(6) Christ received up into glory.
“Received up into glory.” Christ ascended to heaven and has sat down at the right hand of God, so that there is now a member of the human race at the right hand of God, with absolute authority, and ruling over all things. This is certainly an instructive wonder in itself – that God should be glorified, and should choose to be glorified, through a member of the human race – but there are several subordinate mysteries or wonders associated with the exaltation of Christ which we have gathered together here.
The first mystery is that of the seven stars and the seven golden candlesticks:
“And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. . . . And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. . . . Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches” (Rev 1:12-13,16,19-20). This is the mystery of the Visible Church and of Church government. The candlesticks represent the churches giving light to the world. The light is not their own, but heavenly, and they are “holding forth the word of life” (Phil 2:16). The wonder, I think, is that the Holy God should give light to the world through such imperfect means as the preaching of the Word by frail creatures and through the inconsistent life and witness of sinful men. The Seven Churches are full of faults, most of them, yet the candlestick is “golden”. This is the wonder of the Christian Church in the world.
The second part of this first mystery is that of the seven stars, which are explained to be the seven angels.
These represent authority and teaching in the Church. The rulers in the Church are given gifts and authority by Christ, in accordance with Psalm 68, quoted by Paul: “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men” (Eph 4:8). The stars are held in the hand of Christ, to show that He retains the authority and maintains it; and it is through this instrumentality, which He controls, that He feeds and directs His Church. Thus Christ is present both in faithful preaching and in the exercise of office. There is another mystery here that we should not overlook: Christ giving light in the Church through feeble instruments.
The second mystery associated with Christ’s being in heaven is that of marriage:
“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church” (Eph 5:31-32). There seems to be a double union or identity here. A part of Adam’s body was made into his bride, so that she was both his wife and “bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh” (Gen 2:23). So in subsequent human marriage, there is an identity and possession of the body. “The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife” (1 Cor 7:4). In the spiritual marriage between Christ and His Church, His Body and His Bride consist of the same people viewed in two different aspects. They are doubly united to Him, and ruled by Him, and made one with Him. This is another mystery which the world misses and the Church ponders.
A third mystery is the “mystery of iniquity”:
“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Th 2:7). And again: “And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Rev 17:5-8).
The “mystery of iniquity” is a theme running through Scripture, with Cain, Esau and the Edomites, Balaam, Ahithophel, the Book of Psalms (Pss 41, 55, 69, 109), Babylon and Judas, before it finds its masterpiece in the Papacy – “the man of sin, the son of perdition” and in Romanism. There seem to be several aspects to it. One is represented by Ahithophel and Judas with their apparent close friendship and then betrayal; another by Cain, Esau and the Edomites, with their brotherly duty which they utterly cast off; a third by Balaam with his puzzling combination of religious enlightenment and sorcery; and a fourth by Babylon with her idolatry, mystery religion, and persecution of Israel. All four aspects meet together in Romanism and the papacy.
The “mystery of iniquity” is a mystery from two points of view. On the one hand, it is Satan’s attempt to mimic true, heavenly mysteries with his own exceedingly subtle, depraved and devilish mystery, having himself as the head. From this point of view, it is a false mystery which all the world wonders after. On the other hand, from the Divine perspective, it is a true mystery, used by God to show us the humbling and horrifying wonder of sin, deceit and idolatry in the human heart – and in our own hearts – which brings men so close to being devils. It should be studied from both points of view.
A fourth and final mystery is that of the resurrection.
“Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor 15:51-52). The resurrection is not something that could have been guessed, though Christ deduces it from the fact that God is the God of the living: “Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him” (Lk 20:37-38).
It is not something in which many human beings believe, and they find it hard to imagine how the dust can be gathered together into the same body, which, however, is not the same, but is made like Christ’s glorious body: “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself” (Phil 3:21). “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:42-44). The mystery here seems to be partly in the greatness of the change and partly in the suddenness of the work: “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”. Perhaps it will be similar to the work of creation, but this time will be seen by man.
4. Conclusion.
The subject of New Testament mysteries is worthy of special attention for several reasons:
First, mysteries are wonders, and they are wonders which are overlooked or denied by the world; and several of them are liable, therefore, to be overlooked by the people of God too. The study of the subject of mysteries draws our attention to these important points, and thus ought to enrich our view of the wonderful working of God in the world. There are mysteries in every direction of life if we look for them: in believers themselves; in the Church; in marriage; in false religion; in Israel and the Gentiles; in the angels around us; even in dead bodies. It holds true not only in the physical world but in the world of mysteries: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handywork” (Ps 19:1).
Second, the subject of mysteries should instruct us, and thus help to enrich and to extend our Systematic Theology. There is a natural tendency in Systematic Theology to give the most attention to subjects which have been controversial, and on which much has been written. This is inevitable, and we do need to inform ourselves about these important controversies. As we have mentioned, however, the justification of Christ has not been such a subject, and yet it is evidently a topic of high importance. The subject of mysteries, therefore, gives us a biblical vantage point from which we can assess the balance and completeness of our scheme of Systematic Theology. Surely the New Testament mysteries merit a place in Systematic Theology, and our scheme may have to be slightly adjusted or enlarged to accommodate them. Christ “seen of angels” and the calling of the Gentiles might be cases in point. As we said at the beginning, ministers are “stewards of the mysteries”, and “it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Cor 4:2). Those of us who are ministers must give account of our stewardship and whether we have dealt faithfully with the mysteries, which will not be so if we have neglected any of them.
Third, I want to come back to the relative neglect of the list or summary of mysteries in 1 Tim 3:16. Two factors have contributed to this. One has been the concentration on the textual question regarding the word “God” (theos): is it “God manifest in the flesh” (the noun theos in the Received and Majority Texts) or “who was manifest in the flesh” (the relative pronoun hos or ho in the Critical Text and the Vulgate)? Many commentaries use up most of their space on this question and have little left for the theological riches of the rest of the verse.
This has been a major factor in the relative neglect of the second part of the verse, but the other factor has been the claim, already mentioned, that the second part of the verse is a quotation from an early Christian hymn. Much of the support for this idea comes from the explanation that it provides for the peculiar transition which the Critical Text introduces into the verse: “Great is the mystery of godliness, who was manifest in the flesh . . .”. If the second part of the verse were a quotation, then one could understand why it might begin, “who”; but otherwise one would have to conclude that Christ Himself was the mystery of godliness, which is not the natural way in which people want to expound the verse.
The problem is that once it is conceded that the second part of the verse may be an uninspired hymn, people cease to expect any important original teaching in it, and a trite exposition of the six expressions suffices. Indeed much of the discussion tends to centre on the structure of the supposed hymn and whether the six expressions are to be taken as three pairs or two triples. The study of New Testament mysteries leads us, instead, to look for wonder and instruction in these six expressions, and ushers us into an altogether higher spiritual realm. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”