Christ was originally a mystery in God. Today when He as the mystery comes into us, He becomes a mystery in us. This is very personal to us. It took four thousand years for this mystery of God to be worked into us and become the mystery in us. I am afraid that some of you have never heard this. From the time God created Adam to the incarnation of the Lord Jesus was four thousand years. When God created Adam, He created him according to Christ. For Adam to be created according to the image of God means that he was created according to Christ, because the Bible says that Christ is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15). Therefore, when we say that man was created by God according to His own image, we mean that man was created by God according to Christ. This shows us that in Genesis 1 this mystery was already there.
Some people have been in Christianity for years but may not have heard such a thing. Man being created according to God’s image is the literal fact, but its intrinsic meaning is that God’s creation of man was according to Christ. God created man in this way because His intention was for man to contain Christ. Man must be according to Christ because one day Christ will enter into him and dwell in him. When Christ dwells in a man, He is comfortable and fits in, because man was created according to Him. We may illustrate this with a rectangular box and a round object. If we put the round object into the box, it will “feel uncomfortable.” However, if we put in something the same size and shape as the box, it will be very comfortable and fit well. When Adam was created in Genesis 1:26, God spoke forth the intrinsic meaning of His mystery.
From Adam to Abraham was two thousand years, and from Abraham to Christ was another two thousand years. It was after four thousand years that God became flesh. In the beginning God created man according to Christ, but the created man did not know for what purpose he existed. No one knew, including Adam, Moses, and even the angels. Only God Himself knew. This was a mystery hidden in God and kept in silence. When Abraham appeared, God called him and said to him, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 22:18), but even though Abraham received that promise, he did not know anything about this seed nor did he know who this seed would be.
This was the case until one day among the seed of Abraham there was a woman named Mary, who gave birth to a wonderful person. On the one hand, this wonderful person, Jesus, was a man, but on the other hand, He was also Jehovah. Therefore, He was Emmanuel, God with man (Matt. 1:23). It was at that time that the mystery in God began to enter into man. Through the journey of four thousand years, from Adam to Abraham and all the way to Christ, God was not idle. Rather, He was very busy. He created the universe with all the things in it, and He created man. Later He operated many things in human history.
Then one day this God with His mystery entered into a woman among mankind and was conceived, and afterward He came out from her womb. This was the man recorded in the four Gospels. He was so wonderful and mysterious that no one could know Him or speak of Him thoroughly. He was both man and God, both Jesus and Jehovah. Moreover, He was also life, light, love, the sun, and the morning star. He was beyond man’s description because He was truly a wonderful and rich One. When He was on the earth, people surrounded Him, dwelt with Him, and walked and lived with Him, but no one truly knew Him. The disciples who were with Him for three and a half years observed Him every day. They touched Him, and John even reclined on His bosom. Still, not a single person knew who or what He was. This was because at that time the mystery in God had entered into Him.
Due to the incarnation, the mystery that was originally in the God of the universe was now found in a man in this universe. The mystery in this person was the same as the mystery in God. However, not only do people in the world not know this, but even many in Christianity do not realize it. At the time of the apostle Paul, different philosophies, particularly Greek philosophy, flourished around the Mediterranean Sea. Two thousand years ago the inhabited land on the earth was centered around the Mediterranean Sea. The ancient Babylonian and Egyptian cultures, and especially the Greek culture, had all reached the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, the Jewish culture was also there. These four cultures were mixed together, and the result was a certain philosophy. However, even in this philosophy no one knew that the mystery originally in God had now entered into a person and had become the mystery in man.
After the Lord Jesus accomplished redemption, the gospel was preached to people of the nations around the Mediterranean Sea. However, no matter how much people heard it, they still did not understand. Even the Gnostics, who had a high reputation at that time and whose philosophical theories were very mysterious, had no vision of this mystery. Nevertheless, the One in whom the mystery was, was not restrained or put to rest. Rather, He was ready to increase and multiply. He was a grain of wheat that became one hundred grains. Then the one hundred became ten thousand, and the ten thousand went on to become countless grains.