It's a Secret

Ephesians 3:8-9 NKJV

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, [9] and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ

Recalling the first line of an early Beatles song:

"Listen, do you want to know a secret?"

My nearest and dearest shared the Hebrew meaning of "mystery" in the above passage and that definition is "secret".

In a very peculiar way, the message of the gospel is a secure secret to unbelievers.

Repeat the gospel a million times to someone determined "not to believe" and it will be like talking to a brick wall.

Jesus put it this way:

Matthew 13:10-11,13-15 NKJV

And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" [11] He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been given. [13] Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. [14] And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; [15] For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.'

This seems unfair to our human understanding, but God knows the hearts of men and women, and in one sense "chooses" to whom the Truth should be unveiled.

If you have a special secret, aren't you too careful to whom you reveal that secret?

You won't tell it to someone who would misuse or distort it, would you?

Let's pray for softened hearts to receive the Good News so that the Holy Spirit can translate the message into changed lives and spiritual ears that aren't deaf and eyes that see clearly.