But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom
which God ordained before the ages for our glory, (1 Corinthians 2:7,
NKJV).
In
Greek, the root of the word translated “mystery” means to “shut
the mouth”. It's not so much a matter of esoteric, unfathomable
knowledge as a reference to something once hidden now being revealed.
That's
an important distinction, because there are plenty of religions out
there that claim to possess “special information” that only true
initiates can obtain or understand. Biblical Christianity is nothing
like that at all.
Jesus,
our founder, spoke and taught nothing “in a corner”, but
proclaimed His truth openly and without any attempt to obfuscate or
tantalize.
This
is not to say that complete understanding of His doctrine comes
without a price, nor is it to deny that he often spoke in parables
and analogies, but the price of understanding is something completely
unexpected and rather astonishing: accept the free gift of salvation
and His Spirit will give you comprehension of, at least, the “what”
of things, if not always the “why”.
Until
then, the truths of the Bible will remain largely unpeeled.
I
can attest to this fact, personally. At one time in my life, for the
majority of my life, I was rabidly anti-Christian. Any mention of it
or its teachings evoked an eruption of volcanic disdain and
hostility. I was an adherent of the John Lennon socialist worldview,
with my mantra being “Imagine”.
Imagine
there is no heaven
It's
easy if you try
No
hell below us
Above
us only sky
Imagine
all the people
Living
for today
Imagine
there's no countries
It
isn't hard to do
Nothing
to kill or die for
And
no religion, too
I
can still hear the haunting, whiny, self-serving melody as I now
contemplate the vacuity of those words I once held in such high
esteem.
I
look back and think, Imagine how utterly childish to ascribe to
religion that for which human beings are themselves the source.
Violence, death and mayhem are uniquely human characteristics
entirely apart from what Lennon thought of as religion.
In
fact, of all the restraining impulses of human evil, religion is by
far the most effective. Does that mean that it has not been corrupted
and bent to align with natural human depravity? Of course not. We
humans can, and do, make a horrific mess of most things we touch. But
that does not make the thing itself evil; it illuminates our own
tendency to evil. It's what we do.
And
therein lies the first Christian Mystery; human sinfulness and God's
response.
If
you have never heard or read the following idea, you are either a
newcomer to the planet, or have been sheltered from the inanity of
academically motivated wishful thinking. It's this: every day and
every way we're getting better and better.
More
broadly, this is couched in terms of “human advancement” or the
“march of civilization.” It is all smoke and vapor. Even the most
cursory examination of individual or corporate history disproves this
doggerel instantly.
Take
the individual facts first. As you and I age, we get worse, not
better. We are slower, more forgetful, weaker, more vulnerable, more
hardened in our bad habits, and altogether and inevitably on the way
to decay and death. If that is your definition of better, then I
don't think that word means what you think it means.
Corporately,
we, as a species of animal on this world, are constantly devising new
and more efficient ways to cause more death and destruction. In my
lifetime alone, humanity has perfected the means to destroy the
entire world. And while that may indicate a kind of improvement of
sorts, at least in efficiency and comprehensiveness, it is in no way
“better”.
Christianity
explains this obviously deteriorating condition in one word: sin. And
that word opens up an entire realm of discussion, dissension and
discord.
Sin
is a byproduct of free moral agency; the ability to choose. It is an
attribute of God Himself, and He bestowed it upon us as a gift, part
of what makes us His image-bearers. As a purely intellectual
exercise, I can imagine that this was itself a choice on His part. He
could have made us automatons or marionettes, bound by programming or
metaphysical strings, compelled to behave in ways entirely acceptable
to the Manufacturer.
The
issue with that course of action, however, is almost immediately
obvious. How could puppets have any kind of sincere or real
relationship, either with each other, or with the Puppeteer? Every
action would actually originate from the Programmer Himself, and not
from the thing programmed. For an interpersonal relationship to have
any meaning at all, it would have to be voluntary and come from all
the individuals involved. There is nothing at all satisfying to a
being of any depth in compelled interaction. Even for the most base
human, such an arrangement would grow stale and empty and dull over
time – no surprises, no joy, no anything.
So
the what of it is this: God made us in His image even though He knew
beforehand that we would rebel in sin. All the misery encompassed in
human history; the bloodshed, the pain, the horror, is a result of
this marvelous gift of free will.
He
did this, I believe the Bible teaches, because He desired true
fellowship with us. That we have abused this gift is, from our sinful
perspective, as natural as breathing, but is it? Is it natural for
the recipient of a good gift to immediately throw it back in the face
of a beloved and benevolent Giver?
There
is something about us humans, something illogical and ruthless, that
holds generosity and goodness in contempt... unless it comes from us.
Perhaps, it is a desire to be worshipped like God desires to be
worshipped. Or gratitude perverted into pride, as if we deserved the
thing given.
And
if we are not worshipped in the manner we believe we are entitled, we
become petulant and rebellious. We enter into the realm of sin, as
our forefather Adam did in the Garden. We figuratively poke our
finger in the eye of our Creator, spit in His face, stick out our
tongue, and do what is right in our own eyes.
The
result: unmitigated chaos and heartbreak. We corrupt and pervert what
is good and turn it into what is vile and perverse, and we spend
lifetimes justifying our blatant selfishness and lust, excusing our
“mistakes”, supported by a world equally hostile to God.
"It
is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and
goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person
you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you
would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a
corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare."
- C.S. Lewis
And
God's response to this purposeless and ghastly rebellion? An
extravagant, unmerited, and irrevocable desire to forgive.
If
our inherent sin is a mystery, then our Creator's willingness to
forgive that sin through means that we could never imagine (the
substitutionary death of His Son), is a mystery so transcendent in
nature that to contemplate it in it's rawest, most blindingly radiant
form, is to be changed by it into something worth forgiving.
"To
be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has
forgiven the inexcusable in you. This is hard. It is perhaps not so
hard to forgive a single great injury. But to forgive the incessant
provocations of daily life -- to keep on forgiving the bossy
mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish
daughter, the deceitful son -- how can we do it? Only, I think, by
remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say our
prayers each night 'forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those
that trespass against us.' We are offered forgiveness on no other
terms. To refuse is to refuse God's mercy for ourselves."
God
made creatures capable of rebelling against His perfect moral law. He
did so out of love. Our rebellion did not surprise Him. He knew that
we would Fall in sin before our creation, but he created us anyway.
Why?
Well that is the crux of the mystery.
At
least in part, I believe the answer lies in the fact that our
destiny, once we pass through the gauntlet of His forgiveness, is
more glorious than we can possibly conceive.
But
as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have
entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for
those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NKJV).
