02.04. The Second Paper
(Second Paper, Things to Come, Oct. 1895, 2(4):64-66)) II. THE SECRET OF THE INTERVAL.
There are several secrets which are there spoken of; and there is one that is called the “great secret.“
They are all of them connected with the present interval between the first and second Advents of the Lord Jesus. That there was to be an interval at all between “the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow” (Luk 24:26) was not revealed in the Old Testament. The “sufferings” themselves were not secret; neither was the “glory that should follow.” Both were subjects of Old Testament prophecy. Both are there fully and plainly revealed. And what is very remarkable about those prophecies is this, that while we have many prophecies of the glory without any reference to the sufferings; we never have a prophecy of the sufferings without finding, in the immediate context, a reference to the coming glory. The prophets who prophesied, and all who heard or read their words, were perfectly well acquainted with these two great facts; but they were wholly ignorant as to what interval, if any, should separate them. They knew not whether the “glory” would follow immediately upon the “sufferings” or whether there would be an interval of one year, or then years, or a hundred, or a thousand years between them. There was nothing to tell them. Hence, they were doubtless perplexed. We are, indeed, told by the holy spirit (1Pe 1:10-11) that they “enquired and searched diligently as to what, or what manner of time, the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow.” But there was nothing that could throw any light on the “manner of time” which should elapse, between the sufferings and the glory. It was clear that they could not be simultaneous. But “what manner of time” could there be between them?… The “manner of time” was untrackable. That is the meaning of the word “unsearchable” in Eph 3:8, where we read of “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” True, the riches or Christ are “unsearchable.” No one can estimate what riches have been laid up in Christ for those who are the members of His body.
“How vast the riches we possess In Christ the Lord our Righteousness” But this is not what is meant in Eph 3:8. The word here rendered “unsearchable” occurs only in one other place, Rom 11:33, and there it is rendered “past finding out.” It is anexichniastos (Gr.), and means that which cannot be explored. The word rendered “unsearchable” in Rom 11:33, is a different word altogether anexereuneetos (Gr.) and means, past comprehension. No one could find out “what, or what manner of time” should elapse between “the sufferings and the glory.” It was past finding out.
There were riches which could be explored. Many promises and prophecies connected with Christ could be understood, searched out, traced, and enjoyed by the faithful. The prophets conveyed their readers from hill-top to hill-top, but the valley that lay between could not be explored. Its mines of wealth could not be discovered. Its riches could not be searched. We, who by grace, have been initiated into the secret, and who have the key to unlock those treasures, can know something about these riches of (or pertaining to) Christ; but there were other riches connected with Christ that were untrackable - past finding out.
Connected with this secret of the present interval, and, indeed, forming part of it, there were, as we have said, several other secrets: - 3) THE DURATION OF ISRAEL’S BLINDNESS (Rom 11:25). That blindness was to happen to Israel was no secret. It was plainly revealed in the Old Testament. In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah had a glorious vision of Israel’s King preparatory to the solemn mission which he received : - “Go and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and convert, and be healed.”
“Then said I, ‘Lord, how long!’”
“How long?” Yes, that was the great and anxious question of Isaiah. The prophet “searched and inquired diligently as to what manner of time” was signified.
“How long?” he asked, shall this blindness happen to Israel? That decree of judicial blindness was pronounced under most impressive circumstances. There was everything which could add solemnity and importance to the occasion. And when we come to the New Testament we find the prophecy there times referred to: Mat 13:14 (the prophetic Word of Jehovah), Mat 13:15; John 12:40 (Isaiah saw Christ’s glory); and Acts 28:26 (“well spake the Holy Ghost, by Isaiah”). So that this blindness itself was the subject of special revelation, and was no secret. It was there revealed that it was to last as long as the land remained desolate. But there was one thing connected with it which was kept secret, ant that was afterwards revealed in Rom 11:25, where, speaking of this blindness, it is written, “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, or this secret, that blindness in part hath happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” Here the secret was revealed, and the answer is at length given to the question “How long?” We are no longer “ignorant” as to the duration of this “blindness in part”; we know its decree was announced, and we know when it will come to an end.
4) “THE SECRETS OF THE KINGDOM” (Mat 13:11, Mat 13:35).
It was no secret that the kingdom, so long prophesied, should be rejected; that the King should not be received; that Messiah should be “cut off,” and not then receive the kingdom. All this was a plain matter of Divine revelation. Many prophecies declare this. But what was to happen to the kingdom during the rejection of the King was not revealed; this was kept secret. There can be no kingdom without a king, therefore, while he is away, the kingdom must be in abeyance. In the Old Testament we have the kingdom prophesied. In the Gospels and Acts we have the kingdom rejected. In the Epistles we have the interval between this rejection, and the future setting up of the kingdom in Divine power, judgment, and glory, which is foreshewn in the Apocalypse. In this Epistles we have the interval, but chiefly in its relation to the Church. We do not learn in them what was to happen to the kingdom; the secrets concerning this are not there revealed. It is in Mat 13:1-58 that the Lord Jesus, in seven parables, describes the course of the kingdom from the first sowing of its seed by the Son of Man, to the final setting up of the throne of His glory; and this without any reference whatever to the Church. The Church, as we shall presently see, is not the subject of these parables, being itself another secret, emphatically called “the great secret.”
These parables concern the kingdom, and we are clearly told why they were spoken, and what was their subject as well as their object. In Mat 13:10, the disciples came and said unto Him, “Why speakest Thou unto them in parables” He answered and said unto them, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries” (i.e., of course, the secrets) “of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given,” etc. Then in Mat 13:34, we read “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (Psa 88:2), saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
Hence, in these seven parables, we have the revelation of the secrets concerning the kingdom of heaven; i.e., what would happen in consequence of and after its rejection, and we are told that these things had been kept secret all through the ages. And further, that when the Lord Jesus spake in parables, He spake, not to reveal the secrets to the multitudes, but to hide them; and also that His disciples and we might afterwards understand.
It is clear, therefore, that we are not to look for the Church in these parables, but that, whatever we may learn from them, we must distinguish between these “secrets of the kingdom” and the “great secret” concerning Christ and the Church.
[see The Kingdom and the Church, by the same Author and Published by Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, Great New Street. Price (in 1895), one penny.] 5) “THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY” (2Th 2:7). The rejection of the kingdom would, we are taught, lead up, at the time of the end, to the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer 30:7), when the Man of Sin will be revealed. He will be manifested in his own appointed season. But we are told also that even now, yea, even when the revelation was given in 2Th 2:7, that the secret of lawlessness was already at work.
[see The Structure of the Epistles to the Thessalonians, by the same Author. Published by Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, Great New Street, London, E.C. Price (in 1895), Sixpence.]
Even now we see this secret purpose working. Lawlessness is already being developed. We see it in the Family, in Society, in the church, and in the State. If we were asked to describe the one great feature which characterizes our times, we must say it is lawlessness. Ant this is the working of the secret counsel and purpose of the coming Antichrist, whose open manifestation will be the signal for the closing of this present interval, and whose final destruction will usher in the kingdom of Heaven. For then (i.e., in the days of the seventh angel when he is about to sound), “then is finished the mystery (or secret counsel) which God purposed to fulfill according to the good tidings which He declared to His servants the prophets” (Rev 10:7).