7-26-21<\/p>\n
I do love mysteries. Books, stories, movies, real-life events. I think we all do; but there is a difference in our next steps. Some people, and I think humankind in general particularly in the past few centuries, love mysteries because there is a passion \u2013 almost an obsession \u2013 to solve them.<\/p>\n
Is this a good thing, a natural impulse? Not necessarily. Mysteries, the unknown, deep challenges, dare us in many ways; and we accept the challenges. Answering the call, thus have diseases been conquered, new lands discovered, and faraway planets visited. Not bad things, and an aspect of humankind\u2019s DNA that grows when exercised.<\/p>\n
I regret some negative aspects that inevitably follow. We have been deluded into thinking that we can solve any<\/em> mystery, in time; which is of course ridiculous. We lose sight of the fact that life often substitutes new challenges when some mysteries (diseases, plagues, natural disasters) are met; for nature and human nature seem immutable. And we tend to equate the passage of time with real progress. Some mysteries merely deepen: we solve mysterious sicknesses but insist on inventing better ways to kill each other. How\u2019s that<\/em> for a mystery?<\/p>\n No, I love mysteries because they are<\/em> mysteries. We cannot know everything, or else we would be as God \u2013 and I admit my credentials are lacking. But I do not merely settle<\/em> for being very human; I embrace the mysteries that place me apart from God; that is, subordinate.<\/p>\n His mysteries are wonderful, just as His ways are inscrutable. That leads me to the basis, the definition, of faith. There are things I don\u2019t have to know, because God knows. There are things I don\u2019t have to worry about, because He cares for me. If things seem out of control\u2026 I know He is in control. Martin Luther said that Reason is the enemy of Faith. Hmmm.<\/p>\n I embrace mysteries like birth, and the formed fingers and joyful smiles of babies. Of flowers that return after seeming to die; of seedlings that push through rocks. Forgiveness is a mystery. Salvation is a mystery I don\u2019t understand, but I accept. And when all is said and done, love is a mystery.<\/p>\n If we dissect a butterfly to see how it can fly, we kill it in the process. Therefore, many of the mysteries of life \u2013 of God \u2013 I simply accept and embrace.<\/p>\n Parts of the Bible we need to understand; but parts of it present the mysteries of God without explaining them. That\u2019s fine. \u201cWe will understand it better bye and bye.\u201d<\/p>\n For instance, in the Book of Revelations \u2013 surely a book that reveals as many mysteries as matters of clarity \u2013 we read of the \u201c24 Elders\u201d who fall down before the Throne of God in Heaven, and cast down their crowns before Him. We read of treasures in Heaven. We read in two passages about this scene, the \u201cglassy sea\u201d before the Throne of God.<\/p>\n Crowns and treasures that some might have? The rest of us will not? Aren\u2019t we all to be equal, once saved? Maybe the Elders represent churches, or dispensations, or saints of the ages\u2026?<\/p>\n It is true that forgiven and blood-bought Believers are no more, and no less, \u201csaved,\u201d or Children of God, which is confirmed many times in Scripture. In the same way as the vilest sinner on earth might gain Heaven by confessing Christ at the end of his or her life. Or the most generous charity worker might go to hell if he or she never believe and confess Christ. These<\/em> things fight against our own logic, but are not mysteries. They are God\u2019s honest truth.<\/p>\n About those treasures and crowns, I have always thought that in God\u2019s plan there have been saints or martyrs, perhaps, who have a place of distinction, not greater favor, in His sight\u2026 but before the Throne of God, nothing else will matter except bowing before Him, praising Him forever, gathering with other saints around the river and the beautiful, calm, glassy sea; and placing at God\u2019s feet whatever honors there might be.<\/p>\n Greater service, greater perseverance, greater love will seem like nothing when we behold Him. In proper perspective, we will lay everything before Him.<\/p>\n Heaven \u2013 we try to imagine. Do you want to see loved ones again? You probably will. Children want to see their pets? If that thought pleases them here, it might happen there. But our minds cannot for a moment imagine the riches that await us in glory. The words of a great hymn attempt a picture:<\/p>\n Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, Who were and are and evermore shall be.<\/em><\/p>\n Does this make sense? No matter; let the mystery be. We will see these things.<\/p>\n Some \u201cemergent\u201d churches claim to embrace mystery, but in my experience they embrace candles and incense instead.<\/p>\n For now we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know<\/em> (I Corinthians 13:12)\u2026<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n This hymn of church was a poem by Reginald Heber later set to music by John Bacchus Dykes. The \u201cHoly, Holy, Holy\u201d from Revelation reminds us that the Bible\u2019s frequent use of numbers is significant \u2013 three for perfection; seven for completion, etc. Not clues for lotteries, but lessons to learn from. Here, worship with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir:<\/p>\n\n\n