In the previous chapter we saw that in the Bible there are the five great mysteries: the universe, man, God, Christ, and the church. Apart from these five great mysteries, there are many other mysteries in the Bible. The Gospel of Matthew speaks of the mysteries of the kingdom. The Gospel of John and the first Epistle of John also contain many mysteries, such as the mystery of eternal life and the mystery of God becoming flesh. The other books of the New Testament also speak of the mystery of our rapture, the mystery of resurrection, and others.
Eternal life is a mystery. Eternal life is not a matter of blessing but a matter of life. The Greek word for eternal applies not only to time but also to sphere; it implies time and extent. With respect to time, this life is everlasting; with respect to extent, this life is unlimited. Hence, this life is the eternal life. Such a life is mysterious to us. The fellowship produced out of this life is also mysterious.
In Greek the word for mystery implies “the shutting of the mouth,” “being silenced.” Suppose this morning as an old Chinese man I come and stand here silent with my mouth shut. You sit in silence for ninety minutes, and I stand also in silence for ninety minutes. As a result, you all will say, “This is really a mystery! We went to the meeting this morning, but we did not hear anything. We only saw a mysterious situation. The preacher simply would not tell us what was hidden inside his being. What a mystery!”
The universe is a mystery; the universe is mysterious. This means that God kept His mouth shut. God created the heavens and the earth; then He created all things in great variety; and eventually He created man. To not have the Holy Bible would mean that God has kept silent. Thus, everything in the universe would be a mystery, and we would not be able to understand anything or know anything at all.
The way the Chinese sages formed Chinese words is truly interesting. The Chinese word for God is made up of two characters: the one on the left means to reveal, and the one on the right means to explain. God is the One who has revealed Himself and who has spoken. When you do not have God, everything is a mystery, but when God comes, revelation comes; then you have light and you are clear. One day before I turned nineteen, I heard the pure gospel and received it. I remember very clearly that on the afternoon I received God, immediately there was brightness within me. This was revelation; this was God coming into me. Dear brothers and sisters, how do you know if you have God in you? God is in you because there is brightness in you, and there is revelation in you.
What is revelation? Revelation is the opening of the veil to reveal the hidden things. The subject of the book of Revelation is the “opening of the veil.” The book of Revelation fully reveals how in the universe there is God’s dominion in heaven and how there is God Himself on earth; it also reveals how God reigns in heaven and on earth and how the Lord is the center of the reigning in the universe. Today, we are not under God’s silence. God’s mystery which has been kept in silence in the times of the ages has now been manifested through the prophetic writings according to the command of the eternal God (Rom. 16:25-26).
Today, we have an open Bible, and the entire Bible is God’s revelation. Hebrews 1 begins by saying, “God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son.” In the Old Testament, God spoke in the prophets, in men borne by His Spirit. In the New Testament, God speaks in the Son, that is, in the person of the Son.
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