Gospel of John [Joh 16:1]. The Mystery of the Church part 5. NT documentation of the word

Title: Gospel of John [JOH 16:1]. The Mystery of the Church part 5. NT documentation of the word "mystery."

 

 

Announcements/opening prayer: 

 

NT documentation of the word mystery:  

 

COL 2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,

 

COL 2:2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself,

 

The mystery is the person of Christ.

 

COL 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

 

Therefore, all these treasures of wisdom and knowledge, the revelation of God complete program, God's love, grace, and mercy, could have not been made known before His incarnation and was not fully revealed until after His resurrection. The OT had shadows of wisdom, but in Christ, we have the reality of wisdom.

 

All, and not merely some of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are contained in Christ; therefore the search for them outside of Him is doomed to failure.

 

But not only are they in Christ, but they are contained in a hidden way. Therefore they do not lie on the surface, nor can they be understood with a superficial knowledge of the scripture. It's not that they are riddles, but are contained in many passages that must be understood and related to one another. They must be sought for earnestly, and not with some insipid motivation. It is treasure and we must seek them as men seek for hidden treasure, and this takes time. They are not matters of external observances, such as the false teachers enjoined, but to be apprehended by deep and serious study.

 

COL 2:4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument.

 

COL 2:5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline [taxis = an orderly array of soldiers] and the stability [foundation, something made solid] of your faith in Christ.

 

COL 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it [not drowsy or inattentive] with an attitude of thanksgiving;

 

COL 4:3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned [for its greater understanding, spreading, and recording];

 

COL 4:4 in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

 

COL 4:5 Conduct yourselves [peripateo = walk, pattern of lifestyle] with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

 

"making the most of the opportunity" = exagorazo [redeeming] ton kairos [the opportunity or season]. A wise and sacred use of an opportunity that purchases it for yourself.

 

That the opportunity is purchased for yourself is made clear by the middle voice of exagorazo. Yet this is obviously not selfishness, but redeeming the opportunity, any opportunity, for the production of divine good from yourself.

 

COL 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt [seasoned for taste, pleasant and preserving from corruption], so that you may know how you should respond to each person [according to their needs].

 

Paul wrote a very similar command in Ephesians.

EPH 4:29

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

 

Thessalonica is located in Macedonia and today it is the second largest city in Greece.

 

 

Having a very fine harbor Thessalonica was and is a commercial and military center. Paul spent around three weeks teaching at the synogogue and was believed by many Gentiles and Jews. This provoked the hostility of the Jews, who then started a riot. When they were unable to find Paul, they brought some of the believers before the local authorities and charged them with disloyalty to Caesar. The believers became fearful for Paul's safety and sent him and Silas to Beroea [40 miles west], where Timothy joined them later. They remained steadfast in their faith despite the persecution they faced, which Paul applauds them for in the first epistle, but then false doctrine invaded the church and that shook them up and disturbed them. When this was reported to Paul while in Corinth from which he wrote this letter very soon after the first one, around 50 AD.

 

2TH 2:1 Now [from prayer for them in chapter one to entreaties for them] we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him,

 

2TH 2:2 that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

 

False "prophetic utterances" were given in the church stating that the Rapture had come and they were poised to go through the Tribulation. This shook them up and disturbed their souls. Was Paul wrong when he wrote to them?

 

1TH 1:10

and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

 

Verse 2 implies that a letter was written that someone claimed to be written by Paul or one of his guys. Insipid and deceitful is the enemy.

 

To calm their hearts and stabilize their faith, Paul explained that they were not in the Day of the Lord. The reason was simple: that Day could not arrive till certain other events had taken place. Paul then stated for them the prophetic events that make up God's time.

 

The mystery calms any fears of any end of the world scenario during the Church age. We know without confusion the prophetic program of God.

 

The earth is going to freeze in the 1970's and now it's going to overheat and water levels are going to rise and tornados, Anti Em, Anti Em… A meteor the size of Texas is going to hit us and wipe us out like the dinosaurs; one just went by that was really close [9 lunar distances] It works in scaring the populace because they are ignorant of God's prophetic program as well as basic science.

 

He entreats them to remain calm in verse one and that what he first taught them is still a dogmatic truth.

 

1TH 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.

 

1TH 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

 

1TH 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.

 

1TH 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

 

1TH 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

 

1TH 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

 

2TH 2:1 Now [from prayer for them in chapter one to entreaties for them] we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him,

 

2TH 2:2 that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

 

The Day of the Lord is the period that follows the Rapture of the church until the end of human history. Once the church is out of the world, and the restraining ministry of God the Holy Spirit ceases, Satan and his forces will unfold their program.

 

Paul does not identify the restrainer in his writing. We have the removal of the Church from the world during the Rapture and so also the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to the Church. Theologians make good arguments on both the restrainer being the Church and being the HS. I would not underestimate the impact that the Church, as divisive as it has been, has had in restraining evil in this world. America is a result of men who members of the Church and devoted to scripture. However, the Church is powerless without God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we would conclude that both have a restraining ministry, but that God the Holy Spirit has a greater effect on restraining the growth of the evil of the antichrists. G/HS is not taken out of the world, but His ministry of restraining evil is removed.