God is a mystery, and this mystery is in His being Spirit. The Spirit is truly mysterious. We may illustrate this with electricity. Today we use many electrical appliances. Electricity is something practical; without it, we would not have electric lighting or microphones, so we would not be able to hold a meeting here tonight. Although electricity is really practical and useful, we cannot see it, nor can we show it. Where is electricity? It seems that since electricity is in a lightbulb, as long as we do not remove the lightbulb, the electricity is here, but once you remove the lightbulb, it is gone. This is a wonderful thing. We can see by this that electricity is a mystery.
Another illustration is the life in our human body. I can speak, move, and show expressions because there is life in me. If I die, however, I will not be able to move even though my head and hands are still here. Why is this? It is because life is no longer in me. Life is something real, but no one can place life before our eyes. Even until today physiologists and medical doctors cannot give us an adequate explanation of life. We can see the expressions of life, but we cannot see life itself. Yet life is very real.
These examples show us that there is a God in the universe. When you consider the universe, you see that it is truly wonderful, yet it is a puzzle. This puzzle can be explained only by tracing back to God. The entire universe depends and rests on God. However, God is invisible, indescribable, and unexplainable; hence, God is a mystery.
The Bible mentions four great matters concerning God. First, God created. God created all things, and He created man. Second, God was incarnated. People in the world can see all the things created by God, but very few know how God became a man. We know that the name of this Man is Jesus. All would agree that Jesus is a wonderful One, the most special One. Jesus is extraordinary, and He is also common. Jesus is God. He is God, yet He became a man. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, and the Word became flesh.
The first great act of God was His creating of all things, and the second great act was His becoming a man. God entered into human flesh, put on human nature, and became a man named Jesus. When He came out for His ministry, people saw in Him a mystery; that is, although He obviously was a man, He did things that other men could not do, and He spoke words that others could not speak. The words that He spoke were apparently simple, yet they were extraordinary. For instance, He said, “I am the bread of life.” He also said, “I am the light of the world.” And again, “I am the way, the reality, and the life.” These words are simple, yet they are extraordinarily great. I do not believe that anyone in the whole world could have spoken such words as Jesus did. None of the philosophers and wise men ever spoke such words. No one is as wonderful as Jesus. Jesus is wonderful because He is God.
The third great thing concerning God is that in the flesh He became our Redeemer. Every one of us is fallen and corrupt. The Lord Jesus came to save us by bearing our sins through His death on the cross. The cross is excellent and special.
Creation, incarnation, and crucifixion are three great things that God did. However, these three great things are for the fourth great thing—His becoming the life-giving Spirit. The reason for His creation, His incarnation, and His redemption is to give life. His purpose in all this is to give life to man.