There are several sacred secrets, which are there spoken of; and there is one that is called the "great sacred secret." They are all of them connected with the present interval between the first and second Advent of the Lord Jesus. That there was to be an interval at all between "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow" (Luke 24:26) was not revealed in the Old Testament.
The "sufferings" themselves were not secret; neither was the "glory that should follow." Both were subjects of Old Testament prophecy. Both are there fully and plainly revealed. And what is very remarkable about those prophecies is this, that while we have many prophecies of the glory without any reference to the sufferings; we never have a prophecy of the sufferings without finding, in the immediate context, a reference to the coming glory.
The prophets who prophesied, and all who heard or read their words, were perfectly well acquainted with these two great facts; but they were wholly ignorant as to what interval, if any, should separate them. They knew not whether the "glory" would follow immediately upon the "sufferings" or whether there would be an interval of one year, or then years, or a hundred, or a thousand years between them. There was nothing to tell them. Hence, they were doubtless perplexed. We are, indeed, told by God (1 Pet. 1:10-11) that they "enquired and searched diligently as to what, or what manner of time, the spirit which was in them did signify of Christ, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow." But there was nothing that could throw any light on the "manner of time" which should elapse, between the sufferings and the glory. It was clear that they could not be simultaneous. But "what manner of time" could there be between them?
One-way out of the difficulty was to suggest that there would be two messiahs: One, Messiah-ben-Joseph, who would suffer; and another, Messiah-ben-David, who should have the glory. Some think that the question of John the Immerser, in Matt. 11:3, referred to this ancient tradition when he sent two of his disciples to ask, "Art thou He that should come, or look we for another?"
No one could find out "what, or what manner of time" should elapse between "the sufferings and the glory." It was past finding out. There were riches, which could be explored. Many promises and prophecies connected with Christ could be understood, searched out, traced, and enjoyed by the faithful. The prophets conveyed their readers from hill-top to hill-top, but the valley that lay between could not be explored. Its mines of wealth could not be discovered. Its riches could not be searched. We, who by grace, have been initiated into the great sacred secret, and who have the key to unlock those treasures, can know something about these riches of (or pertaining to) the Christ; but there were other riches connected with Christ that were untraceable - past finding out. Connected with this secret of the present interval, and, indeed, forming part of it, there were, as we have said, several other sacred secrets:
THE DURATION OF ISRAEL'S BLINDNESS (Rom. 11:25)
That blindness was to happen to Israel was no secret. It was plainly revealed in the Old Testament. In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah had a glorious vision of Israel's King preparatory to the solemn mission which he received :
Go and say unto this people,Hear on, but do not discern, See on, but do not perceive: Stupefy thou the heart of this people, And, their ears, make thou heavy, And, their eyes, overspread, Lest they see with their eyes, And, with their ears, should hear, And, their heart, should discern and come back. And they be healed. Then said I--How long, My Lord? (Isaiah 6: 9-11)
"How long?" Yes, that was the great and anxious question of Isaiah. The prophet "searched and inquired diligently as to what manner of time" was signified. "How long?" he asked, shall this blindness happen to Israel? That decree of judicial blindness was pronounced under most impressive circumstances. There was everything, which could add solemnity and importance to the occasion. And when we come to the New Testament we find the prophecy three times referred to: Matthew 13:14 (the prophetic Word of God), 15; John 12:40 (Isaiah saw Christ's glory); and Acts 28:26 ("well spoke the Holy Spirit, by Isaiah").
Israel's blindness itself was the subject of special revelation, and was no secret. It was there revealed that it was to last as long as the land remained desolate. But there was one thing connected with it which was kept secret, and that was afterwards revealed in Rom. 11:25, where, speaking of this blindness, it is written, "For I wish not, ye should be ignorant, brethren, of this sacred secret, lest within yourselves ye be presumptuous, that, a hardening in part, hath befallen Israel, until, the full measure of the nations, shall come in." Here the sacred secret was revealed, and the answer is at length given to the question "How long?" We are no longer "ignorant" as to the duration of this "blindness in part"; we know its decree was announced, and we know when it will come to an end.
"THE SACRED SECRETS OF THE KINGDOM" (Matt. 13:11, 35)
It was no secret that the kingdom, so long prophesied, should be rejected; that the King should not be received; that Messiah should be "cut off," and not then receive the kingdom. All this was a plain matter of Divine revelation. Many prophecies declare this. But what was to happen to the kingdom during the rejection of the King was not revealed; this was kept secret. There can be no kingdom without a king, therefore, while he is away, the kingdom must be in abeyance. In the Old Testament we have the kingdom prophesied. In the Gospels and Acts we have the kingdom rejected. In the Epistles we have the interval between this rejection, and the future setting up of the kingdom in Divine power, judgment, and glory, which is foreshown in the Apocalypse.
In these Epistles we have the interval, but chiefly in its relation to the Church. We do not learn in them what was to happen to the kingdom; the sacred secrets concerning this are not there revealed. It is in Matt. 13 that the Lord Jesus, in seven parables, describes the course of the kingdom from the first sowing of its seed by the Son of Man, to the final setting up of the throne of His glory; and this without any reference whatever to the Assembly of God. The Assembly of God, as we shall presently see, is not the subject of these parables, being itself another sacred secret, emphatically called "the great sacred secret." These parables concern the kingdom, and we are clearly told why they were spoken, and what was their subject as well as their object.
In verse 10, the disciples came and said unto Him, "Wherefore, in parables, art thou speaking to them?"
He answered and said unto them, "Because, unto you, hath it been given, to get to know the sacred secrets of the kingdom of the heavens,--whereas, unto them, hath it not been given." Then in verse 34, we read "All these things, spoke Jesus in parables, unto the multitudes, and, without a parable, was he speaking, nothing, unto them: that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken through the prophet (Ps. 88:2), saying--I will open, in parables, my mouth, I will bring up things hidden from the foundation!"
Hence, in these seven parables, we have the revelation of the sacred secrets concerning the kingdom of heaven; i.e., what would happen in consequence of and after its rejection, and we are told that these things had been kept secret all through the ages. And further, that when the Lord Jesus spoke in parables, He spoke, not to reveal the sacred secrets to the multitudes, but to hide them; and also that His disciples and we might afterwards understand. It is clear, therefore, that we are not to look for the Body of the Christ in these parables, but that, whatever we may learn from them, we must distinguish between these "sacred secrets of the kingdom" and the "great sacred secret" concerning the Christ and the Assembly.
"THE SACRED SECRET OF INIQUITY" (2 Thess. 2:7)
The rejection of the kingdom would, we are taught, lead up, at the time of the end, to the "time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30:7), when the Man of Sin will be revealed. He will be manifested in his own appointed season. But we are told also that even now, yea, even when the revelation was given in 2 Thess. 2:7, that the secret of lawlessness was already at work. Even now we see this secret purpose working. Lawlessness is already being developed. We see it in the Family, in Society, in the church, and in the State. If we were asked to describe the one great feature, which characterizes our times, we must say it is lawlessness. This is the working of the secret counsel and purpose of the coming Antichrist, whose open manifestation will be the signal for the closing of this present interval, and whose final destruction will usher in the Christ's Kingdom. For then (i.e., in the days of the seventh messenger when he is about to sound), "then is finished the Sacred Secret (or secret counsel) which God purposed to fulfill according to the good tidings which He declared to His servants the prophets" (Rev. 10:7).
