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“HE REVEALETH HIS SECRET”

GOD’S REVELATION OF HIS PURPOSE DOWN THE AGES

DAVID BURGES

THE SCRIPTURES make it abundantly clear that mortal man is entirely dependent for his knowledge of the future upon the revelation which comes from the all-wise God in His Word. He alone is able to proclaim, through the magnificent words of Isaiah’s prophecy: “I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done ...” (Isa. 46:9,10). The truth of these words was recognised and confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ, who, speaking of his own future return, declared: “of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mk. 13:32).

In promoting His sovereign purpose to fill the earth with His glory, God has chosen to reveal aspects of that purpose through chosen men, in order that His servants might be given hope, and also that His incomparable power to predict and control future events should be demonstrated. Of course, there is a sense in which the whole of Scripture forms the revela­tion of God’s purpose, but we are concerned in this article to examine some of those occasions when the Almighty chose to share with men and women His sovereign knowledge of events yet to take place.

His servants the prophets

The task of recording and publicising those parts of God’s plans which He wished to make known was largely entrusted by Him to the prophets of Israel, even though on some notable occasions other men, including kings and rulers, were involved. An emphatic declaration of the role of the prophets is made by the prophet Amos. In witnessing against Israel’s faithlessness and testifying to the judgements coming upon them, he understood God’s desire to forewarn His people through him: “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:7,8).

The word “secret” (Hebrew sod) is elsewhere translated “counsel”, “assembly”, NIV “plan”. According to Nelson’s Expository Dictionary it refers to secret or confidential plans, and to the group of intimate friends with whom they are shared. Thus David pleads to be hidden from “the secret counsel of the wicked” (Ps. 64:2), but rejoices that “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him: and He will shew them His covenant” (Ps. 25:14). The ‘secrets’, then, that the Father in heaven shares with His chosen people, “the assembly (Heb, sod) of the saints” (Ps. 89:7), do not concern simply the knowledge of future events for their own sake but, much more importantly, the covenants of promise, the great plans which the Almighty has made to manifest Himself in a redeemed people and, through them, to fill the earth with His glory.

However, the wickedness of men in rebellion against their Creator demands that acts of judgement should fall upon them in order to vindicate His righteousness and to provide due reward for their evil deeds (Jude vv. 14,15). At the same time, the grace and mercy of God cause Him to give the intended recipients of those judgements ample warning so that they might have opportunity to repent. Those who hearken to the ‘secret counsel’ of God are blessed with the knowledge of what He intends and so are given the means to escape. Yet largely that opportunity has been and still is ignored, even despised. In the time of Jeremiah, for instance, the men of Israel preferred the comfortable words of the false prophets to the sober warnings of God’s chosen servant: “For who hath stood in the counsel (margin, secret) of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard His word? ... But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they should have turned them from their evil way …” (Jer. 23:18,22). Through His Word, sent to the people through the mouth of the true prophets, God invited them to become His confidants, members of His ‘inner circle’, the assembly of the saints, and to deliver themselves from destruction. No less in our day are the secret counsels of God available in the Scriptures to warn and to encourage us as the “great day of God Almighty” draws near.

The exercise of faith

The catalogue of the men and women of faith in Hebrews 11 constantly draws attention to the fact that their actions were firmly based upon a belief in what God had revealed concerning the future. Through their faith, expressed in deeds, they delivered themselves from impending judgements, received the forgiveness of sins and secured an eternal inheritance. Thus:

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet. moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house ... and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Heb. 11:7).

And again:

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out ... went out, not knowing whither he went... for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (vv. 8,10).

The remarkable actions of these great servants of God, and of the many others listed in the same chapter—actions which must in many cases have earned the ridicule of their contemporaries—were based entirely upon the ‘secret counsels’ of God, imparted to them through the prophetic Word. In spite of all appearances to the contrary, they believed implicitly in what God had revealed of the future, to them still veiled in darkness. And so we learn that “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them …” (v.13).

The supreme example of those who were thus taken into the Father’s confidence, and consequently based their whole lives upon what He had revealed, was the Lord Jesus Christ. Quite apart from the fact that He was the mouthpiece of His Father, making known to the disciples and to Israel in general the words of life, Jesus placed his own trust totally in the prophetic message concerning himself (Heb. 2:13), and so “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (12:2). Is it possible for us, with the knowledge of hindsight, fully to appreciate the giant act of faith in the future which constituted the willing self-sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross? And yet it is required of all true disciples that they live their lives in the same steadfast trust that, no matter what may befall them in this age, their future is secure in the hands of God.

The friends of God

The sense of intimacy which attaches to God’s gracious desire to acquaint His servants with the hidden things which He intends to perform is well illustrated once again in the case of Abraham, who is described in Scripture as “the Friend of God” (Jas. 2:23; 2 Chron. 20:7). The record of God’s preparations for the mighty overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah contains a moving insight into the extent to which the Lord of the Universe is prepared to condescend to man: “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do ...? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD …” (Gen. 18:17.19). And so we find that God was pleased to reveal to Abraham, who on account of his faith received the promises, His intention to bring destruction upon the cities of the plain. Here was a straightforward prophecy of impending judgement upon the men of wickedness which Abraham might well have simply accepted without comment. Remark­ably, however, it elicited from Abraham a reverent and persistent appeal for the deliver­ance of the cities on account of any righteous who might be found among them, as a man might appeal to his friend. The Lord’s gracious answer to this pleading was seen in the salvation of Lot and his daughters out of the holocaust, even though the cities themselves were not spared.

An even greater degree of intimacy was to be found in the relationship of the Father with His beloved Son, who daily enjoyed the closest communion with the Divine Mind: “as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things” (Jno. 8:28); “whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak” (12:50). These words, and other indications which we find in the Gospels, reveal that there must have been constant communication between the Father and the Lord Jesus during his ministry in order that “things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Mt. 13:35) could be brought before men. Furthermore, the purpose of this process of revelation through the Son, as in the case of the prophets before him, was to bring many new men and women into the friendship of the Creator through their faith in the message of hope which it contained: “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him” (Mt. 11:27).

Through the hearing of the Word of God from the lips of His Son, and faithful obedience to His commandments, comes the incomparable privilege of being called the friends of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are assured that it was for the love of his friends that he laid down his life (Jno. 15:13,14).

The fellowship of the mystery

The culmination of God’s revelation of His secret purposes to His faithful servants is contained in the testimony of the New Testa­ment apostles and prophets. This they received, in fulfilment of the promise of Jesus, through the inspiration of the Spirit of Truth which was sent to show them “things to come” (Jno. 16:13). The term particularly associated with the things which were first made known through the apostles’ teaching is ‘mystery’ (Gk. mustērion). This word has nothing to do with so-called religious ‘mysteries’ promoted by the apostate churches but, much like the Old Testament word ‘secret’ which we have already considered, denotes a secret made known to those who are initiated by Divine revelation. The words of the Lord Jesus concerning the nature of His preaching to Israel confirm this: “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables” (Mk. 4:11).

We have been granted the great privilege of initiation into these ‘mysteries’ through an open-hearted hearing and belief of the Word of God, and so have learned of the glories of the Kingdom of God to come. But more than this, the remarkable fact that we as Gentiles have been permitted to share in Israel’s great and precious promises is itself a part of the very ‘mystery’. This is the theme expounded by the Apostle Paul in his Epistles to the Ephesian and Colossian ecclesias, in seeking to build them up in the Faith and to defend them against the deceptions of the false teachers who would have persuaded them to return to the practices of the Law of Moses. He reminds us that, in the grace of God, it was “by revelation He made known unto me the mystery”, and that others had also come to share in this knowledge, “which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be ... partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel” (Eph. 3:3-6).

This marvellous ‘secret revealed’ has become the means of our salvation, the demonstration of the Father’s love for us in Jesus Christ from before the foundation of the world. How we should rejoice and be thankful that the eternal Creator had such care for our welfare before we were even born that He revealed His sovereign purpose in the holy Scriptures, recorded and providentially preserved for our enlightenment! And how eagerly we should look forward to that day when “the mystery of God (shall) be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets” (Rev. 10:7)! In the wisdom of God all things are moving in­exorably towards that glorious consummation that He has planned, and we have been supremely honoured to share with Him just so much knowledge of His plan that we may believe and respond in faithful lives, in order that through Christ we may ultimately share in His glory; for “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29).

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