The mystery of
faith
is a term that occurs in 1 Timothy 3:9.
Depending on the English translation, the
Greek phrase τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως
is translated
“the mystery of faith,
” “the mystery of the faith,
” or “
the deep truths of the faith.”
The verse in which the phrase appears is about deacons. Paul is advising Timothy about what sort of man should be trusted with the office of deacon in order to serve the local church body. Paul says a deacon should be dignified, truthful, and one who “holds to the mystery of faith with a clear conscience” (1 Timothy 3:9). In this context, Paul is simply saying that the man who serves the church should be a believer who is mature, who has a firm grasp on the basic elements of the gospel, and whose life matches his profession of faith.
A “mystery” in the New Testament is something that had at one time been hidden but is now revealed to God’s people. Jesus told His disciples, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted” (Matthew 13:11, NASB). The apostle Paul often spoke of such “mysteries”: Jesus’ incarnation (1 Timothy 3:16), the indwelling of the Spirit (Colossians 1:26–27), the unity of the church (Ephesians 3:4–6), the rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51–52), and the gospel itself (Colossians 4:3). All these truths were “hidden” from the prophets of old but have been revealed plainly to us today. They are “mysteries” that are no longer mysterious to the child of God. “The mystery of faith” is the divinely revealed truth about grace, redemption, and forgiveness in Christ.
The message of Christ’s sacrifice for sin and His resurrection (the message that Paul refers to as “the faith”) is easy to understand. The basic gospel message is simple enough for even the youngest believer, but it is also a humbling mystery that was only hinted at throughout the time of the Old Covenant. Now God’s plan of salvation has been revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ, and we are held responsible to “hold” that message firmly.
When Paul advises Timothy to appoint deacons who “hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience,” he is telling Timothy to find mature believers—men who understand the message of the gospel and are living it out. “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33). Oh, the condescension of Christ who has made manifest the mysteries of heaven to us!
Near the close of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he makes a personal plea that his readers will pray for him and Timothy as they continue to preach and teach in various cities: “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains“ (Colossians 4:3). The term mystery (musterion) typically refers to something not previously revealed.
Earlier in the letter,
Paul referred to the Word of God (ton logon tou theou) as the mystery that had been hidden from the ages and generations but has now been revealed (Colossians 1:25–26). Paul adds that the mystery had been revealed not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles. That mystery, Paul says, is “Christ in you—the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). A bit further into the context, Paul refers to God’s mystery as Christ Himself (Colossians 2:2). Throughout his letter to the Colossians, Paul identifies the mystery as Christ and His relationship to believers being revealed in a way not previously communicated. The identity of the Christ had not been revealed in any detail in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), though there were, of course, many prophecies anticipating His earthly ministry. From the various theophanies (appearances of God in physical form) in the Hebrew Scriptures, it is evident that the one called Yahweh would later come to earth as a man—Jesus.
Recall Jesus’ claim in John 8:56–58 that He had preceded Abraham. This Yahweh—the preincarnate Christ—had always existed, but at the right time in God’s plan, this Messiah came to earth, born of a virgin. The mystery that is Christ, who had been previously unrevealed, was now clearly manifested in the sight of all. Further, this One not only existed, but He came to earth to express His love by His sacrifice (see John 3:16; Philippians 2:1–11), to have a brotherly kind of relationship (Romans 8:29), and to be intimately known by those who have believed in Him (John 17:3).
As Ephesians is a similar letter written by Paul around the same time, it is helpful to consider Paul’s use of the word mystery in that context as well. He mentions “the mystery“ in Ephesians 1:9, 3:3, and 3:9, but he doesn’t offer any definition in those verses. However, in Ephesians 3:4 Paul refers to the “mystery of Christ,” which he identifies in Ephesians 3:6: “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.“ In Colossians 4:3 Paul adds that the mystery of Christ was a cause of his own imprisonment (cf. Ephesians 6:19–20).
While Paul uses the term mystery on a number of occasions in his other letters, the reference isn’t always to the mystery of Christ and His relationship with people, as it seems to be in Colossians and Ephesians. Paul recognizes that he is stewarding the mysteries (plural) of God (1 Corinthians 4:1). In Romans 11:25 the mystery is that there would be a partial hardening of Israel. In 1 Corinthians 15:51, the resurrection—and the rapture, more specifically—is referred to as a mystery. There is even a mystery of lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:7). While Paul stewards and communicates several of God’s mysteries, he speaks of none in such detail and repetition as he does the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:3).
What a joy to know that Jesus loves us and that
His grace toward us was
part of God’s plan from the very beginning.
The second coming
of Jesus Christ is the hope of believers
that God is in control of all things, and is faithful to the promises and prophecies in His Word. In His first coming, Jesus Christ came to earth as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem, just as prophesied. Jesus fulfilled many of the prophecies of the Messiah during His birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection. However, there are some prophecies regarding the Messiah that Jesus has not yet fulfilled. The second coming of Christ will be the return of Christ to fulfill these remaining prophecies. In His first coming, Jesus was the suffering Servant. In His second coming, Jesus will be the conquering King. In His first coming, Jesus arrived in the most humble of circumstances. In His second coming, Jesus will arrive with the armies of heaven at His side.
The Old Testament prophets did not make clearly this distinction between the two comings. This can be seen in Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7 and Zechariah 14:4. As a result of the prophecies seeming to speak of two individuals, many Jewish scholars believed there would be both a suffering Messiah and a conquering Messiah. What they failed to understand is that there is only one Messiah and He would fulfill both roles. Jesus fulfilled the role of the suffering servant (Isaiah chapter 53) in His first coming. Jesus will fulfill the role of Israel’s deliverer and King in His second coming. Zechariah 12:10 and Revelation 1:7, describing the second coming, look back to Jesus being pierced. Israel, and the whole world, will mourn for not having accepted the
Messiah
the first time He came.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, the
angels declared to the apostles, “
"Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here
looking into the sky?
This same Jesus,
who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:11). Zechariah 14:4 identifies the location of the second coming as the Mount of Olives. Matthew 24:30 declares, “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.” Titus 2:13 describes the second coming as a “glorious appearing.”
The second coming is spoken of in greatest detail in Revelation 19:11-16, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter.’ He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”
In 1 John 3:1–3, the apostle
John is overcome with the miracle of
God’s love in claiming us as His children.
For those of us who have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that is what we are—children of God! But there’s a catch, explains John: “It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2, NKJV).
A difficulty of our present state of existence is that we cannot fully grasp what it means to be a child of God. We don’t have the complete picture yet because God has not shown us what we will be like when Jesus Christ returns and we see Him face to face. Until then, we can only take in a dimly lit preview. The apostle Paul affirms, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT).
We shall see Him as He is means that our ability to appreciate and understand the depth, breadth, and fullness of Christ—and who we are in Christ—will only be complete when He returns. When we stand before Him, our spiritual eyes will be wide open, expanding our visual field to take in all of Him. Again, Paul verifies that we “are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Right now, while we live in this fallen world, the transformation process is gradual, inconsistent, and sometimes imperceptible. But, when we are in the presence of Jesus, our transformation will be swift and all-encompassing. We will see the Son in all His magnificent glory, and, at last, we will fully comprehend what it means to be a child of God.
Scripture is full of reminders that we are inching toward a climactic unveiling (Luke 17:30; 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7). The literal meaning of the Greek word apokálypsis (apocalypse in English) is “unveiling, revelation, disclosure.” In the end, Christ will return, and His second coming will make visible everything that is true of Jesus but currently veiled from human eyes. The children of God “will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world” (1 Peter 4:13, NLT). Presently, we are following “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” as we develop ever-expanding degrees of growth in Christian maturity (Philippians 3:14, ESV).
Eventually, the process will culminate in heavenly perfection as “we bear the image of the heavenly man” (1 Corinthians 15:49).
Paul teaches that “in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority” (Colossians 2:9–10, NLT). In Christ, believers possess the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:22–23). In our present state, we can only grasp this fact with imperfect knowledge and partial understanding. We can’t comprehend the total reality of who we are as God’s children because we can’t yet see the full extent of Christ’s personhood. But flawless, unhindered sight will be ours when Jesus Christ returns. When we see Him in person, we shall see Him as He is—in the fullness of God’s glory.
Only a few privileged humans like
Moses, Isaiah, and Stephen
caught
glimpses
of
God’s glory
(Exodus 33:21–23; Isaiah 6; Acts 7:55).
God spoke to Moses “face to face, clearly, and not in riddles!
He sees the Lord as he is” (Numbers 12:8, NLT). To see God in all His magnificent glory is to see Him as He truly is. The author of Hebrews tells us that “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3).
Those who
saw Jesus at His first coming saw
His glory
(John 1:14; 11:40).
When we see the
Son face to face, we too shall
see Him as He is--
the
exact expression
of
God’s glory
Finally, we will understand everything it means to
say, “I am a child of God.”
In Revelation 11:3–12 is a description of
Two individuals
who
will help
accomplish God’s work
during
the tribulation:
“I will
appoint my two witnesses,
and they
will prophesy for 1,260 days,
clothed
in sackcloth” (verse 3).
Nowhere does the Bible identify
these two witnesses by name,
although people through the years
have speculated.
The two witnesses in Revelation will have miraculous powers to accompany their message (Revelation 11:6), and no one will be able to stop them in their work (verse 5). At the end of their ministry, when they have said all they need to say, the beast will kill them and the wicked world will rejoice, allowing the bodies of the fallen prophets to lie in the streets (verses 7–10). Three and a half days later, however, God’s two witnesses will be resurrected and, in full view of their enemies, ascend to heaven (verses 11–12).
There are three primary theories on the identity of the two witnesses in Revelation: (1) Moses and Elijah, (2) Enoch and Elijah, and (3) two unknown believers whom God calls to be His witnesses in the end times.
(1) Moses and Elijah are seen as possibilities for the two witnesses due to the specific miracles that John says the witnesses will perform. The witnesses will have the power to turn water into blood (Revelation 11:6), which duplicates a famous miracle of Moses (Exodus 7). And the witnesses will have the power to destroy their enemies with fire (Revelation 11:5), which corresponds to an event in Elijah’s life (2 Kings 1). Also giving strength to this view is the fact that Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:3–4). Further, Jewish tradition expects Moses and Elijah to return, based on the prophecy of Elijah’s coming in Malachi 4:5 and God’s promise to raise up a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18), which some Jews believe necessitates Moses’ return.
(2) Enoch and Elijah are seen as possibilities for the two witnesses because of the unique circumstances surrounding their exit from the world. Enoch and Elijah, as far as we know, are the only two individuals whom God has taken directly to heaven without experiencing death (Genesis 5:23; 2 Kings 2:11). Proponents of this view point to Hebrews 9:27, which says that all men are appointed to die once. The fact that neither Enoch nor Elijah has yet experienced death seems to qualify them for the job of the two witnesses, who will be killed when their job is done. In addition, both Enoch and Elijah were prophets who pronounced God’s judgment (1 Kings 17:1; Jude 1:14–15).
(3) Two unknowns are seen as possibilities for the two witnesses because of the lack of specificity in Revelation 11. Scripture does not identify the two witnesses by name, and no well-known person is associated with their coming. God is perfectly capable of taking two “ordinary” believers and enabling them to perform the same signs and wonders that Moses and Elijah did. There is nothing in Revelation 11 that requires us to assume a “famous” identity for the two witnesses.
There is an interesting passage in Zechariah 4 that gives us a prototype of the two witnesses of Revelation. Zechariah has a vision in which he sees a solid gold lampstand. On top is a bowl of oil, and an olive tree stands on each side (verses 3–4). The lampstand gives its light without human maintenance, being constantly supplied by the olive oil flowing from the trees into the bowl. God’s message to Zechariah was that God’s work (rebuilding the temple) would be accomplished “not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit” (verse 6).
Zechariah asks about the meaning of the olive trees and the branches supplying the oil, and the angel who speaks to him says, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:14, ESV). In other words, God’s power to sustain His work is flowing through two individuals set apart for the task. In Zechariah’s context, these two individuals are Joshua (the current high priest) and Zerubbabel (the current governor of Judah). We can also see a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ here, as the Messiah would combine the offices of priest and king. Then we come to Revelation 11:4. In the description of the two witnesses, John says, “They are ‘the two olive trees’ and the two lampstands, and ‘they stand before the Lord of the earth.’” John quotes from Zechariah 4.
The two witnesses of Revelation,
like Joshua and Zerubbabel,
will have God’s power flowing
through them to accomplish
God’s work.
Daniel 2 records
an important
prophetic vision
given to King Nebuchadnezzar and the king’s search for its meaning. The prophet Daniel provides the solution and proves that “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (Daniel 2:28) and “reveals deep and hidden things” (Daniel 2:22).
Nebuchadnezzar had one particularly troubling dream, causing him to lose sleep (Daniel 2:1). To ensure that he was getting the correct interpretation, he insisted that his counselors tell him the dream itself and not just the interpretation (Daniel 2:2–9). The king’s men recognized that such a request was humanly impossible, asserting that there was no man on earth who could declare the matter to the king (Daniel 2:10). They suggested that only a god could do something so remarkable (Daniel 2:11). When Daniel heard that the king had ordered the death of all his wise men because they couldn’t meet Nebuchadnezzar’s demand, he and his three friends prayed for God to deliver them (Daniel 2:12–18).
While no human could do what Nebuchadnezzar was asking, God would reveal the hidden things. God revealed to Daniel the mystery, and Daniel worshiped God (Daniel 2:23). Before the king’s order to execute his counselors could be carried out, Daniel communicated with Nebuchadnezzar’s executioner and told him that God had provided the answer—God had revealed the hidden things (Daniel 2:24–25). Nebuchadnezzar summoned Daniel, asking whether he could reveal the dream and its interpretation (Daniel 2:26), and Daniel reminded him that no person on earth could do such a thing, but that there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and thatGod reveals the hidden things (Daniel 2:28). Because God revealed the hidden things to Daniel, he was able to tell the king both the dream itself (Daniel 2:31–35) and the interpretation of the dream (Daniel 2:36–45).
Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a statue with a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron with feet partly of iron and clay (Daniel 2:31–33). A stone uncut by human hands struck the statue at its feet and destroyed it completely, and then that stone filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:34–35). Because God had revealed the hidden things, Daniel was able to explain that the head symbolized Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom (Daniel 2:38), the chest and arms the kingdom that would follow (Medo-Persia), and after that a third kingdom (Greece), symbolized by the bronze belly and thighs (Daniel 2:39). Daniel further explained that there would be a fourth kingdom, as strong as iron, yet brittle and partially divided (Rome), symbolized by the legs of iron and the feet partly of clay and iron (Daniel 2:40–43). After those kingdoms God would set up His own kingdom, symbolized by the rock that destroyed the statue (Daniel 2:44–45). God’s kingdom would be eternal and fill the whole earth.
God revealed the hidden things to Daniel and saved the lives of Daniel, his three friends, and the other wise men of Babylon. At the same time, God revealed His plan for the ages, beginning with the present world power—Babylon, led by Nebuchadnezzar. God would allow these kingdoms to subsist for a time but one day would intervene directly and rule over the earth Himself. God also revealed to Daniel a short time later that Ruler would be the Son of Man, the Messiah of Israel (Daniel 7:13–14). This One, whom we know as Jesus, will return from heaven one day and gather those on earth who have believed in Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13–17), bring them with Him to remain in heaven until the completion of Daniel’s 70th week (as in Daniel 9:24–27), and then return to earth to fulfill the prophecy of Daniel 2:44–45. Throughout Scripture God has revealed the hidden things—the mysteries, or things not previously revealed.