Before we get into the subject matter of this message, I would like to fellowship with you concerning hymns. For the upcoming gospel campaign I have written a new hymn entitled, “The Mystery of the Universe.”
This hymn was written according to the fundamental truths in the Scriptures. The first stanza is based on Psalm 19 and Romans 1, which tell us that heaven, earth, and all things reveal God in His eternal power and the outward manifestation of His divine characteristics. Romans 1:20 uses the term divine characteristics, which is a translation of the Greek word theiotes. A similar Greek word, theotetos, is used in Colossians 2:9. This word is translated Godhead and refers to God’s person or God’s divinity. Both theiotes and theotetos are derived from the Greek word theos, which means “God.” God’s divine characteristics are His distinctive features, whereas His divinity is His very nature. For example, the oak trees of Texas have a distinctive grain. This is one of their characteristics. In addition to this characteristic, they also have the distinct nature of wood. The nature is something inward; the characteristics are an outward manifestation. Whereas God’s divinity, His very nature, is what God is, His divine characteristics are the outward manifestation of His nature. Heaven, earth, and all things manifest God’s divine characteristics, but they do not express God’s person, nature, or image. God Himself is expressed only through man.
The Bible shows us that before the Lord became a man, the heavens, the earth, and all things manifested God’s divine characteristics. When the Lord Jesus came to be a man, He not only manifested God’s divine characteristics and power but also expressed God’s person and image, that is, God’s divinity. Romans 1:20 does not speak of God Himself but of God’s manifested characteristics. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. These are some of the divine characteristics seen in God’s creation. Everything created by God is beautiful and lovely, bright and good, orderly and proper. Hence, God’s creation manifests God’s characteristics. The Lord Jesus, however, was the expression not only of God’s characteristics but of God Himself. According to Colossians 2:9, all the fullness of the Godhead, the deity, was expressed in the Lord Jesus bodily.
The second and third stanzas of this hymn are based on the gospel messages that Paul gave in Acts 14 and 17 respectively. The essence of his message in Acts 14 is that God sends us rain from heaven and gives us fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness (vv. 15-17). This is a relatively shallow gospel. In Acts 17 Paul spoke in a deeper and more logical way, saying that God made the world and all things and gives life and breath to all people. Paul also pointed out that God determined beforehand the appointed seasons and boundaries of the nations “that they might seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him” (vv. 24-27). This implies that God is a God who hides Himself (Isa. 45:15) and that He is a mystery to the human race. In other words, the invisible God is the mystery of the universe (Col. 1:15). Only when we know and receive God, can we understand the mystery of the universe.
There are many fundamental truths revealed in the New Testament. First, God is invisible; He is a God who hides Himself. Second, heaven, earth, and all things reveal God’s divine characteristics. Third, the Lord Jesus Himself lived out the person, image, being, and divinity of the invisible God, the God who hides Himself. Therefore, stanza 4 of this hymn says, “Th’ invisible God man could see / In creation, yet not completely. / God’s person and His image / Through man expressed had yet to be.” This means that although the invisible God was manifested through the things that He created, this revelation was still incomplete because a man was needed to express God’s person and image. This man was the Lord Jesus. Hence, the following lines say, “So Jesus Christ, God’s Beloved, came / To the world in human likeness. / Through Him completely expressed was God— / His nature and all He is.”
The first stanza of this hymn concerns the divine characteristics, and the fourth stanza concerns the divine nature. The divine characteristics were manifested through creation, but the divine nature was expressed through the Lord Jesus. This divine nature, which refers to what God is, was expressed to the uttermost through the Lord Jesus. Therefore, the last two stanzas, which offer praise to the Lord Jesus, turn from God’s creation to the Lord Jesus. Stanza 5 says, “Mysterious Christ, Savior mine, / Manifested God among men. / God infinite, in eternity, / Yet man in time, finite to be; / O Christ, who is God’s embodiment, / God is mingled with man—what good news! / As God yet man, He would enter us / To be our portion blessed.” As the mysterious and wonderful One, the Lord Jesus is the infinite God who became a finite man. Hence, He is truly God and truly man; He is God mingled with man. This One is the good news of great joy, the wonderful, glad tidings. Moreover, as such a One He wants to come into us to be our blessed portion.
Stanza 6 says, “God’s nature was hidden in Him; / God’s image, expressed through Him. / In flesh He hast redemption wrought; / As Spirit, oneness with me sought. / Christ was incarnated as the God-man / To redeem us by His shed blood. / In resurrection as Spirit He / Comes into us as our life.” The Lord Jesus accomplished redemption so that He could enter into us to be our life. The fifth stanza speaks about our blessed portion, and the sixth stanza speaks about life.
This is an excellent gospel hymn because it uses various terms and phrases of the truth, such as God is hidden, invisible, mysterious Christ, Savior, God’s embodiment, the God-man, and incarnated. All of these terms are rich and deep in meaning and help explain the truth of the gospel in a concise way. This hymn tells us that the Lord Jesus was put to death on the cross, shedding His precious blood to redeem us, the sinners, and that He was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit so that in our experience He could come into our spirit to be our life. Hence, this short hymn of six stanzas begins with God’s creation and concludes with the Lord as God’s embodiment coming into us to be one with us in our spirit as our life. This hymn comprises nearly all of the crucial truths in the Scriptures.
The deepest thought in this hymn is that the Lord Jesus was God mingled with man. This was God’s aspiration from eternity before the times of the ages. His desire was that He would create man and enter into man, not only to be united with man but also to be mingled with man. This aspiration was fulfilled when He was incarnated and became a man. The Lord Jesus was God mingled with man. Furthermore, this One came into us so that, like Him, we would also become those who are the mingling of God with man. This is the content of the gospel and the wonderful, good news.