55: The Hidden Mystery of Prophecy

Everyone loves a mystery—but biblical mysteries aren’t puzzles to be solved, they’re truths God once concealed and has now revealed. In this episode, we explore the rich concept of “mystery” in Scripture, especially as Paul describes it in Ephesians. What did God hide? Why did He hide it? And what does it mean now that the secret’s out? We’ll unpack how God used divine misdirection to shield His redemptive plan from the powers of darkness—and even from His own prophets. This journey into prophecy’s hidden nature will challenge how we read Scripture and how we think about the end times.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Ready for Eternity
podcast, a podcast and blog dedicated to
inquisitive Bible students exploring
biblical truths that might not be fully
explored in typical
sermons or Bible studies.

(00:20):
My name is Eddie Lawrence.
If you like mysteries,
the Bible is your book.
It hides mysteries in plain sight.
Clues to the greatest mystery ever told
are scattered
throughout the Old Testament.

(00:41):
Everyone loves a good mystery.
We're curious about what's concealed,
eager for a satisfying reveal.
We want to know what we don't know. The
Bible speaks of mysteries too, not
fiction, but divine
truths God hid for ages.

(01:05):
Paul talks about such a mystery, one that
reshapes how we understand history,
salvation, and the will of God. However,
the Bible doesn't use the word mystery
exactly the way we use it. When Paul
speaks of mystery, he's not referring to
something that is currently hidden, but

(01:27):
something that was once
hidden and now is revealed.
Klein's Snodgrass explains it. Whereas in
modern usage, mystery refers to what is
unknown, in Jewish and early Christian
literature this word refers to the hidden
divine plan now revealed by God.

(01:47):
Jack Cottrell clarifies the meaning.
What is a mystery? As the Bible uses this
term, it is not something mysterious or
unexplainable, something set forth in
cryptic, obscure language that is too
weird to understand. Rather, it simply
refers to something that is being kept
hidden or secret for the time being, kept

(02:09):
under cover until the time
comes for it to be revealed.
In the case of God's mystery, he was
keeping it concealed all through the Old
Testament era and is just now unveiling
it through the New Testament writers,
especially the Apostle Paul.
In Ephesians chapter 1, the mystery that
Paul refers to is the previously hidden

(02:32):
plan of God to unite all things in
Christ, especially the inclusion of
Gentiles into the people of God.
Specifically, Ephesians chapter 1 verses
9 and 10 says, "And he has made known to
us the mystery of his will according to
his good pleasure, which he purposed in

(02:54):
Christ as a plan for the fullness of
time, to bring all things in heaven and
on earth together in
Christ." Ephesians 1, 9 and 10.
So the mystery is God's eternal plan, now
revealed in Christ, to bring everything
under Christ authority and to reconcile

(03:15):
both Jews and Gentiles into one new
humanity. Paul plainly says this in
Ephesians chapter 3.
"And he has made known to us the mystery
of his will according to his good
pleasure, which he purposed in Christ as
a plan for the fullness of time, to bring

(03:37):
all things in heaven and on earth
together in Christ."
Ephesians 3, 6.
The secret was not that God planned to
reconcile Jews and Gentiles into one
body. This is so strongly hinted at in
the Old Testament that one can't really
miss it. In fact, one of the promises God

(03:58):
made to Abraham was that "all the
families of the earth will be blessed
through you." Genesis 12, 3. Christ
brought this blessing to the nations to
fruition 1800 years later by reconciling
all nations, that is,
families of the earth, to God.

(04:18):
The mystery was not the goal itself, but
the means by which
God would accomplish it.
As Paul stated, "The gospel was the
method, and therefore the
gospel was the mystery."
But why did God keep it a mystery?
Through the Old Testament prophets, God

(04:40):
gave clues as to how his plan to redeem
the nations would unfold.
However, he played a game of divine
misdirection. The prophecies were
cryptic, such that the picture of how his
plan would play out was deliberately
concealed. Why the misdirection and

(05:00):
incomplete picture? Dr. Michael Heiser
points out that Paul has
answered this question for us.
By God's design, the Scripture presents
the Messiah in terms of a Mosaic profile
that can only be discerned after the
pieces are assembled.
Paul tells us why, in 1 Corinthians 2,
6-8, "If the plan of God for the

(05:23):
Messiah's mission had been clear, the
powers of darkness would never have
killed Jesus. They would have known that
his death and resurrection were the key
to reclaiming the nations forever."
Quite simply, every good military leader
keeps his battle plans
a secret from the enemy.
Likewise, in the spiritual war that God

(05:44):
is waging with the powers of darkness, he
also doesn't tell the enemy what he's
doing. Heiser elaborates further.
The story of the cross is the biblical
theological catalyst to God's plan for
regaining all that was lost in Eden. It
couldn't be emblazoned across the Old
Testament in transparent statements.

(06:06):
It had to be expressed in sophisticated
and cryptic ways to ensure that the
powers of darkness would be misled. And
it was. Even the angels didn't know the
plan. First Peter 1, 12.
What Paul is telling us is that biblical
prophecy is intentionally cryptic.

(06:28):
It only becomes clear
after it has been fulfilled.
Even after the resurrection, Jesus'
disciples couldn't see the full picture.
Though they had all the "pieces," they
needed supernatural help.
Jesus opened their minds so that they
could understand how the
Old Testament pointed to him.

(06:51):
"Jesus said to them, These are the words
I spoke to you while I was still with
you. Everything must be fulfilled that is
written about me in the law of Moses, the
prophets, and the Psalms." Then he opened
their minds to understand the Scriptures.
Luke 24, 44, and 45.

(07:11):
Paul tells us that the devil couldn't
discern God's plan even
with the prophetic clues.
The angels didn't
know the details either.
So it makes sense that God's people also
remained in the dark.
Peter says that the prophets themselves,

(07:32):
though they delivered the messages,
couldn't grasp the full shape of what God
was doing. First Peter 1, 10-11.
Of course, some details were correctly
understood. For example, the chief
priests and scribes were able to discern
the prophecies well enough to inform

(07:54):
Herod where the Messiah
would be born in Matthew 2.
However, the big picture remained a
mystery, and the Jews of Jesus' day got a
lot of it wrong. You see, prophecy's
nature is rooted in mystery.
We've seen that God concealed his

(08:15):
redemptive plan in prophecy, revealing it
only after key events had unfolded.
The gospel itself remained a mystery
until Christ fulfilled it. Neither the
powers of darkness nor angels nor even
the prophets fully grasped what God was
doing. This pattern

(08:36):
carries profound implications.
If prophecy becomes clear only in
hindsight, what does that mean for how we
interpret end-times prophecy today?
Could we be just as blind to the big
picture of the end-times as they were to
the big picture of the Messiah?

(08:58):
In the next episode of the Ephesians
series, we'll explore how this affects
our expectations and our
theology about the last days.
Thanks for listening to the podcast. We
hope this episode has deepened your
understanding of Scripture. If you found

(09:19):
this content valuable, please share it
with your friends. For more biblical
studies, visit our website at
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Twitter. That's all for now. Keep

(09:41):
studying your Bible, growing closer to
God, and getting ready for eternity.
See you next time.