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According to the New Testament, there are many mysteries. In this chapter we will consider, in an introductory way, seven of these mysteries: God, the universe, man, Christ, the Spirit, the church, and the future. These seven mysteries cover the whole Bible.
The greatest mystery is the mystery of God, who is the source, the origin, of the universe. The Bible begins with, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). As the origin of the universe, God is altogether a mystery. Concerning the mystery of God, the Bible seems to contradict itself. (Actually, there are no contradictions in the Bible.) On the one hand, the Bible says that no one has ever seen God, but on the other hand, it says that Moses saw God. Thus, whether or not man has seen God is a mystery. Colossians 1:15 speaks of the visible image of the invisible God. Is God visible or invisible? He is mysteriously visible and invisible. Whether He is visible or invisible, He is mysterious.
Not only does the Bible reveal that there is God; human history also indicates that there is God. The book of Daniel was written about two thousand five hundred years ago. According to Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a huge image with a golden head, silver breast and arms, bronze abdomen and thighs, iron legs, and ten toes of iron mixed with clay. The golden head signifies Babylon with its king, Nebuchadnezzar. The breast and arms signify Medo-Persia, two nations combined to make one power. The bronze abdomen and thighs denote Alexander the Great, and the iron legs signify the Roman Empire, which, as every student of history knows, was divided into the Eastern and Western empires. After Alexander the Great had subjugated the land of Palestine, he obtained a copy of the book of Daniel from the scribes. He came to know that a part of this prophecy referred to him. Only God has the wisdom to create such a picture as that found in Daniel 2. This image signifies the history of mankind, a history that was written long before the events took place. This is a proof that God is managing the universe and that He is able to foretell future events. Many of the things prophesied in the Bible have already been fulfilled.
As everyone knows, today’s world situation is focused on the Middle East, particularly on the nation of Israel, which has less than three million people. Six hundred years before Christ, Nebuchadnezzar took over the city of Jerusalem, and it was not returned to the Jews for more than twenty-five hundred years. Then in 1948 the nation of Israel was re-formed, and nineteen years later, in 1967, Jerusalem was returned to the Jews. All this happened as the fulfillment of prophecy. Both the re-formation of Israel and the return of Jerusalem were definitely prophesied in the Bible. This also is a proof that God administrates the universe. God is both the source of the universe and its manager. Not until we recognize the existence of God do we have a way to account for the origin of the universe. But when we recognize that the source of the universe is God, we know that He created it. When some atheists are lying on their deathbed, they will have doubts about their atheistic beliefs. We have the full assurance that there is a God. If there were no God, how could the universe have come into being?
This brings us to the second mystery, the mystery of the universe. The entire universe is a mystery. Scientists and scholars have exhausted their mental ability to understand it. However, they still do not know the meaning of the universe. Praise the Lord that we have the understanding of this mystery!
We live not only on the earth but by the earth. If the earth did not produce so many things, including vegetable life and animal life, we would have no way to exist. Day by day we eat what is produced on the earth and by the earth. Have you ever realized that everything you eat comes from one source and that this source is the earth? Actually, we ourselves are earthy (Gen. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:47), for we were made of earth and with earth. Nothing is closer to us than the earth.
The earth needs the heavens. Without the sunshine and rain, everything on earth would die. Thus, God created both the heavens and the earth. However, do not make the mistake of thinking that the universe consists only of heaven and earth.
A number of years ago I read an article regarding the size of the universe published by an institute of astronomy. According to this article, two hundred forty million solar systems make one galaxy, and forty billion galaxies form the unique center of the universe. I believe that the throne of God is located in this unique center. Scientists refer to the present age as the space age, but what they are referring to is the comparatively small area of space in our solar system. When we think of space, we need to be aware of the vast amount of space involved in the two hundred forty million solar systems that form one galaxy and the forty billion galaxies that form the unique center. This is the universe.
Not only the universe as a whole but even our own solar system is a mystery. I read another article saying that the sun is 1,300,000 times larger than the earth and that the earth is forty-nine times bigger than the moon. We simply cannot understand such a mystery. Scientists do not know of any other planet capable of supporting life, for the other planets in our solar system have no air, no firmament. Since there is no air around these planets, how can there be life on them? Only on earth can we find human life.
Now we need to consider the mystery of man. According to the Bible, the meaning of the universe is man. When the Bible speaks of man, it always includes woman because woman is a part of man. Without woman, man is imperfect. The Bible reveals that the woman is the perfection and completion of man. In the first two chapters of Genesis, we are told of the creation of man. However, the Bible does not say that man and woman were created. For example, Genesis 1:26 does not say, “Let Us make man and woman.” No, it says, “Let Us make man.” As we all know, woman came into existence by being made from a part of man. Because woman is the completion and perfection of man, man and woman are one.
Man is truly a mystery. Do you understand yourself? Not even a doctor or psychiatrist can help you understand yourself fully. You are not a mere animal. You are a wonderful entity, even a mystery. Although man is so small, man is nonetheless the meaning of the universe. According to the Bible, the heaven is for the earth, and the earth is for man.
The Bible has hundreds of verses concerning man and presents a full description of him. The Bible has much to say about our ears and our tongue. It also speaks about our eyes, nose, and hands. Moreover, the Bible reveals the true condition of our heart. In fact, we have two hearts, a physical heart and a psychological heart. Although our physical heart may be healthy, our psychological heart is evil. It is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9). No other book gives us such a complete picture of our mind, will, emotion, conscience, and soul. The Bible is a complete revelation of ourselves. If you want to know yourself, study the Bible, paying attention to what it says about every aspect of man. If an unbeliever would read the Bible in this way, considering only what it says about man, he would be saved. When he comes to Isaiah 6, he will see that he is a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, and thus he would repent.
The real picture of man is found in the Bible. A picture taken of us by a photographer is nice only in the outward appearance, but the Bible shows us how ugly and evil we are inwardly. Our eyes, ears, and nose are evil, and our heart is a dunghill. Beelzebul, the lord of the dunghill, is in our heart. In our heart is a host of evil flies ruled by the lord of the flies. Furthermore, our hands are evil; they are used again and again for stealing things. With your hands you may have stolen from your parents, from your school, or from your place of employment. You may have stolen pencils or stationery from your office. This reveals the kind of stealing hands you have.
None of us is an exception to the photograph of man presented in the Bible. By reading the Bible we come to realize how pitiful we are. We have no ground to be proud about anything. Our mind is a beehive of evil thoughts. Countless evil bees proceed out of our mind toward others, even toward the ones closest to us.
Praise the Lord that the Bible reveals not only the negative side of man but also the glorious side! The Bible says that we are the image of God. Although we are evil and corrupt, full of rotten thoughts, we nonetheless are the image of God. Moreover, we are God’s vessel to contain Him. Our ears can listen to God’s word, our eyes can behold His revelation, and our tongue can utter something for Him. Hallelujah, we are the image of God and the vessel of God! Our heart can think about God, and our spirit can touch Him. This is the mystery of man.
God has not only transferred us but is also transforming us. For example, He has transferred our ears from one realm to another. Then day by day the process of transformation continues. Although my ears may be ninety-five percent transformed, they are still not yet fully transformed. If they were, I would have been raptured already. It is the same with my tongue. Although my tongue speaks for God, at times bitter things still proceed from it. This indicates that I am not yet fully transformed.
One day a wonderful person named Jesus Christ appeared on earth. He was a mystery to everyone, not only to those who were close to Him at that time but to all of human society for the nearly two thousand years since. Presently, some Jewish scholars are studying the case of Jesus, and some Jewish lawyers are considering whether or not Jesus was fairly tried and sentenced. Jesus Christ is a wonderful person. Throughout the centuries there have been many emperors, caesars, and czars, but today the entire world uses Christ’s calendar, not the calendar of Alexander the Great, Hitler, or any other world leader. Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? Why did He come to live on earth? This is all a mystery.
Is Christ still a mystery to you? For those who use their mind to understand the Lord Jesus, He remains a mystery. The Bible says that Christ is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2). If you know Christ, you know God, but if you do not know Christ, you do not have the key to understand God. Furthermore, if you do not know Christ, you do not know yourself, for Christ is the key both to you and to the universe. Without Christ, you do not have the way to “get inside” yourself. The unbelievers and sinners are all “outside” themselves. But when we received Christ, we received the key that opens ourselves up. Now we have a way to enter into ourselves. Also, by receiving Christ we have found the key to understand the universe. I do not care how vast the universe is; I have the key to the universe, and I can communicate directly with the One who dwells in the center of the galaxies. I can make a “long distance call” from my home to that unique center, no matter how far away it is. When I speak, the One who dwells in the center of the galaxies directs me. Many times as I am ministering, I hear Him tell me to stop and not to touch a certain matter. I receive instructions from Him directly from the unique center of the universe.
As we have seen, Christ is the key to get into God. When you have Christ, God is open to you. Christ is the mystery of God. He is the explanation, interpretation, and definition of God. If you know Him, you know God. If you are in Him, you are in God. How wonderful!
Another mystery is the mystery of the Spirit. Who can say what the Spirit is and who the Spirit is? No one can see the Spirit or touch the Spirit, yet this mysterious Spirit is with us. The Spirit is the reality of Christ.
As Christians, we have wonderful times of either weeping or laughing. Sometimes it seems that you weep or laugh without understanding the reason for it. Every real Christian should have times when he is beside himself with joy in the Lord. If you have not had such experiences, it is an indication that you have not prayed sufficiently. When you pray sufficiently, you will be like a bouncing ball. You will be excited and filled with joy because you will be filled with the Spirit. In order to be filled with the Spirit, there is no need to speak in tongues. I have experienced the filling of the Spirit many times without speaking in tongues.
To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with the pneuma, the air. Sometimes we are so full of the heavenly air that we cannot contain it. When we are in this condition, we are afraid of being seen by others, afraid that they will not understand what is happening to us. When we are filled with the Spirit, we may spontaneously repent for condemning others and ask the Lord to forgive us. By being filled with the air, we have holiness and victory over sin. Because of the filling of the Spirit, we are beside ourselves in the Lord. This is mysterious. I have been experiencing this mystery for years. I cannot teach it to you or explain it to you. You must breathe in the air yourself.
This mystery of the Spirit can change people’s lives in a moment. One minute a person may be a thief; the next minute he may be a saint. However, when he is no longer filled with the Spirit, he may be just as bad as he was before. When we are deflated, we are the worst ones, even as bad as Satan, but when we are filled with the Spirit, we are truly saints. Sometimes when Satan sees that we are full of the heavenly air, he deflates us. When this happens, the most holy saint becomes like Satan. The pneuma, the holiness, and the life all disappear. This is the experience of the mystery of the Spirit. No one can define this mystery. The real biography of the saints is the record of this mysterious Spirit.
The church also is a mystery. Are we the church? How can we be the church when we are sometimes as bad as Satan? How can we be the church when we argue with our husbands or wives? The church is holy, pure, righteous, spiritual, and heavenly. The church has rejected the soul-life to the uttermost. How can we who are full of self say that we are the church? Moreover, the church has nothing to do with the world. So how can we, who are still so worldly, claim to be the church?
Regarding the church, there are a number of questions we need to ask: Who is the church? What is the church? Where is the church? Why is the church? How is the church? As you endeavor to answer these questions, it may seem that there is no church at all. The church is mysterious. If you say that you are the church, I will say that you are not, but if you say that you are not the church, I will say that you are. We may be the church to a certain degree. For example, some may be fifty-five percent the church. This is the case because the church is a mystery. No one can measure the church. Like the air, the church is mysterious and immeasurable.
Now we come to the last mystery, the mystery of the future. Both the origin of the universe and the future of the universe are a mystery. None of the scientists knows what the future of the universe will be. They do not even know what the next day or the next hour will bring. Hallelujah, we know the mystery of the future! This mystery is the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth. Although no scientist or scholar understands this, we know it because the Bible reveals it to us. The Bible opens with, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). But the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, says, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away” (21:1). In the new heaven and the new earth, the New Jerusalem will be God’s tabernacle among men. This is the future.
The New Jerusalem is an eternal reflection of the church today. If you want to see what the church is, look at this eternal reflection. The New Testament does not give us a full definition of the church, but we see a complete picture of the church in the New Jerusalem. If you want to know the church, look at this eternal reflection. What we are doing in the church today is reflected there.
These seven mysteries cover the entire Bible. The span of these mysteries is vast, extending from eternity past to eternity future. In the coming chapters we will consider these mysteries in detail, especially the mysteries of man, Christ, the Spirit, and the church.
