By E.W. Bullinger
First Paper, Things to Come, Sept. 1895
There is no subject of greater importance to the Body of the Christ than that which, in the New Testament, is called "The Sacred Secret": but it is not every Christian who is in a position to receive it. Only those who have "believed Father," and who have thus been justified as Abraham was by faith in His Word concerning the redeeming blood; and who, in "the obedience of faith," reckon themselves to be dead and risen again in Him, filled with holy spirit and power and whose citizenship is now in heaven - only these are the fit recipients of the wondrous revelation of the "Great Sacred Secret of the Christ." This Age of the Sacred Secret in which we live is the fulcrum of God's Divine Plan; the Manifold Wisdom of God has been unveiled.
GENESIS 1:1 to REVELATIONS 22:21
A) The Primal Creation, the first heaven and the first earth (Gen. 1:1, II Pet. 3:6)
B) Satan's First Rebellion. (Gen. 1:2, Is. 45:18)
C) The Earth Restored & Blessed. (Gen. 1:2-2:25) The Present Heaven and Earth (II Pet. 3:7)
D) Satan enters and the Consequence. (Gen. 3)
E) Mankind dealt with as a Whole. (Gen. 4-11:30)
F) The Chosen Nation Called and Blessed. (Gen. 11-31-Malachi)
G) The Parousia of the Lord. (Rm. 15:8, The Four Gospels)
H) The Body of THE CHRIST taken out. (Seven Church Epistles)
H) The Body of THE CHRIST taken up. (I Thess. 4:13-5:11)
G) The Parousia of the Lord. (Revelations, The Day of God)
F) The Chosen Nation Recalled and Blessed. (Revelations, Daniel)
E) Mankind dealt with as a Whole. (Joel 3:2, Mt. 25:31-46)
D) Satan Bound and the Consequence. (Rev. 20:1-3)
C) The Earth Restored and Blessed. (Rev. 20:4-6)
B) Satan's Final Rebellion. (Rev. 20:7-10, Great White Throne)
A) The New Heaven and the New Earth. (Rev. 21 & 22, II Pet. 3:12-13)
Father's glad message concerning His Son Jesus the Christ had been promised through the Prophets in the Word of God, as we read in Rom. 1:1-3; but the Sacred Secret of the Body of the Christ had never been revealed, and did not therefore form the subject of Old Testament Prophecy. It was the subject of a special revelation to Apostles, and Prophets, and Saints through Paul, to whom and by whom this Sacred Secret was first announced in mortal ears. The Great Sacred Secret was communicated only to the Saints who had been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, who had been justified by faith, and sealed with the spirit of the promise the holy; only to those whom God, who is rich in mercy, was pleased to make know that which has hitherto been hidden in Himself, and was never previously revealed unto the sons of men.
When Christians left their first love in the earliest days of the history of Christendom, this precious revelation was apparently the first, to become became obscured and lost sight of. Then the true teaching concerning the holy spirit in the Assembly became less and less clear, especially while the simple foundation of the truth of justification on the principle of faith alone was also being departed from. These precious truths - by Father's long-suffering patience and mercy, have been partially recovered in these last days, out of the wonderful treasury of His Word, but never, perhaps, in their pristine freshness and clearness.
It is our objective now, in dependence on our Father's goodness, and reliance on holy spirit guidance, to do something to recover the blessed truth concerning the "Sacred Secret," and thus endeavor to be a "good scribe," bringing out of the Master's treasures something that is old but yet new, and new but yet old. It will be well at the outset to define our terms, and to have a clear understanding as to
THE MEANING OF MUSTERION
In the Greek, the word musterion means a religious or sacred secret. The Rotherham Bible has translated musterion, 'sacred secret,' in nearly all cases. It occurs in the Septuagint only nine times as the equivalent of the Hebrew word ratz, which means to conceal hence, a secret. It occurs in Dan. 2: 18, 19, 27, 28, 29, 30, 47 (twice), and in 4:9, and is translated secret. It was the king's sacred secret which had gone from king Nebuchadnezzar, and which no one could tell him, until God revealed it to Daniel...
Thus, it is perfectly clear and certain that the word musterion, as used in the Scripture, is a sacred secret. But by the end of the second century after Christ the word musterion had acquired an additional use. It was used not only of a sacred secret, but of a secret sign or symbol. In this sense the Greek fathers employed it to denote any such sign, whether of words or actions. They spoke of the offering of Isaac as a musterion, i.e., a sign or symbol of the secret purpose of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ.
And they used it interchangeably with the words tupos, type; sumbolon, symbol, and parabolee, parable. It has a sense, therefore, similar to these words.
Justin Martyr (A.D. 148) says that in all false religions the serpent was represented as "a great symbol and musterion" (Apol. i. 27). So in his reference to the Paschal Lamb, he says, "the musterion therefore of the Lamb... was a type of Christ." Speaking of Isaiah 7:14, "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son," he says, "since this refers to the house of David, Isaiah has explained how that which was spoken by God to David, in a Secret, would actually come to pass. Perhaps" he adds, "you are not aware, my friends, of this - that there were many sayings written obscurely; or in parables; for secret signs; or in symbols, which the prophets who lived after the persons who said or did them, expounded" (Trypho, c. 68).
Secret was practically synonymous with a symbol, and yet there was a slight difference. Perhaps a secret sign would best express it; and this was the usage of the word when the Revelation was given to John. Hence, in that book, we must give the word this signification. In Rev. 1:20, it is used of "the Sacred Secret of the seven stars," and in chap. 17:5, 7, it is used of "Babylon." So that in these things we are to see a secret sign of something which they were to represent.
It is remarkable also that soon after this we find the Latin version translating the word musterion (in Eph. 5:32) by the word sacramentum, i.e., sacrament. From this it is positive that at that time the word sacramentum or sacrament meant merely a secret sign or symbol! It had not then acquired its later theological use; but the word "sacrament" had reference merely to a symbol, or a symbolical act, a secret sign, showing forth the Lord's death.
The popular etymologies of the word are therefore all wrong and misleading. If the word (according to Tertullian) had any reference to a military oath, it was only because in the administration of that oath some secret sign was given or made which symbolically represented it. It is certain, therefore, that the modern and ecclesiastical use of the word "sacrament" is not only a gross misrepresentation of the truth, but it is founded on ignorance of the history of the word.
1) The Greek musteerion means a sacred secret; and later a secret sign or symbol.
2) The Latin sacramentum is used in the Vulgate as the equivalent of musteerion in Eph. 5:32, therefore sacramentum meant, and means, a secret sign or symbol.
This gives us the true meaning of the word as used by the Reformers in one of their prayers. When they say "these holy mysteries," they mean "the special commemoratives of bread and wine," i.e., these signs and symbols which are used to "show forth the Lord's death." Thus, in our search for truth, two great errors are, at the outset, corrected: -The true meaning of the word musterion in the Scriptures is not something that cannot be understood, but something kept secret - a secret sacred truth or sign, revealed to those who are initiated. And the theological word Sacrament is not some act of ecclesiastical jugglery, but a simple symbolical act, by which the Lord's people show forth their Lord's death. We are now prepared to apply the meaning of the word musterion, thus ascertained, to the various passages in the New Testament where it is used.
