THE GREAT MYSTERY-CHRIST

THE GREAT MYSTERY—THE GOD-MAN

"That they may know the mystery of God, even Christ." Col 2:2

The subject of the Incarnation is at once initial and fundamental. All the significance of the crises that follow grows out of this first, and most marvelous mystery. The Lord Jesus Christ is a Person infinitely transcending the possibility of perfect human comprehension. Nevertheless the Scripture declares certain facts concerning Him, which account for His glory(perfection) and His grace, without which He remains an unsolved problem, defying every successive age in its attempts to account for Him. It should at once be admitted that no final words of explanation can be written concerning Him. And yet it is of the utmost importance that so much as has been revealed should be recognized, in order to a comprehension of the true meaning of His mission.

In the later letters of the apostle Paul, notably that to the Colossians, it is evident that he is most anxious that Christian people should know Christ. In declaring this he expresses the thought in the words, "That they may know the mystery of God, even Christ." (Col 2:2) He speaks of Christ as "the mystery of God." It will be of value to understand, through all these studies, the New Testament use and meaning of the word "mystery." That has been most lucidly stated to be "a truth undiscoverable except by revelation; never necessarily (as our popular use of the word may suggest) a thing unintelligible, or perplexing, in itself. In Scripture a mystery may be a fact which, when revealed we cannot understand in detail, though we can know it, and act upon it. . . . It is a thing only to be known when revealed."

In this sense CHRIST IS THE MYSTERY OF GOD (Col. 2:2). Perfect analysis and explanation of His Person is impossible. The fact thereof is declared as to origin, and essential characteristics. These must be recognized, in order to a right understanding of the great subject of human redemption. Having seen, that reconstruction in the region of destruction was utterly impossible, that there was no way, in the wisdom or power of man, for the encompassing of his own restoration, it was to be expected that the Divine method of redemption would be beyond perfect explanation to the sons of men. That which human wisdom cannot plan must necessarily be beyond its power perfectly to understand. Human intelligence is capable of appreciating anything that lies within the range of the working of human wisdom. The intelligence of one man may not be equal to the discovery of the method of transmitting words by electricity without use of wires. When, however, another human intelligence has thought the matter out, this man is able to comprehend the explanation given. It may therefore be argued that while man was not equal in his own wisdom to devising a plan of redemption, he ought to be able perfectly to comprehend the plan of God. Yet this does not follow. In the first case, the whole movement is within the compass of human intelligence. In the second, all human wisdom had been utterly exhausted in its attempt to think of, or to discover a method of salvation, and had failed. The failure moreover, must have continued through all the ages, for the Person of Christ, and the whole scheme of human redemption, is so transcendently marvelous as to demand for their explanation the recognition of their Divine origin. All this is to emphasize a fact that must not be lost sight of in approaching the contemplation of this initial movement of God towards man, that while the great facts are declared, they cannot be perfectly comprehended by human reason; and it is necessary therefore to approach them in the attitude of faith. These statements apply with equal force to the whole mystery of the life, and death, and resurrection of Jesus. The subject is therefore to be approached with holy and submissive reverence. The attitude of the mind in its approach is defined in words spoken long centuries ago for the children of Israel, by Moses the servant of God. "The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut. 29:29) There are secret things which belong unto the Lord. There are revealed things, which God has made so plain that they may be comprehended, these "belong unto us and to our children." It is the solemn duty of all who desire to know the Christ, that they should diligently study the things revealed, and reverently rest with regard to the secret things. The present article is devoted chiefly to the birth of Christ, as the crisis of Incarnation. There is always the danger of dwelling more upon the birth of the human, than of contemplating that birth as the crisis through which God became incarnate. It is in the latter way however, that the subject is now to be approached, and in the following order, first, the testimony of Scripture; secondly, the mystery as to the secret things; third, the mystery revealed.