THE MYSTERY OF THE MESSIAH
(Galatians 3:26-4:1-7)
“. . . when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman,
born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the
full rights of sons.”
(Gal. 4:4,5)
THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH WAS NOT ONLY UNIQUE BUT THERE WAS ALSO A MYSTERY TO IT. This mystery is neither the kind of mystery thriller novels are written like Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys or Sherlock Holmes nor the kind that are portrayed in motion pictures.
The mystery of the Messiah refers to everything—his birth, mission, teaching, miracle, and true identity are not measured according to man’s standard.
The word mystery in Greek is ‘musterion’ (moos-tay’-ree-on) meaning to shut the mouth; to close, referring to the lips and the eyes. Mystery as the Nelson Bible Dictionary defines it is “something unknown except through divine revelation.”
What the mystery of the Messiah is not?
1. It does not refer to secret or hidden things that God is unwilling to tell.
2. It’s not referring to secret or hidden things that man can discover later through some kind of clues or mystical rituals.
3. It’s not about secret or hidden things when revealed that they give out magical results.
What the mystery of the Messiah is?
1. It usually refers to the secret plan that God shares only with His people.
2. It relates to the wise counsel of God regarding future events.
3. It points to the significance of God’s plan regarding the death of Christ or the Messiah.
The events surrounding the Messiah cannot be understood by the natural man unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to his spirit. Who can know the thoughts of God? No one! Except the Spirit of God! (1Cor 2:11) Therefore, only the Spirit of God can reveal to man’s spirit within Him that Jesus is the Messiah. Unless the Holy Spirit spirit reveals to man God’s spiritual truths, everything God had said in His Word are but a mystery to him.
“No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden
and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1Cor 2:7,8)
There is nothing in the mystery of the Messiah that God has not revealed in His Word. Everything about Him is revealed by God in His Word; and He fulfills them in the fullness of time. For God is not confined in our time.
“. . . when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman,
born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the
full rights of sons.” (Gal 4:4,5)
He is beyond our intelligence; way, way beyond every man’s logical thinking. Our Creator is above us; He is beyond our power. We cannot fully follow his ways and the working of His mind. To understand Him fully is impossible because He is infinite and we are finite. God is so great, incomprehensible (Deut 7:21; Neh 4:14; Ps 48:1; 86:10; 95:3; 145:3; Dan 9:4). Napoleon once said regarding the Christ:
“Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and His will confounds me. His ideas and His sentiments, the truth which He announces, His manner of convincing are not explained either by human observation or the nature of things. His birth and the history of His life; the profundity of His doctrine, which grapples the mightiest difficulties, and which is of those difficulties the most admirable solution; His Gospel; . . . everything is for me . . . a mystery insoluble . . . a mystery which is there before my eyes, a mystery which I can neither deny nor explain. Here I see nothing human. The nearer I approach, the more carefully I examine. Everything is above me. Everything remains grand—of a grandeur which overpowers. His (religion) truth is a revelation from an Intelligence which certainly is not that of man.” (Bible Illustrations Book One, pg. 19)
During Christ’s earthly ministry, He talked a lot about the kingdom of God. But the Kingdom which He spoke about was first of all a “spiritual” Kingdom established in the hearts and lives of believers. But the earthly kingdom that Christ promised to institute will not happen until his return. When concerning God’s secret things, this has reference to the specific way in which God will carry out His will in the future, which are revealed in His Word to be fulfilled at the proper time.
“. . .The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation,
nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of
God is within you.” (Luke 17:20,21)
ILLUSTRATION:
We live in a generation that has shown so much fascination over the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. When a preacher would talk about Christ’s Second Coming, Christians jump to their seats, with attentive ears and alert mind ready to absorb whatever the speaker would say about the subject. No wonder Tim LaHaye and co-author Jerry Jenkins sold more than 65 million copies of their book “Left Behind” (over 75 million counting the graphic novels and children’s versions). Twelve volumes are now in print. So far, it generated more than 650 million dollars in sales since first published in 1995. (http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/BookReviews/left.htm)
Let us be very careful in what we are believing. Test every teaching in light of scriptures. Just as Israel should not be concerned about the future, the same applies to all Christians for the future is in God’s hands. Our utmost concern is to be obey the command of Scriptures that we may grow strong in our faith.
The traditional view among the Jew, just as what we’ve discussed the last time, the Messiah would be an earthly conqueror who would free Israel from Rome’s oppression and improve the nation’s socioeconomic status—from poverty to riches; having freedom to toil and cultivate their own land without too many restrictions.
Little did they know that the Messiah to come whose mission was more than just freeing them from Rome’s oppression or improving their daily living. What the Messiah can give was and is worth more than all the treasures in all the earth combined. He is not someone who measures to man’s standard. But someone who is going to provide what no man can attain and ever achieve in this earthly life—What is that? Eternal glory!
1. THE MYSTERY OF THE MESSIAH IN THE INCARNATION
“Beyond all, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among
the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up to glory.“ (1Tim 3:16)
ILLUSTRATION:
One winter night a farmer heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched as tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted to the warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.
Touched, the farmer got out and walked his way through fresh snow to open the barn for the struggling birds. He turned on the lights, covered one corner with hay, and sprinkled a trail of saltine crackers to lead the birds to the barn. But the sparrows, which had scattered in all directions when he came out from the house, still hid in the darkness, afraid of him.
He tried various tactics to drive them toward the barn but nothing worked. He, a huge alien creature, had terrified them; the birds could not understand that he actually came out of the house to help them.
He went back into the house and watched the doomed sparrows through a window. As he stared a thought hit him: If only I could become a bird—like one of them—just for a moment. Then I wouldn’t have frightened them. I could show them the way to warmth and safety.
A man’s becoming a bird is nothing compared to the whole principle of the Incarnation—God becoming a man. Just like the sparrows in our story, the concept of a sovereign God who is bigger than the universe He created, confining Himself to a human body was and is too much for some people to believe.
He appeared in a body.To the ungodly–Christ is shrouded in mystery, unknown. But to the godly, Christ is a mystery revealed (1 Cor 2:7-14; Col 1:27). Jesus Christ is God incarnate. He is God manifest in the flesh (Jo 1:1, 14), the God-man, manifested his deity in and through his humanity. God was once manifested in the flesh of Christ and now continues to be manifested in Christ’s body, the church. Thus, the church is not just maintaining an historical testimony to Christ’s incarnation but it is also continuing a living manifestation of God’s expression on earth (3:15).
Though Jesus took upon Himself humanity, there was not a point in time that He ceased to be the eternal God.
ILLUSTRATION: The Nativity Movie
- “are you afraid” Elizabeth asked Mary. Mary was fearful of how things will turn out
- she’s carrying God in her womb
- how would she raise her
- Joseph was also fearful of how he is going to raise the child who is God
- will he be able to teach him
- would he bow to the child
- the child, in all essence, is his master
But Jesus being human, functioned just like any other man as the Bible says,
“. . . he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. “ (Luke 2:51-52)
2. THE MYSTERY OF THE MESSIAH AS THE WORD
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.“ (John 1:1,2)
In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, there is a record of Jesus’ genealogy. In the Gospel of Mark there is no genealogy because the emphasis here is on the servant role of Jesus Christ. That is why it begins with the public ministry of our Lord. Now in the Gospel of John the more that there is no need to record Jesus’ genealogy. Why? Because He did not have a beginning. Luke recorded Jesus’ genealogy as far as the human mind can go back—Adam! Since no one knows what was in the eternity past there was no need for His genealogy in the Gospel of John. Mainly because His emphasis was on Jesus being God who did not have a beginning Himself, but existed from all eternity. That even before time and space began, Jesus was there.
According to the Ilumina Bible commentary, theologians and philosophers, both Jews and Greeks, used the term “word” in a variety of ways. The Greek term is “logos.” It could mean a person’s thoughts or reason, or it might refer to a person’s speech, the expression of thoughts. However, Jesus, the God-man, is not an idea or a thought. Although ideas can sometimes be expressed in words. But Jesus being the Word, is not an idea or some kind of a concept but a real Person who was with God before all things were created.
Since John wanted to present to us Jesus as the One who was with God and is God Himself called Him “the Word.” As the Word, the Son of God fully conveys and communicates God. Thus, Christ as “the Word” is the agent of and the personal expression of the Creator God.
The one who existed from the beginning* is the one we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life. (1 John 1:1)
This is the truth about Jesus, and the foundation of all truth—that He was the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and the source of eternal life.If we cannot or do not believe this basic truth, we will not have enough faith to trust our eternal destiny through Him.
Jesus personifies God’s truth; the summary of what the Bible proclaims; the good news; the good tidings or the good news that the angel announced to the shepherds during His birth. Jesus is the Gospel.
Jesus Christ as the Word, expressed God, explained God, defined God. Because no one has ever seen God nor ever will until the proper time. But Jesus as the Word has made Him known.
“No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.” (John 1:18).
The “Word” is also the title of Christ in the vision of his divine glory
“He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God.” (Rev 19:13)
3. THE MYSTERY OF THE INDWELLING MESSIAH
“. . . the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations,
but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make
known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:26, 27)
The wealth of the mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory–indicates that the indwelling Christ is our hope of participating in the coming glorification.
Making God’s word fully known meant revealing a message that had been kept secret for centuries and generations past. This message was hidden, not because only a few could understand it, but because it was hidden until Christ came. With Christ’s coming and the beginning of Christianity, that message is no longer hidden; it has been revealed to those who believe, that is, his holy people. God’s plan was hidden from previous generations, not because God wanted to keep something from his people, but because he was going to reveal it in his perfect timing.
What is that hidden message? In Eph 3:1-6. The mystery hidden throughout the ages was that one day Jews and Gentiles would be joined together in one body, the church, because of their common belief in Jesus Christ as Savior. The Old Testament revealed that the Gentiles would receive salvation (Isaiah 49:6), but it was never explained that Gentile and Jewish believers would become equal in the body of Christ, with no divisions between them. In the Old Testament, Gentiles could convert to Judaism but would always be considered “second-class” Jews, not pure Jews. With the coming of Christ, however, and the new union he created through his church, all believers were joined together in Christ’s body.
CONCLUSION:
Again, God’s mystery is not a puzzle to solve; instead, it is like a treasure chest filled with the riches and glory of Christ, and the message is that the riches are also available to the Gentiles. People did not need to acquire some secret knowledge in order to find God; God had reached down to them because he wanted to save them.
God made the secret available to Jews and Gentiles alike, and the secret is Christ lives in you. Jews and Gentiles will have that oneness in Christ’s body because God had planned from the beginning of time to have Christ live in the heart of each person who believes in him. The indwelling Christ gives believers assurance that they will share in his glory in his eternal Kingdom. Believers are in Christ; Christ is in them; therefore, believers can look forward to sharing Christ’s glory.
This is the message of Christmas—the first Christmas. It was the most opportune period in the history of man for the Messiah to come to save all mankind.
“. . . when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman,
born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Gal 4:4,5)
