For April 14

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Sermon Notes:  Mysteries and Revelations

Intro: Cathy and I were among those who watched the solar eclipse. At first, I wasn’t as enthusiastic as some to observe it, but I ended up quite impressed. Looking at the sky as the eclipse neared, though not looking directly at the sun, nothing seemed to be happening. Then, looking at the sun through those special glasses, I could see the moon begin to block the sun. Then the outline of the darkened sun became visible, even without the special glasses. The sky grew darker and an eerie silence developed. Then, I watched, again through the special glasses, as the moon continued its path, and the sun began to reappear. I would have missed this mystery of nature being revealed if I hadn’t prepared for it, and been watching through those special glasses. What ordinarily would have been hidden from being seen by the naked eye was revealed to only those who were prepared and watching through a special lens

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I. Biblical Mysteries

A. The fact that you’re sitting here, preparing to hear a sermon, is a clue about where I’m heading with this narrative, because this isn’t going to be a science lecture, but rather about the mysteries of the Bible. We may anticipate particular events foretold in the Bible, but not see, or understand, them unless you’re prepared and watching through the lens of faith. You may only see a final result, like the darkened sun, and the sudden darkness and eeriness, but not understand what’s happening unless you know what you’re looking at. People anticipated the Promised Messiah, but didn’t recognize Him right there in front of them.

B. The Bible may be thought of as a special lens through which to see history. Isolated events might be revealed as a continuum of unfolding events with future consequences. We might even see the Bible as a mystery novel with clues and revelations that lead to a full revelation of an unfolding mystery. In fact, the Bible begins with the first book, Genesis, which means beginning, and concludes with the final book of Revelation, a revealing of what started in Genesis. The Bible’s 66 books are then like chapters filled with clues and partial revelations that become understood in the final Revelation. Unless you’re prepared to see the Bible through the lens of faith that helps us interpret what’s being presented from the beginning, we won’t fully understand the ending.

C. The Bible leads us to ask questions that may also be relevant in our own lives. We encounter many mysteries in our lives that can be at least partially revealed in various locations within the Bible, but if you’re not looking for the answers through the lens of faith, you may not understand what you read.

D. Our Call to Worship from Psalm 8 is such an example of God’s mysteries. The author, even without the super telescopes of today, saw the sun, moon, and stars as wondrous works of God. Imagine his amazement if he’d seen the recent eclipse though those special lenses. But seeing such wonders led the psalmist to ask God,  as if a mystery, ‘What is man that You even care about him?  Why create man as a little

lower than the angels? Why make him stewards of Your Creation?  Why come near to us when we call?. How have we deserved such honor from the magnificent Creator of not just this earth, but Creator of the vast universe, parts of which we have yet to even discover? 

E. The answers to those mysteries are revealed by understanding the nature of God. How can we expect to understand God’s answers to life if we don’t understand who God is? It reminds me of the Peanuts cartoon with Charlie Brown and the kids carrying signs saying, “Christ is the answer”. And Snoopy following behind with his sign, “What was the question?”  We can see Creation and God’s wonders as an end result, but we’re left with Snoopy’s questions of ‘who’, and ‘why’. Those answers are not self evident, but found in understanding of who God is.

F. Many people, and even some churches focus on the NT and fail to see the relevance of the OT. That’s like starting to read a mystery novel in the middle, where you’d probably miss the revealing of the nature of the characters, their interactions, and background. The OT provides us many pictures of God’s nature. His laws provided insights of what He considers righteousness, while humankind is seen as unable to live up to His standards. We also see Him as holy, unable to accept the sin of humankind but then sending Jesus to reconcile us to God, and further demonstrate the nature of the Father through His Son. We then see the magnitude of God’s nature of mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and love.

G. The OT makes us aware of God’s nature, the separation of humans from God, His longstanding desires to restore His creation to Himself, His frustrations at human rejection of the God who loves them, and even the animal sacrifices and the Passover story that provide us an understandable basis to understand the mystery of the Cross and the meaning of Easter. The OT is not an irrelevant, out of date history book. It’s a platform for us to stand on to see the future; a guide for us to understand what we see.

H. Let me use the current events of Israel as an example. The OT shows God promising Abraham the land of Canaan, and the promise of generations of descendants to occupy it. God chose Egypt as a haven for those few descendants to grow into a nation large enough after 400 years, although via slavery, to occupy the land that had become the home of pagan countries whose evil lives were offensive to God. Through God’s powerful leading through the desert to form them into the people God had envisioned, Israel reclaimed the land God had promised them centuries before. There were many years of battles to win control of that land, the golden years of King David and the establishment of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple consecrated to be the dwelling place of God. David had years of continuing battles to protect Israel from the neighboring Philistines with their myriads of false gods and idols. The land that today surrounds the Moslem city of Gaza, and its god of Allah. And Israel would become the birthplace of the Messiah who would rule from David’s throne.

I. It takes this understanding to reveal Israel’s passion for their land, and the continuing battle to keep it as the Land God promised them. Israel’s fight to become an independent state, and the subsequent battles to defend its freedom in wars against the powerful neighboring Arab states throughout its history were ones that could not have been won unless God had backed them. So you begin to see how Biblical understanding is critical to understanding the Israel-Gaza fight. Not that Israel is above criticism for any of its policies and actions, but their passion for their Promised Land has deep roots that must be understood.

J. God’s purpose for Isael’s becoming the chosen people may seem a mystery to us. Why is the OT all about forming Israel?  Why is that our concern? Even when God had summoned Abraham to the land of Canaan, God had already planned that his descendants would live in Israel, as the birthplace of the Messiah, whose message of salvation would be taken to the world, not just Israel. The revelation of that mystery began at the birth of Christ, and became even more evident in post-Resurrection times, as seen in Matthew 28, where Jesus tells His disciples to take His Gospel beyond Israel, making disciples of all nations. Paul was specially recruited as a strong Jewish leader to establish churches throughout the Gentile world. The mystery of the prophecies of the OT were revealed in the birth of the Promised Messiah, born in Israel, and whose death and Resurrection would restore humankind to its Creator God.

K. We proclaim that mystery of faith in our Communion service, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ shall come again”. That whole proclamation would have been a mystery before the Easter Resurrection. The Old Testament prophecies were important clues about the coming of Christ, but until the angels proclaimed the Holy Birth, Israel was shrouded in the mystery of about the when, where, and who of the Messiah. Easter then was a revelation for those who had questioned resurrection, but then began to understand the further mystery about His return. The mystery that is to be further revealed in the end times.

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II. Daniel 12:1-10

A. We now need to circle back to the OT for further clues about the end times. Adding to our list of mysteries is a separate mystery of heavenly battles going on around us without our awareness. The archangel Michael is revealed as the angel protector of “Daniel’s people”, now appearing before Daniel to reveal a mystery of the end times. He had appeared earlier to Daniel, but had been delayed for 21 days fighting against Satan’s prince of Persia, and soon returned to battle against him. Intriguing as angel wars around us may be, little else of them have been revealed to us. But here Michael reveals some interesting insights of the future.

B. Michael tells Daniel about a future time of distress, where some whose name is written in the book will be delivered, some to rise in resurrection to everlasting life, the others to everlasting shame and contempt. It’s the first time in the Bible that resurrection is mentioned. But Daniel is told to seal up the scroll until the end times, when the contents will be revealed. But then Daniel encounters yet another mystery as he sees two angels conversing from opposite banks of a river. One clothed in linen, presumably Gabriel, God’s messenger archangel, the one who brought Mary and Joseph the news about Mary’s coming pregnancy, is talking with another angel who asks how long it would be before those astonishing things would happen. So even the angels are interested in the end times, but there is some mysteries that had not even been revealed to angels. Daniel also asks for understanding about the outcome but is told that the words had been rolled up in the scroll and sealed until the end times, when some will be purified, the wicked would continue to be wicked and not understand, but the wise will understand. Even the mystery of the end times will be withheld from the understanding of the wicked. We can find the truth of that in fact happening in the Book of Revelation, when some will accept the truth of Christ, while the wicked will refuse to understand.

C. While the OT presents many mysteries, the coming of the Messiah begins to reveal the answers God intended to make known. We saw many of those answers to the mysteries at our Easter services, that focused on the mystery of Resurrection and its meaning for salvation. Just when it appeared that the hopes promised in Jesus had been dashed by the Crucifixion, eyes were opened by His Resurrection.

  

III. I Corinthians 2:1-11

A. From Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church,, Paul talks about how he had come to them with his testimony about God. He preached the crucified Christ, not with wise and eloquent words, but in demonstration of the Spirit’s power. The revelation of God’s answer to the mystery of Christ having to die on the Cross would not be based on human wisdom, but rather on their faith and understanding based on God’s power. The message Paul spoke was not the wisdom of the times or human wisdom, but God’s wisdom through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit alone knows the mind of God and therefore the Spirit can reveal God’s Truth. If the rulers of that time had understood God’s wisdom they wouldn’t have crucified Jesus. But they could not see or hear or conceive in their human wisdom the things God had revealed to Paul and his colleagues through the Spirit.

 

Conclusion: The mysteries of God are often difficult for the human mind to understand. His plan from the beginning was to reveal Himself to us, wanting a relationship with us. Such a relationship would need us to understand God’s nature and understand more about Him. It’s why He sent Jesus as a means of reaching out to humankind, revealing God’s truths, demonstrating His radical love for us. And Jesus is not a mystery to those who see Him through the lens of faith. Amen