The mystery of God in Christ.

As humans we are fascinated by a good mystery. All of us love to see a good mystery unraveled, and enjoy watching it solved. Even if we are not the one to solve it, we still are happy to know what had previously been puzzling, finally brought to light. The Old Testament prophets themselves were puzzled by their writings, and pondered what their writings, might be about. To the prophets of old, it meant that the Holy Spirit at times spoke and caused them to write about some things that were concealed and was unknowable by human reason. At least to us this side of AD 70 God has now revealed much of what the writer's themselves wished to know regarding the meanings of what they wrote about. Paul uses the word “mystery” elsewhere to refer to various aspects of the Christian faith, but especially to the gospel and its inclusion of the Gentiles we want to focus are time and efforts (Ephesians 3:4-9; 6:19). This mystery was hidden from God’s Old Testament prophets for ages and generations,

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We are going to let you in on a secret. There is no mystery anymore. The mystery (Greek: μυστήριον) has been solved and the shroud of secrecy removed. The point is that we cannot arrive at some of these profound biblical truths through human reason alone, and therefore we cannot boast in our knowledge of them. God had to reveal these truths to Paul, who then conveyed them to the Church. Otherwise the Jewish saints as a whole could not have understood them, nor realized and accepted them!

Now pay very close attention to what Paul writes concerning the people of this mystery. The apostle Paul makes it clear when he says, For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: Ephesians 3:1-5 (NKJV)

There it is, Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah and His grace extending towards non Jews! Paul speaks of a mystery or secret (Greek: μυστήριον) of God in the context of something formerly hidden in meaning from the prophets, and even Israel, but now revealed by God for all to know and understand. (Romans 16:26)

“but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known TO ALL NATIONS, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith.” (Romans 16:26)

Notice how ALL NATIONS would now have the secret revealed! Paul again writes in Colossians 1:26-27 (NKJV) the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. . Paul himself had to learn that the Jews would reject the gospel and that the Gentiles would believe in large numbers. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. (Acts 13:46).

Peter writes concerning the mystery in 1 Peter 3: 10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

Jesus taught the apostles the meaning of these mysteries so that anyone would fully understand the Old Testament prophecies (Luke 24:44-47). The apostles then became the "stewards of the mysteries of God" 1 Corinthians 1 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. See also (Ephesians 1:8-9). Paul speaks of how great this mystery is that he is sharing concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:32)

One element of this mystery that was hidden in other ages is that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and share together in the promise in Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:6) A element of I.O. failure is that at no time were the scattered ten tribes of Israel among the "Nations" a hidden group, or considered a mystery from the prophets for generations and ages. Now, it’s clear that the tribes of Jacob/Israel is a reference to all twelve tribes. That term is not– to our knowledge– ever a limited expression of only a few or select number of the tribes. “Tribes of Jacob” is the comprehensive term for Israel. Therefore the tribes of Jacob were not a part of the mystery hidden for ages. The Old Testament is replete of scriptures of all twelve tribes being brought back into proper standing with God!

So, the grafting in of Gentiles was not understood or realized by Israel. Although they did know that the scattered tribes of Israel would be saved, they did not think of salvation, their salvation, would be gifted to the gentiles! It's not that it was completely unknown by the writings of the Old Testament prophets, but it could be said to have been hiding in the shadows. The Old Testament certainly did speak in shadows, signs, and hints of the day when God would bring the Gentiles into the kingdom of God through the Messiah. "The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, 'Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance'" (Isaiah 19:25)

Here in Isaiah it is predicted, that Egypt itself; shall become the people of God with the Israelites. Assyria the work of my hands - This is synonymous with the expression 'my people.' It means that the Assyrians are the work of God. Conversion to God by gentiles is everywhere in the Scriptures if your looking for it as we can in hindsight.

There are glimpses of its reality in the Old Testament (Ruth 1:16; 2 Sam. 15:18-21; also in Nineveh and Jonah). In the New Testament, even Paul points back to the Old and says it was a mystery that was hidden in other ages.

The mystery spoken of here is the fact that the wild branches (Gentiles) would be grafted into the olive tree (Romans. 11:11-24). Gentiles were not cut off and grafted into Gentiles. Paul tells them in Romans chapter eleven that the Jews were being provoked through jealousy by way of the gospel reaching the entire world. (Gentiles) He talks about Jews being cast away in verse 15 and in verse 17 He calls the Gentiles a “wild olive tree” (ἀγριέλαιος) and in the same verse says that they were grafted into ‘the olive tree”(ἐλαίας)!

Also see verse 24! This shows that the two witnesses in Revelation chapter eleven were made up of two groups of people. The Jew, and the Gentile believers in Jesus Christ who preached to the entire world. And were persecuted for it! The word in Greek for witness is the word for martyr!

The Gentiles would be fellow heirs (Ephesians 3:6). The Gentiles would share the same promises as the Jews. It speaks of the union of Jews and Gentiles in the Israel of God Galatians 6:15-16 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

Even Peter fell back into his old beliefs at least once when he refused fellowship with Gentile believers in Galatia (Acts 10; Galatians 2:11-14). If these were members of 10 tribes of Israel who returned home, Peter would have never refused to eat with fellow Jews in front of other Jews!

There is another element of this mystery Paul writes Romans 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

As we seen, in Romans 11:25 Paul shows that part of the mystery was Israel’s blindness in part until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. According to Paul’s writing here it makes no sense that Israel would be blind until the fullness of the southern tribes of Judah or Benjamin had come to be joined with the ten northern tribes! Paul makes the point that he is from the tribe of Benjamin and God has not rejected them. (Romans 11:1)

Paul says (11:25), “that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Paul also refers to it in 2 Corinthians 3:14-15, where Paul says in reference to the Jews. The teaching of Israel ONLY Salvation is nonsense and flat out heresy.

Paul’s opening phrase, “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed,” is one that he uses frequently (Romans 1:13; 1 Corinthians 10:1; 12:1; 2 Cor. 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:13) to introduce something that his readers may not know, but which Paul regards as important. First Paul says that he himself is proof: He is a Jew whom God has saved. (11:1), Paul shows that God had not cast away His people who He foreknew (11:2) he uses two parallel illustrations to show that because of God’s promises to the patriarchs, He will bless their descendants. Second Paul argues God has preserved a remnant of saved Jews. (11:5) Third Paul ends his arguments with a revelation God has revealed to him regarding the future of the Gentiles and Jews and he wants us to understand it so that we will grow in humility: That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

If Israel’s failure led to the outpouring of blessing on the Gentiles, how much greater blessing will result from their salvation that God has promised? Paul gave a list of his daily dangers in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 because of his ministry. The problem was that his own countrymen, Jews had a difficult time grasping the truth that God had now reviled “a mystery” into their faith where Jew and Gentile would be united as one new man in the resurrection of Christ.

In their minds God's promises to Israel throughout all of the Old Testament was about an earthly Kingdom ruled by their Messiah. For most of the Jews the coming of Jesus Christ meant nothing, they were still looking for a Messiah who would be a military leader and free them from the Romans. In spite of the miracles, and the fulfilled prophecies concerning the Messiah, the Nation of Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Their rejection was so complete they had Him crucified. (Mark 15:13)

Even Peter, did not fully understand right away, or totally accept the Gentiles as equal with the Jews in the churches. Paul while in Jerusalem rebuked Peter for shunning the Gentiles by getting up from eating with Gentiles when a group of Jews came in. (See Galatians 2:11-14) He by this time certainly knew that God had accepted Gentiles; but a lifetime of a nationalistic superiority complex and a non acceptance of the uncircumcised, reared its ugly head at times!

Several factors made it difficult for the early Jews to understand that Gentiles would be "fellow heirs" of salvation and equal in God's eyes. One glaring point is that we read Peter stating that “It is against the law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.” (Acts 10:28) In a nut shell let’s make a quick overview of why. (This is just a quick bare bones synopsis.) After the Noachian flood humankind was divided into three major racial divisions descending from Noah’s three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. From these the entire human race descended. (Read Genesis chapter 10) Of course the tower of Babel splits mankind up even further. (Genesis11:8) It is also from the sons of Shem, mentioned in Genesis 10:21-31 who was the eldest son of Noah that we find him, as the progenitor of the Semitic people. It is from this line that the Christ would come. Shem interestingly enough, was also "the father of all the children of Eber." The term Hebrew from what I understand, is derived from the name Eber (Genesis 10:21; Numbers 24:24)

As we know, mankind after the flood did not fair well in following after God. The worlds populations came to be busy doing their own thing and going their own way not paying much attention to God or His laws. What we then read in the Bible is the fact that the descendants of Shem included Abraham, Israel, Jacob, David, etc... and right on through till we come to Jesus.

God told Abraham that through his Seed all the nations would be blessed (Genesis 22:18). The Apostle Paul tells us that this prophecy was fulfilled in Christ (Galatians 3:16). God chose Abraham to separate himself from the pagan world and become the father to a new nation. Israel became the embodiment of that nation separated by and for God to be a light unto the rest of the nations.

This mystery to be delivered to the church was Paul’s mission to which he calls himself the prisoner. (δέσμιος) (Ephesians 3:1) He goes on to state in the next verse that there was now a dispensation that Paul called the "dispensation of grace."(Ephesians 3:2) They had from childhood learned to respect and keep the Law. Now Paul was explaining that the Law was a schoolmaster to bring them unto Christ, that they might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24) The word here for “dispensation” is “οἰκονομίαν” which means: stewardship, the management of household affairs, house rule, administration, as well as a period of time. Yet the words that make up this word can also literally mean “House Law”! (οἶκος = house and νόμος = Law)

“… τὴν οἰκονομίαν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ …”

‘…of the stewardship of the grace of the God …’

The first century Jews really had difficulty accepting they were no longer special people. Are we to believe the first century Jews really had difficulty accepting the southern tribes of Judah or Benjamin joining with the ten northern tribes! The teaching of Israel ONLY Salvation is plan nonsense.

Many miss the truth that God always had the Gentiles in mind for salvation. Notice the following passages from the Old Testament that refer to the salvation of Gentiles". "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious." (Isaiah 11:10)

"I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles" (Isaiah 42:6)

“Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Isaiah 49:6)

"And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." (Isaiah 60:3)

"O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." (Jeremiah 16:19)

"For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts." (Malachi 1:11)

Paul explains the "dispensation of Grace" that was revealed to the Gentiles and was given to him. He says that by revelation, God made clear to him the "mystery". (Ephesians 3:1-5) What was the mystery that was now revealed? "That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." (Ephesians 3:6) Apparently to some, it's still a mystery and they just don't see it.