Articles
The Things Revealed
When God delivered His will to His people, He warned them not to obsess over all the details He had not revealed, but to be diligent to focus on what He had. “The secret things belong to YHWH our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29) However, since then, people have obsessed over the things that the bible does not reveal, and have continued to show a morbid interest into the things God chose to keep secret. As we look at the scriptures as a whole, we can see that God revealing “secret” things to humans has made us responsible for keeping that knowledge, and obeying His will in it.
When the first two people were told by the serpent that God had no revealed all the information, but had kept some of it secret, they allowed their curiosity to lead them into sin. “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5) In part, the septent was correct. God had not shown the first people any pain, calamity, shame, failure, fear, or death. “Evil” was a secret to them. However, in disobeying the one commandment they had been given, they were then responsible for keeping God’s will in a world tainted by sin.
Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus that he worked as a steward of God’s grace, and that he was responsible for explaining a “mystery” to the world, specifically that the Gentiles were a part of God’s kingdom. “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly [places.]” (Ephesians 3:8-10) Paul was told the “secret” plan of God, and it was his responsibility to preach it all over the world.
That same apostle also instructed the saints in Corinth about the resurrection, and how it would occur. This was amid the church struggling with the false teaching that resurrection was impossible. “Behold, I tell you a mystery,” he wrote, explaining the scene of Christ’s return, “we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (I Corinthians 15:50-58) It was a grace to know that God’s plan for eternity was beyond the physical and the temporary. Furthermore, it carried the responsibility of maintaining our diligent labor in the Lord, knowing that there was a reward.
There are things that God has not revealed according to His will. The things that He has revealed are for our good, and we should obey Him accordingly.
