The Mystery Hidden Since the World Began

By Arthur J. Licursi

Jesus said,

John 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Paul writes,

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,

Jesus Preserved the Mystery

Jesus of Nazareth, being both divine and human, no doubt was omniscient – that is, He was and is all knowing. Have you ever considered why it was that Jesus of Nazareth spoke in parables, or why Jesus of Nazareth said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” John 16:12? If Jesus wanted to ultimately make a message of pure grace to be clearly understood, then why did He not speak it clearly and directly when He walked the earth?

The answer is that it was not the time, and it was not Jesus’ place, to reveal the most important, hidden, secret message, which was later to first be revealed to the Apostle Paul and it was called “the mystery” (“Mystery” in Greek is “musterion”, meaning “secret”.

(See Paul’s writings regarding “mystery” in Romans 11:25; Romans 16:25; 1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:51; Ephes. 1:9; Ephes. 3:3-4; Ephes. 3:9; Ephes. 5:32; Ephes. 6:19; Col. 1:26-27; Col. 2:2; Col. 4:3; 2 Thes. 2:7; 1 Tim. 3:9; 1 Tim. 3:16).

Paul declared that he is the Apostle to the Gentiles (Rom 15:16), given the message called the “gospel of grace of God”, to be given in a time of “the dispensation of the of grace of God (Eph 3:2).

Revealing the grace gospel of the dispensation of the grace of God was not Jesus’ message or His mission. No, Jesus came to the Jews and told His disciples the following.

Matthew 10:5-6 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Jesus came to proclaim, and demonstrate by miracles given as “signs” (John 2:11, “miracles” in KJV, from the Greek is “signs”), that the Messianic “kingdom of heaven”, long promised to Israel, was now “at hand” (Matt 4:17).

Jesus no doubt knew that God was to later use the Apostle Paul to declare kingdom of God in a mystery. Note that Jesus spoke only as He heard His Father speak. Jesus had no liberty to speak or do what He alone desired (John 14:10). He spoke by the hidden wisdom of God, what he heard from the Father.

Though Jesus of Nazareth was not at liberty to speak clearly of the mystery gospel of Col. 1:25-27), the hidden plan of God, He said the Holy Spirit’s primary purpose in coming was to recall and reveal the meaning and purpose of Jesus’ work on behalf of all mankind, and what He had spoken (John 16:12-15). Today, these things have been and are now being revealed to us individually, by the Spirit (1Cor 2:10).

This writing does not concern the “kingdom of heaven” coming to earth for Israel’s Messianic kingdom, but rather it concerns the mysteries of the “kingdom of God”, come to dwell in man, that indwelling being made possible by His death, burial and resurrection of which Jesus spoke of only in parable (John 12:24), if at all. This most powerful parable is John 12:24, wherein Jesus refers to Himself as a grain of wheat to be sown (buried) into the ground in order to bring forth the many grains – figurative of what would be needed to produce His multi-membered body, the Church (Eph 1:22-23). We know the many grains are God’s birthed children, born out of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection life. As we come to understand the gravity and reality of Paul’s mystery gospel Rom 16:25), we will come to see the essence of the life-giving mystery (Gk. musterion, secret), the secret plan of God, revealed to Paul for us (Eph 3:2-4).

I pray that as you read you will gain revelation knowledge of the significance, reality and power of the “mystery” of God, revealed to the Apostle Paul for us, which was hidden from ages and generations past, but which is now revealed. I pray that you, as a regenerated child of God, as a literal birthed child of God, will be encouraged to enjoy the grace of God as by inheritance of His life in our spirit (2Tim 4:22), which is now available by the regenerative indwelling of Christ, who is now indwelling and one with our human spirit (Zech 12:1b, 1Cor 6:17, 1John 4:13).

A Mystery Hidden For a Vital Purpose

In some religions, with their rites, secrecy or mystery is often a component. To the contrary, our God in Christ is truth revealed. In Him is no darkness at all. It is notable that Jesus, in accord with His Father’s eternal plan and will, spoke in parables in order to preserve the mystery or secret concerning His ultimate purpose for coming to this earth. The mystery was not that He would come, suffer, and die – which was foretold by the prophets.

Paul tells us the mystery he speaks of repeatedly was not made know since the world began, until it was revealed to Paul by Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul spoke of mystery that concerns God the Father as source of life (Psa. 36:9), in Christ, as the express image of His person, now as the Spirit (2Cor 3:17, 1Cor 15:45) coming to indwell men to be their very “life” (Gk, zoe, spirit life, Col 3:3, Gal 2:20, Col 1:26-27), that they would make up His body, the Church (Eph 1:22-23). Christ’s very life is the inheritance within the spirit of every birthed child of God (Eph. 1:19). This is the reality of the mystery gospel of which Jesus was not permitted to speak – Paul says the mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Col. 1:27). I know the “you” here in Col 1:27 is plural (Paul was writing to all the believers at Colossae), but how else could Christ indwell His body members except individually? This personal indwelling is made clear in Gal 2:20. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Satan’s Role in the Mystery (Secret) Plan of God

The mystery of God the Father’s plan was that He would dispense His own life, via His seed (Gk sperma), which is Christ (1Pet 1:23, Gal 3:16), into the human creatures He had created. The creator would place His life in the creature that they my legitimately be His birth children, born of His spiritual loins. This mystery (musterion, meaning “secret”) had to be preserved in order to win the cooperation of Satan for propelling it forward. Satan’s wonderful mistake of crucifying Jesus was born out of his ignorance of this mystery.

There is one who above all would like to have prevented and thwart the eternal plan and purpose of God – had he known that plan that was hidden in a mystery. Satan commands legions of fallen and disembodied spirits and the souls of many willing men who have lived and do live upon this earth even today. Satan, however, is not omniscient. Satan is not all knowing, as God our Father is. The preservation of Satan’s ignorance was critical to God’s eternal plan kept secret from before the world began. Our Father has had this plan, to gain birthed sons of His own making, birthed sons to be the glory or expression of His life, since before the world began (Eph 1:3-4). That plan had to be secreted and preserved that it might be fulfilled.

1Cor 2:7 “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

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,

Ephes. 3:9-11 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: 10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

The Need of God and Man

This pre-creation eternal plan of God required the Lamb of God to restore man to his recipient condition, as a clean and innocent vessel. Rev. 13:8b … the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The Father needed an innocent “lamb” sacrifice qualified to shed his blood and give up His life for and ultimately to man. The Father had a three-point plan, which had to be kept secret in order to win the cooperation of Satan. The execution of this mysterious (secret) plan of God would prepare and restore man to be able to receive Christ, whom He would then send as the “Spirit of life” (Rom 8:2), the “…life-giving spirit”(1Cor 15:45), to be new life in man.

God’s Three Point Plan

God’s three point plan addressed three fundamental needs of man in his fallen Adamic condition;

1.) The Lamb’s shed blood would wash away the sins of man,

2.) The life of the Lamb sacrificed in man’s stead would pay for the rebellion and sin of man which demanded man’s death, as the end to the life of the Old Adamic Man, fallen in Adam;

3.) But, the first two points were preparatory for the focal point of the mysterious plan of God; that the Lamb, Jesus, would not only shed His blood and die, but would be resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit (2Cor. 3:17, 1Cor 15:45). As the resurrected Spirit, Jesus Christ is now in a form, as the Spirit of Christ, such that He could now be received into the spirit of men (Zechar. 12:1, Prov. 20:27) - Spirit to spirit (John 3:6).

“to as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”, John 1:12. “…That which is born of the Spirit (Christ’s Spirit) is spirit (a man’s human spirit)” John 3:6. Now, “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, 1Cor 6:17.

The physical Jesus, who walked the streets of Nazareth and Jerusalem, could never have gotten into any man at that time He walked upon the earth. If Jesus were in the flesh even today He could not get into any man; but … as the crucified, buried, resurrected, ascended and glorified Jesus, now as the Spirit of Christ, He is available to indwell and abide eternally in the spirit of any man who would receive Him.

Satan’s Mistake Was According To The Plan

By the Apostle Paul’s statement, we have a most powerful and confirming scripture to reveal the absolute importance of preserving the mystery of Jesus being processed through death and resurrection in order to be able to come into man human spirit as the Spirit of Christ.

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery (Greek, musterion, kept secret), 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”. 1 Cor. 2:7-8

If you realize the importance of the dispensing of Christ into our human spirit as the one source of the God’s divine life to be lived in and through man, then you can see that Satan overplayed his hand. Satan defeated himself when he crucified Jesus by the hands of the men he commanded. The princes of this world are its magistrates and rulers, including the Jewish Sanhedrin, which called for Jesus’ execution, and the Roman authorities, together they ordered and carried out the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Satan is “the prince of the power of the air (unseen spirit realm)” and he is responsible for the crucifixion of our Lord by the hand of the princes of the world whom he commanded. Satan’s action was a necessary ingredient in the plan of God. Some Christians speak and pray as though Satan is out of control. Actually, Satan is God’s Devil, God’s tool. Satan was needed to provide the negative force in the world in order to propel God’s eternal plan forward; first by the crucifixion of Jesus and then even now to push men to receive, and also to push Christians to walk according to the indwelling life of Christ, to live by the Christ whom He has provided to be the very life of all men who are “in Christ”.

Satan’s Regret

The truth, I am sure, is that Satan now regrets crucifying Jesus, but does not repent of his evil doing. No doubt in retrospect, Satan would rather today have an eternally alive God-man named Jesus of Nazareth, still walking the streets of your city. Satan would rather have an uncrucified Jesus, than have a crucified, resurrected, ascended and glorified Jesus Christ, as the life-giving Spirit, indwelling all believers, for the multiplication of the Father’s family; Christ being “the first born of many brethren”, Romans 8:29. By receiving Christ into our spirit we are God’s literal birthed children, as the Father’s eternal family inheritance out of Jesus’ sacrificial offering of Himself. If Satan had known the mystery, which had been preserved from before the foundation of the earth, he would never have crucified Jesus of Nazareth.

God’s Children Are Not of This World

The kingdom or realm of the genuine birthed child of God, a Christian, is not of this earth but it is to be enjoyed through our sojourn upon this earth and into eternity in the Father’s house in the heavens. True Christians ultimately come to live a life with their values, allegiance, and motivation being subject to and related to an unseen realm, unrelated to the things of this earth (2Cor 4:18). Grown Christians are “other world” minded; they are spiritual and “walk according to spirit”.

These believers live in the eternal realm of the spirit - seeing by inner (spiritual) eyes, beyond the temporal physical realm of time and space. They weigh and consider all the things, situations and circumstances of their life, whether pleasant or unpleasant, as coming to them by the hand of God their Father. They live in the providence of God their Father. They know that He loves them so dearly that He allowed a part of Himself, His dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to die in their stead. By the provision of the Jesus’ sacrifice, and the very life of Jesus now given to them, they now may live a life that is not based upon the pleasant or unpleasant circumstances of this worldly sphere (John 16:33). They know that they once had need; but now they have, abiding within them, His overcoming life, that they might live by the life of God, as the Father’s literal loved birthed children (John 17:3).

Glory Is God’s Life Expressed

John 1:18 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared (expressed, revealed) him. Col. 1:26-27 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:“

Christ has declared, revealed, and expressed the life of His Father, which no man had seen. Christ thereby is the glorious expression of the Father. Christ thereby also is the glorious expression of the Father living through men by the one life of Christ that they share. We might say the “glory” of the flower is its blossom, as the ultimate expression of the mature life that was in the sown seed of its birth. The glory of God in man is simply the grown up expression of, or manifestation of, the Christ’s life as the seed of the God-life in man. The literal life of God in man, by Christ as the seed (Gr. “sperma” or “spora”) of God’s life in man, is the only hope man has to enjoy, express and live the life, which is of God. That life is found only in the life of Christ, who is the Father’s one seed (Gal 3:16b). Christ’s literal life is the very life that is received by men when a man yields himself to receive the Spirit of Christ into his own human spirit (John 3:6), being born again. That spermatic spark of new life received by a man is nothing less than the life of God,… in Christ, …as the Spirit flowing …into a created man’s human spirit, making him a genuine birthed child of God (1John 3:9). By that seed a man is a new creation entirely, with a new nature within (2 Cor. 5:17, 2Pet. 1:4). Christ as the seed of God the Father is as the acorn to the oak tree, all-inclusive - complete (Col. 2:10). The Christ seed ultimately grows up to express the full stature of Christ in man as an expression of the one life of the Father. <End>