“The Mystery of God”
By O.F. Fauss
For our text let us read Colossians 2:2, 3, 8-10; “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. . .Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” I Corinthians 2:7, 8 says, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
Paul said again, in I Timothy 3:16, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
I want to call your attention to a statement that Jesus made in Matthew 13:10, 11, “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why bleakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” In Matthew 11:27 Jesus said, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”
We have that illustrated in John 14:6-9: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”
God has been known as a God of revelation. No man will ever know God, unless God reveals Himself to him. Jesus said in the Scripture already referred to in Matthew 11:27, “Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” Remember that when the disciples asked Jesus the question, “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” He said, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 13:11). Now turn back to the text in Colossians 2:2-3, “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
God is such a mystery. Jesus Christ was the mystery of God revealed to reconcile the world unto Himself. We read in John 1:1, where the writer begins like this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Somebody said, “Well, that’s the Word; the Word was the Son.” All right, let us read it that way: “In the beginning was the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was God.” But that doesn’t change the meaning of God’s Word at all. The Word was God. “The same was in the beginning with God.” Then we read in the 14th verse, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
In Galatians 4:4 we read, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” II Corinthians 5:19, reads: “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” That is our Lord Jesus Christ; He was both human and divine.
I want to give a few statements that will make us to recognize the mystery of God.
As a man, He was born in humility; but as God, He was worshipped by men and angels.
As a man, He was tempted in all points as we are; but as God, He defeated every power of the devil.
As a man, He sat down on a mountain and spake unto the people; but as God, He brought peace and comfort to every troubled life.
As a man, He taught the people; but as God, He forgave their sins.
As a man He grew weary; but as God, He claimed to have all power in heaven and in earth. (That must be the Almighty, the only Omnipotent.)
As a man, He walked the paths of men; but as God, He walked upon the waves of the sea.
As a man, He slept on a pillow in the hinder part of a ship; but as God, He rebuked the wind and the sea, and they obeyed Him.
As a man, He hungered; but as God, bread grew and multiplied in His hands.
As a man, He wept at the tomb of Lazarus; but as God, He called him from the dead.
As a man, He talked with the blind and lame; but as God, He opened their eyes and made their feet to walk.
As a man, men scorned Him; but as God, the devils obeyed Him.
As a man, He suffered and died; but as God, He arose from the dead.
As a man, they laid Him in a tomb; but as God, He came forth conquering.
As a man, He was mocked as He hung on the cross; but as God, the whole universe trembled when He cried, “It is finished.”
As a man, men rejected Him; but as God, He opened the way to the Holiest of holies, when the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
As a man, He sat at meat with His disciples; but as God, He vanished out of their sight. He appeared to be a man to men; but He proved to be the God of the Scriptures, fulfilling His word.
As the Son of man, He was visible; but He was the image of the invisible God.
As a Son, He was known to the world; but through the Spirit, He was revealed to His chosen as Lord of all.
As the Son of man, He came into the world; but as God He ascended to heaven, to come to earth again, as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The natural mind places Him as the second person; but the Spirit of God reveals Him as the first and the last. Notice Ephesians 1:20, 21: “Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places [the right hand denotes position or power], Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come.”
And we turn to Philippians 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name [and the highest name that God could give would be His own name]: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Then we turn to Colossians 1:15-19, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence; For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”
Tradition seeks to prove Him a distinct person from God the Father; but He Himself said, “I and my Father are one.”
Modern theology sees Him only as a son; but the Apostle Thomas proclaimed him, “My Lord and my God.”
Men have adored Him only as Christ, the anointed one; but angels adored Him as both Christ and the Lord Jehovah.
Peter declared that He was both Lord (Jehovah) and Christ (the anointed one).
He was a lion, and yet He was a lamb. He was a star, and He was the sun. He was the sacrifice, and also the great high priest. He was the door of the sheepfold, yet He was the shepherd. He was the root and the offspring of David.
Finally, let us notice Paul’s admonition in Colossians 2:8-13: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (May I pause here between the ninth and tenth verses to say that tradition and history, and the records in your encyclopedias, and church history, prove that in the third and fourth centuries, the fathers of Roman Catholicism gave the world the doctrine of the trinity, which is a tradition of men, and not a Scriptural truth.) Let us begin reading now in the tenth verse: “And ye are complete in him [not in them], which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him
through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the
dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all
trespasses.”
THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY WORD AFLAME PRESS, 1985, PAGES 219-225. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
