The Biggest Mystery in the Bible

This is the lesson I taught the Children's Church class at my local church this past week. I thought others might find it useful for teaching their children as well.

----------

Today we're going to talk about the biggest mystery in the Bible. Did you know the Bible has mysteries? This one is the biggest mystery and remained a secret for thousands of years. But before I can tell you about the mystery, you need a little background information.

First, did you know that Jesus is in the Old Testament? The New Testament tells us about Jesus being born, growing up, teaching the people, dying, and rising again. But Jesus is God, and He already existed before He was born. He appeared several times in the Old Testament and talked to different people. 

Let's take a look at some of those times. 

Remember when God created Adam and Eve and put them in the garden, He told them not to eat of the fruit of just one tree. So then the serpent came and tempted Eve.

Genesis 3:6-8  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 

Now, you probably know the rest of the story. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. They had to leave the garden and the special relationship they had with God. 

But notice that God came to walk in the garden with Adam and Eve. How does God walk? Wouldn't He need a body of some kind in order to walk with Adam and Eve? Adam and Eve seem to have had a very close and personal relationship with God before sin, and He came and walked with them. 

I John 4:12 says that no one has seen God at any time. This must be talking about God the Father. No one has ever seen God the Father. But did anyone ever see Jesus? Yes. Jesus came to Earth and we know people saw Him and touched Him. The Holy Spirit is sometimes seen, but not as a man. He appears like a dove descending on Jesus at His baptism or as tongues of fire on the disciples of Jesus at Pentecost. But he's not a man. So if someone is seeing God and He looks like a man, it can't be God the Father or the Holy Spirit. It must be Jesus. So it sounds like Jesus is the one who came to walk and talk with Adam and Eve in the garden. He was there in the beginning.

But there's more. A lot more. 

Let's go to Genesis 18 when God comes to visit Abraham.

Genesis 18:1-22  And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him.
When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, "O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant."
So they said, "Do as you have said."
And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes."
And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
They said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?"
And he said, "She is in the tent."
The LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?" The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son."
But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh." Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way.
The LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him."
Then the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know." So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 

After this, Abraham talks to God and asks Him if He will spare Sodom if there are still righteous people in it. He starts by asking if He will spare them if there are 50 righteous, then 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10. So God promises not to destroy Sodom if there are even 10 righteous people in it.  

The text is clear that this is actually God speaking to Abraham, not just an angel. It says this was the LORD, which is the specific name of God, Yahweh. Yet He looked like a man. He even ate with Abraham. A vision can't eat food. He had to have some sort of body. 

Have you ever seen a cartoon where a ghost tries to eat food and the food just plops on the floor because he has no stomach to hold it? That is what would happen if there's no physical body. But that's not what happened here. God ate food with Abraham. 

So which person of the Trinity would this be -- God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit? This would be God the Son. He appeared as a man. This is Jesus in the Old Testament. 

Ok, so now that we know that Jesus appears as a man in the Old Testament and is identified as God, let's get back to the mystery. Remember that Jesus was prophesied throughout the Old Testament, that He would come and be God with us and save us from our sins. So the whole Old Testament is building up expectations for the Messiah. He was coming, but they had an incomplete picture of who He was. 

Take a look at Genesis 32. This takes place when Jacob, Abraham's grandson, is finally coming home to his family. His brother Esau hated him and wanted to kill him after he tricked him out of his birthright and blessing. Jacob went far away and he had been away a long time. But he's coming home and he doesn't know whether Esau is still angry with him. So he sends gifts ahead and then sends his family on ahead, and he stays alone on the other side of the river. 

Genesis 32:24-30  And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."
Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."
Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him.
So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." 

So Jacob wrestles with a man, but then the man says that Jacob has wrestled with God. Jacob asks the man's name, but He won't tell him. It's not time yet for anyone to know His name -- the name of the coming One. 

It happens again in the book of Judges. The parents of Samson get a special visit.

Judges 13:2-22  There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines."
Then the woman came and told her husband, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, but he said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'" 
Then Manoah prayed to the LORD and said, "O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born." 
And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me."
And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to this woman?"
And he said, "I am."
And Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?"
And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe."
Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you." And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD." (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.)
And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?"
And the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?"
So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God."  

So it says here that the angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah and his wife, but then this person is identified as God. This happens again and again in the Old Testament. This "angel of the LORD" is identified as God Himself, not just an angelic being. But notice that they ask His name and He won't tell them. He says it is wonderful. In some translations, it says secret. It is not something that has been revealed yet. It's a mystery. 

So this is the biggest mystery in the Bible. The Old Testament reveals that there is this person coming to be the Messiah, but they didn't know His name. 

There's yet another time this mystery is pointed out.

Proverbs 30:2-4  Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know!

This is an interesting and unusual prophecy. He says he is ignorant of something important. He's lacking some knowledge. He asks a series of questions, which can only apply to God. God is the one who controls the winds and the waters and established the ends of the Earth. But then he asks what is the name of this God and what is His Son's name. So God has a Son. This is revealed to us in the Old Testament, long before Jesus was born. But they don't know His name. It's a mystery.

This question hangs unanswered for thousands of years. Adam and Eve walked and talked with Him. Abraham ate with Him. Jacob wrestled with Him. He told Manoah and his wife about their son who would be born. He was prophesied to save the people from their sins. He would bear their iniquities and by His stripes they would be healed. He would come from Abraham and from the line of Judah and then from the line of David. He would be a king forever. He would be pierced for their transgressions. He would be born in Bethlehem. All this and many other things had been prophesied about Him. But what was His name?

About 2,000 years ago, the mystery was finally revealed.

Luke 1:26-33  In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!"
But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 

So what was His name? Jesus. The most wonderful name of all time. Jesus means salvation. He came to save us from our sins. This was God's plan from the very beginning. He knew we needed a Savior. We can't save ourselves. Only God Himself could be the perfect sacrifice to take our place and be punished for our wrongdoing so that we could be forgiven. God gave us lots of information about the coming Messiah in the Old Testament so that we would know Him when He came. And finally, He came. He lived a perfect life. He died a horrible death on the cross. He rose from the dead. And now He offers us salvation if we simply trust Him. Salvation is His name. Jesus.