The Mystery of the Unseen
By John Orr
The Mystery of the Unseen.
“WHO hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things; to whom be glory forever.” Rom. 11:34-36. This question is suggestive of the entire exclusiveness of the Eternal Mind, and is fully corroborated by the answer that all things are of Him, and through Him, and to Him. Whatever was originally, was of God, and came through Him, and belongs to Him, the depth of whose riches, both of wisdom and knowledge, has made His judgments, or operations of mind, unsearchable, and His ways past finding out. Not even the forces of nature, which are in active but silent operation in the sight of all creation, can be traced to their source, so sacredly is it guarded against the intrusion of inquisitive minds. That some secret spring of intelligence lies back of these forces to regulate their every movement, is clearly seen in the regularity and precision of the changes they undergo. The daily revolutions of the earth, which so uniformly separate light from darkness; its annual motions, producing the varied seasons; the ability of its inhabitants to communicate thought, in order to concert of action—all these are voices distinctly declaring that some wonderful purpose was in mind in the creation of these things. But what was the purpose? Why is the knowledge of that purpose hidden from men? Will it ever be understood? If so, when and how? These questions have been propounded by the sages of many generations. Logical deductions and scientific calculations have been employed to solve the problem; but these have invariably broken down before penetrating the veil of mystery, for the reason that the human mind can not grasp the scope of infinite plans, and hence utterly fails to reach their termination. But this condition of things is no fault of the Creator. He created man in His own image, according to His own likeness. Gen. 1:26. This was to endow man with ability to comprehend, and power of decision to obey the forms of sovereignty under which he was to live. To do this, he must have been made capable of discerning the minutest particulars of divine government. Without this, he could not have been qualified fully to understand the will of God; and, in case of failure to carry out any part of the divine mind, he could have charged the lack to having been created unequal to the demands made upon him. This would have thrown the responsibility of wrongdoing back upon the Creator, instead of its resting upon the creature. This, of course, can not be admitted for a moment, considering the established character of God’s goodness as expressed in His Word and discovered in all His works. Had man maintained the integrity first bestowed upon him, he would have continued in the likeness of God, and so have retained his connection with divine intelligence. But in submitting to follow the suggestions of one whose mind was opposed to the decrees of Heaven, the human mind was corrupted from its original simplicity, and became confused, so that it was unable to distinguish the promptings of the Eternal Mind. In this first adverse act, man transferred his allegiance from God to Satan, and so alienated himself from the life of God, the only source of divine knowledge. The mind which had been lighted by the life of God (John 1:4) was consequently filled with darkness, and so ignorance of heavenly things reigned within (Eph. 4:18). Left in this abject condition by his own folly, man could but blindly follow the dictates of his captor, and so entail on his posterity a perpetual servitude under the “power of darkness.” Col. 1:13. This was indeed a sad plight. Cut off from the life of Jehovah, the only source of light to man, the mind of God could not be understood, even though it were expressed in words, because the full meaning of those words could not be comprehended by a mind darkened by sin. Whatever the violated law of righteousness might have once been qualified to do for man, it was now powerless to reveal Him of whose mind it was a perfect transcript. The physical eyes of man had never, from the remotest time, caught a glimpse of Jehovah. John 1:18. Yet in order that the blind, destitute race of humanity might be privileged to know Him, and something of the trend of His mind, a plan was arranged by which He might connect with man, and thus reveal Himself. So what the law, in all its righteousness, was powerless to do for the darkened mind of man, God accomplished by sending His own Son among men, “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” Rom. 8:3. The Divine thus clothed in humanity was to come in contact with the sightless sinner, and through His fleshly covering, not only to draw man toward heaven, but also to open his eyes, that he might have light for darkness, and so be able to understand the goodness of God and the glory of His kingdom. Acts 26:18. Living thus in flesh, Christ not only revealed the mind and character of the Unseen, but also the divine nature which the life of God imparts to all flesh that becomes allied to Him. 2 Peter 1:4. “In Him was life,” and that life, brought to earth, was to become the light of men, where darkness had before reigned supreme. John 1:4. Like men born of a woman, Christ lived as a man among men. He suffered hunger. Matt. 4:2. He was a homeless stranger. Matt. 8:20. He knew sorrow and grief. Isa. 53:3. He wept in sympathy for others. John 11:33-35. He was tempted on every hand. Heb. 2:16-18; 4:15. In all things He was made like those He came to rescue, in order that, having reached to the depths of human wo, and touched the spring of man’s degradation, He might be able to succor those struggling in the anguish of temptation. To the uninitiated this is a profound mystery. Those, however, who have accepted heaven’s Gift, are made to know by the impulse of His imparted life somewhat of the results of His mystic operations, tho not perceiving just how that work is done. But as, without knowing its source or destiny, one feels the pleasant, cooling breeze of a summer’s evening gently fanning his cheek, so this heavenly Messenger enters the fallen human to quicken and enlighten, without revealing whence He came or whither He goes. John 3:8. This thought is very clearly expressed in the words of the apostle, as rendered by Dr. Robert Young: “And confessedly great is the secret of piety: God was manifest in flesh, declared righteous in spirit, seen by messengers, preached among nations, believed on in the world, taken up into glory.” 1 Tim. 3:16. All this makes up the great secret of piety, or godliness. As God was in Christ, so, through the reception of Christ, in whom God dwells, He must be in human flesh. When both the Father and the Son thus dwell in a human heart (John 14:23), that person is pronounced righteous in spirit, because the occupants of his heart are really so, which is an assurance that in due time he will be received up into the fuller light of heaven’s glory. In this way is the mystery of the Unseen unfolded in each member of a sinful, degraded race, for their final uplifting to a place in the presence of the Most High.