A Mysterious Gospel

I love a good mystery. Some of my favorite movies and TV shows are the kinds that keep me guessing. One of my favorite movies is The Prestige starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. It is a movie about two rival magicians who constantly try to outdo one another, but it starts affecting their personal lives. This movie kept me guessing and the end was pretty shocking. A good mystery keeps us engaged and in awe and wonder.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a mysterious gospel. The good news is not just the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It is also the return of Christ, the establishment of his kingdom on earth, and the ushering in of the eternal state where we will enjoy him forever. There is much to this that we have yet to fully understand. As we anticipate his return, we often wonder as the prophets did as to when and how everything is going to take place.

As we look into the final part of Peter’s introduction, we are going to see a mysterious gospel.

1 Peter 1:10–12 NASB95

As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.

The gospel is mysterious. We have the benefit of living in a time of a complete New Testament. All that God has chosen to reveal is available. One thing that this should lead us to is that the gospel, and really all of scripture is beautiful. It should always leave us with a sense of awe and wonder, and that is what we are going to talk about today.

Gaze upon the beauty of the Old Testament.

The prophets spoken of in this passage refer to the prophets of the Old Testament. It said they searched and inquired carefully. They knew there was more to what they were prophesying than an immediate context. Now, what we need to understand is not every prophet in the Old Testament prophesied specifically about the coming of Christ. Many of them prophesied the judgment of God against Israel for breaking their covenant with God. However, if you will remember back to a series we did on the minor prophets, we looked at these prophecies of judgment and saw it was always coupled with a promise of a future hope. Abraham’s descendants would be enslaved by Egypt, but 400 years later, God would deliver them and establish them as an independent nation. Israel would face exile for 70 years, but God would bring them back to the land. Someone would come and crush the head of the serpent. This verse tells us that the prophets seemed to understand that what they were prophesying stretched further than the audience to which they were writing and they wanted to know more.

When we look at the Old Testament, there is a temptation to discard it as outdated and irrelevant because now there is a new and better covenant as the book of Hebrews tells us. Yet some of the greatest stories of the Bible come from the Old Testament. Many of us grew up learning about Noah and the flood, Moses and the Exodus, Israel’s army marching around the walls of Jericho, David and Goliath, Samson, Gideon, Solomon, Elijah, Isaiah, and many others. But in all these stories we see something more than the stories of men. We discover the character and nature of God.

The Old Testament can be hard to interpret sometimes, but in it we get to know God. Through the pages of the Old Testament we get to experience God’s love, his mercy, his justice, his standard of ethics, his all-knowing mind, his compassion, his kindness, and so much more. We learn he is a God of order and that he cares about his creation. We discover there is a redemptive plan that unfolds progressively. No generation gets God’s plan all at once.

The Old Testament is a marvel of ancient literature. There is much wisdom to be discovered as we investigate its pages. We should not be so quick to ignore it in favor of the New Testament. The Old Testament is nearly 80% of your Bible. The Old Testament is the backdrop for the gospel narratives. When Paul says all scripture is breathed out by God, he is talking about the Old Testament, not just what was being written in his time.

As it pertains to prophecy, one of the striking features that continues to amaze me is just how much has yet to be fulfilled. It would seem that a majority of Old Testament prophets and those in Christ’s time were expecting a Savior as a singular event. It is only now that Christ has come and promises to come again that we see there is a separation between work that the Messiah will do. Christ came first to suffer and die, to buy our pardon. Christ will come again to do everything the Jews hoped he would do the first time, and that is to establish his kingdom on earth. The prophets of the Old Testament were seeking to understand these things.

Seeking greater understanding regarding prophecy is not wrong, but it can lead to speculation and fruitless chatter about things we cannot understand. Paul says in his second letter to Timothy,

2 Timothy 2:23 NASB95

But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

Also in Titus, Paul says,

Titus 3:9 NASB95

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

There comes a point in our curiosities about the scriptures that it leads to unproductive quarrels or controversies. When we arrive at that point, it is time to stop trying to solve the mystery and just gaze at its beauty.

The Holy Spirit reveals truth.

I want you to notice a couple things about verse eleven as it pertains to the Holy Spirit. First, notice that Peter is inferring that the Old Testament prophets were aware that the Holy Spirit was revealing these prophecies to them. They did not come up with these things. The prophets did not invent prophecy. They claimed to speak on God’s behalf. In Peter’s second letter he says,

2 Peter 1:20–21 NASB95

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

The second thing I want you to see is that the Holy Spirit is the one who is really doing the prophesying. The role of a prophet was simply to relay God’s words to his audience. So the prophet has no real authority. His words are authoritative because they are God’s words.

He reveals truth not only as he speaks through Old Testament prophets or New Testament authors, but as he aids us in biblical interpretation. If we want to understand the Bible, we are dependent on the Holy Spirit for it. We cannot understand the Bible accurately without his help. We call this the illumination ministry of the Holy Spirit. Many people can interpret the Bible, but only the Holy Spirit can illuminate scripture for a believer to interpret it accurately.

Dr. Brad Klassen, who serves as Associate Professor of Bible Exposition at the Master’s Seminary, defines the illumination ministry of the Holy Spirit as,

“...that ministry of the Holy Spirit whereby He develops in the believer a clearer understanding of, a stronger certainty in, a deeper love for, and a greater obedience to the meaning of the text of Scripture.”

In simpler terms, it means that the Holy Spirit is in charge of helping us understand what he has already revealed through the written Word. The Holy Spirit of God reveals all truth. No truth of any kind was invented by man. If it is true, it has come from God, who is truth.

All of scripture was written for your benefit.

According to verse twelve, it was made apparent that the work they were doing was not merely for their own benefit. Their work would impact generations. It is difficult to say with real certainty that the prophets of the Old Testament knew you and I would one day hear the gospel of Jesus the way you and I understand it. What they did seem to know is that their work was going to impact generations they would never see.

There is a saying that has been around a long time that goes something like this, “You are planting shade trees you will never sit under, but others will.” Many of you have heard that saying. Some of you may have even said it! The idea behind that saying is that we may not see the fruit of our labor in our lifetime. We are in the business of spreading the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every generation has sown seeds of the gospel into the ground and has not made it to harvest time. Sure, we might see people come to faith as we engage in personal evangelism, but the real lasting fruit of our work is yet to be seen. We are planting shade trees that we will never sit under. The oak trees outside took a long time to grow to the size they are now. Somebody probably never got to sit under the shade of one of those big oak trees.

We are the recipients of thousands of years of revelation. God chose to reveal himself progressively generation after generation. We are enjoying the fruit of a complete canon of scripture. The prophets only had a slice of what God intended to reveal. They could never see what God was going to do with the work he called them to do.

The beautiful thing about scripture is that none of the sixty-six books in the bible were written to you. Understand what I am saying. These pages were not written to you or me. Isaiah did not have Jesse Hammonds in mind when he wrote his book. Matthew did not have you in mind when he wrote his gospel account of Christ. Paul did not have us in mind when he wrote his letter to the church in Rome. Every book of the Bible has an intended audience that the author had in mind.

But the Bible was written for us. It was written for our benefit. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NASB95

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

The Bible was written so that I may know God, know how to relate to him, and enjoy him forever. The pages of the Bible are written so that I may learn from God, that I may be trained by God, that I might have all I need for a life of godliness. The Bible was supernaturally written by God through human authors for my benefit.

Embrace the mystery of the gospel.

Christians smarter than myself have been working to understand the mysteries of scripture for a very long time. We have the most access to biblical knowledge than any generation ever, yet we still don’t understand it all. Think about it for a minute. If we understood everything there was to know about God, ourselves, how salvation works, the end times, or any other biblical subject, wouldn’t that make God rather small? After all, if someone with such a limited intellect like myself can figure it all out, then God is just too simple and perhaps we really did make it all up.

Let me put it another way. Guys, for those of you who are married, have you got your wife all figured out yet? For all we know about women, we still don’t seem to know everything about them, do we? If you had your wife all figured out, you would never argue! I’m actually grateful I don’t have Marci all figured out. Our marriage would be boring if I did.

The other day, Marci woke up a little earlier than usual. I didn’t have to cook breakfast that morning as is my usual routine. It provided us the opportunity to simply lay in bed and just talk about whatever came to mind. It was nice and refreshing. We connected while accomplishing nothing on a to do list. No problems were solved. No fire was put out. Just two people enjoying companionship before their daughter woke up. So I’m grateful I haven’t got Marci all figured out. I can still gaze at her and appreciate the beauty of who God has made her to be and enjoy the process of discovery. The same is true of our relationship with God. We don’t have him all figured out.

I imagine when it comes to this, people fall into two general categories. The first is the category of people who can’t figure it all out and see no value in trying, therefore they don’t. The other category is the people who know they can’t figure it all out but have found value in the pursuit of a mystery knowing they will never figure it all out, but they see the value of intimacy with the one who is so mysterious. I fall into that second category. I can’t ever hope to completely understand this mystery we call the gospel of Jesus Christ. But man have I gotten to know God in my pursuit of trying to understand it.

Embrace the mystery of the gospel. It leads to knowing the author of the universe. Be comfortable with not knowing everything or having an answer to every question. Nobody has all the answers. Did you know angels have been around longer than humans? The physical realm is not the first thing God created. He created angels before he created us. But did you catch the end of verse twelve? Even angels, who have always been in the presence of God himself (except for the devil and those who followed him), have a strong desire to look into this mystery of salvation, even though they have seen the story unfold from the very beginning. Angels study us and this salvation that God has given. Cut yourself some slack if you don’t have it all figured out. But don’t give yourself so much slack that you let yourself off the hook.

Love Jesus for all it’s worth. Continue to pursue him and his purpose for your life. His purpose is to empower you to share his gospel within your spheres of influence. The church exists in part as a training ground for you to gain the skill set necessary for success in taking the gospel to every corner of your world. This is the pep rally, but we always play an away game. What action do you need to take to prioritize the work God has called you to do?