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The Revelation of the Mystery
Published in the GOLDEN GRAIN - Volume 31  - Number 8 - January, 1957

A Sermon By Dr Charles S. Price 

THERE are certain things which have been reserved until the Last Days, when "in the dispensation of the fullness of times" the Lord would lift the last veil, and we should behold the glory of His plan before its complete consummation. "And He said unto them, UNTO YOU IT IS GIVEN TO KNOW THE MYSTERY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables." (Mark 4:11)

 There are two classes of people mentioned in this statement by the Lord: "unto you" and "unto them." It is given unto some to know! It is not a product of human understanding. The truth is unfolded, unveiled, and revealed just as truly as the revelation of the identity of Christ broke upon the horizon of the happy heart of Peter. Remember the words of Jesus, "Father, I thank You that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes."

 Once again we have that burning word, "revelation." Once again we get the direct affirmation of the unveiling and unfolding of truth as a gift from Him Whom we love and Whom we serve. The blessed Paraclete was empowered to take the things of Christ, the secret things, and reveal them unto us; and we shall know as we are known. It will not be an acquired knowledge; it will be an imparted understanding, imparted by the power of the Spirit.

 In the first chapter of his epistle to the church of Ephesus and the 9th verse, Paul states: "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the full-ness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him."

 Though the Adam-man has failed and the nations lie in chaos; though gross darkness covers the earth and night is on the waters, there will ever be a remnant which follows the Lamb wherever He goes. There will still be the union between the Bride and her heavenly Bridegroom. There will still be the consummation of the Divine plan! Nothing can stop it and nothing can hinder it!

 The natural man is moving into the secret of natural things in the earth. He is playing with atoms and he is forcing open the lock that Mother Nature has kept on some of her secrets through the ages. Yet, after all, that is part of God's plan. He told us it was to be. ".. . many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." (Daniel 12:4)

 In the heavenlies, we also find the revelation of the mystery of His will. Spiritual discoveries are being made! Not because of the power of human reason, but simply the discovery that comes through the revelation of the Spirit! We behold the Apocalypse! We see the Unveiling! We are beholding the revelation of the mystery of His will.

 So it is that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, things in earth and in heaven are being opened and revealed; and the Scriptures tell us that in the fullness of times, He will gather together in one, all things in Christ, which are in heaven and which are on the earth. We are going to see the earthly in the heavenly, and the heavenly in the earthly!

 Creation will be brought back! How glorious to know that everything the Father gave Him will He possess; and everything is secured for the Bride in the Bridegroom. Everything that belongs to Him will belong to her. "And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them that they may be one, even as We are one. I in them and You in Me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me."
 

The Holy Union

In days of old, everything that belonged to Isaac became the possession of Rebecca, because Isaac was hers. So, the Lord is unfolding to the children of Redemption that all things that belong to Christ are being made available to the Bride. "Al1 things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)

 Throughout all eternity, the Lord will exhibit the Bride in all the glory and beauty with which He has endowed her. But such beauty will be simply the reflection of His own!

 Principalities and powers in the spirit realm will behold the perfect and complete consummation of the Divine plan, wrought through Jesus and purchased on Calvary! Mystery of mysteries, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is!

 All that belonged to Isaac belonged to Rebecca, when she became part of him. That was the testimony of type; but today, we hear the TESTIMONY OF THE SPIRIT! We behold the glorious truth. He speaks of Christ. He tells of the glory and the beauty of Christ; the fullness of Christ; the grace of Christ. He proclaims the vast expanse of His unsearchable riches! And Jesus said, "Al1 Mine are yours!" He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God and he shall be My son." (Revelation 21:7)

 The Gospel itself is preeminently and emphatically a revelation, not of a doctrine or a creed or a system of living; but it is the REVELATION OF A PERSON! ".. . when it pleased God to reveal His Son in me," are the words of Paul in his epistle to the Galatians.
 

Exalt Him!

The exaltation of Jesus is always the heart of the Gospel Story, and the power of the Gospel message. It is not preaching at people; it is preaching CHRIST!! "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me."

We are not going to be saved by our experience, but by His. Where can one find Salvation, but in Him? Fundamentally we should not seek salvation, but we should rather seek and accept the Saviour! "The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom then shall I fear!"

In Ephesians 1:17 we read, ". . . that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." In the Weymouth translation of this verse, the word "PENETRATION" rather than "REVELATION" is used and it reads, "PENETRATION THROUGH AN INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM."

 In California we talked a great deal about the new telescope which was being erected on Mt. Palomar. The commentators declared that it would "comb the heaven for its mysteries . . and penetrate the universe for its secrets."

 Such penetration can be likened to spiritual radar, which is penetrating into the unknown. What a glorious privilege for the child of the Lord to receive as a gift from the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of wisdom and penetration in the knowledge of Him! It was for this "spirit of penetration" that one cried in days of old, "0, that I might know Him and the power of His Resurrection!" There was in that cry the admission that there was something beyond what had already been visualized and imparted, for which the heart was crying and the spirit of man yearning!

 Such divine imparting is a gift from the heavenly Bride- groom! It is a treasure which He bestows upon His Beloved, and certainly not the result of human struggle, nor a reward for human activity. It is given to those who are separated unto God, and whose lives have become obedient to the Divine will and amenable to the Divine purpose.

 So, we must look up; for the time of our Redemption draws nigh! "Let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober . . . For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ; Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." (1 Thessalonians 5:6, 8-10)

 It is the Spirit Who directs our gaze from the things of earth and time and sense, that we might look above and see Him Who is altogether lovely! The Holy Spirit is sent as a DIVINE MAGNET to draw us from earth to heaven, speaking not of Himself but rather "taking the things of Mine and revealing them unto you.

 Without this magnetism of the blessed Paraclete drawing us out of a horrible pit, we would be without hope upon the earth. "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens (ye spiritual ones), and ye that dwell in them. Woe to those who   inhabit  the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time." (Rev. 12:12)
 

To Know His Love

 The purpose of the Christ in coming from heaven to earth was to deliver men, that He might present them without spot or wrinkle; and it is by the Holy Spirit that the bride is wooed and won from time and sense into a willingness to go. She will never be taken against her will and it is as her will is yielded and blended with that of her Heavenly Head that the journey be comes smoother and the flight swifter.

 God has kept in His own counsel the plans for that Holy Wedding, and it is through the revelation of the Spirit that these hidden things are made plain; and the heart of the Bride longs for the finished Glory! As the servant of Abraham took of the goods of his master to show to Rebecca, to lure her from her former estate, so the blessed Spirit takes the things of Christ and of the Father and shows them as an influencing factor to draw the Bride of Christ upward and outward into her place at His side!

 A Wedding is a mystery! And it is the opening of this mystery by the Holy Spirit that shows the children of light "what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST which passes knowledge." For those who have walked the lowly vales of earth, through the cleansing power of His redeeming Blood, and into the quickening of His Spirit, there awaits a rapturous culmination; and that culmination is so near that the ears of the Spirit can catch the reverberations of the activities of the preparations in the Eternal Home of the waiting Bridegroom!

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