KNOWING of nothing that aims to present in one volume, the various mysteries of the New Testament, it has been a happy service to pen these papers, hoping thereby to minister to the profit of some who, while of the household of faith, may have given little or no attention to truths of such vast importance.

The teaching set forth is not original with the writer. He is indebted to many, both through oral and written ministry, for most of the instruction he now seeks to impart to others. May it be yours, reader, to test all by the word of the living God, and thus find true profit.
-- H. A. Ironside.

INDEX

In concluding his charge to the children of Israel, in the plains of Moab, Moses said, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deut. 29:29). The passage is often utterly misapplied, and used by overcautious souls to deter inquiring ones from delving into the deep things of God. It was never so intended. When the great lawgiver spoke, the revealed things consisted of what he had just rehearsed in their ears, together with the records he had already made by the inspiration of God in the first four books of our Bibles. "The secret things" were God's purposes of grace which He was about to unfold upon the manifestation of their utter failure, and inability to claim anything on the ground of the law, which they had broken from the first. All rights were forfeited. But God had provisions of grace to be yet manifested. He had infinite resources in Himself, to be declared when they were forced to own that theirs were at an end.

God's revelation of His purpose has been gradual. In the Old Testament two objects were brought out--the woman's Seed, and the seed of Abraham. Through the former, the latter were to be blessed, and be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Beyond this, the testimony of the prophets does not go.

As in Moses' day, so in the days of Malachi, the last of the prophetic line (before the coming of the preparer of Messiah's way), there were "secret things" which the time had not yet come to make manifest.

The word so rendered in Deut. 29:29 is Sathar in the Hebrew, which scholars define as "absent" or "hidden things." It does not refer to things too high for human understanding, as it is generally supposed to mean, but things concealed, which cannot be known unless divinely disclosed.

In the Septuagint Version, rendering it into Greek, the translators chose the word krupta (krupta), the plural form of kruptos (kruptos), a word frequently used by our Lord in the Gospels, and twice by the apostle Paul.* It is used in Luke 8:17, where Jesus said, "Nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest." Paul uses it in the same sense when writing of "the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" (Rom. 2:16); as also in 1 Cor. 14:25, when he writes of the unbeliever coming into the assembly of God, being convicted of all and judged by all; so that he can add, "and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth."

(* The passages where it occurs, in its various forms, are: Matt. 6:4,6,18; 13:35; Luke 8:17; 11:33; John 7:4,10; 18:20; 19:38; Rom. 2:16; 1 Cor. 14:25; and Eph. 5:12.)

Man has his secret things--all to be brought to light in due time. God too has His secret things, which could not be known until He chose to reveal them.

Now the New Testament is not only the answer to the Old, though it is that; but it is far more: it is the unfolding of the secret things which God had purposed in His heart before the worlds were made or the ages began to run their course.

Before entering upon an inquiry as to the secret things thus made known in the New Testament, it will be well to briefly notice the revealed things of the former revelation.

To man fallen, revelation came. The first great promise was made, and so accepted by Adam, in the curse pronounced upon the serpent: "The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." This is evidently "the promise of life in Christ Jesus" made "before the age-times began" (Titus 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:1,9).

To Abraham it was declared that as the dust of the earth, the sand of the sea, and the stars of the heaven, should his seed be. He was separated from the nations to be the depositary of the promise. "In thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."

Further revelation was made through Moses of the Prophet to be raised up to whom all were to give heed or perish. He outlined too the history of the nation. Settled in the land of Palestine by divine power, they should nevertheless be driven therefrom for disobedience, and scattered among the Gentiles, to be a reproach and a byword wherever they wandered. Upon repentance they would be reestablished in the land, and made the head of the nations, and not the tail.

The further prophets but elaborate this, connecting the restoration with Messiah, now revealed as the virgin's Son, the One "whose goings forth were of old, from everlasting," yet who was to suffer and die at the hands of men, to endure the forsaking of God, to make reconciliation for iniquity, but to prolong His days in resurrection and to be made the King of Israel, sitting on David's throne.

Through Him the believing part of the nation would be settled in their land, and the apostate portion destroyed. He should judge among the nations, rooting out the wicked from the earth and bringing all the righteous into subjection to Israel.

These were the revealed things. Their sphere of action is the earth. They have to do with an earthly people, not a heavenly one. "The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath He given to the children of men" (Ps. 115:16). This is the invariable testimony of the Scriptures of the prophets.

Of the Church, the body of Christ, there is no hint: the long history of Christendom is passed over in silence. Of these things the Old Testament does not treat. Neither was it there made known that man should be in heaven. The translations of Enoch and Elijah were strange portents to the Jew, of which his Scriptures offered no explanation. All these were among "the secret things" which would not be revealed till the coming of the Just One, to be followed by His rejection and ascension as Man to heaven.

Thus one looks in vain for the distinctive truths of the Christian dispensation in the Old Testament. The things there revealed refer to Israel and the nations as such; not to the Church of which Christ is the glorified Head in heaven.

The amazing thing is that in Christendom generally, despite the revelation of the mysteries of God given in the last portion of our Bibles, the vast majority are as ignorant of the once secret things as though they had not been made known. Take the so-called Apostle's Creed for a conclusive example. It will be found that for almost every one of its statements the proof-texts could be found in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. "He ascended into heaven" is perhaps the only clause in it which the Old Testament did not make known; and even that is more than hinted at in the 110th psalm, and the last verse of the 5th of Hosea. True, as above noticed, it is not in these scriptures made clear that He would be there as Man, but, connecting them with other passages in the writings of the Prophets, there would be ground for the inference that so it must be.

THAT the ignorance referred to in the closing paragraphs of the previous chapter is most lamentable, every intelligent Christian must admit. If God has in our day made known things kept secret from the foundation of the world, it is surely to our interest and God's glory to understand and value them. Isaiah could write the words which the apostle Paul quotes in 1 Cor. 2:9: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him" (Isa. 64:4). But the apostle does not stop there, as do many Christians; he immediately adds: "But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."

Clearly, then, there are precious truths which even so late as in Isaiah's day were among the secret things, but which have now been added to things which are revealed, and which are for us and for our children. It is to these things he refers when he writes, "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor. 4:1).

The Greek word musthrion (musterion), here used, which is simply Anglicized in our word "mysteries," refers to secret things known only to the initiated. It is not that the things in themselves were mysteries and beyond finite comprehension, or even above the range of ordinary minds; but they could never be known at all unless revealed by another. So we speak of the Eleusinian mysteries: they were teachings not given to the multitude, but imparted to a select company of initiates. As used in the New Testament, the mysteries are those truths which in Old Testament days were kept in silence, but which are now the common property of all believers. They are not special truths for a special class, but every Christian is privileged to enter into the knowledge of these mysteries. More than that, no Christian can properly enter upon the responsibilities flowing from the relationship in which he stands toward God if he remains in ignorance of these same mysteries.*

(* The word "musterion" is found twenty-seven times in the received text of the New Testament, viz., Matt. 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10; Rom. 11:25; 16:25; 1 Cor. 2:7; 4:1; 13:2; 14:2; 15:51; Eph. 1:9; 3:3,4,9; 5:32; 6:19; Col. 1:26,27 (twice); 2:2; 4:3; 2 Thess. 2:7; 1 Tim. 3:9,16; Rev. 1:20; 10:7; 17:5,7. Some versions add 1 Cor. 2:1, where marturion seems to be a copyist's error for musterion. Westcott and Hort, and the Revisers, adopt the later reading.)

Christ's ministers are to be stewards of the mysteries of God, not merely preachers of what people so often call "the simple gospel." Out of their treasure they are to bring forth things new and old, if instructed in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Nor are these things of an abstruse, impractical nature, but intensely otherwise; they are the very lines of truth which above all others tend to form the character and guide the ways of the Christian. Hence, if we accept the preferred reading of 1 Cor. 2:1, it is to these very things that the apostle referred when he wrote, "I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you (not the testimony, but) the mystery of God." And yet he immediately adds, "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." But "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified," will never be truly known, in the apostle's sense, if the soul be content to go on in ignorance of the mysteries.

Rome, we know, has attempted to foist on the Church a lot of legendary traditions and sacramental observances as the mysteries, thus emulating the pagan cults, which had their inner secrets for the special few. But the Christian mysteries are for every child of God in this dispensation of grace. Nor are they of an occult and metaphysical nature, appealing only to the erudite and mystical: they are simple truths of tremendous importance, some of which, at least, have been utterly ignored by the vast majority of theologians, ancient and modern, and this to their shame and loss.

It has often been remarked that every teaching which the apostles preface with such an expression as, "I would not have you ignorant, brethren," will be found to be a line of truth of which, after nearly twenty centuries of Christianity, the bulk of professing believers know little or nothing. It will be only necessary to refer to the passages to see how true the statement is.

In Rom. 11:25,26 Paul writes, "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Now, how seldom does one hear any reference to the fulness of the Gentiles or the salvation of Israel as a nation, in the pulpit instruction of the day? As a result, the Gentiles are wise in their own conceits, and boasting of the near conversion of the world, and the transference of Jewish promises to the Church of God.

Again, writing of the rapture of the saints at the second advent of our Lord, the same apostle says: "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope" (1 Thess. 4:13); and he proceeds to comfort them with teaching as to the raising of the dead, and simultaneous catching up of the living at the Lord's return, which, it is not too much to say, not one Christian in ten knows anything of.

Peter writes of the manifestation of the Lord Jesus, and says: "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8); and with this he couples solemn and important truth as to the day of the Lord and the day of God; and probably not a saint in a hundred knows the difference between the two terms.

What have Christians to say to this? What can thousands say for thus failing to value and appropriate mysteries of such tremendous importance? Failing to enter into these things, the Church has lost the sense of her pilgrim character; confusing teaching as to Israel and the nations with divine instruction regarding the Body of Christ. The heavenly calling has been lost sight of, and practically given up for an earthly one.

Unquestionably the onus of blame rests upon the guides who, professing to be Christ's ministers, are anything but stewards of the mysteries of God. Stewards of science, of philosophy, of political economy, of literature, of historic lore, and of religious notions, many of them undoubtedly are; but it is quite another thing to be dispensers of the now-revealed secret things which for ages past were hid in God.

But all the blame does not rest upon the leaders of religious thought, as they are called. In Jeremiah's day he could declare, "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so": therefore he solemnly asks, "And what will ye do in the end thereof?" (Jer. 5:31.) The people love to have it so! This is most significant. Heretical teachers could not flourish for one day if the people did not wish for their ministry. And preachers of Old Testament truths, which they offer in place of New Testament mysteries, would not find it so easy to go on confusing the people of God if there was real exercise of conscience among those who are content to be styled "the laity," and who seldom read their Bibles for themselves, and endeavor to rightly divide the word of truth.

Do not let me be misunderstood. I do not for an instant decry the expounding of the Old Testament. Far be the thought! I believe it is of the utmost importance that the soul be established in all that is there revealed, in order to his going on unto the perfection of the full Christian revelation. I believe in the importance of the kindergarten and the primary school, but I do not believe it is a sound principle of education to keep people going over the alphabet when age and intelligence fit them for the university, if but properly instructed.

The Old Testament is "the word of the beginning of Christ" (see margin of Heb. 6:1), which the apostle exhorts us to leave, that we may go on to full growth--that is, Christianity. It is not that he would have us forget the beginning, any more than the university student forgets the instruction of the primary school. He leaves it, but carries with him the knowledge received.

In the following chapter we purpose thus to leave the revealed things of the past dispensasation, and go on to contemplate the mysteries of God which He has now made known for our edification and blessing.

"UNTO you," said the Lord, addressing His disciples, "it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 13:11).

Heaven's rule over earth was no new teaching. For centuries the prophets had borne witness to it, and pointed on to a coming day when all men should see it. That it was no merely spiritual sway of heaven's Lord to which they referred, but a true world-kingdom destroying and superseding all other dominions, and characterized by the universal dissemination of spiritual teaching and divine authority, is plain from the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

Through the elect remnant of Israel, this kingdom is to be administered; the Gentiles coming into blessing in subjection to them. To attempt to give the passages which teach what is here briefly indicated would be to quote the major part of the Psalms and the Prophets.

Daniel, perhaps more plainly than any other, unfolds the glories of that coming reign of righteousness. In vision, Babylon's proud king was given to behold the stone that fell from heaven, shattering the image of Gentile dominion, and becoming a great mountain that filled the whole earth. That this is a far different thing from Christianity is manifest, for Gentile dominion is not yet destroyed, nor is there any likelihood that it shall be by the spread of the gospel and the extension of the limits of Christendom.

And yet, clearly, there is a spiritual kingdom of heaven pervading the world at the present time, but with the King Himself absent in the heavens. Of this the greater part of Matthew's Gospel treats. In fact, unless this be seen, it is quite impossible to truly comprehend that first of the Gospels.

Glancing briefly at this interesting book, we find in chapter 1 the genealogy of the promised King--Son of David, Son of Abraham. In chapter 2 the Gentiles pay Him honor in the persons of the Magi from the east--earnest of the day when all nations shall own His benignant yet righteous sway. John the Baptist comes before us in chapter 3 with the startling cry, "The kingdom (or, reign) of the heavens has drawn nigh." Undoubtedly it is to Daniel's visions he refers. The reign of heaven over the earth had at that time drawn so nigh that the King could be offered to Israel. If they received Him, He was there in person to establish His kingdom. In the latter part of the chapter He is baptized in the Jordan, thus identifying Himself with the remnant who own their unfitness for the kingdom proclaimed.

The fourth chapter opens with Satan's offer of the kingdom apart from the cross, only to be spurned by the rightful Ruler, who, leaving the wilderness, goes about preaching and healing, saying, "Repent: for the reign of the heavens has drawn nigh"; thus authenticating the message, of John.

In chapters 5 to 7 He sets forth the principles that shall govern when that kingdom is fully set up; yet, in closing, shows that not all who say "Lord, Lord," shall enter into the blessings of that reign, but those alone who receive His words, and do them.

From this point on He meets with ever-increasing rejection, as chapters 8 to 11 make manifest. In the end of the last, He upbraids the cities that had seen His mighty works; and then, turning from the thought of the kingdom which they had rejected, He extends the call of the gospel to weary souls everywhere. If Israel own Him not as King, yet He is the sinner's Saviour still, and the giver of rest to the heavyladen.

So in chapter 12 the leaders of the nation commit the unpardonable sin for which they shall never be forgiven, in this age or that to come. The kingdom offer is therefore withdrawn for the present, because the King is definitely and finally rejected by the unregenerate mass.

It is following upon this that He begins to make known the mysteries of Heaven's reign. Up to this point He have been going over what the prophets had predicted. They had likewise told of the ultimate reception of the King when Israel shall be born again and made willing in the day of His power. The interval between the cutting off of Messiah and His return in glory to take the kingdom was vaguely described as a time of sorrow for Israel, but what form the reign of Heaven would take during that undefined period had not been revealed. It is this which the Lord now makes known to His disciples, who, refusing the judgment of the nation, had owned His claims upon them. Heaven's reign should go on even though the kingdom, as such, had been refused. The King was going up to the heavens, but from there He would rule, and the dispensation of the kingdom would be committed to the hands of men. This is the key to the seven parables of chapter 13.

The first one is not, properly speaking, a similitude of the kingdom at all. It gives, rather, the means by which that kingdom, in its mystic aspect, was formed. Rejected as Messiah, the Lord went about as a Sower, sowing the word. Among those who profess to receive that word there are various classes (vers. 3-8 and 18-23). Wayside hearers listen, but go no farther. Stony-ground hearers professedly receive the word, but there is no root, as tribulation and persecution for the truth's sake soon make manifest. Those who receive the word among thorns allow the legitimate things of life, as also covetousness and worldly anxieties, to choke it, so that they become unfruitful. The good-ground hearers typify those who truly receive the word and understand it, thus bringing forth fruit.

It is the word of the kingdom. All who profess to receive it constitute the kingdom of the heavens in its present mystical form. In other words, the term "the kingdom of heaven," as used in Matthew, and in Matthew only, is practically synonymous with Christendom, which simply means Christ's kingdom. It is that sphere on earth where Christ's authority is professedly owned, and where His word is honored, even though it be but in an outward way. This chapter is being written in the year 1908; but it is not the computation of the Hebrew, the Mohammedan, or the pagan. The first of these dates from the creation of the world, according to Jewish traditions; the second, from the hegira of Mohammed; while each of the various heathen nations has special events from which to count, as in Japan, for instance, the era of Meija. But in Christendom men acknowledge the advent of One who, though rejected, is the true and rightful Sovereign of the universe. So they write "in the year of our Lord." By so doing they confess His authority, however much their lives may deny it.

Now, within this broad sphere of light and responsibility is found a narrower one, consisting only of those who have truly received the word of the kingdom into their hearts. These are the converted ones of Matt. 18:3, who have "become as little children," and thus "enter the kingdom of heaven." The rest, while within the influence or administration of the kingdom, have never really entered it, inasmuch as it is a spiritual thing, and requires new birth ere one can "see" it (John 3:3). In the present age, this converted company has, by the baptism of the Spirit, been formed into the Church, the Body of Christ, as we shall see more clearly when we come to consider the mystery of the One Body, in a subsequent chapter. Here it is only necessary to apprehend the difference between being in the kingdom in an outward aspect and being in very deed children of the kingdom.

This the next parable emphasizes--that of the wheat and the tares. In verses 24 to 30 our Lord gives the similitude. He does not leave us to ferret out the meaning of it, however; but in verses 37 to 43 He condescends to explain it Himself, in answer to the request of His disciples, "Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field."

The Sower of the good seed, He explains, is the Son of man. It was Himself come in grace into a world in which there was nothing for God, to sow the incorruptible seed, the word of life, that thus there might be a harvest to His glory.

"The field is the world." This is of great importance. By making the field the Church, many expositors have gone astray. The world, not the Church, is the scene where the seed is sown. Here too the tares, or the darnel, are sown by Satan and his emissaries. It is "an enemy hath done this." Satan has been busy sowing (in the same sphere where the good seed has been scattered) the evil seed of false and unholy teaching which deceives the receivers of it. Those who accept the false doctrines, "the damnable heresies," referred to by the apostle Peter, are the children of the devil. Having a name to live, they are dead; professing to be Christians, they are the enemies of the Cross; yet they are not to be extirpated, as Rome once sought to do, lest the good be rooted out with the evil; but both are to grow together until the harvest, at the end of the age. For, be it noted, it is not the end of the world, but of the dispensation, that is here referred to, as any critical version of the Scriptures will show.

When the age closes, the tares will be gathered into bundles and cast into a furnace of fire. The righteous shall then shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. All this will be brought out in other portions as we go on.

Having thus explained for us the first two parables, our Lord proceeds to put forth others, which, with the key already given, are clear when we compare one portion of Scripture with another.

That of the mustard seed is given in verses 31 and 32. The kingdom of the heavens is likened unto a grain of mustard seed, which, having been sown in a field, developed into a great tree, in the branches of which the birds of the air find lodgment. This gives us the outward aspect of the kingdom. It has become a great thing in the earth. A tree is often used as the symbol of worldly power and glory. In the Old Testament, Nebuchadnezzar is likened to a great tree (Dan. 4:20-22). The kingdom, or empire, of Assyria is presented under a similar figure (Ezek. 31:3-7), even to the fowls of heaven resting in the branches. Judah also is so portrayed in Ezek. 17.

Outwardly the kingdom was to assume an aspect of grandeur upon earth. This has been fulfilled in the history of Christendom. Unquestionably "the Church" is a power to be reckoned with in the world today, and has been since the days of Constantine. But who are the birds of the air who find lodgment in the branches? In the first parable they were declared to be the powers of Satan. Without doubt they mean the same here. Babylon is to be the hold of every unclean and hateful bird. These are evil workers and false teachers who yet find a refuge in the professing Church.

Another parable connects intimately with this, in the verse that follows--that of the leaven. Perhaps few portions of the word of God have been more misunderstood than this. It is generally made to mean the triumph of the gospel, which, like leaven, is supposed to be permeating the world, and will continue to do so until all mankind are regenerated. If such be its meaning, it is directly contrary to the universal testimony of Scripture elsewhere. Nowhere is it hinted at that the world will be converted eventually through the preaching of the gospel as we now know it. The very opposite is the declaration of the Lord Jesus, that at His return He will find the days of Noah and of Lot reproduced. Neither is leaven, in Scripture, ever a symbol of anything good; nor meal a type of unregenerate mankind.

Leaven, throughout, is evil and false. It was to be rigidly excluded from the offerings which set forth the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the thank-offering and the pentecostal loaves it was permitted because needed to picture the fallen nature of those through grace redeemed. In the New Testament the Lord warns against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy; the leaven of the Sadducees, which is false teaching; and the leaven of Herod, which is a combining of the world's politics with religion. Paul writes of "the leaven of malice and wickedness," and contrasts with it "the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Therefore, if leaven in the parable before us sets forth something good and pleasing to God, it is in direct opposition to the only use made of it elsewhere by the Lord Himself, and by all Scripture.

On the other hand, "three measures of meal," in place of picturing unregenerate mankind, full of sin and iniquity, always speaks, in Scripture typology, of that which is good to the use of edifying. It was "three measures of fine meal" which Sarah prepared, at Abraham's bidding, to set before the mystic "three men" who came to him in the plains of Mamre (Gen. 18:6). The meat or meal-offering, setting forth the undefiled and undefilable humanity of the Lord Jesus, was made of meal from which all leaven had been rigidly excluded (Lev. 2).

Allowing Scripture to explain Scripture, it is manifest that the parable of the leaven teaches the very opposite to what it is commonly understood to mean. The meal is the food of the people of God, that good deposit which was committed to them by the Lord and His apostles. But a mysterious woman has risen up who secretly insinuates evil into that which should have remained unleavened, or undefiled. Is it too much to say that this woman is identified for us, in the epistle to Thyatira, as "that woman Jezebel" (Rev. 2:20-22); and in the vision given to John, as "Babylon the Great" (Rev. 17:5)? Unquestionably it is the false Church, the great Anti-Church of the Christian centuries, which has usurped the place of teacher instead of learner, and has literally tampered with every precious truth of Scripture. Of this we shall find fuller information when we come to consider "the mystery of lawlessness," in a future chapter.

The four parables we have been looking at were spoken in the open, by the seaside. They show the beginning and the growth of Christendom in its outward aspect and its true character.

Sending the multitude away, and going into the house, the Lord gave fuller instruction to His own disciples, setting forth three more similitudes concerning the kingdom. These likewise have often been quite misunderstood. We turn now to briefly notice their teaching.

First, He tells of a treasure hid in a field. Remembering that "the field is the world," we ask, What treasure was here hidden? All through the Old Testament, Israel is so pictured. They formed Jehovah's "peculiar treasure." To them Christ came from glory, but the time had not yet arrived for His acceptance; so He "hideth" it, and then went to the cross to pay the purchase-price for the whole world--the field, not merely the treasure. Hidden still that treasure remains, but soon it shall be brought forth from its hiding-place, and He shall acknowledge it as His own. "They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My peculiar treasure" (Mal. 3:17, literal rendering). It is the earthly aspect of the kingdom, which will, it is hoped, be made clearer as we proceed.

The parable that follows has striking differences, though in some respects similar.

The merchantman seeking goodly pearls pictures the value of the true kingdom in His own eyes. For He, not the sinner, is the merchantman. Were salvation a pearl of great price, none could ever buy it, for all unsaved ones are bankrupt and unprofitable. Neither is there any that seeketh after God. But He who was rich, for our sakes became poor, leaving the glory that He had with the Father before ever the earth was, and coming into this scene to seek a goodly pearl to adorn His diadem forever. One pearl He found, and that of great price! It is the heavenly aspect of the kingdom--the Church for which He gave Himself. At Calvary's cross He paid the full price of its purchase; and now none shall dispute His title to that Church which He hath purchased with His own blood. He "loved the Church, and gave Himself for it." Not all the failure and apostasy of Christendom can alter the value, or touch the purity, of this pearl so greatly prized. Amid all the corruptions of the centuries, it remains perfect and lovely in His eyes. Soon it will be removed from its surroundings of evil and filthiness, and be placed in its proper setting, to be the chief ornament of His crown throughout eternal ages.

The story of the drag-net closes the series. Cast into the sea, it brings together of every kind, good and bad. When it is full, the good are collected into vessels; the bad are cast away. The Lord Himself elucidates it: "So shall it be at the end of the age (not the world): the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (vers. 49, 50). At the end of the age, then, in place of a converted world, we find good and bad being separated by angelic agency. The good are the true children of the kingdom, and are saved eternally. The bad are false professors, taken in the gospel net, but who have not really received the word of the kingdom in their hearts. Their end is judgment.

Solemnly the Lord asks, "Have ye understood all these things?" They reply in the affirmative, though it is evident from their after-history that they but feebly entered into what He had set before them. He adds, "Therefore every scribe discipled unto the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old" (vers. 51, 52).

"The mystery of the seven golden candlesticks," in Rev. 2 and 3, coincides in large measure with these seven parables. There we find the seven candlesticks symbolize seven churches. Prophetically, they set forth seven distinct stages of the professing body, from the apostolic times to the Lord's return. We may compare the parable of the sower, with Ephesus; the wheat and tares, with Smyrna; the mustard tree, with Pergamos; the leaven, with Thyatira; the treasure, with Sardis; the pearl, with Philadelphia; and the drag-net, with Laodicea. While the aspect is often different, it will be noted by the careful student that the moral order is practically the same, though, of course, viewed rather from the standpoint of the assembly than the kingdom. Israel is therefore not brought in, as having no part, nationally, in God's present work.

A few other scriptures require notice to cornplete our necessarily hurried survey of the Master's teaching as to the reign of the heavens.

In chapter 16:18 we get the first intimation of the Church; a subject which will occupy us in its proper place. To Peter, the Lord adds, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Peter, then, is to open the door into the kingdom. It is not into heaven, as vain men have foolishly imagined; nor even into the Church; but the sphere of Christian discipleship and profession, where the authority of the Lord is acknowledged, alone is meant. On the day of Pentecost we find Peter using the keys, and admitting the Jews. In the house of Cornelius, he opens the door to the Gentiles. Since that day, what multitudes have pressed in!

But of them all, none really enter that kingdom, in its true spiritual sense, save such as "be converted, and become as little children" (chap. 18:2,3). Within the borders of the country in which we live are found persons of all nationalities. None are citizens but those born such, or who have renounced allegiance to every other government. They alone "enter" the American nation.

The kingdom is the sphere of rule. So in the latter part of this eighteenth chapter we have governmental forgiveness illustrated, and afterwards revoked. The question of eternal forgiveness before God, fitting a soul for heaven, is not here raised. A king is reckoning with his debtors. One is found owing what would, according to Jewish calculation, be over fifteen million dollars. He pleads for mercy, upon hearing the command that he and all his are to be sold. His lord, moved with compassion, forgives the debt. Afterwards the forgiven man finds another servant, debtor to himself in the paltry sum of about fifteen dollars. Though he pleads for pity, none is shown; but he is cast into the debtors' prison. It is no question of judgment after death; simply the principle upon which forgiveness is granted to those who sin after becoming subjects of the kingdom. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." The servant who fails will forfeit his Lord's pardon in His discipline or government on earth, if He extends not the same grace to his fellow-servant. Subjects of grace are all who have a part in the kingdom; but the Father, "without respect of persons, judgeth according to the work of each" in this life, disciplining and chastening as His wisdom sees to be necessary. Therefore it behooves me to forgive from the heart my brother's trespass, that I may be forgiven myself (ver. 35).

In the next chapter our Lord presents the ideal subject of heaven's reign. "Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto Me; for of such is the kingdom of the heavens" (19:14). The believing parent is encouraged to bring his little ones to the Lord ere they wander out into the paths of this world's sin and folly, that they may grow up in the kindly shelter of the reign of heaven, "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Receiving the word in all simplicity, they are the models of what every other member of the kingdom should be.

The day when this kingdom is fully displayed will be earth's glorious regeneration, for which the whole creation waits, groaning and travailing in pain, because of the fall and its bitter consequences. To this our Lord refers in verse 28: "Verily, I say unto you, That ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." It is His twelve disciples to whom He speaks--Matthias, I take it, occupying the forfeited place of the traitor; Paul's apostleship being altogether of a different order, as we shall see when we consider his special mission in connection with the great mystery of Christ and the Church.

But if such shall be the future exaltation of those who followed the Christ in His rejection on earth, they become the patterns for all who would share His glory by and by. So another parable of the kingdom immediately follows (chap. 20:1-16). A householder sends laborers into his vineyard; and though they work for various periods of time, yet all alike receive the same wage when the day is over. It is a faithful response to the Master's call that receives reward in the time when service is ended, and it is manifested that "many are called, but few are chosen." All are chosen who heed the call, let it come when it may: so none have righteous ground for complaint.

The mother of James and John now comes to Jesus seeking positions of power and authority for her sons. She learns that rejection and death, the dreadful baptism of judgment, must for the Lord precede the day of glory; and an undefined period wherein His servants shall be similarly treated by the world is hinted at, though no clue is given as to its duration.

But He rules out all thought of a temporal kingdom at the present time by warning His disciples that they are not to pattern after earthly lords and Gentile dignitaries, but are to find their joy in lowly ministry. Alas, for how many might the words have just as well never been uttered! Christendom has today its lords spiritual as it has its lords temporal, and is not bowed with shame, but lifted up with pride over its departure from the Master's command!

In chapter 21 the King rides triumphantly into Jerusalem, in accordance with Zech. 9:9; while the babes and sucklings praise, as predicted in Ps. 8:2; but the Lord is careful to set forth at once the fact that He is to be put to death and cast out of the vineyard. The kingdom is not yet to be set up.

This, however, shall not hinder the going forth of the gospel invitation; so He gives another similitude of the reign, showing how, ere the King comes, a great host shall be gathered out from the Jews and Gentiles to the gospel feast; but warns that some will seek to avail themselves of that feast who have never dropped the rags of their own righteousness for the weddinggarment of His providing.

Then He pronounces, in chapter 23, woes upon those who had rejected His testimony, concluding with His grievous lamentation over Jerusalem, and declaring that "Ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (ver. 39).

In His great prophecy on Olivet (chapter 24), He sets forth the sorrows and tribulations through which Israel must pass ere they see the Son of Man, returning in power and glory to establish the kingdom prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures. It is because of this rejection of the King when He came in lowly grace that they must pass through the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 31) ere He return in majesty and judgment.

Meantime the kingdom of the heavens is likened unto ten virgins going out to meet the Bridegroom. It is the professing body of the present dispensation looking forward to the day of His return. But there are as many foolish as wise; true and false are all mixed up together. The midnight-cry it is that puts each in his true place. All have been sleeping till aroused by the message, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." Awakened, some are startled to find their lamp of profession dying out; others are ready to go in with Him to the marriage. For those bereft of oil it is too late to buy. When they come seeking admittance, their prayer is denied (chap. 25:1-13).

The next parable is not of the kingdom, though the italicized words so state; but they do not belong to the original text. It pictures the service and reward of those who labor in the king's absence (vers. 14-30).

The judgment to be executed on the Gentile nations, when the Son of Man comes to take the kingdom and to assert His rights, is set forth in the balance of the chapter. The rest of the book details Messiah's final rejection, His mock trial, His death, and His glorious resurrection. Owning the crucified yet risen Jesus as the only Sovereign-Lord, His apostles are bidden to disciple the nations in view of His coming again.

Such, in brief, is the outline of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. If uninstructed therein, the present age becomes a puzzle for which there is no solution.

THE epistle to the Romans divides naturally into three parts. Chapters 1 to 8 are doctrinal, setting forth the gospel of the grace of God in its fulness. Chapters 9 to 11 are dispensational, having to do with Israel's past, present, and future. Chapters 12 to 16 are practical, giving the results that should flow from the knowledge of the other two portions.

To the second part we turn. And first, what is a dispensation? Even so great a preacher as the late esteemed C.H. Spurgeon said, when criticizing the writings of another, "Sufficiently taken up with ... dispensational truth, whatever that may mean." Many another would be as confused as he, though perhaps not all so ready to own it, when the term is used. And yet it is eminently scriptural. The word "dispensation" occurs four times in our English version of the epistles of Paul, and a careful consideration of the instances in which it is found will make clear its meaning.*

(* The Greek word is oikonomia (oikonomia), and means the stewardship, or arrangement, of a house. It is three times so used in Luke 16:2, 3, and 4.)

Three times he speaks of the dispensation committed to him (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25). As the servant of God he had received instruction concerning the message for the present age, which he shows us clearly was a double one, embracing the truth of the gospel and the Church, or Assembly. Once he uses the word in reference to the age to come, when he states that in "the dispensation of the fulness of times" all things in heaven and on earth are to be headed up in Christ (Eph. 1:10). Manifestly, as Heb. 2 declares, such is not yet the case. Hence we have here at least two dispensations clearly marked off; and from these we may get a clue to the understanding of the term so objectionable to the great evangelist referred to. Dispensational truth is distinguishing the teaching of Scripture as to the various dispensations, stewardships, or administrations, in which man has been or shall be placed. For this is what is meant by a dispensation. It is a particular order, or administration, for a particular time.

Augustine wrote, "Distinguish the ages, and the Scriptures are plain." For lack of this, they are to many a mass of confusion, which exists, not in them, but only in the mind of the reader.

It should be evident to the most cursory student that God's administration and man's stewardship have not always been of the same nature. The order prevailing in the garden of Eden was as different from that outside, prior to the flood, as that of the postdiluvian from the antediluvian period. Here, then, are three dispensations. The first is that of innocence. Man, without the knowledge of evil, was placed in an abode of delight. His dispensation was a most happy one till he ended it by his own sin.

From the Edenic exile to the flood was a long stretch of nearly sixteen centuries, if we follow the received chronology. It was a period when man had no Bible, neither the restraint of organized government. He had as a guide what men call the light of nature, coupled with the light of conscience. But it ended in corruption and violence so prevailing that God swept away the iniquitous mass with the deluge. It was preeminently a stewardship of conscience; but the steward failed most miserably.

A new administration began when human government was established by God, and magisterial power and authority committed to Noah. Here a striking instance of the importance of dispensational truth comes out. In the stewardship before the flood Cain slew his brother: and, as government was not yet entrusted to man, God set a mark upon the murderer, lest any finding him should kill him. After the flood the decree was given, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Dispensationally, both were in their place.

For the heathen world there has been no advance in the dispensations since the days of Noah, as is clear from Rom. 2:12. But upon the decline into universal idolatry that soon followed the reestablishment of man on the earth, God called out one man, Abram, from beyond the Euphrates, where his fathers served other gods, and committed to him a new and glorious dispensation--that of the promise of the Seed. In the light of this the patriarchs walked, according to their measure, until declension caused the bondage in Egypt.

Through Moses, then, another dispensation was introduced--that of the law; which lasted from the covenant ratified at Sinai to the rejection of the Son of God--the Seed, whose coming had been long foretold.

This opened the way for the present stewardship of the gospel and the assembly, given more fully to Paul than to any other; which at once raises the question, What of Israel's hope?

The dispensational portion of the epistle to the Romans is the succinct and perspicuous answer to the query.

In chapter 9 it is shown that to Israel were the promises made. Messiah was to come through them, and He was to be their Deliverer and their King. But having rejected Him, are the people of the chosen nation all to be cut off? Chapter 10 supplies the answer. At this present time there remains an election of grace. All who trust in the One whom the nation abhors find in Him a Saviour even now. But this involves breaking their link with the nation as such, and becoming a part of the Church, the body of Christ, of which a later chapter will treat.

What, then, becomes of the promises as to Israel's earthly power and dominion? Are they ever to be fulfilled? and if so, how is the present anomalous condition of the chosen people during the stewardship of grace to be accounted for? This is taken up fully, yet simply, in the instruction as to the mystery of the olive tree in chapter 11.

The olive is the tree of privilege. Abraham is the root, for the word ran, "I will bless thee, and ... thou shalt be a blessing ... and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:1-3). The people of Israel therefore are the natural branches. The Gentiles are, as branches of a wild olive tree, grafted contrary to nature into the good olive tree. To them the apostle addresses a solemn admonition and warning: "For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them" (vers. 13,14). That is, he delighted to see grace going out to the nations, and hoped that thereby his own kindred might be stirred up to a holy jealousy and determination to enjoy for themselves the precious grace of God, offered first to them, but so wantonly rejected.

"For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (ver. 15.) According to the prophets, the whole world is to be brought into blessing through the blessing of Israel, in the latter day, under Messiah's rule. If even now, ere the prophetic word is fulfilled, grace has gone out to the nations while the people of the promise are outcast because of their sin, who can estimate the abundant favor that shall come upon all the world when the long-promised restoration has at last become a fact?

The rejection of Messiah has caused God--not to cancel His promises made to the fathers of the Hebrews, but--to bring to light hidden purposes, hitherto unrevealed, of grace for the Gentiles during a period of undefined duration, while the covenant-people are in part blinded. This the apostle goes on to unfold, declaring that God has not forgotten His pledge to Israel, but that their present fall is the means of bringing hitherto undreamed of blessing to the nations; while His ancient people are still dear to His heart, though disowned for the time being. The Gentiles are like wild olive branches grafted into a good tree, in place of the natural branches, who, because of unbelief, have been lopped off (vers. 16,17). This is clearly contrary to nature.

One hardly knows whether to pity the ignorance or be indignant at the presumption of a recent critic who coolly states that Paul evidently knew very little about grafting, to write of the introduction of wild branches into a good tree. The self-confident judge of divine things had not noticed that the learned and observant apostle distinctly states that such a course of procedure was "contrary to nature"; and on this very expression he builds an argument, and by it strengthens an appeal.

I quote from verse 18. To the Gentiles thus brought into such signal favor he writes: "Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?" (vers. 18-24).

The argument is clear and consistent throughout. Israel are now rejected because of unbelief. Meantime, superabounding mercy flows out to the Gentiles. God is taking out from them a people for His name (Acts 15:14). But if the Gentiles abuse His grace, as Israel did before them, they shall be, in their turn, rejected; whereas, if the children of the promise be brought to repentance, they shall once more be taken up and blessed according to the promises made throughout the writings of the prophets. Therefore he solemnly avers, "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (ver. 25). There is a limit to the present dispensation of grace. When that is reached, the fulness of the nations will have arrived, and God will again turn His hand upon His ancient people. "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (vers. 26,27).

Note carefully: it is not the Redeemer acting from heaven, as now: it is the Deliverer coming out of Sion; that is, appearing the second time at Jerusalem as the Messiah of Israel, when "they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn" (Zech. 12:10).

This leads to an outburst of praise on the part of the apostle that must stir every heart in touch with the mind of God. With this the chapter ends. It is a wonderful unfolding of God's ways, of which, alas, but few seem to catch the drift. Not heeding the warning, the Gentiles, as a result, are lifted up with pride; and, in place of humility and the fear of the Lord, are indulging in Laodicean boasting, as though the end of the dispensation were afar off, instead of being well-nigh upon us.

Failing to distinguish between the earthly and the heavenly callings, present-day Christianity has become a sad and wonderful mixture of Judaism, heathenism, and Christianity. The Church's portion and hope are both lost sight of, and Jewish expectations cherished in their stead.

The mystery of the olive tree, if understood and taken to heart, would be a great corrective to all this, and would be the means of leading the people of God to distinguish clearly between the two callings. Surely it behooves every true believer to turn away from the vain speculations of unspiritual or blind guides, and to search the Scriptures to see whether these things are so. We are exhorted to walk worthy of our calling, and we can only do so as we understand what that calling is.

THROUGHOUT the writings of the apostle Paul he again and again refers to a wondrous secret, which he designates in a special way as "the mystery," or "the great mystery." Other mysteries he treats of, as we have seen, and shall notice later; but there is one that is preeminently such. It occupies much of his ministry, and is clearly the chief gem in the diadem of the truth of Christianity; yet for centuries it was almost entirely lost sight of. In fact, until brought to the fore through the writings and the preaching and teaching of a distinguished ex-clergyman, Mr. J.N. Darby, in the early part of the last century, it is scarcely to be found in a single book or sermon throughout a period of sixteen hundred years! If any doubt this statement, let them search, as the writer has in measure done, the remarks of the so-called Fathers, both pre- and post-Nicene; the theological treatises of the scholastic divines; Roman Catholic writers of all shades of thought; the literature of the Reformation; the sermons and expositions of the Puritans; and the general theological works of the day. He will find "the mystery" conspicuous by its absence. Of ordinances exalted to the place of mysteries, as in heathen rites, he will find much; but as to the mystery, which to the apostle was so unspeakably precious, rarely a reference!

That a doctrine so clearly revealed in the Scriptures could have become so utterly lost is only to be accounted for by the Judaizing of the Church, and the consequent minding of earthly things that beclouded the heavenly ones.

In seeking to point out the truth of the great mystery, I purpose looking at the various passages in which it is referred to, or explained, in the order in which they come in our English Bibles. The first passage is Rom. 16:25-27: "Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen."

In the epistle to the Romans the mystery is not developed. We must turn to Ephesians especially for that. But in Romans he refers to what was his special line of ministry without expounding it. He speaks of the unveiling of the mystery which had previously been kept in silence. Now it is made known--not through the Old Testament--but "through prophetic writings" (which is a better translation than "the scriptures of the prophets"; that is, the mystery is made known in the prophetic writings of the apostle himself). He was the chosen vessel to whom alone it was given to set it forth "for the obedience of faith." Now if the mystery be for those who have faith to obey, it is certainly of vast importance that every child of God be instructed as to its true character.

Before passing on, let me press the chief point here declared. The mystery formed no part of the revelation of the previous dispensations. Had it been otherwise, Paul could not rightly have written that it was "kept secret since the world began." It was part of the good news he was commissioned to publish abroad, but he learned it not from the former Scriptures, but by direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.

In 1 Cor. 2:6,7, after refusing the wisdom of the world, he writes: "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect (or, fullgrown): yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory; which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

Here, I take it, he does not clearly speak of the mystery of the Assembly, but he implies that some great and hitherto unrevealed secret was the burden of his ministry to those already established in the gospel; hence it evidently includes that which we are now considering. The crucifixion of the Lord of glory made way for the declaration of this great secret, which had never previously been made known. While Messiah is on the Father's throne, and the people of Israel are rejected because of their refusal of their King, God is displaying the hidden purpose of His heart in the bringing in of "a new thing in the earth," even the mystical body of His Son, to share with Him all the glories He is yet to enter upon, when the regular line of prophecy is again taken up.

It is to the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians we must turn for the further unfolding of this mystery. Its full fruition is declared in Eph. 1:9,10: "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself; that in the dispensation of the fulness of times (or, the administration of the fulness of seasons) He might gather together (or, head up) in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him."

This is God's wondrous purpose. Jesus has been set aside by man, and with every indignity the wickedness of his heart could devise has been crucified and slain. Because of this the prophetic clock stopped at Calvary. Not one tick has been heard since. From the moment Jesus bowed His head and yielded up His Spirit to the Father, all the glories of the kingdom spoken of by Old Testament seers and prophets have been in abeyance. God has not altered His plan, but He now makes known the fact that when all are fulfilled, and

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun

Doth his successive journeys run,

His kingdom spread from shore to shore,

Till moons shall wax and wane no more,"

How suited it is that He who suffered so humbly should be exalted so gloriously! But how amazing the grace that leads Him to say of His redeemed, "The glory Thou hast given Me, I have given them"! He richly deserves His honors. We deserve only judgment and wrath eternal. But He takes out from Jew and Gentile, who united to crucify Him, a people who shall be so near to Him forever as to be called His body and His bride!

This Paul further unfolds in chapter 3. "By revelation (not by the study of the Old Testament, be it noted) He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words; whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ,) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made minister,* according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power. (* The indefinite article is superfluous. He was minister, in a distinctive sense, of the gospel of the glory and the mystery.) Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God" (vers. 3-10). This is the fullest declaration, or unfolding, of this precious and wondrous mystery that we have in all the Bible. It is so plain that one would suppose that every spiritual mind must see at once to what it refers. Yet the commentators and expositors generally are content to make it mean that in the present age God is extending to the Gentile the same grace He offers the Jew, so that the former, by closing with His offer of grace, becomes a sharer in the kingdom promised to Israel.

But this is to lose sight altogether of that which Paul was the chosen vessel to make known. Israel's blessings are earthly, and for time. When they enter upon them, the Gentile world shall bow before the Jew, and own his superior place. He who has been for so long the tail, will become the head. This is the universal testimony of the prophets.

The mystery, on the other hand, is spiritual, and belongs to heaven. A break in God's ways having come in, He now makes known his hidden purpose to take out of Jew and Gentile a people for heaven, who are to be one with Christ for eternity. They are baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body (1 Cor. 12:13), and united by the same Spirit to the Head in heaven; thus indissolubly linked up with Himself. Their sphere of blessing is heavenly; hence, during the present time they are pilgrims on earth. When "the dispensation of the fulness of times" has come in, all God's promises to Israel will be fulfilled. They will be blessed on earth. The Church will be blessed in heaven. Christ will be the centre of a redeemed universe, and His bride the sharer of all His acquired glories.

This is the mystery; glorious, inconceivably grand, and transcendently wonderful!

It is what the marriage union on earth sets forth. "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church: and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.... for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. 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. 5:22-32).

Precious it is to realize that every happy Christian home, where the husband and wife dwell together according to knowledge, is a beautiful picture of this mystery--no longer hidden, but now fully revealed.

When we turn to the companion-letter to the saints at Colosse, we find the same weighty and blessed theme introduced. After the twofold headship of the Lord Jesus has been set forth (chap. 1:15-19), and the twofold aspect of reconciliation unfolded (present for the individual, future for "all things," vers. 20-22), we are told of Paul's twofold ministry (vers. 23-29). As in Ephesians, so here; he is minister both of the gospel and of the Church. He writes: "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the Church: whereof I am made minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil (or, to complete) the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in (or, amongst, see margin) you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily" (vers. 24-29). This, with the opening verses of chap. 2, concludes the testimony as to this wondrous mystery, so far as the actual use of the word is concerned; but every earnest student must observe, once his eyes are opened to it, that it forms the bulk of the instruction left for our edification by the apostle to the nations. What is especially insisted on here is that the mystery is the great truth that completes the word of God. It is the capstone of Scripture teaching, as the Cross is the foundation-stone of the gospel. Christ is now working among the Gentiles, while rejected by Israel. This, the Old Testament did not contemplate. That the nations would be brought to own His sway through Israel, is clearly taught; but that He would be doing a special work among them, while the Jew is set aside, was a secret hid in God. To understand it is to enter into the truth for the present dispensation. Therefore the Lord's servant labors devotedly that those already saved might be taught what was of such great importance to all who would be, not dwarfs, but fully developed or perfect men in Christ Jesus.

Hence he goes on to say, "I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God,* even Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (chap. 2:1-3).

(* The A.V.--"the mystery of God, and the Father, and of Christ," is unsupported by the best MSS.)

The mystery of God is Christ;--Christ mystical, Head and Body! As man He sits on God's throne, the Head of the Church. His members on earth are those redeemed by His blood and baptized by the Holy Spirit into one Body. Thus the great secret has two parts; one, relating to the Head; the other, to the Body.