetic literature and into prophetic writings, his heart began searching for the solution to the divide between God and man. The sin problem was clearly laid out, the plot fully developed, but there was no resolution. Hints abounded but nothing concrete.
This young man struggled with a spiritual depression. Things seemed hopeless for humans. That is, until he turned to the New Testament! Light began to shine from the pages of Scripture. In Christ was the solution to mankind’s dilemma. What was hidden in the first part of the story was revealed when the plot was fully worked out. Christ provided the sacrifice for the sin problem. And not just for the Jews, the people through whom the message to the world came, but also to the rest of the world, the Gentiles!
That is the mystery of the church: hidden in the Old Testament, but now revealed to us in Christ, the grace of God fully explained in the writings of the apostle Paul. We have the privilege today of knowing what the people of God before Christ could not possibly know. “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look” (1 Peter 1:10–12).
Lord, thank You for revealing to me Your grace, available to all who believe.
0 Comments