The World's Mystery Unfolded in Christ
Ll. D. Bevan, D.D. Romans 16:25-27 Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ… I. THE MYSTERY. The word "mystery" in Scripture implies not necessarily that the fact or truth cannot be understood, but that it is not known except as revealed from God. It is a favourite word of Paul's. Except in three passages of the Gospels (Matthew 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10), and four places in the Revelation (Revelation 1:20; Revelation 10:7; Revelation 17:5, 7), Paul is the only writer who employs the word, and he uses it twenty times. In several of these cases of Pauline usage, the term refers to that great fact of the universality of the gospel (Ephesians 3:6). And this mystery forms one of the great subjects of this Epistle. It may be interesting to refer to some of the passages and there learn what this great mystery is (Romans 1:5, 6, 13, 15; Romans 3:29; Romans 4:11; Romans 9:25, 26, 30; Romans 10:11-13; Romans 11:11, 30; Romans 15:8-21). The mystery, then, is the universality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. All men have sinned. But all men may be saved by the free and sovereign grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This was the sublime truth which Paul desired firmly to establish in the imperial city of the world, in order that there might then go forth to all mankind a power greater than that of Rome, more splendid than her glory, more searching than her law, more victorious than her legions, and which should abide when Rome should have crumbled into ruins. This mystery has been revealed to you. If you have received it, are you living in its blessedness, and up to the measure of the fulness of its freedom and life? II. ITS CONCEALMENT. "Which was kept silent in the aeonian periods." 1. The past ages received concerning this great truth no voice from the Divine silence. Men knew nothing of this gracious scheme of salvation for the universe. (1) The Jew did not know it. If he regarded his God as also the creator and ruler of other men, they at least bore to Him some inferior relation, and if they were to be blessed at all, it was to be by and through the law of Moses. (2) The Gentile had altogether failed to gain a glimpse of it. Each people held itself to be autochthonous, sprung from the soil; all the rest were strangers, aliens, slaves. Humanity was unknown, and anything like a moral dealing with the individual that was to be of universal application, had never been hinted at in the whole range of Gentile philosophy and faith. (3) And now those who have not themselves accepted this gracious mystery in practice wholly ignore the idea that the entire human race is dealt with in the atonement of Jesus, and that the purpose of God includes that whole race within His love and power. Even within the Church, how few fully understand or obey the law which declares that there is in Jesus Christ neither bond nor free, etc. 2. What wisdom may we not find, yea, what grace, in the concealment of this truth! The world had to be and is still being prepared for it. All those denominationalisms which are only the Judaisms of the modern world, and the patriotisms which at best are but pagan virtues, are nothing but the concealment of the truth of the human unity in Jesus Christ, which is part of the plan of God when He will perfect the society of man in the breaking down of nationalities and ecclesiasticisms in a world-wide union. Happy souls who catch some glimpses of this bright day! Happier they who help on its coming, and make this their gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the unveiling of the mystery which in the past ages of the Divine purpose had not been uttered unto men. III. ITS MANIFESTATION. 1. The mystery was manifested in the character of Christ. While our Lord was a Jew and was careful of all Mosaic ordinances, yet the "enthusiasm of humanity" glowed within Him. His parables, sermons, conversations, works of charity and power, and death, are stamped with the mark of human nature, and have in them not a trace of the Israelite. He predicts the fall of the sacred city, affirms the universal worship of the God of heaven, and points with sublime assurance to the fact that when He has been crucified, He will draw all men unto Him. 2. And the history of the Church reflects the quality of its Master's work: At first baptized with a spirit which promised a universal scope, then narrowing down to the dimensions of a new Jewish sect, Divine providence compelled it to pass beyond the limits within which its leaders would have confined it, until it proved itself to be a world-wide Church, every road in life leading to its sacred courts. 3. And does not the history of the Church prove this in every succeeding age? What nation has been able to resist its advance? The seed of the kingdom grows in every soil.Conclusion: 1. In respect of the inexplicable and perplexed events and conditions of human life we have only to await the Divine time, and all shall be made clear. 2. Learn from this mystery the measure and the inspiration of our preaching. "According to the revelation of the mystery." For every man is the mercy obtained; to every man its grace offered. 3. This mystery being for a world, awaits your acceptance. (Ll. D. Bevan, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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, WEB: (14:24) Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages,