DISCOVERING THE MYSTERY

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, 
but most of them pick themselves up 
and hurry off as if nothing ever happened." 
- Winston Churchhill

It was in the early 1980's that I first 

stumbled over the bible definition of the Mystery. 

While studying the Bible one day, the word "mystery" popped out at me. I knew a mystery was something not normally understood, and wanting a Bible definition, I began looking for any scripture that contained the phrase "the mystery is". I just couldn't find one. I did find "the mystery of" in several places: the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the kingdom, the mystery of his will, mystery of the gospel, and several more. But, I knew that whatever the mystery "IS", is what made each of these other subjects a mystery themselves.

I eventually discovered what the mystery is by searching out every scripture that had the word mystery in it. I finally found out that it was the way the sentence was constructed that caused it to elude my search. Here it is, the first scripture that started to point me in the right direction: 

Colossians 1:27

 "To whom God would make known 

what is the riches of the glory of this 

mystery among the Gentiles; which is 

Christ in you, the hope of glory:"

In reading this verse, I noted that the "mystery" is the very subject of the statement. Then my eyes fell upon the phrase "which IS Christ in you."

"What is?", I asked myself, thinking. Looking back through the verse again, "the mystery is", I thought.

Putting it altogether the answer came as: "The mystery is Christ in you." 
"You have got to be kidding", I thought, Is that it? Is that all? Everyone already knows that. That's no "mystery"."

But, during subsequent bible studies I noted that this subject was one that Jesus commented on several times, even expanding it, and opening it up further. Not only was it that the mystery is Christ in us, but also that we are in Him. And beyond that, He was in the Father and the Father was in Him!

John 14: 19-20:

"Yet a little while, and the world 

seeth me no more; but ye see me: 

because I live, ye shall live also.
At that day ye shall know that I am 

in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."

John 17:21:

"That they all may be one; as thou, 

Father, art in me, and I in thee, 

that they also may be one in us: 

that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."

I once heard a minister give a sermon centered around the idea that wherever we go, if Christ is "in us", we take Him along with us. He had a good point, and was focusing on how others see us as we may be entering places of lesser reputation such as a Honky Tonk bar for example.

Now the Bible does say to avoid the appearance of evil, and if we are known to be a Christian, one might wonder what kind of example that might be setting. This minister was showing that we should be concerned about what others think of us.

Without getting into a long discussion on what may, or may not be evil, I want to focus on something completely different.

Almost all who profess to be Christians can grasp the significance of what it means to have Christ living within you. I have heard the saying, "let Jesus into your heart" come from the mouths of so many religious people, that it's almost nauseating .... especially with the pious, hands clasped together in a praying gesture. I'm sure everyone's experienced that one. But, the weight of the mystery hangs on the inverse of that.

There is a tremendous significance attached to the other side of the coin. That's the one I want to look at. And, here it is: Not only is Jesus in us, we are in Him!

Now think about what that means. Everywhere Jesus goes, we go with Him. And, who do you suppose has been looking at Jesus for the last 2000 years? You can bet it's not Mrs. Bertha Betterthanyou watching the bar door on her way home from prayer meetin'. 

No, Jesus has been surrounded by the Elohim, the heavenly host, and God the Father for the past 2000 years. If you can understand, God the Father considers that you were baptized with Christ when He was baptized, died with Him on the cross, raised with Him at His resurrection, and now sit with Him on the Father's right-hand. 

It is a legal condition that you have with God concerning all the law. He cannot see you without looking at Christ ....... because you are IN Christ. You were in Jesus AT THE TIME He was judged before the throne of God after His assention on the Mount of Olives. In fact, this has ALWAYS been the plan of God for you thousands of years before you were ever born. This is the planned destiny of all mankind. It cannot ever be anything else because it is the WILL of God.

Here's how the apostle Paul explained it in Ephesians 1: 3-5

"Blessed be the God and Father 

of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath 

blessed us with all spiritual blessings 

in heavenly places in Christ:

According as he hath chosen us 

in him before the foundation of the 

world, that we should be holy and 

without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption 

of children by Jesus Christ to himself, 

according to the good pleasure of his will,"

And here in Ephesians 2: 4-6:

" But God, who is rich in mercy, 

for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Even when we were dead in sins, 

hath quickened us together with 

Christ,(by grace ye are saved;)

And hath raised us up together, 

and made us sit together in heavenly 

places in Christ Jesus:"

I Timothy 2:4: 

" [God] Who will have all men to be saved, 

and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."

Now the word "profane" means to make something common as opposed to sacred. And I have heard so many preachers plead with others to "accept Jesus into their hearts" (as if Jesus were standing behind them begging them to do so), that it caused me to overlook the INCREDIBLE significance of what the other side of the coin means ... to be IN Christ!

I was almost afraid to believe it, for you see, this makes a bold declaration, that if we are "legally" sitting next to God within Christ, we now legally have all the rights and privileges of being an Elohim! 

Therefore, we cannot sin. No matter what we might do, it cannot be called sin and has absolutely no bearing on eternal life whatsoever. 

Oh, we may be punished for things we continue to do that are not right, just as the Sons of God were as shown in the previous post: ABOUT THE SONS OF GOD. 

Because we are NOW considered the Children of God. Our citizenship is not of the earth, but of Heaven. No longer are we considered members of mankind, but we are an altogether new "creature". It's as good as done! All we need is to have our physical bodies changed into celestial ones through the process that Christ will initiate at His return to this earth.

I John 3:9:  

"Whosoever is born of God doth 

not commit sin; for his seed 

remaineth in him: and he  

cannot sin, because he is born of God." 

[because of WHO he is -Elohim]

I John 3:2: 

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, "

Philippians 3:20: 

"For our conversation is in heaven;

The word "conversation" above is translated from the Greek word "politeuma" meaning, "citizenship, one of a community" See Strongs concordance # 4175.

II Corinthians 5: 17:  

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, 

he is a new creature: "

Galatians 3: 25:  

" But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster [the Old Covenant Law ].

For ye are all the children of God 

by faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of you as have been baptized into 

Christ have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, 

there is neither bond nor free, 

there is neither male nor female: 

for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

I have included a lot of scriptures for your ease of study, but it would be good to get your own Bible out and hunt them up if you wish. There's something good about a person seeing them in their own Bible.

If you are reading this for entertainment because it may be interesting, you may get bored by the large amount of scriptures I have included. However, if you are one who finds this as food for a hunger you have about the things of God, then you may enjoy the scriptures made available here.

I said that because of the next set of scriptures. Please slow down. Read them a half verse at a time, then think about it. Ponder what is being said. Don't hurry. See yourself as included in what is being said here.

"Now I say, That the heir, 

as long as he is a child, 

differeth nothing from a servant, 

though he be lord of all;

But is under tutors and governors until 

the time appointed of the father.

Even so we, when we were children, 

were in bondage under the elements of the world:

But when the fulness of the time was come, 

God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, 

made under the law,

To redeem them that were under the law, 

that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent 

forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, 

crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, 

but a son; and if a son, 

then an heir of God through Christ."

Now, let's go through it again with some clarifying comments:

"Now I say, That the heir 

 [mankind] 

, as long as he is a child 

 [spiritually immature] 

, differeth nothing from a 

servant, though he be

 [his potential] 

lord of all; 

 (see Rev. 21:7 - "He that overcometh shall inherit all things;

 and I will be his God, and he shall be my son."

But is under tutors 

 [Law, the schoolmaster] 

and governors until the time 

appointed of the father.  

[The Father is actively guiding His plan for mankind.]

Even so we, when we were children, 
were in bondage under the elements of the world: 

[Spiritual forces]

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 
[Christ became subject to the Law]

To redeem them that were under 

the law, that we might 

receive the adoption of sons. 

[He did this by fulfilling the Law, but dying anyway. 

Therefore, the Law of God owes Christ the payment 

of LIFE. And, we are now IN Christ]

And because ye are sons,

 [Are now, not future] 

God hath sent forth the Spirit 

of his Son into your hearts,

 crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more 

 [the mankind thing is over, now.] 

a servant, but a son; and if a son, 

then an heir of God through Christ." 

  [As an heir of God, you are destined to become 

Elohim and legally, are considered one already. 

You are to inherit the universe.... ALL things.

Revelation 21:7:

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; 

and I will be his God, and he shall be my son."

As I said at the beginning of this post, it was in the early 1980's that I first looked into the "Mystery". As a member of the Worldwide Church of God, I was stuck somewhere between the fifth and sixth levels of spiritual maturity. Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong had pieced together an entirely unique covenant, taking pieces from Israel's Old covenant and Israel's New covenant.

In the latter part of the 1980's I was asked to be a speaker at Sabbath Services. Having been the president of the church's Spokesman's Club , I didn't refuse. Soon the church leadership stopped all other speakers except the local minister in the two-church area. 

For about two years, it was just the minister and me. In all that time, I did not try to injure anyone's spiritual growth by teaching anything contrary to the church's established statement of beliefs. However, while trying to stick to things we understood in common, I often spoke on things they had never heard of, and had no established doctrine on. The congregation hungered for such things. I know because they never failed to tell me after services were over.

I just couldn't understand why they stopped all other speakers, and put me before the congregations. It still baffles me.

One day I spoke on the throne of God .... where it is now, and what it would be like to go there and see it and the outlying topography of heaven. All these things are right there in everybody's bible. It wasn't like I was claiming some new revelation from God.

 It was at an annual Holy Day service with about 700 people in attendance from several surrounding states.

After the service was over, the minister in charge, pulled me aside, complimented me for doing what he had asked before the beginning of services. He had asked me to wake them up a little. It was rather warm in the building, and it looked like some might doze off.

I guess I woke them up. However, he also cautioned that I should try to adjust my speaking so it would not be quite so abstract in the future. He suggested that I gear my speaking so even the little ole grey-haired ladies in the audience could understand it.

As he walked away, Mrs. Pretorti (a little grey-haired lady in her 80's) stepped up to me and said, "I want to thank you Mr. Rockwell. That was the most exciting sermon I ever heard. I don't know why more sermons can't speak to those things. It has made me want to go back and study my bible like I did years ago."

The minister thought the things I spoke on went over the heads of those in the audience. We should never underestimate the minds of those we speak to. When we look down to others, it merely indicates that we think we are already above them.

My sermons must have shaken things somehow however, because at the subsequent Holy Day service I was asked to speak again. But this time, the local elder of a neighboring church introduced me as "a special guest speaker from headquarters in Pasadena .... Mr. Dennis Luker." It felt rather uncomfortable having to correct him as I arrived at the lectern.

In 1990 as I was slowly growing away from the sixth level of maturity, I found it necessary to separate from the Worldwide Church of God. Soon afterward, others left also. Now I had the intellectual freedom to study the Bible like I wanted to. But, as it would be, others began contacting me to see if we could get together on the "Sabbath."

The subject of the "Mystery" was put aside as I got swamped with setting up places where they could come for fellowship. They needed it. They didn't know where to go. Annual Feast sites were requested. Prayers for sickness, etc.

I began producing the weekly Voice From Afar radio broadcast on cassette tapes, and sometimes in person at the radio station. I had a mind full of things to say, but was too busy to study into the things that I wanted to.

As a few years went by, I did find some time to pursue certain things I wanted to in the bible. Eventually, I guess I must have matured spiritually to the point where I began to become uncomfortable with the observance of the Old Testament Holy Days. 

 Not that they were wrong in any way, but that they were for someone else. They were now an identifying sign of spiritual immaturity that I knew wasn't appropriate for my place in life.

In this whole walk toward spiritual maturity, I had never seen any of Ernest L. Martin's work. None. Then one day, I came across it on a computer search. I was absolutely dumbfounded. Here was a man who had left the SAME church 20 years before I did, for the same reasons I did ..... and he was teaching profound things about the MYSTERY of God!

But he was no ordinary man such as I. This man had been a Theology professor in the Worldwide Church of God's Ambassador College. I could write a whole paragraph on his credentials, but I won't. You can see for yourself by visiting the website that continues to carry on his work even though he died in January 2002.

Here is an encyclopedia article about Dr. Martin: Dr. Ernest L. Martin

Here is a link to the Bio of the man that is carrying on with the work God started through Dr. Martin: David Sielaff.

Here is a link to his website: ASSOCIATES FOR SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE

Now, the radio programs, the Sabbath meetings, Festival days are all history. I have never had so much freedom to study in all my life. It is wonderful. I decided to make this website just in case it might be what someone else out there is looking for. It may be helpful. I do not know if I agree with everything presented on the ASK website, but I'll bet the majority of it I do. Besides, time is the only thing that keeps me from disagreeing with myself, as it is for anyone who is growing as time goes by.

Initially, I planned on posting information on many different subjects of life besides the Bible. And, I still intend to. But, it may take a little longer, till I get this subject out.

Thanks for dropping by,

Ken Rockwell