The mystery of godliness

1 Timothy 3:16

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.

The Bible is full of mysteries. There is no lack of them in the canon of God’s Holy Scriptures. And it is best that it is so! If we knew and understood all things, how prideful would we be! How little would we study! How much less would we dig into the truths of the Scriptures with our pick and spade? The mysteries are unfathomable and deep. They are inexhaustible. We never truly mine out all the good we can mine out. It continues to draw us deeper into God’s well of knowledge. And the greatest knowledge of all is the knowledge of God Himself! This is the knowledge for which we yearn! This is the knowledge for which everything else is counted but dung. This is the mystery of godliness!

And here we see a glimpse into these great mysteries. All that is needed this morning is just to ponder over the depth of them for a moment. Our minds will be enraptured in the truth of these wondrous mysteries. For here we see that God was manifest in the flesh! Is there any greater mystery than this? That Jesus Christ was made flesh and dwelt among us? And that we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth? What a mystery this is—that God became man! And that He did this for us! But further, Hewas justified in the Spirit. Did not the Father speak of His Son as the Spirit descended on Him like a dove at His baptism, and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”? And He was seen of angels. There is a great mystery associated with the ministry that the angels rendered to Him in the wilderness after He was tempted of the devil, and in the garden of Gethsemane. Here we see the agony was beyond belief. The conflict in His Spirit was of a dimension we have never experienced. And angels came and ministered unto Him!

But the most glorious and blessed mystery is the work of the Gospel. For here, He was preached unto the Gentiles and believed on in the world. We must praise God with every bit of our being that the Gentiles have heard the truth of Christ’s Gospel, and that many have believed on Him! I have believed on Him! Are you a Gentile? What a mystery it is that the Gentiles have received the glorious Gospel of the blessed God! And how it marvelously works in those that believe I know not! It saves and sanctifies and renews and justifies those that believe. This is the mystery of the Gospel. And then, at the end of Christ’s monumental ministry here on this earth, He was received up into glory to be seated at the right hand of God, in the Majesty in the Heavens. Thank God for these stupendous mysteries, these fantastic truths, these awesome thoughts to think on! Let us meditate on these today, that our minds may be lifted from the dim and dark affairs of this world to the heavenly rapture of these spiritual truths. Let our minds be thus lifted!

“Dear Father, we thank you for the truth of these great mysteries that your Word has revealed to us. We certainly understand only a part. But that part greatly enriches our minds and comforts our hearts. It surely exceeds our deepest understanding, but it keeps us searching after Thee and Thy truth. May this be the quest of our hearts today. And may we thus be led from valleys below to plains above. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”