The Fullness of Time

The previously hidden mysteries of God are revealed in Jesus, especially in his Death and Resurrection, the turning point of History.

The Bible speaks of the “mysteries” of God, His ways that are hidden from human wisdom and defy expectations. As Jesus declared, not everyone can understand the “mysteries of the Kingdom.” It is God who reveals the deep and obscure things to whomever He pleases, and in His Son, He has done so for all men to see.

The New Testament teaches that the “mysteries” that were hidden in the past, under the former but not faultless covenant, have been disclosed in God’s Son for all men to see. In Jesus of Nazareth, the “Word,” the ‘Logos’ by which God made all things, is manifested in a flesh and blood human being - (John 1:14, 1 John 1:2, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us”).

[Hourglass - Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash]

God’s plan to redeem humanity through the sacrificial death of Christ was something no one saw coming, not even “the rulers of this present age.” Nevertheless, at the pivotal moment, God sent His Son to redeem humanity, and so, today, the preaching of Christ Crucified is the very “power and wisdom” of God that delivers men and women from bondage to sin, death, and Satan – (1 Corinthians 1:17-24, 2:6, Hebrews 8:6-13).

God did not disclose a full understanding of His purposes until the appropriate time. Indeed, the disclosure of His plan to save humanity marked the arrival of the era of fulfillment, the “last days,” namely, the “Fullness of Time”:

• “Now, to him who has the power to establish you according to my gospel, even the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, in age-past times kept silent, but now made manifest” - (Romans 16:25-27).

• “But when the Fullness of Time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” – (Galatians 4:4).

The God of Israel did disclose much in the elaborate rituals and sacrifices of the Levitical code and the statutes of the “Law and the prophets.” However, those earlier words were partial, promissory, and preparatory. The substance and fullness of the Gospel was foreshadowed in the words and images of the old covenant. As the author of Hebrews wrote:

• “In many parts and many ways of old, God spoke to the fathers in the prophets, but upon the last of these days, He has spoken in a Son…” – (Hebrews 1:1-2).

The prophets foretold the coming salvation that would be revealed in the Messiah, though they did not comprehend all the implications of the promise. Even the angels of God lacked full insight into the mysteries of redemption:

• (1 Peter 1:10-12) – “Concerning which salvation prophets, who concerning the grace for you did prophesy, sought out and searched out, searching into what particular or what manner of season the Spirit of Christ which was in them was pointing to when witnessing beforehand as to the sufferings for Christ and the glories after these, to whom it was revealed that, not to themselves but to us they were ministering them, which things have now been announced to you <…>into which things angels are coveting to obtain a nearer view.”

NOW IS THE TIME!

But now, the “mystery” that was concealed has been revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, and at the appointed season. Above all, the mysteries of God have been unveiled in his Death and Resurrection, and God continues to speak and manifest His truth and glory whenever and wherever the Good News of Christ Crucified is proclaimed.

The “Law and the Prophets” were vital parts of the Divine Plan and helped prepare the way for the Messiah, but in them, many of God’s “mysteries” remained enigmatic if not purposely hidden. The Mosaic Law - its priesthood, rituals, and sacrifices - was an interim stage in Salvation History:

• ”In Jesus we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, disclosing to us the mystery of his will, according to his good -pleasure which he purposed in him” - (Ephesians 1:7-9).

The Apostles of Jesus were appointed as his ministers and sent to proclaim the “Mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations but now has been manifested to his saints.” This disclosure was the “riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”- (Colossians 1:26-27).

With Christ's coming, the rituals and regulations of the Mosaic Legislation have been relegated to the status of “shadows.” Jesus is the Messiah and Savior who was foreshadowed by the “types” of the Hebrew Bible. He is the substance that the ancient men of God anticipated by faith, and the unshakable reality that cast those former shadows:

• “Let no one, therefore, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of the coming things, and the body is of the Christ” – (Colossians 2:16-17).

Returning to the outmoded rituals and partial truths of the old system would be regression, not revelation or progress, a return to bondage under the “elemental things” of the old era.

The promise of a New Covenant meant that the old one was deficient and destined to disappear, and the inauguration of this New Covenant by the Messiah demonstrates that the former covenant has become obsolete - (Galatians 4:8-11).

• “But now has he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been legislated upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second. <…> In saying, of a new sort, he has made obsolete the first, but the thing that is becoming obsolete and aged is near disappearing” – (Hebrews 8:6-7, 13).

Neither should believers turn to mystical practices such as the observation of lunar cycles for deeper insight into Divine Mysteries. That will lead to further deception and the return to the very bondage from which God has delivered us through Jesus.

• “Howbeit, at that time, not knowing God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how do you turn back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments to which you desire to be enslaved over again? You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years. I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have spent labour upon you in vain” – (Galatians 4:8-11).

In “these last days,” we have been liberated from our former slave masters through Jesus, and the nature of God and His “mysteries” are revealed in him. In Christ, we have “the way, the truth, and the life,” and full access to the Father – (John 14:6).

The “Mystery” that the prophets and angels desired to understand is unveiled to all men and women who have embraced “the faith of Jesus.” What is required is not secret knowledge and rituals, or mystical insights, but the “obedience of faith.” The Mystery “not made known in other generations has now been revealed” in Christ for all men to see.

Moses gave the Law, but “grace and truth came to be in Jesus.” In him, the knowledge, nature, and glory of the Father are disclosed. No one has seen God except the only born Son. Only he, therefore, is qualified to “interpret” the Father. The fullness of the Creator of all things is found only in the “face of Jesus Christ” and nowhere else – (John 1:14-18, 2 Corinthians 4:6).

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SEE ALSO:

• God is Speaking - (God has spoken His definitive word in His Son. All previous words given by the prophets were preparatory, promissory, and partial)

• The Logos - (Jesus is the Living Word in flesh, the true Tabernacle where the Glory of God is revealed. He is the man who reveals God’s Grace and Truth – John 1:14)

• Seeing the Unseen God - (The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found in the Word made Flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, who alone has seen the unseen God – John 1:14-18)

• La Luz del Mundo - (Jesús es la única Luz verdadera del Mundo, brillando más intensamente en la oscuridad; esta Luz significa Vida para el Mundo)