Mysteries of the Bible

Mysteries of the Bible
MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE.
BY G. DALLAS SMITH. When I was a young man, just starting out to- preach, there were no mysteries in the Bible to me! Some things, indeed, seemed to be mysterious — all because I did not un­derstand them! Of course, as soon as I could come to an understanding of these things the mystery would all be sure to disappear. I had been taught that the Bible is not a book of mysteries —that it really contains no mysteries, and I had accepted it without investigation or reason. But why did such an idea ever possess any one? Well, perhaps, we swung to this ridiculous extreme in an effort to refute the erroneous idea that conversion is a mystery. But, anyway, the Apostle Paul says, "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness." He says without controversy, with­out question, without doubt, the mystery of godliness is great. There is no room for discussion, no ground for debate over the question of the greatness of this mystery. "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness-" But what is a mystery? It is something we cannot un­derstand without further explanation or revelation. A mys­tery is something hidden, something we cannot fully grasp until further enlightened by explanation or revelation. The original signifies something that is inexplicable except to the initiated —to those on the inside so to speak. For instance. Pharaoh's dream of the fat and the lean kine and the full and blasted ears of corn was a mystery to him; but Joseph being initiated, being inspired, was able to make known the significance of the dream to Pharaoh. And so the hand­writing on the wall of the palace in Babylon was a profound mystery to "Belshazzar and a thousand of his lords." But to Daniel who was initiated, being inspired, its meaning was plain, and he readily made known to the king and his associ­ates the significance of the writing And the apostle John saw on the Isle of Patmos what was to him, at the 'time. a great mystery. He saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of them he saw one like the Son of Man clothed with a garment down to the foot, and wearing a golden girdle. His head was white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire. His feet were as brass, in his right hand there were seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword, while his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength. This was a profound mystery to John. He could not understand it; he could not grasp its meaning until the Spirit further enlightened him. So, I repeat, a mystery is something we can not understand —can not grasp, until further enlightened by explanation or revelation. But what is this great mystery —the mystery of godli­ness? Fortunately we are not left to guess what this mys­tery is, for the apostle proceeds to tell us. He says, "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angles, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." (1 Timothy 3:13.)) In these six items there is much mystery. But wherein lies the mystery? It is largely in every item mentioned by the apostle. First, "God was manifested in the flesh," God is a spirit, and yet Paul says he was manifested in the flesh. But how was God manifested in the flesh —made known in the flesh? Evidently this refers to the incarnation of Jesus, which is the mystery of all ages. John says; "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God * * * 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." (John 1:1-14.) So God, in the person of Jesus, was made flesh and dwelt among us, living in the flesh as a man. Many years before Jesus made his advent to this earth, the prophet Isaiah declared that a virgin should conceive and bring forth a child and that his name should be called "Emmanuel," and Matthew informs us that "Emmanuel" means "God with us." (Matthew 1:22-23.) So Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. He was "God with us." And now we can under­stand what Jesus meant when he said to Philip, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." This is, indeed, the mystery of all mysteries. We can not understand it —we can not grasp its meaning, but we can accept it unreservedly.

Second, "He was justified in the Spirit." The Holy Spirit bore witness to the fact that he was all he claimed to be —that he was God manifest in the flesh. For instance, at his baptism, the Spirit said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." At the transfiguration the Spirit again says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." And after he left this earth and went back to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles, and through them the Spirit continued to bear witness of Jesus. Hence he was "justified by the Spirit," or in the Spirit, in that the Spirit justified him in claiming to be the Son of God —or Cod manifest in the flesh. And the work­ings of the Spirit in bearing witness of Jesus present many mysteries. We can not understand how the Spirit spake the words on the banks of the Jordan commending Jesus as God's only beloved Son, nor how the Spirit spake to the apostles on the holy mount further commending Jesus as God's son and representative. Furthermore, we can not understand how the apostles were "all filled with the Holy Spirit" that they might continue to bear witness of Jesus after he went home to his Father. These are mysteries which no finite mind can grasp.

Third, he was "Seen of angels." It is a fact, worthy of our consideration, that angels sang at his birth, ministered to him after his temptation, strengthened him in the garden of Gethsemane, announced his resurrection, and were pres­ent at his ascension. Thus angels attended him through­out his earthly life. But these angels' visits were mysteri­ous. We can not understand them, of course. We can not understand how these angels came to this earth and re­turned to heaven, nor do we know how they could sing so as to be heard and understood by the shepherds and how they conversed with people on this earth. These are mys­teries which none can fully understand.

Fourth, he was "preached unto the Gentiles." Paul says the fact that the Gentiles were to be fellow-heirs with the Jews in the blessings of the Gospel was a mystery which for ages was hidden, but in due time was made known by the Holy Spirit. While this mystery was for ages hidden —kept secret, it was finally made known by the Spirit through the preaching of the apostles, and is no longer a mystery.

Fifth, he was "believed on in the world." Countless thousands, yea, millions, have believed that mysterious story of the incarnation of Jesus. It is at least wonderful, if not mysterious, how this story of the Babe of Bethlehem has won its way in the world until teeming millions bow in rev­erence at the name of Jesus. The lamented Edward W. Carmack, of Tennessee, in his lecture on "Character," said, on the hypothesis that Jesus "was only a man. this would be a greater miracle than the virgin birth.

Sixth, he was "received up into glory." Jesus' departure from this earth was just as mysterious as his coming was. We can no more understand the one than we can the other. While in conversation with his disciples, "while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." (Acts 1:9.) And these disciples, filled with won­der, stood there gazing into heaven, not understanding how it was possible for him to ascend in this manner. And we are still wondering at it —still not able to understand it. So it is clear that this "mystery of godliness" is without con­troversy, without question, without debate, a great mystery. But this is not the only mystery in the Bible, and it is not the only great mystery. In fact, the tinge of mystery runs throughout the whole Book. There are many things in the Bible which we can not. understand. For instance, how God, "in the beginning" created the heavens and the earth; how he afterwards brought on the flood of waters by which the first world of mankind was destroyed; how he opened the Red Sea and the Jordan River to allow the Israel­ites to pass through on dry ground; how the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days; how the sun was made to stand still at Joshua's command; how the sun was veiled in midnight darkness for three hours at the crucifixion of Jesus; how Paul, or some one, was caught up to the third heaven; and just how John received that wonderful vision on the Isle of Patmos. These are all mys­teries to us. Again, how God brought water out of the rock when Moses smote it; how he sent manna day after day for the space of forty years; how he preserved the Israelites' clothes during the entire forty years, that they did not wear out nor grow old; and how these Israelites were healed when they looked on the brazen serpent. And again, how Jonah was kept alive in the whale's belly for three days and nights; how the Hebrew children were protected from the intensive heat of Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace; and how the Lord shut up the mouths of the lions that they did not destroy Daniel. And once more, how Jehovah healed Namaan when he dipped in the Jordan River; how the blind man was healed when he washed in the pool of Siloam; how Elijah, Elisha, Jesus, Peter and Paul all raised the dead; and, finally, how all the dead are to be raised at the coming' of Christ. These are all mysteries great and profound, and which none can fully comprehend. And these are only a few of the mysteries about which we read in the bible. But let us bear in mind that mysteries do not in any sense discredit the Bible. They rather confirm its divine origin. If we could grasp the whole of this wonderful Book, it would be proof that men can produce such a book; while the very fact that we can not grasp it all, can not understand all about it, is a strong evidence that man did not write it. At a dinner given in honor of Daniel Webster, the conversation turned upon Christianity, whereupon a gentleman asked Mr. Webster if he could comprehend how Jesus Christ could be both God and man. Mr. Webster, looking fixedly at the inquirer, replied: "No, sir, I can not comprehend it. If I could comprehend Him, He would be no greater than myself, and such is my accountability to God, such is my sense of sinfulness before Him, and such is my knowledge of my own incapacity) to recover myself, that I feel I need a superhuman Savior." And so, if we could comprehend all the Bible —understand ever thing about it, then it would be no greater than books written by men, while we feel, with Mr. Webster, that we need a super­human book. But the book of nature is just as full of mysteries as is the book of revelation, and we never think of rejecting nature, just because there are mysteries connected with it. The tinge of the mysterious everywhere surrounds us in nature. For instance, just how our physical bodies are fed in all their parts is a mystery to us. True, we know some things about it, but much of it is a mystery to us. We do not understand how the very same food will produce white skin, yellow skin and black skin on three different men. We do not understand just how the food we eat is so assimi­lated that it goes to build up the different parts of the body; some to build up the delicate tissues of the body, some to make the nails on the fingers and toes, some the bones, some the blood, some the brain, and some the nerves, etc. Again, we do not understand how a sheep and a goose can eat the same food and produce wool on the sheep's back and fea­thers on the goose's back. We do not understand how a red cow can eat green grass and give white milk, .from which we churn yellow butter. Can any one understand how- a tender stock of corn will push its way through the hard ground, even bursting a hard clod of earth that it may see the light? Yet it does it. A few years ago I saw this mystery —not to say miracle. On the north side of an old brick house where one of my best friends lives, there is any ivy growing. One day while this friend and brother lay on his bed sick he discovered a tender branch of ivy that had found its way through the brick wall, plaster and all, and had pushed its way through the wall paper —burst through the wall paper that it might reach the light. My attention was called to this wonderful mystery in nature with the suggestion that the God of Nature is the God of Revelation. This mystery of nature we had to accept, for there it was right before our eyes. But how did this tender shoot of ivy burst that wall paper, to say nothing of how it found its way through the brick wall? Well, we just do not know, but it did it nevertheless. Once more, why will three rose bushes, all growing side by side, all fed from the same soil, all basking in the same sunshine, and all fanned by the same breezes —why will these three rose bushes produce three colors of roses —red, white and yellow? Do we understand it? Not at all. But we accept it without question, for we have all seen it, and seeing is believing. Here is a long, ugly worm, green in color with white spots on its sides and a hard sharp horn for a tail. Not a woman, and but few- men, would dare to pick it up, it is such an unsightly thing. But place that worm under proper conditions —take good care of it for a very few days, and he weaves about himself a house of silk, entirely enclosing himself in a cocoon which is much smaller than he was to begin with. He is now perfectly harmless, for, to all appearances he is en­tirely lifeless and enclosed in a tough silk shell which it would be difficult to tear open. Rut just wait a short time, and one end of that tough silk shell opens in some way, and presently there is flying about the house a beauti­ful silk butterfly which any woman would be pleased to pin on her Sunday hat. Now, how was this thing of ex­quisite beauty produced from this unsightly worm? Who can tell? To the masses, at least, this is a profound mys­tery; we cannot comprehend it. But we do not think of rejecting it, for nature is replete with just such mys­teries as this. Who can tell why a baby one year old will walk off a bluff one hundred feet high, while a pig only three days old will take care of itself? You could hardly get enough men around that pig to run it off the bluff where there was danger, but the baby will thoughtlessly walk off, never fearing. Do we understand it? We all know it is true, nevertheless. Again here is an old hen out in the barnyard with a brood of little chickens, just from their shells. They are taking their first sun bath. These little chickens never saw a hawk, and never heard the distress signal of their attentive mother. But presently a pigeon dips down too near them, and the old hen gives that peculiar signal, which they never heard before, and every little chick will at once hustle for his life, seeking shelter under the mother or anything that will hide it from sight. But just across the way there is a beautiful baby, the joy and satisfaction of the home. Its mother has given it every opportunity, and it has developed wonderful powers of intellect, until the family begins to think, no doubt, this particular child has been marked by the angel of death, it being too smart to remain here below. This child, being about one year old, has just begun to toddle about and wanders out into the street. A team of horses come dashing along, running away. The mother, frantic with fear, calls to the babe to turn back —to come to her; but all to no avail. That year old babe, smart as it is, pays no. attention to her danger signals. The mother is unable to arouse any sense of fear in the child. Why will these little chickens heed the voice of their mother when they have had absolutely no training, while this child, with all the care a fond mother could bestow upon it for a whole year, still pays no attention to her danger signals? Who can tell? Then, why do men have to be taught how to build their houses, while a little bird that never built a nest and never saw one built, can build one just as per­fectly as the old bird which has built them before? It does not relieve us of the difficulty to say that the pig. the little chickens and the little bird all act through the power of instinct, for we cannot understand the workings of instinct. Even this old earth on which we live, in its movements, presents many mysteries. It rotates on its axis at the rate of one thousand miles an hour, or sixteen miles a minute, it revolves around the sun at the rate of seventy-five thousand miles an hour, twelve hundred and fifty miles a minute, or twenty-one miles a second. The inclination of its axis swings first the north pole and then the south pole nearer the sun and this gives us our seasons —winter and summer, spring and autumn. And these movements have continued for thousands of years without varying a second. We cannot understand all this, of course, but while some of the more simple minded reject it, still it is generally accepted, and especially by the edu­cated class.

Why, even as common a thing as the telephone is full of mystery. How can we stand here and speak to a man a thousand miles away and our voices be heard as readily as if we were in adjoining rooms? Sound cannot and does not travel that fast, scientists tell us, and yet the voice is heard, and may be recognized as that of a friend or a relative, even thousands of miles away. But just how it is we do not know. Wre do not even know what electricity is, for that matter, and many of its workings are still mysterious to us. Mr. Wood, of the Edison Laboratory, at a chautauqua a few years ago, gave some wonderful demonstrations with electricity. By throwing a strong light on a face for a few minutes he was able to transfer the facial outlines on the canvas just to the rear, so that when all lights were turned off, there glowed the full face on the otherwise dark canvas; and it remained there several min­utes before it finally vanished. Mr. Wood then stated that they could not explain it —that they did not understand it. So, I repeat, the book of nature is just as full of mysteries as the book of revelation is, and it is just as absurd to reject the one for that reason as is the other. But the mystery, both in nature and grace—in the book of nature and in the book of revelation, is always on God's side —never on man's side. We do not have to grasp the mysterious nor understand the incomprehensible. Man's side, both in nature and grace, is very simple. It is not nec­essary for us to know just how our food is assimilated so as to properly build up the various parts of the body. Our part is to eat, and nature takes care of the assimilation. Even a man who does not know what mastication, digestion, and assimilation mean, can nevertheless eat to the satisfying of every demand, and a half-witted fellow can care for a sheep and a goose while they eat the same food which pro­duces wool on the sheep's back and feathers on the goose's back, knowing absolutely nothing about the mysterious process by which the wool and feathers are produced. So anyone can care for the red cow while she eats green grass and gives white milk which produces yellow butter. And a man who knows practically nothing about the science of agriculture, and one who could not even pronounce the name, can plant corn and raise a crop as a means of feeding himself and others, knowing nothing about how the tender shoot pushes its way through the hard soil. And so a man who does not know what horticulture is, can cultivate a whole garden of rose bushes and know absolutely nothing about the process by which these different bushes produce their different colors of roses. Too, the man who knows nothing about how the silk worm spins his long strand of silk and then weaves it into his cocoon, which then becomes valuable as an article of commerce, can care for the worm which produces the butterfly and then care for the butterfly which in turn produces the worm, and thus add to the world's supply of silk. The mystery here is all on God's side. And so a man who knows absolutely nothing about electricity, can use the telephone to his own satisfaction, as multiplied thousands are doing every day. And the same principle holds true in the system of grace, in the book of revelation. The mystery is all on God's side —never on man's side. Man's part is always simple and easy. For in­stance, Noah's part at the flood was quite simple. God told him what to do and how to do it. Noah's part was to believe and obey, and the instructions were plain and simple. The Lord did the rest. Israel's part at the Red sea and at the Jordan was very simple, too. God parted1 the waters, how we do not know, and they simply walked through on dry ground. No mystery on their side whatever. And the part the Israel­ites played when the walls of Jericho fell down was all very simple, too. They had to march around the walls once a day for six days, and on the seventh day, seven times, then blow a blast on the trumpets and raise a shout. All this was perfectly simple and easy. It was a mystery how the walls fell down, but that was the Lord's part and he took care of it. So in feeding the Israelites on manna for forty years, there was a great mystery, but the mystery was all on God's side, as ever. Israel had only to gather up the food and prepare it for eating. This was easy and simple. And there was a great mystery about how water came out of the rock when it was smitten by Moses, but Moses' part was not mysterious in the least. He simply took the rod and smote the rock three times. The mystery, here again, was all on God's side. And it was a great mystery how God healed the Israelites when they looked on the brazen serpent in the wilderness, but Israel's part was plain and simple —not mysterious. And, too, it was a mystery how God healed Naaman when he dipped in the Jordan and gave to the blind man his sight when he washed in the pool of Siloam. But all the mystery in both cases was on God's side. Their part was plain and simple and easy. They had only to believe and obey. And so it is with the "mystery of Godliness," which Paul tells us is great. The mystery is all on God's side. There is absolutely no mystery on man's side. True, we cannot understand the incarnation —how Jesus was

God in the flesh. And we do not know why Jesus had to die to save us., or how his blood takes away sin. We do not know just how his blood is applied to our souls, nor even why baptism was made a condition of salvation. But, like Abraham, we can believe and obey. Or, like Naaman and the blind man, we can "trust and obey, for there is no other way." And this is man's whole duty in the matter. God always looks after the mysterious. He will see that the blood is applied to our souls if we will believe and obey. And he will see that our bodies are raised incorruptible if we will only walk righteously before him in this life. Hence let us leave the mysterious to him who is "able to do exceed­ing abundantly above all that we ask or think." But all mysteries may some day be made known, as some of the mysteries have already been revealed. But until then, we must hold these mysteries in a pure conscience, never doubting. John Mason says, " If we love the Bible as we ought, it is dearer to us than life, nearer to us than our relations, sweeter to us than our liberty, and more pleasant than any earthly comforts; all arguments against the word of God are fallacies, all conceits against it delu­sions, all derisions against it blasphemies, and all oppositions against it madness." And the illustrious Sir Walter Scott, one of England's most distinguished poets, has very truth­fully said:

"Within this ample volue lies The mystery of mysteries.
Happiest they of human race To whom God has given grace To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,
To lift the latch, to force the way,
And better had they ne'er been born Who read to doubt or read to scorn."