What is the Secret of the Lord?

The Keys to Unlock the Mysteries of God

Fred R. Coulter—September 9, 2023

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What is the secret of God?

• What is the mystery of the Kingdom ?
• What is, on the other hand, the mystery of lawlessness?

All of those describe what's in the Bible!

We have to understand that the Protestants, the Catholics and the Jews all agree that the Old Testament is for the Jews and the Sabbath and Holy Days are just for the Jews. And the Jews don't believe, with the exception of very few, that there is any such thing as Jesus Christ.

• the Protestants believe in Jesus
• they profess Him
• they claim to worship and adore Him

But:

• Do they have the right Jesus?
• How do we know?
• What does the Bible tell us?

There are a lot of questions we need to answer.

We'll answer those, but first I want to cover a couple of other things that need to  be answered.

I think we have online, you can download a link to it and we'll have it up there by Monday, what I have in my hands. What we have online is Herbert W. Armstrong in his own words.

There are several Churches of God out there today who say, 'If there is anything different from Herbert Armstrong, what he taught, that's not correct.'

• Did he always teach the Truth?

or

• Did he mix in error with Truth and record it in his own words?
• What did he say in his own words to some of the religious leaders in Islamic countries? Allah and God are the same!

That is not true!

I have a whole article we're going to put up online you can download, which is that Allah was part of the Islamic pagan worship as the head god of the pagans long before Muhammad ever came. So here's a very thorough research paper. Remember, we are to prove all things! So, we'll take a look at that.

Now then, let's take a look at something else. I mentioned this last week and I'll mention it again. China is having a great deal of problems with their economy and there are a lot of leading financial advisors who are saying that the world is close to a recession.

Well, not only a recession, but here in America we're close to a lot of other things that we'll cover a little later. But let's ask the question:

• What is the secret of the Lord?
• How can we find it?
• Is it in the Bible?

if it is in the Bible

• How do we know that we should do it? A lot of people say we don't know, and they like to dismiss it!

Job 15[transcriber's correction]—Let's read something very interesting because this is how people think. Now, Job had his problems and his problem wasn't that he didn't understand the Laws of God, his problem was he thought that his righteousness was as good as God's!

That's why he went through the trial that he went through, and it was gruesome indeed! But if we go through the book of Job, we'll find out.

Job's three friends were there and they were having a conversation trying to figure out why Job, who was supposed to be really righteous—which he was—was having all these troubles in God, afflicting him. So, they were trying to weasel out of him what sins he was committing.

Job 15:1: "And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said [to Job], 'Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?…. [you have to have substance to what you're saying and doing] Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches, which can do no good?'" (vs 1-3). Isn't that the way a lot of it is today?

• listen to what goes on in the news
• listen to what goes on television
• look at what goes on the Internet
• look at what goes back and forth on the smart phones and social media

There it is right there!; "…speeches, which can do no good."

Verse 4: "Yea, you do away with fear, and hinder prayer before God." He was right! Job didn't fear God; he trusted in himself!

Verse 5: "For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; yea, your own lips testify against you. Were you the first man born?…. [that's quite a question to him; this is pretty tough talk] …Or were you made before the hills? Have you heard the secret counsel of God?…. [he didn't] …And do you limit wisdom to yourself?" (vs 5-8). That's what you do when you don't acknowledge God!

Let's begin to answer the questions:

• What is the secret of the Lord?
• How do you understand it?

It is in the Bible!

A lot of people think the Bible is full of lies, because when they read it, they can't understand it. So, we'll look at some of the keys on how you understand it. You can tie this all the way back to Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil!

The mystery of lawlessness pervades the world, and it is carried on by the Jews, the Protestants and the Catholics.

The Jews say you don't need the New Testament, 'we don't believe in Christ.' The Protestants say 'we don't need the Old Testament, because the Jews do that, and we don't need to keep the days of the Jews.' But they don't understand that they're part of the mystery of lawlessness!

2-Thessalonians 2:7: "For the mystery of lawlessness is already working…"—constantly in the world!

Confusion, wars, killings, robberies, all of the things that are going wrong in the world and everything that's going wrong in America!

"…only there is One Who is restraining at the present time until it arises out of the midst" ( v 7).

That's the end result of the complete fulfillment of the mystery of lawlessness, which will come in the book of Revelation. Not only does Satan deceive the whole world, but the world will be worshipping Satan the devil, and worshipping the coming one world leader. It will come!

Verse 8: "And then the lawless one will be revealed… [notice this is right at the end-time] …(whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming)."

Notice who is behind the mystery of lawlessness and always comes and says:

I have something new. I have something special. You need this. Try it, you'll like it.'

That goes all the way back to Gen. 3!

Verse 9: "Even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan…"

Isn't that what Lyall was talking about the inner workings of God, and here's an inner working of Satan!

"…with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because… [there's always a cause] …they did not receive the love of the Truth…" (vs 9-10). That's the first key!

• How do you understand the mystery of God. the secret? Mystery means secret!
• How can it be secret when it's published in the Bible and available to everyone?
• How does that work? We will see!

"…they did not receive the love of the Truth so that they might be saved" (v 10)

Here's what happens, and it goes right back to what we know as God has given Adam and Eve and all of those before the Flood. God gave [the Law] to Israel, after He called them out of Egypt, and He set before them life and death, blessing and cursing! He said, 'Choose life that you may live.'

What happens if you don't choose it? Before you understand the secret of God, the simple things are given by God for you to start to understand Him! Then everyone has to choose what are they going to do.

 "…the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness…" (vs 9-10).

2 Cor. 4 says that Satan is the one who deceives! Now, on the other hand, for those whom God is dealing with, they have to answer the call, because many are called and few are chosen!

Why are few chosen? Because few repent to acknowledge the Truth and want the Truth and love the truth!

If you don't love the Truth, you're going to be confronted with a lot of deception, which will look really good. But, as we're seeing today, look at all of the evil that it brings later on! How is God dealing with people:

• those in the world
• those whom He has called
• those that have been called and chosen

The call goes out to many, but few are chosen: the called, the chosen, and the faithful! How many are in that category?

Verse 11: "And for this cause… [that's getting into all deceivableness] …God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie."

The lie is that the coming great man on the earth will be accepted as the Messiah to solve the problems of the world! Everyone will think this is great. So, let's understand: How do we understand the secret of the Lord?

Psa. 25 tells us that:

• God is the One Who has to teach us.
• God is the One Who has to reveal these things to us.

We don't come by it because:

• we think
• we use the logic of philosophy

Notice the attitude, and this tells us then how we begin to understand the secret of the Lord!

Psalm 25:1 "To You, O LORD, do I lift up my soul…. [between you and God directly] …O my God, I trust in You…" (vs 1-2).

• you must believe God
• you must obey God
• you must love God

You must believe, obey, love

• with that comes trust

"…do not let me be ashamed, let not my enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none who wait on You be ashamed…" (vs 2-3).

God wants us all close to Him, and there's a secret of doing that, which we are right in the middle of doing now, which is the Sabbath Day.

"…let them be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause. Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths" (vs 3-4).

• you're relying on God
• you're relying on His Word
• you're relying on His Laws
• you're relying on His Commandments
• you're relying on His Spirit

Verse 5: "Lead me in Your Truth and teach me…"

The first great key in understanding the secret of God is the Sabbath!The Sabbath Day is the first great key. That's not a finish; that is a start!

Verse 4: Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your Truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You do I wait all the day long. Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindness, for they have been of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your loving kindness remember me for Your goodness sake, O LORD. Good and upright is the LORD…" (vs 4-8).

Now I'm reading this so you can understand what kind of attitude we need to have toward God to understand the secret of the Lord.

"…therefore, He will teach sinners His way" (v 8).

Verse 14: "The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him…" What does fearing God mean? It means:

• to believe Him
• to obey Him
• to love Him

So, if you want to know the secret of the Lord… Everybody likes secrets and everybody likes mysteries, but they don't like the secret and mystery of God because it requires of them things that they don't like to do. We'll see:

• that God has to reveal it
• how He will reveal it
• why that is so important

Let's continue on with the mystery of lawlessness vs

• the mystery of God
• the mystery of righteousness
• the mystery of prophecy

Because God says He knows the beginning from the end and the first from the last, so He knows everything, but He didn't reveal it all in one place, nor at one time. So that's something we need to understand. God must reveal to His servants to have them write it down. What He wants made known. Now, a lot of things in the past were hidden without being known, but when you come to the time of Christ, things began to be made known.

Then later we will see what is called the mystery of God and Christ, what God is doing, even though the world doesn't see it, doesn't know it, doesn't understand it, because they are under the mystery of lawlessness,  though they think that it's righteousness.

So, let's look at the mystery of prophecy here. It starts right out in Dan, 2, the dream with Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was the one who was given the understanding of the secret of the image and the meaning of it! And remember Nebuchadnezzar pulled one on all of his religious leaders and séances and astrologers when he called Daniel in and said:

I had a dream, and I want you to tell me what the dream is and the meaning of the dream. If you don't, your head's gonna roll.

So, God revealed it to Daniel:

Daniel 2:17: Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah… [Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego] …his companions, that they might pray for the mercies of God in heaven concerning this secret, that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel…" (vs 17-19).

• God reveals by direct revelation with His Spirit
• God reveals by His Word.

Let's understand what His Word is. What did Jesus say? His words were Spirit and Life. In other words, the way you understand it is with spiritual understanding that comes from God and through His Word.

Verse 19: "Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. And Daniel blessed the God of heaven.: Daniel answered and said, 'Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding" (vs 19-21).

Notice all of that God does. What does this tell us? God is fully in charge of everything on the earth, even though Satan has permission to do what he's going to do, but he can't do any more than what God tells him to do. We find that in the book of Job.

Verse 22: "He reveals the deep and secret things…"

He did not reveal all of them in the Old Testament, and he didn't reveal some of them in the New Testament because you have to put the Old and New Testament together so you get the full picture.

"…He knows what is in the darkness, and the Light dwells with Him" (v 22). Then Daniel was brought to the king!

Verse 24: "Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had chosen to destroy the wise men of Babylon…."

Verse 26: "The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar,… [his Babylonian name] …'Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?'" Are you going to tell me both? Notice Daniel's answer:

Verse 27: "Daniel answered before the king and said, 'The secret which the king has demanded cannot be shown to the king by the wise men, the enchanters, the astrologers or the magicians…"

• you can't rely on human understanding
• you can't rely on philosophies and degrees of intellectuals

Verse 28: "But there is a God in heaven Who reveals secrets and makes known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days…."

What we understand today is not understood until after Christ came and after the apostles had written what they had written and after the canonization was done and coming to the last days.

"…Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed are these" (v 28). Then Daniel explained the whole thing to the king.

That brings down the whole history of mankind down to the end-time. Daniel was told what's going to happen at the end-time. A lot of these things, though they're described here through the book of Daniel God made known that the end of man's rule is going to come when God Himself comes to the earth—that is Jesus Christ—and destroys all the kingdoms of this world under men!

Here's a projection forward to the first resurrection—Dan. 12. There's only one place in the entire Bible, which a lot of people don't believe, that tells us that there's more than one resurrection. One phrase in one verse in Rev. 20—the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years are finished!

That one phrase is a secret of God that we understand! But the world doesn't understand it. Why? Because:

• they don't believe God
• they don't obey God
• they do not love God

Daniel 12:2: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life… [eternal life] …and some to shame and everlasting contempt…. [the second death] …And they who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever" (vs 2-3).

That's a projection of the whole purpose of the Gospel, the coming of Christ, the gift of eternal life and how God is going to do that! Then Daniel describes the end-time:

Verse 4: "But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.'

Does that not tell us what it is today? Yes, indeed! Go to a shopping mall anywhere and look at all the cars. Not only here, but everywhere around the world. Look at all the airlines, all the planes, trains, motorcycles, bicycles, whatever you have. Everybody is going somewhere doing something. Even here in Hollister we're getting so we have traffic jams!

• Is that Scripture true that it happened today?
• Is it occurring now?
• Is God's Word reliable?

If you've never heard that before, you better believe it so you can start to understand!

After being given all of these revelations and prophecies that Daniel has written down, and even coming to Dan. 9, which brings us to the second coming of Christ, he didn't understand it.

He was given certain details of it, kind of like a giant puzzle. You get certain parts and then you can get some of the organized and you can see kind of a picture with that part of it, but here are all the other pieces that need to be put together with it. But it's not time to put it together. So, here's what God told Daniel.

Verse 8: "And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, 'O my lord, what shall be the end of these things?'"

God didn't tell Daniel anything more about understanding the prophecies that he was given that he wrote down.

Verse 9: "And he [the angel Gabriel] said, 'Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.'"

• Why? Because they are a mystery! They are a secret of God!
• Why? Because men reject God!

When they reject any part of God, they cut themselves off!

Verse 10: "Many shall be purified, and made white and refined. But the wicked shall do wickedly…"

• Is that happening today?
• Do we see it today?
• Yes!

"…and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand" (v 10).

• Why will the wise understand?
• Who are the wise?

The wise ones are those who:

• believe God
• obey God
• love God

The wise shall understand! We have to have a lot of things come into place in order to understand.

Let's do a quick summary of the Sabbath and Holy Days, because these all come into play.

Sabbath is the key from creation all the way through the Bible! What does it picture? We will see that every one of the Holy Days and Feasts of God picture major things that take place. Sabbath is so we can all:

• learn of God
• be taught of God
• understand His Word
• receive His Spirit
• grow in grace and knowledge

The Sabbath puts us in contact with God!

We need the Sabbath every week because six days of not having the Sabbath leavens us with the need to have the Sabbath to rest and understand the Word of God. So, the Sabbath is key!

Let's look at the key without the lock. You know Lev. 23, we've all been them many times! What does it tell us? We will just read the first couple of verses so we understand how important that the Sabbath is. We're going to come to Lev. 23 all during the next few weeks because we have:

• Trumpets
• Atonement
• Tabernacles
• Last Great Day

coming up! They're some of the most important Feasts describing what God is going to do to complete His Plan.

Lev. 23—this is a key, but you have to have the lock in order to put the key in it to understand it.

Leviticus 23:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD…"'" (vs 1-2). This tells us that these are owned by God!

Project forward just a little bit concerning the Sabbath.

"…which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations…" (v 2).

We must come together, or if alone together with Christ and the Father on the Sabbath. He says:

"…even these are My appointed Feasts" (v 2)—or times!

So, the Sabbath sanctifies all the Holy Days! Does the Sabbath commemorate a very important event? Yes! The creation of the world and everything in it! That's why it says to remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it Holy!

In six days the LORD created everything that there is, so we remember that God is Creator! We're not by ourselves, unto ourselves and for ourselves! God made us! That's the first step,

"…which you shall proclaim…" (v 2).

Passover

Does that picture major events in history? Yes! It pictures:

• the covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15).
• the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt, out from all the gods and sins of Egypt

Then what follow right after that:

Feast of Unleavened Bread

God took something very simple to teach us lesson: a little leaven leavens the whole lump! In the New Testament we're told that Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us! Then we find other things about that: His blood is shed for all sin for all who repent!

Is that a major of event, the death of Christ? That's the whole focal thing that started right there in Gen. 3 after Adam and Eve sinned and the promise of a Messiah, all the way down through history until He came, and He had to come as a man!

We have two Holy Days with that:

• They crossed the Red Sea! Was that a big event? Yes!
• They entered into the 'promised land'! Is that a big event? Yes!

Pentecost

They're all there at Mt. Sinai, gathered around Mt. Sinai. God spoke the Ten Commandments to them!

Is that big event? Yes! So big that it's the whole fabric of the Bible. Most people don't know it, but the promises that God has given—and God cannot lie—were given to Abraham (Gen. 15) and all the rest of the Bible is an expansion on God's Plan and what He is doing clear to we come to Rev. 22.

Trumpets

We're coming up on that day! That is a war Feast! We're going to find out how great that's going to be. It's not what the people in the world are going to imagine. It's not going to be what they think. It's not going to be what the Protestants think! Very few. If any, understand it. These are all the keys!

Atonement

Atonement tells us what God is going to do with sin, what God is going to do with people who didn't 'sin a sin unto death.' But Christ was never there, because did not come until 4,000 years after creation. How is God going to apply the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to them?

• Protestantism doesn't know
• Judaism doesn't know
• none of the religions of the world know

Because it's a secret in the Bible, contained in the Bible so that we understand!

Tabernacles and the Last Great Day

That's quite a thing! Everything in the New Testament is a revelation of God, but it is also a mystery of God. Let's see this concerning the Sabbath Day in the New Testament.

Jesus said that He was Lord of the Sabbath Day! Does that not agree with Lev. 23:1-2 that we read? Yes! Jesus was the One Who was the Lord God of the Old Testament Who became Jesus Christ. He said that He was the Lord of the Sabbath and it's put in the possessive tense! He owns it!

Now that we have described all of the Feasts and Holy Days of God as being keys to understanding, let's look at the Mystery of Lawlessness and do a comparison.

The Mystery of Rightness is:

• Sabbath
• Passover
• Unleavened Bread
• Pentecost
• Trumpets
• Atonement
• Tabernacles
• Last Great Day

What is the Mystery of Lawlessness?

• Sunday
• Friday
• or any other day
• rejection of Christ
• holidays of the world

right after we get done with the Feast of Tabernacles guess what comes in a couple of weeks:

• the death celebration of Satan the devil: Halloween

• Are they deceived?
• Have they received the love of the Truth? No!

The Truth is the Word of God!

They like to come and pick out this verse and that verse, but they can't put it together because they're missing the first basic thing that is necessary, and that begins with the Sabbath. Then right after that all of the Holy Days.

That ties in all in with Christ, His birth, His death, His resurrection, the whole Plan of God! But you can't come to understand that, it must be given!

Matt. 13—here's something for you to understand and realize.

• we are not here because we are better than anybody else in the world
• we're not here because we're smarter than anybody else in the world
• we're not here because we understand things better than anybody else in the world

Because whatever we have has been given to us! Let's read what Jesus said:

Matthew 13:10: "And His disciples came to Him and asked, 'Why do You speak to them in parables?'"

Notice what His answer was; can the people in the world take this? Try this: go anywhere and say to whatever community it is, however large or small,

We're going to close down everything from Friday night sundown to Saturday night sundown. Everybody will gather together in whatever assemblies you can gather together, and you're going to hear the Word of God preached to you; you're going to obey God. You are not going to work on Saturday, you are not going to have sports on Friday night,

You will be killed!

We understand these things, not because were great, it's because God is great, because God is true! We've been called to be a part of it.

Notice what He says to the people in the world; they think they're right. There's a book out there titled Hi, I'm a An Atheist! by David Mcaffe. Let's see how it ends.

Verse 11: "And He answered and said to them, 'Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries… [plural, the secrets] …of the Kingdom of Heaven…"

What knowledge we have has been given to us,to the people of God!

One thing we've tried to do is to get it all written down! Once again, let me urge everyone of you to get all of the major books and booklets that we have. Don't depend on the Internet. One EMP can wipe out everything everywhere on every smart phone and computer, and digital device. But it can't affect the printed word! You need the printed word to study, to learn!

It has been given to you, "…but to them it has not been given to them" (v 11). Think about that!

Here's another principle, and this principle is: grow in grace and knowledge!

Verse 12: "For whoever has understanding, to him more shall be given… [so understand will increase and increase] …and he shall have an abundance, but whoever does not have understanding, even what he has shall be taken away from him."

That's why people will ridicule what you do and He says, v 13: "For this reason I speak to them in parables…"

Let's see that the understanding of God's Plan and the Kingdom of God, becoming the sons and daughters of God and eternal life through the first resurrection was completed through the writings of the apostles.

• anyone who rejects the New Testament cannot understand
• anyone who rejects the Old Testament cannot understand

Let's see what Paul says. Did Paul write anything down that was His own opinion? A couple of things, but he lets you know that it was his opinion!

Ephesians 3:1: "For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the ministry of the grace of God that was given to me for you; how He made known to me by revelation…: (vs 1-3).

Remember Dan. 2, God has revealed… God revealed to the prophets, God revealed to the apostles and prophets in the New Testament.

Verse 3: "How He made known to me by revelation the mystery…"—the secret of God!

Stop and think about this: How important are we to God? All the brethren of God, how important are we? We're the most important people in the world to God, because He's given us:

• His Word
• His Spirit
• His understanding

• Isn't that something?
• Where is the burden? There is none!
• Where is the hardship? Those will come along!

"…(even as I wrote briefly before, so that when you read this, you will be able to comprehend my understanding in the mystery of Christ)" (vs 3-4).

Notice the next statement because God doesn't reveal everything all at once?

Verse 5: "Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men…"

They're alluded to in Isaiah, Daniel and other of the Prophets, but not really made known because Christ had to come first!

"…as it has now been revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit" (v 5).

Let's see how God it:

• with His Word
• with His Spirit
• when we yield to Him
• when we believe God
• when we obey God
• when we love God

All of those things are there! That's how you understand the secret. The secret doesn't come because you're smart. Think about what I've said here and present it to a whole room full of PhDs and some have as many as three PhDs; let's see what they understand of it!

There's the wisdom of God, which is the Truth of God, and there's the wisdom of this world, which comes from Satan the devil.

1-Corinthians 2:7: "Rather, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery…"

A mystery to them; not in the Church, but to people in the world. Where was Paul when he wrote 1-Cor.? This was after he was in Athens. What did he do? He spoke to all of the philosophers! The great minds of the Greeks! He told them:

You're kind of ignorant because you put up a memorial to The Unknown God. You don't even know Him!

Paul took advantage of that and said, 'I'm going to tell you about that Unknown God.

"…even the hidden wisdom that God foreordained before the ages unto our glory" (v 7).

Yes, God had the plan all worked out before, but He revealed it in stages.

Verse 8: "Which not one of the rulers of this world has known…"

None of them, not even Nebuchadnezzar. Remember what happened to him, even after Daniel told him what the dream, vision and fulfillment of it was? Then in Dan. 4 he got all lifted up in his vanity and said how great he was. God had to strike him down and have him eat grass like cattle for seven years to teach him a lesson: you don't thumb your nose at the power of God!

"…(for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory); but according as it is written…" (vs 8-9).

This all tells us exactly what we need to know: Everything comes from God, everything in our lives comes from God:

• all the physical
• all the spiritual
• all the understanding

comes from God!

"…'The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him'" (v 9). There it is, right there!

That's why we do what we do! We do it willingly, lovingly, crying out to God to help us to understand! How much do we really know? Even all of the things we do know, what's that going to be compared to what it's going to be like to be a spirit being and be in the Kingdom of God and be a son or daughter of God? What is that going to be like?

Verse 10: "But God has revealed them…"

Just exactly has Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar; God must reveal it! So it works this way:

God sends out the call. When you respond to the call then God begins to deal with you. If you don't respond to the call, you're on your own. You're back in the mystery of lawlessness of this world!

Then we have to come to God His way and be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit of God, etc.

"…God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—eventhe deep things of God" (v 10).

To put it in a vernacular term, everything that God has caused us to know about His Word and His Plan—the Sabbath and Holy Days, and everything about God—is all contained in the greatest book in the world, the Holy Bible, translated into over 3300 different languages so that no one would be able to say, 'God, You never let me know.'

God will say, 'I sent it to you in your own language.' Oh, You mean that Bible? 'Yes. Did you read it?' No! 'That's your answer!'

• you didn't believe Me
• you didn't obey Me
• you didn't love Me

Then Paul shows that it's impossible for human knowledge to dome to the understanding of God's Truth and knowledge. They can come part way with some things, but that's it.

Verse 11: "For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man, which is in him? In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God."

That's how it comes! That's a tremendous thing! We will find out about that this coming Sabbath, because I'm going to talk about the invasion by aliens from outer space. The world is wondering all about that. We'll show what the Bible shows about invasion of aliens from outer space. The Bible answer is absolutely amazing, and that's what Feast of Trumpets pictures!

Verse 12: "Now, we have not received the spirit of the world…"

Where does the spirit of the world come from? The spirit of lawlessness, which comes from Satan the devil, the spirit of the world!

"…but the Spirit that is of God, so that we might know…" (v 12).

How great is the knowledge of God, how great is it to know that the very key and lock to understanding the things of God come from the Sabbath, the Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, Last Great Day. That fills the Bible with the knowledge of God, scattered a little here, a little there, some had to understand, some easy to understand, and all put together!

But without that framework of the mystery of God understood—through the knowledge of His Word and Spirit and living in the end-times…

When the apostles first started, they thought that Christ was going to come in their time! You can read about that in 1-Cor. They were expecting Christ to return. Think about what happened to the whole Church when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70A.D. and Jesus didn't come!

Talk about a test of your faith! Think about that, and Satan was right there right at that time to begin to cast doubts in the minds of those who believed in Christ saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?' that's why we have the book of Revelation, which answers that question. This is how important everything is.

Verse 13: "Which things we also speak, not in Words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit in order to communicate spiritual things by spiritual means. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (vs 13-15).

That's what would happen. Just as brought out, if you claim the Sabbath from Friday night to Saturday night and all stores and businesses shut down, no games:

• Where would the college sports be?
• Where would the sales be?
• How can we make money without Saturday sales?

You can hear it, because they're all carnal-minded! They wouldn't be able to understand that. This is why it has to be revealed!

Ephesians 3:5: "Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit"

Paul wrote this when he was in prison in Rome in 60A.D. Ten years before the destruction of the temple.

Verse 6: "That the Gentiles might be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel," Then Paul says that he's the least of anything!

• God's Plan is going to be glorious
• God's Plan is going to be fulfilled

Let's see the thing that is important for us to understand today, and to look forward to. One of the great keys in understanding what God is doing is when the first resurrection takes place.

At this point, Paul did not understand anything more than the first resurrection. None of the other apostles understood about a second resurrection until John wrote the book of Revelation. That shows you the understanding that we have today.

1-Corinthians 15:42: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption." That's true, everyone dies!

Verse 43: "It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power."

So, he understood that!He could put that together that we're going to be glorified as the sons and daughters of God.

Verse 44: "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body…." What's that going to be like?

Sidebar: what bout the wedding feast of the Lamb? What are we going to eat as spirit beings? What's that going to be like? We don't know, but the best way to find out is to make sure you're there!

"…There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body; accordingly, it is written, 'The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became an ever-living Spirit.' However, the spiritual was not first, but the natural—then the spiritual. The first man is of the earth—made of dust. The second Man is the Lord from heaven. As is the one made of dust, so also are all those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly One, so also are all those who are heavenly" (vs 44-48).

We're going to be like Christ. Remember the vision of Transfiguration when Jesus took Peter, James and John to the top of the mountain and was transfigured before them in vision? That's what we're going to look like! That's a spiritual body. Here's a guarantee: the very fact that you have body, a mind and have God's Spirit is a guarantee that you will be there in the first resurrection; IF you're faithful to the end!

Verse 49: "And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly One. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery… [the secret of God understood] …we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (vs 49-52).

What is that going to be like? That's the mystery of God!

Let's look forward to all the coming Holy Days of God, and let's have the kind of love, fellowship, togetherness that we need. Since many of us are scattered this gives us the opportunity to get together, and let's keep our mind focused on the overall goal of the mystery or secret of God!

Scriptural References:

• Job 15:1-8
• 2 Thessalonians 2:7-10, 9-10
• Psalm 25;1-5, 4-8, 14
• Daniel 2:17-22, 24, 26-28
• Daniel 12:2-4, 8-10
• Leviticus 23:1-2
• Matthew 13:10-13
• Ephesians 3:1-5
• 1 Corinthians 2:7-14
• Ephesians 3:5-6
• 1 Corinthians 15:42-52

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Genesis 3
• 2-Corinthians 4
• Revelation 20
• Daniel 9
• Genesis 15
• Revelation 22
• Daniel 4

Also referenced: Video: {truthofGod.org}
Herbert W. Armstrong in his own words

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 9/13/23

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