THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL

EPHESIANS 6:19  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.

While in prison in Rome, Paul spoke these words praying for the words and the boldness to teach about the mystery of the gospel.  But what is the mystery of the gospel?  Let’s explore this verse for deeper meaning.

First of all, what is “gospel”?  

It is the good news concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.  The writings of Jesus Christ give you “his-tory”, but the giving of the revelation of Jesus Christ is Him saying, “This is “my-story”!”

What is a “mystery”?  

It’s from the root word muste’rion, meaning to shut the mouth; a secret.  It is that which can only be made known by divine revelation to an individual; by God Himself.  

• Matthew 16:13-17  Jesus is saying to His disciples, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?  And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona:  for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

“Mystery” usually implies “knowledge withheld”!  But scripturally it declares “truth revealed”!  

• Colossians 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints!

In relation to the mystery of the gospel, the good news states in John 4:24 that God is Spirit.  And He has many names which reveal particular aspects of His character (quality or traits that distinguishes an individual or group); or His nature.

A couple of examples:  

• Jehovah Elohim (our Creator):  Genesis 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  
• Jehovah LORD – (self-Existent):  Genesis 2:4  These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the LORD God created the earth and the heavens.

God is “Spirit”, but He is “self” Existent because in relation to “self” as a noun, it is the revealing of identity, character, etc, of a person or thing.

Now let’s examine John 1:1:

• John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

• Word is from the root word “log’os”, denoting expression of thought.  Some synonyms for “expression” are:  representation; symbolization; indication; statement; utterance; appearance.  So the “Word” of God is the very embodiment (unifying; personifying; assembling) of a conception or idea or the Word ... made flesh.  The very Word of God was generated, reproduced and came to be in flesh form in the person of Jesus the Christ.  
• And He dwelt among us!  He never left us and never will!  He is Immanuel; God with us!  He is not up yonder beyond the blue, people of God,  He is right here, right now manifested in you and me!
• DWELT is from the root word skeno’o, meaning, to tent or encamp, to occupy, or to reside.  It goes to another root word ske’nos, meaning the human body (as the abode of the spirit); tabernacle.

• Revelation 21:3  I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  

I’m not afraid to say, The tabernacle of God is man!  The tabernacle that Moses built upon instructions from God was a cloth hut or tent that had three layers of skin over it.  We, God’s people, are His tabernacles with three layers of skin!!!  According to the anatomical makeup of the human body, there is the “outer epidermis” (which consists of four or five layers), the “dermis” (which consists of two layers), and the “hypodermis” (which is a single layer).  It is the largest organ of the body.  

The mystery of the Gospel is the fact, or shall I say truth, that God was flesh in Jesus Christ,  and He is still flesh in you and in me!!  

In actuality the restoration of the creation back to God is when “MAN” (male & female) recognizes his oneness with the Father as Jesus did.  

• John 10:30  I and my Father are one!  

In St. John 10:22-39, you see where the Jews tried to arrest Jesus.  In verse 31 they took up stones to stone him.  In verse 32, Jesus said to them, “Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me”?  Verse 33:  The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a MAN, makest thyself GOD.

As long as Jesus was admitting to being “the Son of God”, He was alright in their book, but when He said He was “one with God”, the brethren wanted to kill him.  If you tell people today that they are God or you are God, they will do the same thing to you.

Take a look at what Jesus said in St. John 10:34:  Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods”? This is referencing Psalms 82:1-6, but verse 6 states  I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

We, God’s people, are as Jesus was - God in flesh form.  

• 1 John 4:17  For as he is, so are we in this world!
• John 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?  The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself:  but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Someone might say, “Are you trying to make yourself God?”  No, but anyone who will ask that question has the same mindset as the Jews in St. John 10 who wanted to stone Jesus because He said, He was “one with the Father”.  It’s not that I or anyone who has come into this truth is trying to make ourselves God, but the truth of the matter is that God chose to make Himself man!!

How did God reconcile man back to Himself?  By becoming “man” in putting on flesh and at the same time showing man that he was and is God in flesh form!  

• Philippians 2:5-8  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

The only way MAN can truly and fully be reconciled to God is when he (male & female) becomes one with God.

I like describing God in defining a molecule, which is the smallest particle of an element or compound that can exist in the free-state and still retain the characteristics of the substance, or maintain its identity.  God was God as Spirit!  He was still God in the flesh in Jesus!  And He is still God in flesh form in you and me!  He was no less God when He was Jesus than He was as God!  He was and is and will always be the same!!

Therefore we must move from “believing” to “being”!  We are the living Word wrapped in flesh and bone!  

• Ephesians 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

For God to bring us to Himself, He had to give up Himself and become as a Man – to show Man who he really is – and if you can receive this, he (man) is God in flesh form.

• St. John 14:20  At that day you shall know that I am in my Father and you in me, and I in you.  

And “that day” is “today” – the day when man (male & female) regains consciousness and walks out of the darkness into the true light of the “mystery of the gospel” and recognizes his or her true identity as “ONE WITH GOD”.

~ Pastor Gracie Perry

Bibliography

Concepts of Human Anatomy and Physiology; Kent M. Van De Graaff and Stuart Ira Fox – (p.192)