Did God keep a Secret?

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Answers to Bible Questions

Scriptures are from the KJV of the Bible

(Q)    Did God keep a secret ?

(A)    Most of us can’t keep a secret – especially a good one – but God kept a secret for 4,000 years! You’d think he would have whispered it to Abraham, or Moses; but he didn’t. Even the Lord, while he was here on earth, didn’t breathe a word of it to his disciples. You see, God had hidden a secret in his heart since before the world began and was waiting for the right moment for its revealing.

It was never a secret that since Adam’s fall, God was working out his plan to save mankind through the nation of Israel. He made covenants with his chosen people in order to establish the framework by which man and the earth would be redeemed; but from the beginning, the deal was: believe in Me and do what I say, to prove it.That is why Abraham left home, Noah built an ark, and Moses led his people out of Egypt, etc.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, he begged his Father to forgive Israel for it (Luke 23:34):  ³⁴Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.  After the resurrection, and ascension of our Lord, God continued to deal with Israel by offering them the kingdom (Acts 3:19-21): ¹⁹Repent 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; ²⁰And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: ²¹Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets  if they would accept their messiah and complete required works as proof (Acts 2:38;  Luke 12:33).   ³⁸Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  ³³Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. The coming of the messiah, his dying for the sins of many, a time of tribulation, and his coming back in glory were no secret to those who knew the prophetic scriptures (Roman 15:8): ⁸Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:  When Israel’s leaders rejected the Holy Spirit by stoning Steven (Acts 7: 58-60:  ⁵⁸And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. ⁵⁹And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. ⁶⁰And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.  (the time was ripe for the rest of prophecy to be fulfilled).

At that time, God stopped Israel’s “clock” and shared his wonderful secret with his greatest enemy on earth – Saul of Tarsus – converting him to a saving belief in Christ on the road to Damascus. Saul, later known as Paul, declares to us, the Body of Christ saved by believing this secret: “How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of (Christ) which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, and it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel; whereof I am made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 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 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. (Ephesians 3:9).   ⁹And 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:  In this letter to the Romans, Paul writes, “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. (Romans 16:25). ²⁵Now 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, This declaration is in direct contrast to Peter’s at Pentecost: “But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled;” and, “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.” (Acts 3:18; 21).  ¹⁸But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Peter preached the fulfillment of all things that had been spoken of since the world began; while Paul preached that which had been hid in God since before the world began!

Instead of raining down his prophesied judgment and wrath, God interrupted what he’d been doing through his earthly people, Israel, since the world began; and instead, revealed his secret purpose to Paul, who revealed to us: that while this mystery age lasts, God is turning fromproviding exclusivity to Israel todealing with the entire world in grace and longsuffering, offering to all menthe free giftof salvation for simply believing that his Son, Jesus Christ, died for our sins, was buried and three days later rose again for ourjustification. In order to be saved at this time, there is no need to go through Israel’s Law Program. The age of grace or the time in which we are currently living in today, was not prophesied. It is critical to consider that after the Rapture of the Body of Christ occurs, the age of grace will close and God will resume his dealings with the world through the nation of Israel and all Prophecy will be fulfilled.

Why did God keep this mystery age a secret? First, to give Israel the opportunity to repent and receive the kingdom; and second, if Satan and his princes had known what they stood to lose (the earth and the heavens)by killing the Lord of glory on the cross, they would never have gone through with the act that purchased our redemption! (1 Corinthians 2:7,8). ⁷But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: ⁸Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

What a beautiful revealed secret! Ephesians 2: 4-9:  ⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, ⁵Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  ⁶And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: ⁷That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Put your Faith, Belief, and Trust in Christ today! You will never be sorry!

John