by Timothy W. Burnett
It starts off with �Behold, I show you a mystery�� Prior to Paul�s ministry, nobody knew about this mystery. That�s why it was called a mystery. But then it would no longer be a mystery. The mystery is also referred to in Colossians 1:26-27, �Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints, to 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.�
The spiritual ability to have the power Christ Jesus in you was not available until the time of Acts 2:1-4. It was hidden from all the generations of people prior to that time. To have
Christ in you refers to having the fullness of his authority as a child of God. It�s Christ in you because the power of attorney to walk with that authority is in the name of Jesus Christ.
More light on this subject is gleamed from Ephesians 3:2-6, �If you have heard of the administration of the grace of God which is given to me toward you. How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote before in few words, whereby, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.�
In other ages it was not made known unto the sons of men. Our readers may be shocked to learn that the �sons of men� also included Jesus Christ while he walked on the earth as recorded in the Gospels. The administration of the grace of God did not begin until the record of Acts 2:1-4. Prior to that time, it was kept hidden in God. Jesus had a very good understanding of the period of time prophesied of in Daniel and Revelations, but he had no solid understanding of the administration of the grace of God that we currently live under. Of course there were moments when he spoke by the spirit of God about this period of time as seen in John 3:3, ��except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.� Most his words of the future refer to the very end days as recorded in Revelations.
Go to Romans 16:24-25 for more on the mystery, �Now to Him that is power to establish 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. But now is made manifest�� If Paul was the person who first helped reveal the mystery, then it was still a mystery to the earlier apostles and other believers prior to Paul, and after the record of Acts 2:1-4. It�s amazing to consider that the apostles served God mightily as recorded in Acts chapters 2-11, without knowing the truth about what they had.
As seen in 1Corinthians 15:51-54, the end result of the revealed mystery, is that when Christ returns for the born-again saints, each person will be changed into a new and glorious body, and will be saved from the great tribulation period recorded in Revelations (see 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 & 5:3, 4, 9).
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