The Word Works!: CUSTODIANS OF GOD'S MYSTERIES I

It is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to His Law; indeed it cannot. So those living in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8). Those who try to grasp the underlying mysteries of the Word of God with their minds would end up failing. That’s why there’re lots of misinterpretation of scripture. The mind is limited! Carnally minded people are those who give the laws without life. It’s made clear in the Word that the letter (of legally written code of laws) kills but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).

“Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]” (Romans 8:6, Amp). This means that someone’s article may lead to death (pain, suffering, poverty, ignorance etc.) if it’s coming right from his senses without any revelation from the Spirit. They are always talking about God coming down with a sword to smite everyone who commits sin. They present Him as “wicked” God, thereby stopping many from enjoying the rich content fellowship with Him. There’s a lot of good, nice sounding teaching that only sound humble but it's a demonstration of ignorance.

Consider Paul’s prayer for the saints at Ephesus: “May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!” (Ephesians 3:17-19, Amp).

Paul is saying that you’ve got to truly understand the love of God, that, hey, He’s not there to kick you out when you err. This way you will have the power and strength to experience for yourself the love of Christ which exceeds or oversteps having a mere knowledge; that is, without experience. It’s when you are able to grasp the love of God that you are filled and flooded with Him, thereby having a strong feeling of His presence. You see, if you cast yourself out of God’s love because you think you committed the unpardonable sin, you’re never going to enjoy His presence. You’re going to have yourself far from Him, which makes you commit more sin.

Meanwhile, the infallible Scriptures says that “…if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you]” (Romans 8:10, Amp). Most people’s problem is that they see themselves as bodies. They have forgotten that man is a spirit, he has a soul and lives in a body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Your body is just your home or house! When you get born again, it’s your Spirit that experiences the rebirth, not your body. Your Spirit is righteous, even though you might be struggling with sin in the flesh. God doesn’t deal with you in the Spirit-flesh perspective, no! He deals with you Spirit to spirit. That’s why the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

No wonder the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). Oh, I got another clue: “I'm absolutely convinced that nothing — nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable — absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us” (Romans 8:38-39, MSG). Nothing can separate us from the love of God; NOTHING! Even men, as evil as we may seem, tend to forgive and accept our children when they err. How much more God, whose very nature is love, love personified!

God’s nature is holiness and He does associate Himself with sin. If your sins are blood-red, they’ll be as clean as freshly fallen snow when you come to Him (Isaiah 1:18). His holy nature is imparted to your spirit when you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour, so that He can commune with the real you (spirit). Jesus and the ones He makes holy have the same Father. That’s why He’s not ashamed to call us His brethren (Hebrews 2:11). Why do you think the body dies? It’s because it’s not perfect, and that’s why it’ll be changed from mortal to immortality when Christ returns (1 Corinthians 15:53). You see, your body is still mortal. It hasn't been redeemed yet.

Any teaching that’s inspired by the Spirit of God brings life and peace. Why is it that some Christians seem to prosper with the Word than others? Some of us are truly enjoying the life and peace that it brings. No wonder John said, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). Some people have heard, seen or looked upon the Word of life but have not experienced it. They are like Moses, who saw Canaan but could not possess it. John is saying that it’s the same kind of life they have handled (practically, by experience, and witness), that they are declaring to us.

Only the “fool” refuses to respond to this revelation. Thus the person who does not respond in obedience obviously has an incomplete knowledge of the Lord. Don’t be so troubled when they reject your teaching. To know God involves relationship, fellowship, concern, and experience. The New Testament continues this basic idea of knowledge and adds some variations of its own. In the Gospel of John the knowledge of God is mediated through Jesus as the “Logos” (the word of God, made incarnate in Jesus Christ).

That’s why He said that he that had seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus has perfect knowledge of God’s purpose and nature, and reveals it to His followers: “If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is” (John 14:7, NLT). The identification of Jesus’ own relationship with the Father as a model for the relationship of the disciples indicates that knowledge signifies a personal relationship that is intimate and mutual. You cannot know God until you have communion, fellowship with Him. The definition of eternal life in John 17:3 adds further content to this concept: “And this is the way to have eternal life-to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth” (NLT).

This concept is vastly different from that of Hellenistic mysticism, in which contemplation and ecstasy are consummated in the gradual merging of the knower and God. In John, by contrast, the result of knowledge is having a personal relationship with God through His Son. Paul also places the revelation of God in Christ as the source of knowledge. God has made known the “mystery of His will” to the one who is “in Christ.” The spiritual person is taught by the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:12-16) and responds to the truth as it is revealed in Jesus Christ. Again, there is emphasis on relationship and encounter as essential elements in the concept of knowledge.

Christian knowledge of God is not based simply on observation or speculation but is the result of experience in Christ. This knowledge is contrasted sharply with natural wisdom, which operates from an incorrect perspective. Paul is quick to point out that the mystery of God’s redemptive plan has been made known and there is now no room for ignorance. Knowledge, then, is the whole person standing in relationship with God through Christ. We are custodians and stewards of God’s mysteries!

It’s extremely important to study the Scriptures for yourself to know what it talks about: “Let the Word of Christ – the Message – have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives…” (Colossians 3:16, MSG). Don’t just accept what someone says to you because he talks nicely; make a research for yourself if what he’s saying is right. Paul commended the Jews in Berea: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). They were more open-minded, in that they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to check up on Paul and Silas, to see if they were really teaching the truth.

We are to grow, and the only way is to study the Word of God as the Spirit reveals its mysteries to us. We are admonished: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe” (Hebrews 5:12-13). We were babes when we got born again, and so we were fed with milk. But God expects us to take solid food as this quote renders. No parent would be happy when his child is always taking milk even when he’s grown, and it’s the same with God.

Paul said to the Corinthians: “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to mature Christians. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk and not with solid food, because you couldn’t handle anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2, NLT). So you see, we’ve got to grow up. It’s possible for someone to open this page and close it immediately because he may not accept my teachings. Well, I know it’ll be quite difficult for babes to comprehend them just like Paul wrote to the Corinthians. I pray they’ll be enlightened.

While with the disciples, Jesus said, “I have still many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them or to take them upon you or to grasp them now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]” (John 16:12-13, Amp).

When the Holy Spirit is come, He will guide us into full truth. In other words, there will be no lacking! It’s this truth that makes us free (John 8:32). Jesus had many things to tell the disciples but they couldn’t bear them until they were indwelt by the Spirit. Why then do we receive the teachings from people who’re carnally minded and not filled with God’s Spirit? Several people are wandering in the wilderness like the Israelites on their way to Canaan; they’re so miserable. Meanwhile, we’re already in Canaan (symbolic to the rest of God) by the work of Jesus.

They sing: “We’re marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion…” That’s ignorance! Let’s see what the Word says, “Unlike your ancestors, you didn't come to Mount Sinai – all that volcanic blaze and earthshaking rumble – to hear God speak. The earsplitting words and soul-shaking message terrified them and they begged him to stop. When they heard the words – "If an animal touches the Mountain, it's as good as dead" – They were afraid to move. Even Moses was terrified. No, that's not your experience at all. You've come to Mount Zion, the city where the living God resides. The invisible Jerusalem is populated by throngs of festive angels and Christian citizens. It is the city where God is Judge, with judgments that make us just.

You've come to Jesus, who presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God. He is the Mediator of this covenant. The murder of Jesus, unlike Abel's – a homicide that cried out for vengeance – became a proclamation of grace” (Hebrews 12:18-24, MSG). That’s what happened when the Israelites arrived in Sinai three months after the night of their departure from Egypt. After breaking camp at Rephidim, they came to the base of Mt. Sinai and set up a camp there. Moses climbed the rugged mountain where God met and spoke with him, giving him instructions to be given to the Israelites. God decided to come closer in the form of a dark cloud, so that the people could hear Him talk with Moses. The Lord did this so that they would believe whatever Moses told them.

The Lord ordered the Israelites to be prepared and made clean, for he shall meet them in two days’ time. He made Moses draw boundary lines the people may not pass; whoever does shall die. Whether man or animal, he would be stoned or shot to death. Moses sent the message to the people and charged them not to even have intercourse with their wives. When the day was come, there was a terrific thunder and lightning storm, and a huge cloud came down upon the mountain, and there was a long, loud blast as from a ram’s horn; and all the people trembled. Moses led them out of the camp to meet God as He had commanded.

All Mt. Sinai was covered with smoke because Jehovah descended upon it in the form of fire; the smoke billowed into the sky as from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook with a violent earthquake. David said, “The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh” (Psalm 29:8). That’s the voice of God. The people heard the thunder and the long, frightening trumpet blast; and they stood at a distance, shaking with fear. They were so scared that they told Moses to only listen to God, tell them what He says and they’ll obey. They assumed God would kill them, should He speak to them directly; God has a powerful voice! Moses himself was aghast and trembling with fear as to what was going on (Exodus 19:12-22; 20:18-21; Deuteronomy 4:11, 12; 5:22-27; Deuteronomy 9:19).

I had to go through this story with you for a reason. The book of Hebrews says we (New Testament believers) have not come to a mountain that can be touched, a mountain that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm. NO! They could not bear the commandments that were given to them; they were afraid to even move about. That moment was so awful and terrifying. But we have come to Mount Zion, the city where God Himself dwells! We were not like the Israelites He visited; He took us home! That’s God’s city, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering. Hallelujah!