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Aspects of the Mystery of Christ
A few of weeks ago was posted the study The Mystery of Christ. This study make known the fact of the Mystery, but went little into the qualities and truths of the Mystery. Just to refresh your memory a little……
I Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a (regarding the) mystery, the hidden, which God prepared before the world unto (eis-immediate direct purpose) our glory.
This glory which is to be ours comes by merely receiving the truth of the Mystery into our lives. We receive this offering of God by……faith.
Romans 16:26 But now (the revelation of the mystery) is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets (like the studies of this Blog), according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of (which is) faith.
Every single promise of God is provided to His people by His effort alone, the most glorious of which is His success in providing for the reality of the Mystery through the work of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. To receive the result of God’s effort toward us, we need simply accept the gift as finished reality….by believing it to be true!
But how can we believe it to be true if we can’t understand what it is? Imagine if I gave you a card, smaller than the size of a playing card, and told you that this card, and this card alone would enable you to obtain anything and everything in the world you desired? You could possibly be stymied in how this could be done, unless you were instructed in the realities of a credit card, how to present it at time of purchase, along with ID, and how the person receiving the monthly bill would be the one making good on all payment.
Ephesians 3:3, 4, 8, 9 How that by revelation He (God) made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote before in few words, Whereby, when you read you may have my understanding regarding the mystery of Christ). Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make everyone see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things.
When it comes to the mystery of Christ….Paul is the man! His stated purpose in writing his epistles is to make known the mystery of Christ.
Colossians 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledging (epignosis – the intimately experiential knowing) of the mystery of God…..Christ; in which (the mystery) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (gnosis – experiential knowing).
The Mystery of Christ is our unlimited spiritual credit card, provided and paid for by God, through His Son Jesus Christ. Think of the “treasures of wisdom and knowledge (I like to just translate this last word (Greek gnosis) as “experience”). Think of the “treasures of wisdom and experience.”
Why do people want to have a lot of money? Rich experience. Why do people want fame? Rich experience. Why do people want acclaim? Rich wisdom and experience. Why do people want to explore? To gain wisdom and experience. Why do people want to go to college and get degrees? Rich wisdom and experience.
Remember Donald Duck? Remember his rich Uncle Scrooge? The picture is of Scrooge McDuck diving into his huge money bin, which was filled with gold coins. Anyone really have a desire to do that with their life? What good is money? You can’t eat it. Rather, it’s the experience that it can buy you. The experience of an African safari, of playing X-box video games, of driving a fabulously expensive sports car, of cavorting in your own pool on a mountaintop overlooking LA, or Rio de Janero. The allure of riches is the allure of rich experiences!
And what about wisdom? Wisdom is knowing how the dots will connect. Knowing what are obstacles and what are stepping stones. In relationship, in friendship, in marriage, in parenting, at work, at play, at peace, in competition, in repose. As you live your life, the way, or ways, are clearly seen and understood, so that the desired goal is reached, the anticipated object is obtained, And every experience is an experience of victory, of success, of glory!
Well, all the real and true treasures of wisdom and experience are hidden in the revelational realization of the mystery of Christ.
I Corinthians 2:16b But we have the mind of Christ.
We have the mind Christ has. The mind of the spirit of which we are born has the capacity to understand and experience everything that the Creator has intended for us. It needs to be developed, but we have it. Accept this truth as a finished reality, and explore the options it gives you.
Ephesians 3:3a How that by revelation he (God) made known unto me the mystery…….
In order to grow in understanding (and thus, the manifesting) of the Mystery, God will have to reveal to you. by the spirit of Christ within, the reality of the Mystery.
Ephesians 3:17a That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
Colossians 1:27 ….the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you (plural), the hope of (your) glory.
Now if I have Christ in me, and you have the same Christ in you, then what we are going to have in common is life itself ! The mind of Christ itself!
Romans 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
The body of Christ is everyone through whom the “blood” of the spirit of Christ pumps. That spirit of Christ, the lifeblood of the body of Christ, supplies life, wisdom and energy, power and vitality…..to every single individual member, no matter at what stage in spiritual growth and understanding, no matter what role or function being perceived and experienced.
I Corinthians 12:13, 14, 18, 27 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. But now has God set the members ever one of them in the body, as it has pleased Him. Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
The experience of Christ is multiplied within the body upon every experience of Christ. When the hand encounters an object, the eyes, ears, elbows, feet, legs all react. When the eyes see, the taste is affected, the hands, head, and feet react. So it is in the Mystery of Christ…the one body. Listen the next time a brother or sister in Christ shares from the heart an experience of Christ. The spirit of Christ within you will receive and experience that same experience, as if you yourself had gone through it, resulting in the “knowing” that comes from such an experience. That’s powerful!
Ephesians 4:15, 16 But living out the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, who is the head, Christ; From whom the whole body is fitly joined together and is compacted by that which every joint (relationship) supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part (member), makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Walk in and by the flesh and you walk alone. Walk by the spirit, and you are part of a spiritually living organism, which organism will exist and thrive throughout all of time. Even when that spiritual organism is spread throughout all the universe, it will still share in common in the “pool” of the presence, power, wisdom and love of Christ. The gain of one will be the gain of all…..for all eternity!
Ephesians 3:11 According to the eternal purpose (purpose of the ages) which He (God) purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 3:19 And to know (gnosko) the love of Christ, which passes knowledge (gnosis), that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 1:22, 23 And (God) has put all under his (Christ’s) feet, and gave him to be the head over all for the church, Which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
If Christ is the purpose of all creation for all time, and we are his fullness, then get ready for a life richer and more satisfying than you ever dreamed. An entire universe is waiting for us to explore, dominate, subdue and enjoy, being, as we are, the heirs of everything the Creator has created.
Romans 8:16, 17 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we endure with him, that we may be also glorified together (with him).
The glory of Jesus Christ, operating as head over all physical and spiritual creation, is the glory of his body. One for all, and all for one…..the body of Christ!
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See related studies:
The Glorified Christ
In Christ – Ephesians 1-14 (part 2)
Our Inheritance
All the Treasures of Wisdom and Experience
