The Revelation of the Mystery (part 1)

As we come to our Bibles endeavouring to study to shew ourselves approved unto God according to the instructions found in 2nd Timothy 2:15, of necessity we must heed to the admonishment to also "rightly divide the word of truth".

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Most people would be quick to answer to where the divisions are in the word of truth, the Bible, and assume that means to divide the Old Testament from the New Testament. And yes, you could say that is correct on one level, but actually there is another division that just jumps off the page once you have seen "what is the fellowship of the mystery".

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Notice the "mystery" information was hid in God from the beginning of the world. Do you know what that says in the original Greek? it says it was hid in God from the beginning of the world. To help identify the "right division" Paul speaks of in 2nd Timothy 2:15, let's look at some more clues.

In the OT book of Luke, we find the father of John the Baptist giving a prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ in chapter one.

Luke 1:67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

Luke 1:68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,

Luke 1:69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

Luke 1:70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:

Keep in mind the last four words "since the world began" as we take a look at what Peter has to say in Acts chapter three speaking to the children of Israel.

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

Acts 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Notice again the last four words "since the world began". We can conclude then can we not that there is information everybody had access to as it was spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets "since the world began". Now lets see what the Apostle Paul has to say on this matter of availability of the information that was given to him through revelation from the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

Isn't that amazing? there are those same four words again..."since the world began". But according to Paul, his message was NOT spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets "since the world began" but was "kept secret" since the world began. Again, as we already saw in Ephesians 3:9, the mystery information "from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God". Let's slow done now and consider what has been shown through these few scriptures. What Peter spoke was that which was spoken by all the holy prophets "since the world began". What Paul spoke was that which was kept secret "since the world began" That cannot be the same thing. What everybody knew and what nobody knew are mutually exclusive and that constitutes a proper line of separation or right division in the word of truth.

In conclusion, we can see there is more parts to our Bibles than just the Old and New Testaments, but there is also a distinction between the prophetic information and the mystery information found only in the writings of the Apostle Paul. The Lord Jesus Christ chose to give this "mystery" information to the Apostle Paul beginning in the 9th chapter of the book of Acts and no one else before Paul was privy to this revelation.

Colossians 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

Colossians 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

Once again Paul gives testimony to the fact that the information which was given him by Christ was not made known before given to Paul and we need to take notice of the change in the doctrines associated with this mystery information.

This post should set the groundwork to the next series of posts dealing with the 6 aspects of the "revelation of the mystery".